Hey guys, i just bought my first z, 82 zx and i have a problem. i will lay out the scenario, and maybe y'all could throw out some ideas. it was a friend's dad's car and he blew the headgasket around 1999. they lived in an apartment so it sat in storage for a couple of years, then they rebuilt the motor when they bought their house. it took probably 2.5 yrs to finish, but when it was done, it wouldnt start. it has a new ECM, all the sensors have been checked, etc. its N/A btw. so i bought the car for $400, and the valve cover was loose so i take it off, and theres alot of play in the chain on the drivers side.. is that normal? i know they have hydraulic tensioners, but it felt prettty loose. anyway, i had gotten it to start at one point by spraying carb cleaner in the intake, but it sounded really rough. i took all the plugs out to see if there was oil or something in the cylinders, and when i cranked it over, only one cylinder was getting fuel, so i dont really know what to think. like i said, im a total noob to the z world so any help is much appriciated. oh and today, i hooked up some jumper cables to roll up the windows, and some smoke came from the alternator, and now the car has no electricity flowing through it. thanks a bunch for any help.

 

Did you hook up the jumper cables correctly? Also it sounds like you may or may not have faulty injectors. If you got it to fire with carb cleaner, there's a good chance you have a vaccum or intake leak somewhere. Start checking vaccum lines for cracks and leaks, your chain could definitely be a problem. I can't really help on that, some of these other guys could give you a much better detailed description. Also check your coil wire, cap, rotor, and make sure all of your wires are connected correctly. I had a problem once where I had kinda loosened one of the spark plug wires from the distributor, but I didn't know it. I was having problems starting the car, it took along time to crank and I was getting misses. Also check your spark plug wiring order. Chances are also that your timing is also way off.

 

1,5,3,6,2,4.

Are the plugs even firing?
I would pull the fuel rail up with the injectors on it, harness conected to, and crank it over and see if all the injectors are popen off. Have you done a compresion test on this engine? I am not sure what the flash point on your carb cleaner is, but somtimes it is low, and will fire on low compresion.
I will say that if you are geting spark, then it is prolly a fuel issue. check your vacume advance as well.

 

If one of the injectors is working then chances are the rest are bad or need cleaning. It's a batch fire system so it's not likely a problem with the ECU or anything. Make sure all the injector connectors are clean and free of corrosion.

Have you verified that you have spark to all 6 cylinders?

The drivers side of the timing chain should deflect a little bit. How much deflection are you getting?

 

the deflection i wouldnt worry about till you run the engine and it gets presure, i think check the firing order, as described above, and make sure that the fuel pump is pumping FRESH gas to the motor, if it sat it may need a new one along with a new fuel filter. for a simple test have someone lay under the car and turn the ignition ON. they should be able to hear the fuel pump cycle, its on the passanger side by at the back, by the wheel. or if you got it, use a fuel pressure guage. dont run out and buy one if the pump doesnt work.

 

thanks guys, im going to check the firing order right now. as far as the electrical problem it was nothing, the positive terminal wasnt tight. i got it to almost fire up last night so the distributor may just not be timed properly. i was thinking about it and im not actually positive that only one is firing, i cranked it without the plugs in and one cylinder was spraying something out the plug hole, but that wouldnt be fuel if its spraying. im going to check to see if the injector connectors are clean and getting a good connection too. thanks again for the help and if you have any more ideas, or easy troubleshooting techniques feel free to throw them out here. oh and also, the fuel pump is working, but it may not be fresh gas.

 

well, i was messing with the distributor, and it tried to fire up when the ignition was all the way advanced, so i pulled it out and re stabbed it 180 out, and it does the same thing. i also found that three of the injectors are leaking around the o rings. i know its almost unheard of, but i'm thinking maybe something caused those 3 to be clogged up and since they sat for so long, maybe the o rings got dry enough that the pressure from the fuel pump blew them out once i turned the key over? i know injectors rarely get completely clogged, but what do yall think? is it a sound theory or am i way off?

 

My injectors actually did that. The problem from what I've heard is that these injectors were faulty. It was basically the newer standards in gasoline start to wear away the internal seals in the injectors and then gasoline is able to leak out of the injector. So you need to replace your injectors. If your car is non-turbo and you need injectors. I have a set of 6 injectors. I had recently replaces all 6 injectors in my non-turbo, and not much longer after I stupidly got in an accident. So if you're interested in injectors with not even 500 miles on them, let me know.

 

hey thanks man, i think i have a lead on a set, but if they fall through i will let you know.

 

if the o-rings are leaking then you'll end up with a vacuum leak as well. That will cause runnability all on its own.

 

Well would it cause a vaccum leak if the upper O-rings are leaking? I thought those were only to help seat the injectors?

 

so major vaccum leaks will keep it from running at all? my other car is an 86 4runner and i have had trouble with leaks past the MAF, but they just made it run crappy,. it ran, just not well. but with the z it could keep it from running at all?

 

a leak in intake tract past the AFM is not a vaccum leak. It will cause crappy running because more air is getting in after the AFM so the ECU is not getting the proper air reading. A vacuum leak is going to happen after the TB but before the valves.

And yes, a large enough vacuum leak can cause it to not idle. If you have the throttle at WOT though, the engine is not under vacuum and the car should start and run with the throttle in that position (if your problem is a vacuum leak). But then it will cause a lean mixture at WOT so you'll still have issues.

 

My ZX had the same problem when I bought it, it had been sitting for 3 years. The whole fuel system was plugged. It required replacing the injectors, fuel filter, and cleaning all the fuel lines, including the fuel pickup in the tank. Thankfully, the fuel pump was operational. I then drove it stock for three years before I started the conversion.

 

right i gotcha, i've tried it at WOT and still nothing. did you have to pull the pump and sending unit out of the tank to clean it, rick?

 

Yes, I had to pull the sending unit out of the tank. The pickup tube was almost fully varnished over. I had to actually carve/scrape the varnish out of the pickup tube. I then removed the rubber hose connections from both ends of the fuel lines and flushed the hard lines with a solvent that cut the varnish.

 

yum. well i determined the plug wires were not correct, so i swapped them out, and it was backfiring a little. i turned the distributor 180 out and still nothing. i hooked up propane to the brake booster line and disabled the fuel pump to try that, but i think propane is not flamable enough to power it. im going to try a butane tank next. hopefully that will at least get the car to fire up. *sigh* what a headache.

 

um... how about starter fluid?

 

butane as a gas will spread evenly among the intake manifold with no vaccum present. and if its sealed up, it wont backfire and cause the whole engine bay to go up. (slight exageration)

 

Well, i just replaced the injectors, pumped the old gas out of it, blah blah nothing. turned and turned but never even tried to kick over. this is kind of discouraging. any of yall live in Texas?

 

this have been a common theme lately no presser to the injectors.. or ... fuel line hooked up backawards...cloged lines..no juice to the fuel pump...

how to check...pull off fuel line goin to injectors... try to start ..ANY FUEL?

what I did is put a set of battery charger clamps on the pump turn it on....DID IT WINE.. if so have someone start it while under car..BE CAREFUL betcha it wil start now if pump is going//

needs fuel filer if cloged...blow it out with compressed air..or get new one.

just tryin to save ya money I just threw money at mine and it was a dumb prob that could have been fixed with 20$ woth of parts

LATER

 

Hey thanks for the advice, but thats the tricky part. brand new fuel filter, clean fuel lines, fresh gas, fuel pump works perfect, new injectors, i know it is getting pressure to the injectors, but im not sure if the injectors are firing. but i also determined the timing is way off, so im gonna work with that a little.

 

I also have an extra computer I might be able to let go cheap or simi cheap

later

 

its got a new computer too. =P

 

somthing I have tried with mine when it did the no start, was get out and push the vain in a little bit on the mass air flow wile somone cranks. it should try to start if that is the problem. make a slow sweep in and out with it if it does make a differance.
good luck hope it helps.