300 gurus, have a couple of questions:

 

Shop has a car 'off the boat', needs prepping which he'd said he'd do

 

1. If you drive a zx, and it feels sweet, no funny noises, smooth ride, engine ticks over nicely, but it just isnt pulling as hard as u'd expect...any ideas whats wrong? Do knackered turbos make a noise or could this be it? (It is A TT!)

 

2. Someones put one of those (in my opinion) nasty bin sized exhausts (SINGLE ONE ON THE RIGHT ONLY) on the back, its massive and far too laddish for my tastes (I like the twin tail pipes action), the thing isnt too loud, but do you know what id have to do to get the thing changed back to the zcentre type twin tail pipe action? Do i have to go for a 390 quid mongoose jobby from zcentre? Im not too fussed about the exahust, normal twin tails are good for me..

 

3. Brakes, didnt judder at high speed or anything but u have to brake quite hard to get anything happnin, is this normal for stock stuff?

 

Cheers guys I await your (as always) good advice...

 

 

 

Rob

Also, I was checking out the CAMBELT stuff, on the marker where it says about the service, it reads 13 06 16 and below it it gives a 101,600 km written on it, looks to me like this is when the serivce was done, as the car has done 116k km... Theres no history of one from japan but as i sed its straight off the boat. Do you think its the service record? Its the sticker that other posts mention about...

 

Cheers

I at first wasnt blown away by the performance of a stock zed off the line. I then realised that I was looking at it from the wrong angle,mines an auto so its probabaly different for amnuals, but i found it was the torque that was suprising. I came from a 200bhp Escort RS turbo before i got one of these and they have a t3 turbo as standard fit and i found that that would provide a much bigger kick in the ass when it came on song, where i found the zed to be lacking. But as I say its the zeds ability to be smooth yet give you alot of power throughout the rev range, unlike my rs which would be starting to run out off puff at the higher revs.

the zed is brilliand for motorway cruising, put your foot down at 100mph and there is a definite acceleration there where as in other cars they just ' gain momentum'.

Its probably the fact that it is so smooth that it feels this way.

 

Or it could have siezed turbos....

 

But with a few simple mods like ive done, boost controller and chip it really brings the car alive. Even though now ive got used to it, its when youve accellerated normally away from the lights and you glance in your rear view mirror and realise how far behind everyone else is that you realise how powerful these cars are.

Also, I was checking out the CAMBELT stuff, on the marker where it says about the service, it reads 13 06 16 and below it it gives a 101,600 km written on it, looks to me like this is when the serivce was done, as the car has done 116k km... Theres no history of one from japan but as i sed its straight off the boat. Do you think its the service record? Its the sticker that other posts mention about...

 

Cheers

 

 

that will probably indicate when it was changed, but for piece of mind, get it done yourself anyway.

stock brakes are pretty poo and the calipers are prone to siezing, ive recently had all mine un siezed and new discs and pads on and to be honest it made me realise how crap my brakes actually were. The stock set up isnt that bad when its all working. Its not great, but it does the job

whats the boost gauge reading??

whats the boost gauge reading??

 

Quite honestly mate, i didnt see it, im going again on monday and taking the bro in law so he'll hopefully know whats hapnin...will take that buyers guide as well, cheers

I at first wasnt blown away by the performance of a stock zed off the line.

Or it could have siezed turbos....

 

But with a few simple mods like ive done, boost controller and chip it really brings the car alive. Even though now ive got used to it, its when youve accellerated normally away from the lights and you glance in your rear view mirror and realise how far behind everyone else is that you realise how powerful these cars are.

 

 

I think there is something going on cos ive been testing these for 6 months now and have driven a few and this one def just feels a bit sluggish, hes going to give it a bit of a service so we'll see..also got the bro in law gonna check it out...

IMHO If you dont feel its quite right walk away, most of the time your basic gut instinct is right. Sure there are plenty more out there for sale (Just ask Scoops!)

Also, I was checking out the CAMBELT stuff, on the marker where it says about the service, it reads 13 06 16 and below it it gives a 101,600 km written on it, looks to me like this is when the serivce was done, as the car has done 116k km... Theres no history of one from japan but as i sed its straight off the boat. Do you think its the service record? Its the sticker that other posts mention about...

 

Cheers

 

Welcome to the forum :D

 

The Japanese date 13-06-16 refers to 13th year of current Emperor's reign, then 06-16 as normal USA date...... :)

 

Not well up on Japanese royal family issues, so I don't know what year that would be. :(

 

Richard :smw:

it could have been in safety boost. Mybrakes have to be pushed quite hard for the ABS to kick in

1. Might well be in safety boost - run ECU diag to find out why. (Search for ECU diagnostic on here or Google, it's quite easy)

 

Whereabouts does the boost gauge peak at?

 

If the seller won't let you do a diag (or see him/her doing it) walk away!

 

3. Probably need bleeding / topping up (or new fluid, it does go off eventually...) and/or new pads. Any puddles under the car or smell of burning DOT3 where leaks are dripping onto the engine?

 

I wouldn't say the stock brakes were spongy, but I wouldn't say they were exactly tight either... I think that's mostly down to the stock brake lines being a bit expansive, the difference with braided lines is amazing.

 

Do the discs / calipers look in good nick?

Well if your any where near me in herts your more than wellcome to pop round and i'll take you out so u can compaire, and give u some info, bought mine and the det sensor wasn't working , didn't know till i came on hear, i though it was slow

Do an ECU diagnostic. If you feel like that about the brakes then they need an overhaul ;) The sponginess on the Z is caused by flex in the bulkhead allowing the master cylinder to move with the pedal :)

 

If the ECU diagnostic shows code 34 then thats the Det sensor and you're in safety boost. Quite a job to replace although there is a temporary fix that will give you full boost (at the expense of losing the detonation sensing/self protection features of the ecu - do this at your own risk). TBH its not uncommon for a Z to need a brake overhaul at this age. Full caliper rebuild kits are available at

Rob if your near Ware in herts give us a bell 07739576906 if ya wonna have a look,i' ll take ya through the ECU codes

Rob if your near Ware in herts give us a bell 07739576906 if ya wonna have a look,i' ll take ya through the ECU codes

 

 

Thats exactly what this place is all about!!!! Every credit :)

Rob if your near Ware in herts give us a bell 07739576906 if ya wonna have a look,i' ll take ya through the ECU codes

 

cheers ill have my bro in law check it out and see what he thinks and then we'll go from there...good advice as always chaps thanks!

Currently at heisei-16 so that's three years ago!

and I expect that is when the service was due, not when it was completed - that's how is works with my garage here in Japan, they put a sticker on to remind me when next to service it.

 

Turbo's should be inaudable, except perhaps for the sound of 'whooshing' air when boosting. Any mechanical noises are bad.

and I expect that is when the service was due, not when it was completed - that's how is works with my garage here in Japan, they put a sticker on to remind me when next to service it.

 

Turbo's should be inaudable, except perhaps for the sound of 'whooshing' air when boosting. Any mechanical noises are bad.

 

Maybe, but then why would it be such a precise km..it said somethinglike 101,636 km, not just 100.000km?

well...thats that...was another turkey so my bro in law says, gearbox was on its way out.not overdriving properly at all....and definately wasnt pulling like a 300 should...THE SEARCH CONTINUES!