How reliable is the stock ECU on the 300ZX?

 

The majority of these were built in the early 90's around the same time as the Mitsi GTO. Having had 3 GTO's two of which had ECU failiures, its something I would like to address, before it could happen again.

 

it seems the capacitors used on the circuit board to build the GTO's ECU only had a 15 year life span, which wasnt known at the time of production. Capacitors started to leak, ECU's started to get false readings, start over compensating for things that werent happening, and caused BIG problems in the engines.

 

I know a guy who does stock ECU rebuilds, replacing all ECU components with original OEM spec parts, it only costs around £300 and I dont mind doing it if I need too.

 

 

But do I need to? If I bought a GTO (which im not), I would get ECU done on day of purchase as it is a big problem.

 

However, I have no idea if I need to, buying the 300ZX.

Haven't heard of any common ECU failure issues on the zed matey. The stock ecu is a pretty robust piece of kit and if it does fail then they are readily available s/h for a few quid.

 

The main electrical issues that the zed can have is corroded plugs on the loom or brittle wires in the engine bay. All these are relatively easily solved if your handy with a soldering iron and some contact cleaner.

 

HTH

nice, thats great news.

 

yes I can deal with changing a few wires and contacts. had a loom short out once, under the steering column, think it must of been moved when the remote start was added, and where me and the wife had been adjusting the wheel each time we drove the car, wires wore down as they were trapped in the adjustment area. almost had a full on fire. managed to fix it with some shrink wrap and solder, I think there was over 30 wires, and they had all fused together where the initial two shorted and burnt through the rest.

 

Fun memories huh lol. I might not of ever thought of that again if you hadnt mentioned it lol.

nice, thats great news.

 

yes I can deal with changing a few wires and contacts. had a loom short out once, under the steering column, think it must of been moved when the remote start was added, and where me and the wife had been adjusting the wheel each time we drove the car, wires wore down as they were trapped in the adjustment area. almost had a full on fire. managed to fix it with some shrink wrap and solder, I think there was over 30 wires, and they had all fused together where the initial two shorted and burnt through the rest.

 

Fun memories huh lol. I might not of ever thought of that again if you hadnt mentioned it lol.

 

Car electrics eh, don't you love them. lol

 

A couple of other electrical things to look out for are; Water running down the drivers or passengers footwell on to the electrics, this can cause some weird electrical issues. It's normally caused by the targa drains being block or leaking. The series 1 PTU (front left of the engine has alloy cooling fins and is bit bigger than a fag packet) can also cause running problems due to it overheating. Can either be relocated and replaced with a s/h one or upgraded to a series 2 PTU which cured the problem. And finally, a lot of zeds have butchered wiring where gauges, stereos etc have been poorly installed so it's worth checking that out.

 

Sounds a lot but they are all easily solved :)

definately nothing there to phase me, I was going to gt a turbo servicing kit, and change the sills etc... but I think thats a bit beyond my capability, will be expensive if I go wrong. May get them rebuilt by a pro, and get new propellers etc at the same time.

If you are that bothered I can sell you an ECU which was replaced by Nissan a few years ago at the cost of £800, should technically be more reliable than one thats been on the car for 20+ years.

lol Baz, Thanks for the offer my friend, however, seems that they are quite reliable. However, if the one you had from Nissan has a more recent map or is of a "better spec" than the original early 90's ECU's I may take you up on it, depends on which vehicle I buy.

 

+Rep to you both :D