CatchableElk

hey guys, new to the forums and i thought i would show you my "new" Z.



50th AE. with and automatic transmission and 160K miles. drove her back from miami last weekend. She runs well but definitely needs work.

-The brake lights don't work but the running lights work fine. The brake sensor relay was fried so i have a new one on the way as well as a wire.
-There is a small oil leak under the oil cooler but I think it is just one of the lines and not the cooler itself (hopefully)
-The left headlight is only getting 10v but the highs are getting 12. still trying to figure that one out
-the vacuum pump runs constantly when the car is put to "on"

Other things that dont work: fuel gauge, cruise control, compass and g-force.
What i have accomplished so far is removing the front bumper to get to the louvers and and have better access to the headlights and vacuum pump. the headlight washer motors had already been removed so i cut the lines and removed the reservoir. Gonna get the bumper all clean before putting it back on as well as a new intake, lines, and clamps. New rear Koni shocks just came in the mail today too.

All suggestions are welcome i need all the help i can get!

zxguy1986

Welcome to ZDriver! Great car you got there.

You can DL a free factory service manual at XenonZ31 Reference and other good docs you can use. Keep the photos comin' as you work on her!

Donn144

You cruise control probably is the result of the little bumper on the pedal to make contact with the switch, fell off.

I believe both the clutch and the brake pedals have these bumpers. To get to them you'll have to duck inside and look under where your knees are while you drive. Up under, you can see the back of the pedals where they make contact with a switch.

Because the bumper fell off, the CC does not turn on, it is as if you hit the brake or clutch, disengaging the CC.

You can take a piece of Velcro with sticky on the back, cut it to the approximate shape and stick it in the back of the pedal so that it closes the switch when the pedal is not depressed.

I did this to accommodate another little rubber bumper that fell off enabling me to start the car.
I do not know the year it began, but sometime after 84, you have to have the clutch depressed to start the car. They use the same kind of switch as they do for CC, and the Velcro has worked ..going on 2 years.

rogerz

set of wires under the vacuum tank control the vacuum pump. they are either disconnected or the switch in the tank is broken. get a new fuel sender from courtesy nissan. I threw out the compass and g meter and installed a boost gage and a fuel pressure gage. I know what direction I'm going and I don't care about G force but I do like to know the other two values. cruise control may be related to vac tank issue as the vacuum to run it comes from there. hope your oil leak is the cooler because (and this is probably your problem) those 20 plus year old oil line hoses running to the cooler deteriorate enough to ooze oil out when running and then drips off on the ground when stopped. To get the long ones off you need to just about take off everything from the right side of the engine. power steering pump, alternator, starter. then take them to a place that does hydraulic hoses and see if they can rework things. Place i took mine to welded on a new fitting that would accept standard hydraulic hose. the labor plus hoses ran $150 (if you can find new you are looking at 6-7 hundred for the set). The two short hoses that connect the actual cooler to the bulkhead fittings are easy to get at but still $150 to rework them to something that works. then you get to put it all back together. the headlight power comes thru the combo switch on the left of the steering wheel. EL 40 thru EL47 in the fsm. also there is a video on line the music sucks but good video. Also check the connector at the headlight it self. mine were deteriorated so I just replaced - solder and heatshrink are your friend. did you check the brake light switch for power?

CatchableElk

So the switch needs to be totally depressed when the brake isn't depressed?

rogerz

and oh by the way here is my general advice to Z owners. save you a lot of heartache in the future.

Get your battery load tested. Be sure you have clean, tight corrosion free terminals on both ends of your battery cables. Be sure the ground (negative) cable goes to a bolt into the frame before going to the starter. grounding through the starter is not a reliable connection. Z's don't like low voltage. causes the electronics to act funny. it is possible to have enough amps to crank but not enough voltage to run the electronics. If you have one size fit all cheapo clamp on terminals they are a problem waiting to happen.

Clean the connectors for the maf or afm, ecu and tps. Deoxit by CAIG is probably the best connector cleaner on the market. spray with CorrosionX after cleaning and before putting together this will help prevent any further corrosion.

Replace outer tie rod ends, and ball joints. replace the bushings with poly (don't forget to lube them as directed unless you like squeaky things). New shocks. Get new boots for power steering. all those things will make you think you are driving a different car. doing them piece meal is a waste you won't see a great improvement until you do the complete job. You need to get the car realigned after messing with the front. Have your tires in good shape and rebalance. Rear bushings nice too but more work and you won't notice as great an improvement. Rear shocks also because if the fronts are gone so are the rears. if car squats when you jump on the gas the rears are gone. If you have the electro adjustable shocks they are DEFINITELY GONE.

If you are doing a turbo car shocks (electro adjust I think may be only on the turbos) then you need the adapter plates to fit modern shocks to the car. Easiest way is find an n/a at the junkyard and take the mounting plates. They may be available thru NAPA (listed) but I had the n/a plates.

rogerz

two switches one for the brake lights and one for CC. brake light is normally open switch. CC is normally closed switch.

CatchableElk

I haven't really worked on the tailights besides that relay so I'll be sure to do that first when I do.

zxguy1986

Hey, as you work your way through all the above, please report back with what you find and what worked for you to fix a given problem. It's really valuable info here and helps us all get better at it!

Welcome again and good purchase... Great work!

CatchableElk

took a look at my brake pedal and found this. Also managed to pull my steering wheel and get to the switches. I sanded the contacts down and popped it back in but still no dice with the headlight. gotta go to work tho so i wont be able to work on her again till tomorrow afternoon but ill actually have more than 2 hours to work on it so that will be nice. more pics to come soon.

Donn144

You can clearly see on the second photo the bumper missing..what is clear is that something was previously there. You can use a few things to fill in the missing bumper.
Felt bumpers that go on the bottom of chairs to prevent scratches on the floor. Or, sometimes in stores they sell a set of the rubber bumpers for appliances..The gap is no more than 1\4 inch that must be filled. Car stores sell the velcro to stick things down on the dash like a fuzz buster. Use the soft side and stick it where the bumper popped off.

CatchableElk

the second photo is of the brake pedal being depressed. im probably gonna go the ultra cheap route with this and just use some glued together pennies. Still gotta check and make sure the switch is recieving power. the previous owner screwed with the electronics a lot so im gonna check everything as i go.

Donn144

This will work. Maybe 2 or 3 pennies together

CatchableElk

So quick update: Applied 2 glued together pennies to the brake pedal and put in the new tailight harness and got the brake lights to work for about 12 hours. Also determined the problem of the headlights was the switch. the little rubber bumpers that raise and lower the contacts werent functioning so i bent them into constant contact for the time being until i can find a replacement switch.

Now for the bad news. The headlight motors are no longer working with either the switch or with the headlight stalk. bummer. Also for some reason the tail lights and the brake lights are not working at all. hmmm. Thought it was the battery since ive been turning the lights on and off a lot so i swapped the battery from my caddy into the Z and still nothing. also found out the battery tray is half eaten away by rust and that a previous battery had leaked onto said tray. so this weekend i got my work cut out for me. pictures to come when i am not at work

Donn144

How about the Cruise Control? Have you been able to test it?

CatchableElk

i only took her for a short drive around the block so far and didnt think to check the CC

CatchableElk

Update: so i was trying to figure out why my headlight motors and taillights werent working and i discovered that the fuse for the clearance lights was shorting every time i turned the key past accessory. checked all my wires in the rear and removed the bumper cover again to see if i pinched anything when i put it back on and nothing. So i decided to try the fuses one more time and sure enough everything worked. So now the only problem with the lights is that one taillight bulb is much brighter than the others.

Got my new rear koni struts installed and got bilstein front struts, distributor, rotor, and new plugs on the way. Still need to get a new PS rack, bushing kit and tie rods. debating on replacing the control arms as well since i cant figure out what is causing the ridiculous overhang in the front.

Once all of that is done i need to get working on resealing the windshield, quarter glass and the t-tops, all of which started leaking

86ZxPROJECT

I had this exact problem with a 2002 Civic... Turns out it was a ground fault issue in the cruise control circuit. It would instantly ground out and pop bus fuse for brake lights, since there is a (Bumper style momentary switch) that makes contact with the pedal which is connected to cruise control circuit. Since most cruise controls disengage when you depress the brake pedal. Check the wires to cruise control, then down from cruise to the momentary switch at the brake pedal. I promise you will find a wire somewhere in that series that has no continuity and is broken or grounding out. fix that wire, fix the problem.

if you have trouble locating which wire does what (say for instance it changes color type somewhere) just solder a wire with and alligator clip to both ends of a AA battery. Clip one alligator clip to a good ground, the other to the wire, and track the voltage (all of this done with the car off and battery NEG terminal disconnected JUSSST in case...). Once you have found the break in continuity, fix that wire and then re-visit the issue with everything hooked back up. Also don't forget to double check grounds at the rear of the car by the tail lights themselves.

Hope that helps.

CatchableElk

After some thought I've decided to see if I can sell this z. I unfortunately just don't have the to make this car what I want it to be. I'll be making a for sale post soon. Hoping to get her to a a better home quickly

Donn144

check out my post in for sale: 84AE in Excellent condition for Sale

CatchableElk

Looks very nice. OIm looking at one very much like yours thats about an hour away from me. Help me spread the word on this one I'm not looking for much at all.