Hello, I am a brand new user here and have just purchased a Zed and need a little guidance please.

 

I have searched the forum but as I am a total nightmare with anything mechanical nothing makes a great deal of sense.

 

I got the car at a great price, followed the buying guide and everything came up to scratch, however at idle the right (drivers side) exhaust 'splutters'. The idle itself is very smooth and performance wise it is superb, the left hand exhaust is smooth as silk.

 

Once the car has been running the 'splutter' tends to disappear for a while but if left to idle, after a few minutes it will start again.

 

One of my mates reckons it may be running on 5 cylinders so I was hoping somebody could give me an idiots guide to checking whether or not this is the case. Is there an easy way of checking it out? If it is a cylinder down, there is a lot of chat about PTUs etc and again if somebody could break it down to monkey boy level it would be appreciated.

 

Cheers :)

If the car has only been idling loads of times and has never had a decent run the back boxes could be full of water. A decent drive should dry it out.

 

Otherwise you need to check all the usual things. Run the diagnostics and also check the oxygen sensors - the diagnostics do it for you. Check the online manual.

 

Electrical connectors filling with green oxide can cause misfires. They need to be carefully taken apart, cleaned and re fitted. The Z has loads. Check TPS,CAS, Temp, PTU for starters.

I'm going to be brutally honest bud and say if you can't tell if its running on 5 or not by simply listening to it then I don't hold out much hope of you fixing it. I see an expensive and painful future with your Z ownership. With these ageing cars, in my opinion, you have to have a basic understanding of them, or at least an engine. You admit you a bit of a nightmare with anything mechanical so I think we are up against it already.

This is all negative so far and sorry about that so I've pasted a couple of links and do yourself a favour and read through them, thoroughly. I'm sure we will all do what we can to help you - its just tricky explaining stuff without that basic knowledge.

First things to check are injectors, coilpacks, PTU, temp sensor, thats what I would do anyway.

Good luck. I have to search for those links so will post again underneath here.

There are some excellent pointers here. Well worth reading through them.

http://www.zhome.com/ZCMnL/PICS/hes...hesitation.html

 

and also http://www.twinturbo.net/ttnetfaq/F.../hesitate2.html

Left hand PTU connector - no I don't have a picture LOL

 

Look at the front of the engine, left hand cambelt cover, behind the upper rad hose, is a metal finned object, this is the PTU. Give the left hand connector a bit of a shove around and listen to the engine.... Failing that do all the usual checks as listed above.

 

You're a novice now, but hang about and you'll be an ace mechanic in months ;) LOL

Andy, lol - your favourite! my fav is temp sensor for some reason! That bugger can right fook things up.

this may help a bit :- http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=26120

I'm going to be brutally honest bud and say if you can't tell if its running on 5 or not by simply listening to it then I don't hold out much hope of you fixing it. I see an expensive and painful future with your Z ownership. With these ageing cars, in my opinion, you have to have a basic understanding of them, or at least an engine. You admit you a bit of a nightmare with anything mechanical so I think we are up against it already.

This is all negative so far and sorry about that so I've pasted a couple of links and do yourself a favour and read through them, thoroughly. I'm sure we will all do what we can to help you - its just tricky explaining stuff without that basic knowledge.

First things to check are injectors, coilpacks, PTU, temp sensor, thats what I would do anyway.

Good luck. I have to search for those links so will post again underneath here.

 

It was negative James but bloody true!

Yeah, I feel a bit bad now. Sorry Pete! I will do anything I can to help. Where's Oban?

hi pete do you have a aftermarket exhaust? I have and the notes from both are not the same the drivers side sound flatter than the passenger side, and mine is running on all 6.

 

cheers

 

jim

hi pete do you have a aftermarket exhaust? I have and the notes from both are not the same the drivers side sound flatter than the passenger side, and mine is running on all 6.

 

cheers

 

jim

 

I get the same slightly,wonder if its the fact theres no exhaust balance tube!

Oban,Scotland,famous for Whisky and Myths&Legends,sounds my kinda place :cool:

 

Tony

Andy, lol - your favourite! my fav is temp sensor for some reason! That bugger can right fook things up.

 

 

Yup :D From experience its always the one that goes. Maybe something to do with any leaks from the top rad hose joint leaking onto that connector? Or maybe because the connector points up slightly so has a kind of bucket effect, catching water...

 

Now I'm turning into SRRAE.... :D

Sorry Guys, I was away for a couple of weeks there.

 

Thanks for all your help.

 

No problem on the cheek - it don't bother me! I want a Zed, I've got a Zed and if it breaks I'll do my best to fix it.

 

All your help is appreciated.

 

I'll check out your links and then let you know my 'professional' opinion,

 

Pete

it would be interesting to find out for certain what this is caused by as ive posted a few questions on here about this before but no one seems to know why

 

mine seems to be getting worse now and it's now making the noise through both exhausts??

 

ive just ordered a blitz power fliter kit for mine so maybe hoping for a difference over the standard airbox, maybe it affects the exhaust note that much on idle??

 

jim

There are some excellent pointers here. Well worth reading through them.

http://www.zhome.com/ZCMnL/PICS/hes...hesitation.html

 

and also http://www.twinturbo.net/ttnetfaq/F.../hesitate2.html

 

 

I couldn't get these links to work but I'll maybe try at home later.

 

I have checked to see which cylinder it is that is failing and it is the rear driver's side (number 5).

 

Interestingly, I took Andy Duff's advice and tried wiggling the cable on the PTU (difficult to get to) and no difference at all. However when I touched the ECU water temp sensor and the dashboard water temp sensor, my fan came on immediately. Now either it wasn't plugged in properly and I have just reconnected it or something else just happened!

 

Now I don't suppose that is connected to the 5th cylinder as it made feck all difference on idle, however the fan is on constantly.

 

Does this mean that the ECU now believes the car is running hot and is attempting to cool it down? Presumably if I unhooked the battery for a while that would straighten that out but what effect would it have on the 5th cylinder problem? WOuld it start messing with the fueling levels?

 

I am at your mercy oh great ones :bow:

If your running on 5 mate, your doing OK.

 

Where the feck is OBEN?. I know were Wally is

Oban is in scotland - absolutely fantastic when the suns out, if its raining erm..... :D

 

If the fan is on then the ECU is not picking up the signal from the temp sensor (yellow connector with 2 pins on the upper metal rad pipe). Clean those connections and see how you get on there... Once the fan is off again (assuming the car isn't overheating or the aircon is not on) then that conection is sorted ;)

Oban is in scotland - absolutely fantastic when the suns out, if its raining erm..... :D

 

If the fan is on then the ECU is not picking up the signal from the temp sensor (yellow connector with 2 pins on the upper metal rad pipe). Clean those connections and see how you get on there... Once the fan is off again (assuming the car isn't overheating or the aircon is not on) then that conection is sorted ;)

 

Oh! My fan is always on! i thought this was normal. Ah well.

LOL easy fix - take the yellow connector off the upper metal rad pipe coming out the front of the engine and give the terminals a good clean. Failing that, there may be a break in the wire at the connector - no need for a new connector, just crimp some suitable spade connectors on the end. Of course a new connector is best in the long term but to prove a point, spade connectors will be fine..... :)

LOL easy fix - take the yellow connector off the upper metal rad pipe coming out the front of the engine and give the terminals a good clean. Failing that, there may be a break in the wire at the connector - no need for a new connector, just crimp some suitable spade connectors on the end. Of course a new connector is best in the long term but to prove a point, spade connectors will be fine..... :)

 

Cheers for that. Well my Z is 80 miles away so i cant reach the connector from here. Ill give it a go at the weekend. Cheers.

LOL :D Go go gadget arms.....

Oban is here for anybody interested

 

http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?X=200000.91203275&Y=750000.443176669&width=500&height=300&client=public&gride=185876.91203275&gridn=729541.443176669&srec=0&coordsys=gb&addr1=&addr2=&addr3=&pc=&advanced=&local=&scale=4000000

 

As Andy says, lovely when the sun shines but other than that it really does rain a lot. Some cracking roads around here though.

 

Anyway, back to my little 5 cylinder problem.......

 

See those links that James300 put up, I can't seem to access them :cry: . Can anybody help??

http://www.twinturbo.net/ttnetfaq/FAQpages/hesitate2.html

 

http://www.zhome.com/ZCMnL/PICS/hesitation/hesitation.html

 

try those dude. If they come up page cannot be displayed (like it did for me just then) then hit "refresh".

Lovely, no probs that time.

 

I'll be giving this a basj in the cold light of day and see how we get on.

 

I may be back yet!

 

But thanks to you all again.

 

Pete

hi so yours is definatley running on 5 then, have you tryed swapping all the coils round and plugs?

 

 

 

jim

No, I haven't but I'll do a test tomorrow by taking a definite plug and testing for a spark. I'll just hold the little b'stard and then touch the bodywork, see if I feel anything when the key is turned!! If the hairs on my arms are at attention, then I can assume the coil pack is cool and then try replacing plugs.

 

I'm just going to work my way back along the system and see what happens.

 

Cannae wait to gie it a bash. 6 cylinders must be quality!!!!