I recently purchased a project 1993 300zx that's kinda riced out....okay totally riced out. I love it though cause its a gorgeous blue color and love how it handles. The previous owner tried to do stuff to it and failed epically. I don't know what was done but I will tell you what has been fixed and what my problems are. The belts were too tight and had to replace the water pump because of it. It didn't pass emissions so I ran some fuel injector cleaner, changed the oil and air filters and it passed the second time. The driveshaft got replaced because it got beat to hell because a 18 year old girl who knows nothing about lowered cars beat the underside of the car to **** with speed bumps. Once I got it driveable for work, I've noticed that it smells like gas sometimes. Not only that but it doesn't accelerate worth crap. It feels like I drive a 4 cylinder not a v6. The transmission is very slow to change gears and its been rebuilt only a year ago. Unfortunately it's an automatic. It's a N/A 2+2. The gas mileage is terrible on the car too which is really bad because its my daily driver. Any ideas on whats going on? I'm learning how to work on my car on my own so maybe to you guys these are noob questions but I'd love some answers. Thanks! I can post some pics of the car if you wanna see what it looks like.

 

Its probably leaking fuel at one of the many fuel lines under the hood. Which is a rather common issue on the Z32 during winter. Start just by following the fuel line from the filter all the way through and under the manifold and check for any leaks. Thats probably part of the MPG issue.

If its got a check engine light on you may as well pull the codes to figure out whats up. If when you first start the car and you dont see a check engine light anywhere within the first few seconds then they probably removed the bulb, or it burnt out.

 

I think you need to check for dead cylinder(s).

Start the car and let it idle. Then one at a time, pull the connector from the coil pack. The rpms should drop (you'll also hear the engine stumble for a second).

If you pull a plug and nothing happens, you found a dead cylinder.

And as the poster above said, very first thing you should do is check your codes