Virto

Hoping to get it buttoned up and home this weekend, regardless of running state. If it's in the garage at home, I can at least run out and mess with it when there's a suggestion versus waiting for a chance to get over to the shop. Just a random question, though - does the oil pressure sender kill the engine somehow if it has no reading? I only ask because I knocked the plug off while poking around and it seems to fit not all that snugly, and the plug is a bit corroded inside.

OK, it arrived today - he was closed, but I couldn't wait, so I zipped over there, plugged it in and turned the car over. Same sputter as before, then dead. Flat battery. So no real verdict as of yet. I did notice a code enforcement officer in the next parking lot over ticketing a boat that was being stored - probably expired trailer plates - so I locked the car down and got out of there before I drew any attention to myself. So anyway, further updates as events warrant, I guess.

I would have done the coil grounding test, but I forgot exactly what to do - and no power meant I couldn't jump on and check. If I was smart, I'd have brought a charger to the garage with me and charged my phone and then looked - but I was a bit preoccupied. Hopefully I can avoid the tow, as it would just be 100 bucks down the drain, but we shall see. Tomorrow is fence repair day, but I'll be taking a nice long break for the Bears home opener.

OK, wow - what a weekend. Friday afternoon a big storm cell moved across the Elgin area, 70MPH winds and quarter-sized hail. There was one funnel cloud reported about halfway between here and the office in Arlington Heights. I lost the fence and all power until literally 10 minutes ago. The first thing to do was restart all the fish tanks - looks like I may end up with some dead loss in one of them, but we'll find out in the morning. Now, the storm essentially passed right by the Z and the garage it's at, which is less than 2 miles from the house. I ran over there this morning (errand day, what with no power at home, and all). Grounded the injectors out via the ecu harness and got clicky clacks from each and every one. Drained some of the gas and found it clear, free of water and with no varnish smell. The ECU will be here Monday afternoon - I plan to jet over there Tuesday morning just to see what happens. I also told him to go ahead and hang the rest of the exhaust and push come to shove, I'll tow it home if need be.

ECU will be here Monday - swinging by the shop tomorrow morning to ground the injectors and see if we can get a click. I should have an update around lunchtime and I'll come back to beg for help after that.

I'm tempted to just have it towed home, but I'm going to see if I can get some more garage time this weekend. I'm also going to see if I can pick up that ECU - I'll let you know how it goes. Edit: Went ahead and bought that ECU. Even if it's only a pseudo-spare, it'll be nice to have on-hand just in case.

I thought the ECU was different for 77-78 versus 75-76...am I mistaken?

Those water pump bolts are notorious for rusting and breaking. Soak them for days with a combo of ATF/Acetone and you might get lucky. I only broke one when I did my water pump.

Quite a few new cars are shipping either with an emergency repair kit or nothing at all, versus even a compact spare. Some products work fairly well, but I don't know if those tires are then patchable and repairable after the fact. I suppose it could throw balance off, if the foam settles all on one side of the tire. Honestly, I don't carry a spare anymore - they never get used and they rot out. I pay for a towing package through my insurance, so if the need arises, I just pick up the phone.

, I can say for sure that the oil filler cap is on tightly. I went over the vacuum lines yesterday, since I've had some vacuum leaks in the past. It would have to be fairly major to prevent it from starting. Even when I had a large enough leak that the transmission wouldn't shift, it would turn over and start very easily. The real issue is that he's got a lot of needy customers that take priority over the guy with the old rustbucket that doesn't need it to live day to day. There's a possibility that he won't have time to get to it until the weekend, at which point I'll try to spend an hour or so at the garage working on it at the same time, like yesterday. Wonder if it might be worth pulling an injector and seeing if there's any flow through it at all. If it was home in my garage I could run out there more frequently, but because of the layout of my driveway, I probably can't even have it towed. If it comes down it to, I'll see what I can do.

I dropped off a copy of the wiring diagram, the pinout for the ECU connector and instructions on how to ground the coil to test the injectors. He was out driving a customer car, so I'll have to call him later today and give him the details. So, if we do this test and the injectors don't click, we're looking at some kind of issue between the ECU pin 1 and the coil, be it the drop resistors or the wiring, or perhaps the ECU itself? Alternatively, if we test and the injectors DO click, what's the next logical step?

He did mention that he thinks it's a ground problem, and that's why he wanted a copy of the EFI wiring diagram. I'll drop it off tomorrow and mention everything we've discussed so far. Thanks much, seriously. It means a lot.

I'll see about pulling the plugs. The engine will start on starting fluid. The initial sputter I'm getting now seems to be fuel from the cold start injector - not sure how that's tied into the fuel system, really. Unless I'm totally wrong, it's basically another injector that dumps some extra fuel where, past the maf? I suppose it could be bad gas. Back before I knew about how gas will varnish it had run on fuel that was probably 3 years old. It had half a tank of same-day gas when I dropped it off last July. It had last run sometime in November, I believe, when we made the call to have the head sent out for work. I'll mention draining the fuel. Water, have to drain it to be sure - it was kept both inside and outside at various points as it was shuffled around to make room for other cars. It has certainly been exposed to weather, hence the rust growth.

If only. Most of these cars have long since rusted away in Chicagoland. Windy City Z club is almost entirely new model Z cars, from what I've seen these days. I've run across plenty of people that say "hey, I remember these" or "I had one of these in the 80s" but they are an extreme rarity to actually see on the road. I guess I'll start keeping an eye on eBay - I don't really want to send MSA 350 bucks if it's not the issue. That having been said, is there a difference between the M/T and A/T computers, or was that only in the S130? If anyone has a good one they want to loan out for a week, I'd be happy to pay the return shipping and then slip some cash into the box with it to cover your time and assistance. I'm going to jot some notes down and deliver them tomorrow when I drop off the wiring diagram. If I can just get her to start, we can hang the rest of the exhaust, slap the fan back on and get it into the garage at home. I really do feel pretty sad when I look at it now, thinking of the time I wasted while the car was in better shape.

Honestly, no. I didn't run the noid myself, but I'm pretty confident that I can believe him when he says it wasn't lighting. So, key on and then just a length of jumper wire from the ECU plug to ground? Is there any way to test the dropping resistors? That seems to be the only thing in the path I haven't looked at.