Hi guys ive been driving a GTO TT for the last 3 years and just fancied a change. so went for a 1991 300z TT auto.

 

driving home which was a nice 160 miles i noticed a few issues with it.

 

1. auto box. with o/d off its absolutely fine cruises at about 3k revs at 60

switching O/d on does just the same so i dont think it can find 4th gear i believe? is this a tcu fault? or something more simple?

 

also with o/d on it doesnt like to go through the gears very nicely unless you floor it or go 2nd then D.

 

2. give it abit off stick and when you pull over smoke appears to come from directly below the center off the car and at the back off the engine bay from below. its a white smoke with a slight oily scent to it. however driving normally without going over 4k this does not happen. maybe a turbo seal with a leaky exhaust? or the autobox suffering perhaps?

 

these are the only problems so far. so not really too bad of a buy at the price i paid. its on 107k miles recent service too and 12 months mot.

 

any advice would be highly appreciated. will see if i get time to warm the car up and have a look to what i can find.

 

Thank you

 

Josh

Hi Joshy welcome to the club,

 

I havn't any experience of auto boxes, but is it an import or a UK car - I believe it makes a difference to what functions the auto box has. Are you sure you are not refering to the power hold button as opposed to the o/d off button? Just checking.

 

I'm sure someone with experience will be able to help you

 

Post some pics of your car up in the Newbies section too!

Hi Josh and welcome to the club

If the TPS (throttle position sensor) is set incorrectly it will affect gear changes, in an auto, although you should still get overdrive/4th gear above 45mph regardless.

 

Is it a Jap or UK spec? does it have the hold/power switch?

It could be an auto ecu fault, you can run your own auto diagnostics and count the flashes to determine the fault

http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=128846

 

Sound like turbo seals, fairly common if an aftermarket exhaust and decats are fitted, with weak seals in the first place.

thanks for the fast replies! im not sure if its uk or jap. however its only got MPH on the speedo. and has the power/hold button facilities too. i beleive myself its the auto ecu as thats a common one on the gto too. where abouts is that located?

 

turbo seals i believe it is then! will investigate!

 

shopping time soon i think :) lets get another 300z fully functional again! :)

the pic of groovers shows a light in the bumper at the side... this is jap (& US) spec....

there are many other ways to tell as well....

i.e.

smaller rear number plate...

no fog lights in the bumper...

etc....

If you have the power/hold switch, it's a jap import, UKs didn't have them, unless the unlikely event that someone has put a jap centre console in a UK, but you can tell if the lghts come on the dash when you flick the switch, keep the switch in the middle position....

yeah i should think its a jap import! where can i get decent turbo's from at a good price? and a gearbox ecu too? any ideas on prices too? many thanks!

Place a want add in the wanted section, you should be able to get the ecu...

 

not sure about the turbos but you should get someone to look at it before spending out the big bills...

right! just done a road test (vigerous one) lol.

 

smoke is due to the last owner not putting dipstick in right! so under pressure oil has been spurting out over the battery etc and drips down onto the turbo lol so never endingly smoking slightly oops! so thats that fixed now!

 

turbos themselves are spooling well and when the gauge worked showed all signs off 100%.

 

on way back turbo gauge cut out! new problem to fix lol!

 

more about the autobox after 6k it starts shuddering up to 7k and changes gear. why its shudders im not sure maybe the tbc's need adjusting? either way i need to test the autobox ecu first. hopefully its ok! it couldnt be a worn out torque converter? hmmm

silly question,,, but have you checked the oil level? may need a change (now that is a crap job).

engine oil and filter has been changed before i bought it hence why dippy was out still. fuel filter was changed.

 

will check the autobox fluid soon when engine cools down.

 

thanks

hi joshy if you need a hand i live in cromer i don't know every thing but i know a bit. sounds like a vacuum pipe has come of the boost sensor, i had a similar problem when one of mine split. the gear box could be a prop bearing or bush?

hi joshy if you need a hand i live in cromer i don't know every thing but i know a bit. sounds like a vacuum pipe has come of the boost sensor, i had a similar problem when one of mine split. the gear box could be a prop bearing or bush?

 

 

ah that would be really really handy!

 

im working in the morning and im not sure when my next days off are. im a chef currently so hours are abit insane until the whole holiday hype is over. as you probably know.

 

could keep in touch and come to you or whatever is best for you? im in stiffkey, just before wells-next-the-sea area along the coast road. so really not far off from you at all. :)

right! just done a road test (vigerous one) lol.

 

smoke is due to the last owner not putting dipstick in right! so under pressure oil has been spurting out over the battery etc and drips down onto the turbo lol so never endingly smoking slightly oops! so thats that fixed now!

 

 

Not wanting to be too pessimistic, but I had a dip-stick out problem. It was caused by my piston rings failing. If you have another problem with the dipstick coming out, then you should do a compression test ASAP to confirm if it is a problem. When my did it, you couldn't see anything behind me, it was like Batman's smokescreen on the Batmobile :batman:

 

If its just a one off then, hopefully, you will be OK.

 

Good luck getting your car back to full health!

lol. well that dont sound too good! will keep checking to make sure. will do a compression test soon aswell to make sure everything is A-ok! what psi should the cylinders be?

 

on the gto its closest to 150psi is it the same? thanks again!

About 160 psi is about right iirc. Anything close to that figure and you're fine. If its much less then you know you have issues. Can't remember what my results were exactly, but 2 cylinders were well below 100psi. Hence why the dipstick got pushed out when I booted it. It was possible to drive without popping the stick out, but only if you drove like a normal person.

 

I'll keep my fingers crossed that it isn't a compression problem for you, as its expensive to put right. Then again, oil seals in turbos aren't exactly straight forward either. No point jumping to conclusions yet though - if you ever need a professional's opinion, I highly recommend Jeff at Zedworld and 'Jimmer' our forum engine expert (well, make that anything Zed related actually). There's a lot of very knowledgable people on here!

If the autobox is overfilled you can also get the autobox dipstick popping up and maybe some fluid getting past the tailshaft seal where the prop will spin it onto the exhausts.

This will come in very handy for you matey....

 

http://www.300zx.co.uk/cgi-bin/manual.cgi