Can somone pleazzze help?
 

I was getting ready to prep my '83n/a for her "big day" tomorrow (new muffler, inspection, etc...) and she crapped out on me. I cranked her up, expected a little bitching 'cause I hadn't started her in a month.....but this was a tirade. It sounded like a steam engine, sputted and putted.....then nada, nothing, dead, no-worky. There was no gas fumes, nothing wet on the plugs, wouldn't even start again. I opened up the AFM just a tad, and even wacked it with my screwdriver for good luck.....still nothing.

Now, for those of you that don't know me, I've been working on "Stephanie" for about 2 years now to get her back in shape for the daily grind. I had her out a few times and she ran stronger each time. I just can't seem to figure this one out.

I'll be under the hood tomorrow, so if you see this please post any remedies you may have quickly. My goal was to have it "street legal" by the first......but that ain't happenin', I guess.

:(

Thanks to everyone who helped me get this far!!!!!

sound like she wants to run but shes not getting the fuel... you might want to start by spraying some carb cleaner in the air box and try cranking her while doing so... she sould fire up.. let her idle for a while..and then give her a lil gas... see if that helps... your injectors might be a lil dried up and clogged or your cold start isnt working right.... but id try the carb cleaner in the air box first....

Sounds same shit that happend to me :(

What i did was pull the fuel rail out lay it on the inlet manifold connected spin the engine over to make sure i was getting fuel.


Next thing was the spark.. then made sure i had no blown fuses..


ZX's are bitches when they dont want too goo :)

I've tried both of those soultions with no avail in the past, but anything's worth a shot....

Did you check the relays on the right hand side of the engine bay? I think there's one for the fuel syst. Also, check the wires from the starter motor to see if they need to be cleaned or have better contact. I was left stranded in the staging lanes at the track once b/c of this. But since the car had been sitting, there may be other reasons. I just got my Z started up today after 3 weeks on jackstands and it sputtered a bit for the first 5 minutes, I think it's due to the sorry piss gas Cali people get.
John 82ZXT

All is well is Z land....

I don't really know wtf happened. My ZX has been sitting for about 5yrs. I've been slow to get the motor going again, but it happened. Hell, like I said in my first post, I even drove it around the 'hood. But then I let it sit for about a month...Here's what I did...

I tried starting it this morning, same crap. Spitting, sputting, white smoke out the rear, bitch, moan, complain, you get the idea. So, I removed all of the spark plugs (new NGK's) and they were soakin' wet with gas. Next, I wiped them all off and cleaned them with carb cleaner, wiped out the plug holes, and let it sit for an hour or so, re-gapped (1.1mm - .034") and re-installed them.....same result. I removed a random plug (#2) and no wetness at all. Here's where the interesting stuff comes in.................

Since the motor was still warm, I decided it was a good time to change the oil. Two year old oil even with very few miles on it looked really muddy. Wel, new oil & filter..........she cranked right up. There was a little hesitation at first, but she ran like a champ. The only thing that concerns me is the hesitation around 2500rpm. The motor dips and revs up to 3k repeatedly. Any other rpm is fine. Any help there would be a godsend......

But now........all is good in Z land. Next week..............inspection!!

your gap is wrong.. should be 0.8mm not 1.1mm thats your problem i think ;)

I'll try .8 tomorrow and I'll let you know.

The oil sounds right i changed my oil and forgot to put the filer cap on my car would not stay running. as soon as I put th cap on all was good. I could not believe the engine was that sensitive.
Well now that you got her running cgange the gap tp .8 and you should be good to go.

Well.....did the .8 thing......

I still have a bad hesitation around 2000-2500 rpm. when the motor gets warm (idiling for 20 minutes) it goes away.

Any thoughts there?

It could be a small intake/vacuum leak. Use some Seafoam and look for smoke coming out of the engine bay. If it only comes out the exhaust, then you've probably got a bad sensor, either water, head, etc. How about your PCV valve? Did you change that out? It could be it too, just suggesting anything and everything.
John 82ZXT

I think my car does that but a little worse. Also, only when warming up. First thing that made a huge difference was chaning my distributor. Something was stuck inside related to the vaccume advance.

I also think it may be my large throttle body or the hoses connected to it. Vaccume leaks there may cause a slightly lean condition that is overcome with a warmed up engine, but you're basically running too lean and that is what causes the missfires.

I have thought that my PCV may be suspect, since the car has been sitting for around six years. I have new distributor components so, unless they're in wrong.........

Anyway, right now it's running good enough to get inspected---I hope! I'll let ya'll know tomorrow evening how she's running....

:cool:

Bleach - I also had the stuck vacuum advance problem. The fix is simple and cheap. Under the breaker plate is a plastic carrier for 3 ball bearings. The plastic goes south and jams the breaker plate so the vacuum advance can't rotate it.

Remove the dist., rotor, stator, p/u coil, and reluctor. Remove the two screws holding the breaker plate to the dist. body then lift out the breaker plate, then remove the snap ring that holds the three fingered metal bearring carrier in place.

Fabricate a new bearing carrier from scrap metal < 5/16" thick. I used a mill, but it can be done with a bench grinder, a file, and a drill. I used three new 5/16" ball bearings, reassembled everything and she works great.

Too late to help you, but might help a lot of other guys as this seems to be a common problem.

John