Hi all,

I am very new to working on a car and have been having an issue with my newly purchased 280zx.

Videos (with sound)/photo here: https://imgur.com/a/X1VaIzN

I purchased the car in the beginning of July and it drove perfectly. My friend drove it 4 hours to my home and had no issue with the engine. The only slight annoyance was that the car would idle low until it got up to temperature. Once the car warmed up a bit the idle was perfect. Initially, it was not bad enough to stall the engine. It eventually worsened to the point where it stalled the engine because I did not give it throttle to keep the RPM up.


The strangest issue is that the car starts up perfectly fine the first time I try if I haven't touched the car in a few days.


I received a suggestion to test if the car starts when I spray starter fluid into the throttle body and it did indeed start up fine. Last night I tried to start it the same way to no avail. I removed the airflow sensor and tried to start it with no luck. When I did that, someone noticed that the throttle body did not seem to have any vacuum.

So far I have changed the oil and oil filter, fuel filter and fuel pump. I have verified that there is no leak from the new pump but when I crank the engine there is a strong smell of gas in the engine bay. I have also tried to dry out the engine just in case it was somehow flooded. I noticed that there was a wire inside the fusible link box that was fried. I have already fixed/replaced the wire. The car still refuses to start.


I would greatly appreciate any tips that anyone can offer as I am a complete beginner to this. Thank you!

 

That wire in your engine bay is a fusible link, which powers up your ignition system and fuel system.
Are you getting spark? There is a EFI relay right behind those wires under the fenders, you'll need to remove the black plastic covering to get to it. Check if this relay is getting power.