blackout08

I have the full FSM for engine, A/C, and electrical all printed out and organized in 3 different binders. The problem is that when i bought my z, of course like any other z that has been on the road for 25-30 years, air only flows through the defrost. Common problem, i know. So i got to searching around under my dash and noticed that one of the previous owners to my red beauty had tampered with the setup going to the vacuum solenoids. The first indicator was that Actuator(ventilation door) and Actuator(defrost door 1) had been routed together, meaning no vacuum could ever be applied to either parts of the system. So i started looking at the FSM to try and rebuild it myself, seeing as how the common replace one line at a time method would not work here. The problem with this is that my diagram does not match the "stock" looking parts that i have in the vacuum system. I seem to have another solenoid in my solenoid bank that isn't labeled in the FSM, and the plastic piece(pictured below) seems to have too many connectors on both sides (2 on one side, and 5 on the other, instead of 1 on one side, and 4 on the other). The plastic piece is the part that runs vacuum to all the solenoids in the bank. I've spent hours on Google trying to find an answer to these questions, so i hope another one of you Z nuts can help me out. I'll post a picture of the documents I'm working with out of my FSM, as well as the parts that are different from the FSM. Thanks to anybody willing to help. I really want my dash back in my car!

zxguy1986

Well, on the chance that Nissan switched to a different air handling assembly the year they lovingly assembled your Z31, there should be a way to determine that - if we only knew what year your Z31 is... There were some revisions between '84 and '89 as Nissan worked out new kinks and saw ways to improve an already amazing car series.

So, please tell us the year, body style, etc., of your baby. Does it have the "Auto AC/climate control" stuff - or the basic Z31 manual controls set-up?

Good photos, BTW, and good work so far in trying to repair it the right way.

Don't give up - and be patient. You mean to tell us you never drove a car without a dashboard? Sheesh.. I drove a Z with no seats. That's what milk crates are for, right?

Donn144

What year is your car?
I have an 87 with the automated\electronic temp control.
Just a few days ago I posted about noises coming from the solenoids so I took a look down there and it was complicated.
I am pleased the problem went away..hopefully gone. But, having been down there, I can snap a picture of mine so you can compare..if the systems match.

Let me know and I'll do what I can

rogerz

be a big plus to know what year you are talking about. if you would really like answers that would help you and avoid flames give the following info when you post: year of car, n/a or turbo engine, stick or slushbox. Most of us can tell by the year what model you have ie 85T is a turbo z31. Z cars come in many flavors and they are all different. example 84,85,86 Z31's pretty comparable. there were changes in 87,88,89. in addition 300ZX can refer to two completly different cars the Z31 and the Z32. No mindreaders here the more info you can post the more likely you get a cogent useful answer

blackout08

Holy cow guys! I totally missed all the important info needed for further diagnostics, that didn't happen, so don't tell anybody. Its a 1986 (9/85-8/86 according to the vin), auto climate, 2 seater, turbo.
(Edit) Also a 5spd
Don- I would LOVE pictures, my biggest problem right now is a lack of documentation. The only Z's i can find at the salvage to compare and get pictures of are n/a models, and i assume it's two different systems.

ZXGuy- Milk crates are a sure way to show Z love. No seats? Bah who cares, i just wanna go drive my fairlady, right?

Rodgerz- Thanks for chiming in on my stupidity, lol. Ive seen you on here alot in the past years and respect your opinion.

I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to attach a picture of my love. Don't mind the z32 wheels, there getting swapped for stock before too long. Also, the n/a that sparked my love for Z's in 2011, man i love these cars! (On the left; same problem in the n/a as the Turbo model, haha)

zxguy1986

A hot red Z. And my fave year too!

OK, "'86..auto climate" is a clue. If you go back to XenonZ31 Reference and scroll down a bit, you see a doc called "Auto AC Supplement" for the '84 FSM. Download that and check out those graphics to see if they correspond to the actual hardware you are checking out in your '86. Lotta diagnostics there. Very cool. Just a suggestion.

As a rule, Nissan didn't install stuff in their Zs that they didn't document. I think.... Keep looking and you will find.

blackout08

Man, i hope your right about the documentation part. Xenon is the bomb, I started an led/color swap for my digi dash BECAUSE of that awesome dude.

Now after going throw ALL 6 years of z31 (HA) fsm documents, it seems like what i have collected in my binders are 1987 documents. My auto diagram is page HA-85 in my binder, and that matches up with the same picture, same page for 1987 FSM documents. Now when i pull up the 86 FSM, page HA-87 has the vacuum diagram, and it is quite a bit different than the diagram than what i physically have in front of me. I already had the FSM printed out so i assumed it was for the right year, shame on me, i know. ZXguy, youv'e gotten me further than i've been on this part of the project in 6 months, lol. Thanks.

So what do you guys make of the 86 diagram, It looks like SV solonoid 1 is my missing link to my solonoid bank. What do you guys think? The diagram shows 3 connections on one side and four on the other, do you think maybe SV 1 is on the side with the 4 connections, making a 2 connect-5 connect pluggin? I think we might be rolling here.
THANKS!!!!
(Edit) 86 is the best body imo, The n/a was an 86 too!

Mikey8907

I am working on the same thing you are, I have an 86 na. it looks like who ever had it before you tried to replace some vacuum hoses and removed two or three of them and then forgot where they went. On mine i went ahead and pulled the heater core box out so i could get a good look back there, and the vacuum motor labeled power servo 1 had a small tear in it which was making it lose vacuum and then i think tripping something in the hvac control unit which wouldn't let it do anything. We couldn't find a replacement vacuum motor so i used the 3-d printer at school to make one and once i find out if it is going to work ill put the file for it up on here and take lots of pictures of mine for you.

Donn144

OK I'll take some today...I do not feel like pulling anything apart..but I will attempt to do what I can and see where things are going and describe as best possible.

Ours may be similar as I have the auto climate in my 87.

zxguy1986

Mikey, very cool with that 3-D printer! Great idea. Be sure to photo the results and post here

Blackout, you have probably figured out by now that Xenon doesn't really have everything Nissan ever printed. If the '84 AutoAC supplement isn't right, I would first check the '85, '87 and '88 manuals to see when the hardware switch was instituted. Sooner or later it had to become standard for one or more models if it's in your car and actually from the factory in '86.

Other doc sources? Dunno but I would Google it to death for starters. I am still sure Mother Nissan published it at some point. She was fairly meticulous with our Z31s. So there may be another supplement floating around out there.

Donn144

Well, I got under there and tried to photograph..but without pulling the solenoid bank off i.e unscrewing it, you cannot really make anything out as it is so tightly packed in.
I really am sorry as I was hoping to save the day.

blackout08

I feared as much, I had to pull my dash just to see what shinanigans were going on down there. It was raining today so i didn't get a chance to work on the car today, but i think, thanks to ZXguy's advice, i've figured out my problem was that my binders are all for the 1987 model. Now that I've got a new diagram in front om me, i suspect i'll have a little more luck this go around.

I'm still curious what you guys think about the white plastic splitter piece. Mine has 2 connects for vacuum lines on one side, and 5 on the other. NOW in the diagram it shows 3 on one side, and 4 on the other. This is what i'm thinking however, i'm guessing that all 5 of the Solonoid valves (SV) are on the one side of the clip. Meaning SV1 on the diagram would be on the 5 side of the splitter.
Thoughts?

blackout08

If you think about it, DEFINITELY take pictures of the heater box!!! Lots of them, if not for me, for the whole Z community. After hours and hours of searching the net, there's only a handful of heater box pictures, and go figure Xenon is the place were you'd find them. Unfortunately they are somewhat small, and the quality isn't high enough to zoom in on them to make out details of the system. I think I've got my problem figured out( at least starting to figure it out) but save others by adding some good pictures!!
(And i'm sorry but who wants to pull their heater box to replace vacuum lines, Kudos to you sir!)

zxguy1986

I'm thinking that if you trace the vacuum lines from the weird splitter to their ends, you can figure out what Nissan revised with the weird splitter and where the hoses to/from it should go. All of those routes would be shown on the official diagram with the weird splitter - but sounds like you have to improvise if you don't have that diagram.

Anyway, as long as all feeds to and from the weird splitter are occupied with a hose connected to something - or closed off by you at the splitter, the system should work as designed - except for the components where you closed off their feed at the weird splitter.

Mikey8907

Here are the pictures i took and the drawing i made of the way my vacuum lines are laid out. hopefully this link works.

Z Car Parts Slideshow by mtlittleton | Photobucket

blackout08

Those pictures are awesome! With everyone's help, and the right diagram in front of my i got everything back in. Now i'm ready to throw my dash back in. I was going to do that that tonight, but while i was looking around and making sure everything was in place and ready to go, i saw an electrical harness just dangling untethered from what ever it goes to. So do you guys recongnize where this brown and blue wire connect into?

blackout08

Well i had to take a bit of a hiatus due to work, but I'm finally starting to get back on track on my project. I'd like to get my dash back in this weekend but I'm a little weary about doing it before figuring out where those wires connect to. I've figured out that it is either a sunload sensor or an air duct temp sensor, not sure which. And now after fixing the vacuum lines and routing them them as per factory orientation, I'm thinking about dumping the a/c compressor in favor of a relocation pipe to make mounting a 6262 bb turbo easier. If i do this, then the only thing I'll use is heat in the winter (I'd like to keep it as streetable of a track car as possible.) If that is the case should i even worry about the sensor? I feel like it not being hooked up may make my heat too cold or too hot depending on how bright it is that day (assuming it's a sunload sensor.) I might should start a new thread for this issue, i suppose i still might. There doesn't seem to be much info about the sensors in the digital climate control system online, and i may just not be seeing it, but i can't find any info about them in the FSM either. Any and all help/advice/guesses are greatly appreciated.

zxguy1986

Is the air handling/heating/cooling system working to your satisfaction right now - with that 'sensor' connector dangling?

blackout08

Well at the moment, I've got the engine out of the car. It only blew hot out of the defrost, but i figured out that was a vacuum problem which has since been fixed. I'm more thinking it's a connection that i broke when pulling the dash. but i can find anywhere on the dash itself that those wires would connect to.