Guys...

 

First of all, great forum, loads of great advice on here...

 

Now before I get too enthusiastic over my purchase of a ZX ive just looked at..

 

Basicly I went to see a 1990 TT Auto thats been sat for nearly a year since its last MoT and respray last october. The guy who isnt at all a jap car enthusiast says he's done only 50miles in the car and has been put away in a garage all year doing regular start ups etc. He's got work, g/f and future kid commitments so it was going dirt cheap. The car is in good shape.

 

He took me out for a 10 minute run but didnt floor it too hard as its been sat. We parked up, I let the car idle for 10mins looking out for any smoke etc. There was no whining and boost pressure on idle and on almost full chat was as it should be. He highly recommended it needs a service since its been sat for a long time and not been driven properly since he got it, I agree...

 

Before I collect the car now i've laid down the deposit my only concerns were the fact that the oil pressure gauge sat at 0 on idle but was moving above 4 when he gave it a moderate throttling. There was no oil pressure light and no noises, the power came in fine. The needle even moved when it was revved even a little bit when static. Wierd?! But other than that the engine seemed to run fine, got the slight smell of fuel on start up and a knocking/tappety noise was apparent (engine lid up) until it was run and brought back home it was pretty silent. Would this be due to where it had been sat?

 

When I pick it up im going to drive slow for the 270 odd miles home, what do you guys suggest I do to the car ie what oil, any treatment etc?

 

The car has nissan service history, 70k miles on the clock (genuine), a replacement engine by a Z specialist priced at £1200 (why would this be?)

 

Im boiling it down to either gunky oil that needs changing or a faulty sender?

 

Advice will be brilliant and expect me to be a paid up member!:)

 

Im coming from a simple MR2 Turbo entusiastic background, this 300ZX seems more sensitive lol

 

I await your feedback!

 

Many thanks

 

James

Hi James,

 

The oil pressure gauge is known to be a bit hit and miss, normally a change of sender or an aftermarket one sorts it out :)

 

I'd certainly be asking a few more questions about the engine change at 70k :(

 

Vijay

hi james & welcome to the forum. both your concerns are common faults. ive had mine for over 1yr & when warm i get no oil pressure at all. more often than not, the fuel smell derives from a short link pipe between the fuel rails, its right at the front under the plenum. hope this helps.;)

Hello and welcome

may your wallet no longer be full.

 

Stock gauges are not very accurate at all so i wouldnt trust them.

 

When you next see the car bring a mechanic round to do a full compression test. this will give you piece of mind as to the engine being a strong example.

Also check for smoke from exhausts and creamyness in the oil cap and water cap.

there is a buying guide here somewhere im sure someone will post it up

fuel smell is common and its usually the fuel pipes that need tightening.

 

would be a good idea when bought to do a cambelt change no matter who says its just been changed you can never trust anyone. will set you back about £500 for a 60k cam service.

WOW guys you got back to me so quick, im impressed. Im really liking this forum already. The guy im getting the Z off knows almost nothing about the car, he bought it and stored it basicly and thats it. I looked through the paperwork and the engine was supplied and fitted by a specialist Z garage, cant remember the name, I would have thought an engine swap would involve a cambelt change at the same time. The guy knows nothing about its history more than me, the paperwork shows its been looked after. The auto box oil was clean as it should be. I took a print out of the impressive Z guide you guys mention so that really helped.

 

Im pleased so far that the boost guage reads spot on and there was no smoke at all to be seen, just the little black puff as I let it idle for 10 mins then got the bloke to rev it and it was clear. Stupidly I didn't check under the oil cap. The only mods it has is a custom £1200 janspeed jobbie, blitz indutcion kit and HKS granny-scarers (bovs).

 

I've laid my deposit so i'm having it no matter what now, I just need to know what I should do when I service it ie treatments etc for valve noise etc.

 

Again many thanks guys and thanks for the warm welcome.

 

James :)

welcome buddy

As said, the stock gauge is innaccurate and the small hole on the sender itself gets blocked and display a low reading.

 

Noisy hydraulic lifters is very common when not been run in a while, especially with old oil, and the fact that it went away after a drive shows that the oil pressure is ok.

 

Fuel smell is more than likely leaking fuel pipes in the engine bay, very common, but could also just be failing o2 sensors(also very common) or FPR making it run rich at idle, neither particular expensive.

 

Congrats on the purchase. I'd Give her a good oil change...in fact give her a complete fluid change.

I can't really add any more than what's already been said above.

 

Just welcome to the club and enjoy the Drive.

I'm over the bridge in Romford so if you ever get stuck just send me a PM and I'll help out as much as I can (need to be subscribed to send PM's)

Welcome mate, i've gone from a 300tt to an mr2 turbo, lol.

Am considering another z, but it'll be an n/a version next time.

 

Good luck mate.

carry out a ecu diagnostic on it

do a autobox diagnostic

carry out a boost leak test

change the lights over to hid if you plan on night driving

do a 60k service

fit a accurate boost and oil pressure gauge

Many thanks for the replys so far lads...

 

Tommorow is the day I will be picking up the 300ZX. It will be a 300+ miles trip back home. Does anyone have any advice as to what I should look out, listen or do before I embark on the journey bearing in mind it has been sitting for a long while?

 

Thanks guys.

There's a guide here -> http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=97871

 

and welcome :D

Thanks, ive already looked through that before I bought the car. I wanted to ask quickly, I want to service the car when I get home. Can I use any Castrol GTX Magnatec, if so how many litres? and is a Champion Oil filter ok to use? Also to cure tappet noises etc, is it safe to use the thick STP or wynns oil treatment after I chuck in the new oil?

 

Am I right in thinking that after its been sitting the whole time will the oil be grotty?

 

Many thanks

 

James

The tappet noise is the hydraulic lifters mate. They have small holes in which get easily blocked, hence the tapping. You shouldnt need to use treatments, when you change the oil drain it and keep the old filter on. Top up the oil to the Min mark and the dipstick and run the engine for a few minutes to get it up to temp. Drain again and change the filter for the new one and fill up the oil as per usual. This should pull out the majority of the built up crap from having old oil floating around for some time.

 

Do a search on here for the online workshop manual, and download the PDF file. It has 99% of the stuff you will need to know on how to work on the cars.

Brilliant thanks, just quickly, what type of oil is best to use? I love the magnatec stuff. but only available in 10-40 and 10-50.

From what i remember, 10-40 is what Mr. Nissan recommends.

I seem to remember reading a thread somewhere (possibly from our resident Oilman) saying the Magnatec stuff ain't too good because it's not fully synthetic. This is an extract of an email sent to me by Opie Oils...

 

Here's some links to the oils I suggested.

 

http://www.opieoils.co.uk/c-656-5w-40.aspx

 

Out of those, the ones that I would think would suit you best are the Silkolene Pro S 5w-40 and Motul 8100 X-cess 5w-40. Just to make it more difficult for you, I'll also point out that the Fuchs oils are also good and very good value for money. I would say the Supersyn Plus would be better than the Supersyn for your car, but it is a little more expensive than the Motul.

 

The Mobil 1 0w-40 http://www.opieoils.co.uk/p-804-mobil-1-0w-40-advanced-performance-synthetic-engine-oil.aspx

 

Again good, but it doesn't have the ester content of the Pro S or Motul 300V.

 

I reckon I'll probably be trying the Motul 8100 X-cess 5w40

 

HTH!