Niku-Sama

alright a couple questions, keep it plain and simple.

if i have been driving arround town and i stop and shut off the car and come back out in 5 or 10 minutes the car starts fine but its not firing on all cylinders and i was wondering how to fix it?
a little bit of driving gets them all going though but its hard to get going some times.

also when i am driving arround i notice 2nd gear gets harder to shift into and if i am parked, i push the clutch in and i wait a few moments, one time i waited as much as 5 minutes, it still grinds going into reverse. i am going all the way to the right past the gate that feels like is sectioning off 5th and Rth waiting, and then going into reverse and it still does it more when its warm than cold.
fluids are clear and full, no shavings.


any thoughts? clutch not completely disengaging possibly and spins more when in park warm because its grippier?

i also almost forgot, the jackass that had my car was Mr. STP, addatives and flushes all over the place, its not always bad but when you use so much "water pump lube" your coolant looks an awful lot like a head gasket has been blown. its not i have flushed the cooant out once but i know i didnt get it all the stuff out of it as theres chunks of floaties in it still.
oil doesent get low in 3k miles to suggest any thing other than a small pan gasket leak and valve cover seepage but i was wondering what gets gunk out of a cooling system?

i saw the thread about rust i figured oily greasy stuff is harder or different to get out...should i use a diluted mix of alchahol and water mabe?

and i know getting the **** out of my coolant would help but my temp gets about 3/4 way to hot and the same jack *** put a "non back flushing motorad" (?) thermostat in it. or so he said. i got a OE Kit from the dealer and would 180F keep me at about the middle of the guage and runs me a bit cooler?

lww

There's obviously a couple of things here. The tranny is because your 2nd gear synchro is going out. 2nd and Reverse share the same synchro. You can extend it's life a little if you drain it and add some good synthetic manual transmission fluid like RedLine MT90. And you should learn how to rev match when you shift into 2nd to minimize the need for the synchro.

I'm not sure what the warm start issue might be. Do you know what cylinders are not firing? Is it the same one(s) every time or different?

Niku-Sama

i dont have a problem with 5th, i have a problem with reverse.
reverse shouldnt have a synchro and i am not moving when i shift.

its hard to rev match with this tranny because of the short gears, especialy between 1st and 2nd, they are VERY short. 80 MPH is about 4-4.5k in 5th.
as you can imagine i get better gasmilage intown than on the freeway

i edited it aswell about some cooling system stuff

lww

Sorry, I meant 2nd and Reverse, not 5th. You are correct, 5th has no synchro.

What tranny and rear-end do you have that you're running 4-4.5k in 5th at 80mph?!

Niku-Sama

beats me. i am pretty sure, not positive its an R200 rear but i donno what gear set, some one threw a random number at me but i cant remember what it was, mabe 3.10? it was a while ago.
i wonder if the invoice would say

edit:
nope, just says grand luxry option (+$1304!), all the other options it came with and the port of entry and lot it was sold at and a serial number for the engine even.

the total price on this car in 1979 was $13,273

duowing

The starting issue is a problem that seems to plague alot of us 280ZX owners. I have it, I remember Rod saying the same thing would happen to him, other guys have it. I read on Zcar someone mentioned to pop the hood and leave it open when you turn off the car. Then when you come back in 5 min or so see if it starts up fine. It's said that these cars seem to have trouble with vapor lock. I guess this could be an issue, I personally think it's sensor connections. I know for me it's my 84' Z31 ECU. When I was running the 86' ECU the problem was non-existent.

luvturbo74

My 83 zxt has the same starting problem. Seems to only do it after I've driven it awhile and the temp is 85 or higher. I've had it sit as long as an hour and still misses til I drive it a bit.

Niku-Sama

you know i forgot about something, i remember driving an old lincon (HUGE *** thing from '75) and when i parked it after going cross town it wouldnt start up again for along time and after some time it started but was all funky like this.

i remember the problem being an ignition module, it was like our ignition coul and the ignition unit on the distributer as one block in the engine bay. well it would get heat soaked and not work right and i am wondering if the same thing is happening but to a lesser extent. its kinda what happens when electronics, no matter how basic, get old.

oi the things i need to do (not just with the car) are starting to add up, not cool for some one with no job

lww

1979 280ZX GL Coupe w/5 speed should have a 3.7:1 R200 with the following ratios in the tranny:

1st - 3.321
2nd - 2.077
3rd - 1.308
4th - 1.000
5th - 0.864

So, a 3.7 diff and a 0.864 OD 5th should put you at just over 3400 rpm in 5th gear with the stock 195/70/14 tires...

duowing

It's possible. I know that our cars can collect up quite a bit of heat. The biggest issue is the long heat trapping hood, and the exhaust and intake being on the same side don't exactly help. Usually the ignition is an issue with warm if the car runs fine while warm I'd say the Ignition is most likely fine. Although it's possible that it's an ignition in the early stages of failing.

hermultra

thats what the injector fan was their for (vapor lock) mine was taken off, so the strut bar could be installed..... mine does the same thing, when warm....

duowing

Removed the injector fan in my car as well. I did the valve cover gasket, then put it back on. Found out I screwed up the valve cover gasket and had to do it again so the injector fan came off and never went back on. I never actually had it turn on. Well except for the time when I hooked up the temp gauge, and the connector for the injector fan incorrectly. Other than that it's never come on.

Niku-Sama

should but doesent mean it will, its a 2+2 any way.
i've noticed in older cars like this, it isnt always the parts get swapped some times, its that it was bulit that way for reasons unknown, probally out of stock on one part so they stuck another in.

i forgot to mension if it matter its really only more difficult when its warm to shift into 2nd gear, well acually the shifter shaft is pretty hot if i push the boot down and feel, thats when it gets difficult

as for the injector fan thing it would still do it with the fan in the car still.

lww

The 2+2 used the same differential ratio and transmission. And, they didn't just "stick another one in" because they were out of the part that was supposed to go in.

This was during a period where they had a parts manufacturing volume and inventory that we can only dream about today. More Z's were sold in the 5 years between '79 and '83 than were sold in the previous 10 years.

If the car has a configuration that isn't "right" it's because it HAS been swapped with an inappropriate part in the last 25 or 30 years.

At a minimum, I would drain and replace the tranny oil with Redline 75w90ns.

If it is vapor lock related, you can get an aftermarket fuel rail from PAllnet or, you can wrap the factory fuel rail with "header" wrap to try and keep it cooler.

Niku-Sama

i'll probally get a rail some time, probally do a rail, headers, and injectors (gettin some seepage nothing major) exhaust/intake gasket at the same time.
3.5k at 65-70mph if it was normal what should it be at?
pretty sure its still got an R-200 rear end, theres a "00" under a glob of crap that i can see and i hardly spin tires and if they do get loose its both not just the one that has the least ammount of wait shifted to it


alright what aboot the coolant?
seriously, i have never ever seen bottles of just "water pump lube" and this guy gave me 2 of them so its all gunked up. i have seen the stop leak w/ lube but not straight lube. i dont have the money to boil it out but with the thermostat thats in it it doesent get overly hot.

lww

With the original parts, you should be turning 2800 at 65mph and 3050 at 70 mph.

Niku-Sama

huh, oh well. as you can imagine it accelerates like mad

lww

That's the fun part! Unfortunately, it kills you on highway cruising and mpg...

Oh well, you'll be able to smoke ricer's like a cheap cigarette!