Just bought a 1990 Z, advice needed

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Nov 1, 2003 | 07:24 PM

Lucient

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Head Gasket and possible 161k maintinence?

I just bought a 1990 300zx with 161000 miles. The lady that sold it to me said it had a blown head gasket, but other than that it ran fine. Of course, I got the car for 850$ and the body was just repainted, and looked prefect, the interior is in pretty good condition, coupla flaws but nothing really bad. Anyway I was wondering how hard it is going to be to change that head gasket myself? I can do most mechanic work, but some friends of mine told me that these cars are fairly challenging to work on. Also, the car obviously has quite a bit of mileage, although these cars can run to almost 250-300 if properly taken care of, but I was wondering what I should look for on a car with mileage like that? I have never worked on a car with this many miles, beyond the obvious things like the clutch, shocks and springs, what else should i be looking at? And what kind of condition can i expect the transmission to be in assuming the lady drove it at least moderatly responsibly? Thanks much for any advice!

--David

Last edited by Lucient; Nov 3, 2003 at 05:35 AM.

Nov 4, 2003 | 05:45 AM

ZCARDiego

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Joined: Jun 2003

Posts: 47

From: Northem New Jersey

All 1990 300ZXs have gearbox problems that come from manufacturing, and it doesn't matter how well the transmission was treated over the last 13 years, you'll have them too. It comes in the form of a grinding noise on the third to fourth upshift, and the easiest and cheapest solution is this: either slow that upshift down, just a bit, or double clutch, like you would in a big truck or some vintage racecars. The proper solution, of course, is to have the tranny rebuilt. In your case, you should have the motor rebuilt first. 161000 miles AND a blown head gasket; the engine is very strong, but it's not a magical engine. If the old lady blew the engine like that, who knows what else she did? Change the oil once a year? Flush the cooling system once every ten years? Never change the timing belt? You know what I mean? Just because the car was driven by an old lady, "never raced," doesn't mean that it was properly maintained. Good luck, Diego.

Nov 4, 2003 | 09:23 AM

Lucient

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Thanks for the advice. I actually got the car back home, looked at it, and the head gaskets are most definatly intact. I think her mechanic was just trying to make a quick buck lol. The car runs fine, idles good and everything. However there is a loss of power and some smoke, i posted about it right above this one i think the problem could just be fairly easy to fix (i hope). The smoke problem lessened a TON the more i drove the car. Anyway thanks again.

--David