pilottype

So I bought a 300ZX for my son. It seemed reasonable at the time, but it's been a living nightmare. The car has 83k on it, a reasonable body, no transmission sounds that aren't normal. That's where it ends. On my son's first outing, the fan belt broke and the car overheated. That cost me $1000 including the tow. After that, the valve cover gaskets needed to be replaced. The alternator, battery, and fuel regulator have been replaced. The oil sender wasn't sending anything - replaced. Ignition module? Replaced, along with the amateurish splice job on the wiring harness.

LOONG story short, I'm about $8300 deep into this hole. With all of those repairs (I am no mechanic), the car now will not exceed 4500 rpm. When it gets there, it shuts off and won't restart for at least 30 minutes. I don't dare drive it - I've already had it towed, twice.

Anybody? It's about a step away from being donated. I'm starting to hate it, and I'm old enough to have drooled over this very car when it was new. What started as an attempt to get my son a cool car has really bitten me in the butt. Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks,
Pete

zxguy1986

Welcome to ZDriver! Sorry to hear of your problems with your 'new' Z32. If you don't already have one, download a freebie factory service manual at XenonZ32.com Reference

You should also tell us the tranny, turbo-or-no, etc., of your Z. Otherwise, nobody is certain what car you're asking about.

Our Z pros will have some input for you. Meanwhile, do everyone a favor. Sign in, go to User CP menu (upper left), click Edit Signature and add your Z model, year, shifter, turbo or NA, etc. Saves you having to add it to every post. (Guys here go crazy if you don't lock your Q to your specific Z every time you post...They just ignore questions without enough info) Then click Edit Avatar and add a little Z pic under your nick. Cool. You are solid.

When you identify your Z (and maybe tell us the drivers' age... ) guys here will have some answers.

Welcome and thanks!

rogerz

if you are in the seattle area you can drop it off at my house. I'd go $50 for it.

pilottype

OK, hopefully I did that correctly. Just in case I didn't:

1990 300ZX NA, 5-speed stick, no mods on the car. The driver is my son, age 16. Since it doesn't actually work, consider the driver to be me, age 43. If I can get it reliable for in-town driving, I might keep it for myself, and give him my truck.

What are the thoughts on a bad ECU? What's weird to me is that it'll get to 4500 RPM, die, then restart after a while. Could it be a bad ignition module? I just replaced that, and if it's already bad, I'd have to consider a wiring problem that's killing it.