Hey guys! Long time no speak.

I bought another 280zx for $280 bucks. The car wasn't running and the guy just wanted it gone. First thing I did was take the battery back to Walmart and got a new one, was still under warranty.

It started up OK then (by spraying some carb cleaner in the intake the first time). It ran for a day or two and then died off. Jumped it and again same problem. Replaced the alternator.

Then I was driving it rough (seeing what it could do, which isn't much) and blew the radiator up, went everywhere. Replaced Radiator.

The only 3 things left are an intake manifold leak, exhaust gasket leak and one of the vents from the hood came off (drivers side). I didn't see anything that would be too messed up if water came down from there.

Now here is the kicker: When it is fair weather the car fires up immediately, first crank. When it is rainy (sprinkling or whatever) it wont fire up no matter what I do to coax it. I even sprayed carb cleaner directly into the air intake and still nothing. My friend thought it was not getting spark so I held one of the spark wires and let me tell you, it is getting spark. I'm fairly sure it is getting air, so I'm kinda lost. Works fine without the rain, works like crap with the rain.

OH and 3 other clues I didn't mention:
1. I replaced the distributor cap because it wasn't held down right, part of it was melted (the part that holds it down).
2. I felt a shock when holding onto the hood looking in while trying to get it started. Maybe shorting out in the wet? It wasn't soaked but it wouldn't start when i went out originally before opening the hood.
3. I live in Florida, so humidity is usually 100 percent.

 

Pull the TPS plug.

 

Hehe I'll have to wait for the next rain!

Why would that do it? And anyway you can draw a picture around it? I think I know where it is based on Googling but I could be wrong.

 

XenonS130 - S130 Reference

 

Yes, sir. I have that. It is just that it is a pdf in like 17 parts so it isn't so easy to find stuff in. I'll find it though.

 

If you know what the throttle body is, it's right on the side of that and the plug just pulls right out.

 

okay we finally had another rain. It started raining in the middle of the day, and at about 530 I had to go to school. I figured it wouldn't start because I hadn't done anything to fix it (other than put the hood vent back on) but it did. I drove it to school. Took an hour long final and drove it back with no hitch. I was feeling optimistic that it fixed itself and so the next morning I came out pretty certain it would start, but it didn't. Same problems as before. I removed the plug from the side of the throttle body with no luck, sounded exactly the same.

Any other ideas? I didn't try it a bunch that morning cause I wasn't sure I could jump it later and didn't want to kill the battery.

Thanks!

 

So...
Is water getting sucked into the intake?
Is it getting proper fuel delivery?
Is it getting spark?

 

The intake does have a leak on the top (where the air part connects to the engine part), so that is possible. Maybe I should put a line of engine caulk on it to see if that helps?

I know it is getting spark (shocked myself to make sure), and fairly sure it is getting fuel because I can hear the fuel pump, not sure how else I could test that without disconnecting it.

Thanks again!

 

Could be moisture getting into your distributor cap. Check the contacts, also if you're getting shocked by your hood, check your wiring. How are the spark plug wires? Any arcing? Are all the battery cables ok, and the positive terminal is covered?

 

Not sure how you would get shocked from the hood unless one hand was on the hood and the other one on the spark plug wires or coil. The battery won't shock you with only 12V

 

Yea that was oddball. It was the strength of a spark plug shock (maybe a hair less) but at that point the whole engine was pretty wet (cause we had worked on it so long), so it might have shorted for that reason that time.

 

A wet engine shouldn't shock you since the whole car and engine are grounded unless like I said you were touching the coil or spark plug wire with the other hand completing the circuit.

When you have problems starting it when it's raining spray some alcohol on the TPS connector (it will mix with the water since it's hydroscopic) then blow it out with compressed air till it's totaly dry. Hook it up and see if it works. Do the same thing with the AFM connector. If you are still having problems pull the dizzy cap off and blow it out with just compressed air till it's dry.

Be sure that your connectors aren't corroded both the TPS and the TPS connector and the AFM and the AFM connector.