tpv01

it is not the plug on the rad i am talking about but the drain plugs on the engine block so whatever is held in there after rad drained can be emptied, but by the sounds of it it is more trouble than it is worth. However, in the owners manual it does say anything about removing any components it just shows a pic where it appears to be close to the oil filter. UNO's idea sounds good though but im not sure if i totally understand it. Running the engine with the rad cap of will make water pour from the top neck all over the engine bay so do you suggest attaching a hose to that neck to direct the water into a bucket? if so where do you drip the continuous stream of water in?

Doing my coolant change and cant find the drain bolt on the engine. I know i can just use the bottom rad hose but want to do a full wash out. I have looked in the manual and cant figure out what it is pointing to can someone put up a picture pointing it out for me or describe it in the minutest of detail.

i have found $319 here.... http://www.czp.us/Cart/description.php?II=288&Car_Type=300&UID= but i also found it for alot more than the one you quoted. It is amazing how much differences there is in price in the states where everything is always about the same in this country. does anyone know from any similar experiences what the hit for shipping and tax would be? aparently it weighs 25lb = 11kg.

Does it work out cheaper to get one from the states and pay the shipping and tax on it or from a uk dealer. What would be a good price for one first hand for a uk manual turbo?

Please email me on tpv01@ic.ac.uk regarding one of the items you have for sale. cant PM or reply on that thread as not yet a full member. Ta Tom

thanks Hellraiser. even better that its from a fellow bournemouth boy. whereabouts are you in bmth? Anyway i still dont get it as i dont seem to have the handle like loop that is in your third picture. is it attached to the floor of your boot?

Hi Royal or some who can pm this to him, Im interested in your wheels that you have advertised in the items for sale section. I still havent paid my fees (soon i promise.....) so cant reply on that thread or PM you. could you send me and email on tpv01@ic.ac.uk so we can discuss it. Thanks Tom

It was deattached when i bought it and i cant figure out how to refit it?? I can see where the two blank bolts (best way i can think of describing them?!?) fit into the holders in the rear of the boot but i cant figure out where the front part attaches to and how. The owners manual is no help.

I will try the descaling flush next time i get the chance. From doing a google i think the stuff markzx is talking about is called Fernox (http://www.plumbworld.co.uk/93-187) and can be bought from screwfix direct. Can any comercial descaler be used, like the stuff you can put in your kettle or is then a product specially made for car rads? Hopefully the descale and a good flush out (the empty of the radiator and expansion tank i did last weekend flushed out some horrible browny-blue water with bits of leaves floating around in it!!!) and top up with some Water Wetter will hopefully sort out my temp rise during idle problem. I do have an after market SPA water temp gauge which measures from the top hose from the rad i think. Dont take much notice of stock gauge as it is either always at the bottom when started up or in the middle the rest of the time. My car is UK manual so shouldnt have the problems with the gearbox oil cooler flow. NZ i am interested in the mods you have done too so keep us updated. What does the Ostrich do? Also, the thing i was wondering about with the original function of the sub fan being retained is the path of the current from two sources (relay and ECU) causing shorting out of the fan, relay or even ECU. Would diodes need to be installed to prevent current flowing the wrong way?

yeah the viscous fan is working and doesnt spin freely when pushed and does change speed with higher revs. Does everyone experience rises temperature during idle? NZ have you done the mod DAB1 has done in the follow thread..... http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=72665&highlight=fan+switch ? If so, does the fans original purpose, ie to kick in when the temperature exceeds 105C, still happen or is it now disabled?

thats what i was hoping to hear! do all TT's heat up on idle without the additional air flow when moving because I have been quite worried I had a problem. I was sitting in traffic for a long time on Friday and my temperature went up to +100C due to sitting on idle and the temperature creeping up about 0.1C every second. What do people do when that happens? I know the sub fan is meant to kick in a 105C but is that adequate to stop the temperature going even higher?

how much do you let your engine/turbos cool down before you turn the engine off? what is your prefered method off cooling down? idling (if so how long do you leave it)? taking it easy for last part of journey not using boost? any other methods?

coolant overflow?? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Topping up my rad after a flush through and it started dripping from the bottom. I thought, "oh nut satchells I havent connected the bottom hose properly" so undid the under tray and it wasnt leaking from their but seems to be flowing through the top pipe on the filler neck (i know this to be true as i disconnected it at the top) and onto the floor. I thought this would of flowed into the expansion tank/refill tank so checked that out by taking off the seal around the passenger side wheel and it was well over the H mark so I was thinking that the expansion tank must have an overflow on it that wees out onto the under tray. Is this correct of do I have a problem? Also is there a drain on the expansion tank and how do i get to it so i can drain that aswell and replace with new fluid?

Doing my coolant change and cant find the drain bolt on the engine. \iknow i can just use the bottom rad hose but want to do a full wash out. can someone put up a picture pointing it out for me please, pretty please!!

having hot running problems (water temperature >80C normal running, rising to 90C+ during idle). Checked my oil cooler afer a medium long journey with water temp reaching normal temperature and it was stone cold steve austin. I guess that would indicate no oil flow through the cooler i.e. a blockage somewhere. The actual cooler block looks in good nick, stainless steel possibly even a retrofit with nissan markings. How would i go about checking and clearing the possible blockage. Hopefully i have identified the oil cooler correctly. it sits infront of the a/c condensor which sits infront of the radiator looking from the engine. It is a about 6" high and about 2" thick. Infront of this is the smaller single pipe finned HICAS fluid cooler. Any guidance on this would be much appreciated. ta tom

Sorry to hijack thread but is it necersarily bad to have the sub fan constantly running? I am having some overheating problems at the moment (90C+ in traffic and keeps rising steadily when idling) and thinking by removing the yellow connector I could have this extra fan on all the time to help my cooling before i get the problem fixed properly. What do you all think?

Like i said the guy at the garage tested it by making me turn the wheel lock-to-lock and it was pissing out fluid. The HICAS light came on too and needed a top up. It is also red coloured oil like ATF and the oil level is fine so i reckon it must be the HICAS cooler. I will have another look though to make sure. Can someone put up a photo pointing out the Oil cooler and the HICAS fluid cooler. If it is the HICAS cooler what can i replace it with if it is not needed and how easy is it a job to do myself? Where can i get the part from?

Posted on another thread; http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=81080 But thought might not get looked at and i need the info ASAP so iv given it its own thread. Thanks jack. Unfortunatly i had already taken it to the garage but they were able to identify it as a leaking power steering cooler (small radiator infront of the main rad), which rings true as i had to top up power steering fluid as my hicas light came on and the leaking oil had a red colour of ATF. Has anyone had any experience of this fault before and would they know how much it would cost (Nissan only part?) part + labour or is it a straightforward enough job that i could do myself. If so how? Also, is there any recommended outlets that would stock such parts that would be cheaper than going to Nissan directly. Thanks Tom

thanks for your help, a couple of q's. Do you have to do this with engine running(!) or how will the thermostat open and stay open if that is what your are saying with the setting to 40C part? Also, I was told at university that the only thing with better heat transfer properties than water is mercury(!) and on the Redline Water Wetter website it says that race cars use 100% water because best heat transfer medium and dont need to worry about corrosion and freezing. WW aparently works by lowering the surface tension of the water so less bubbles form in the engine block which means better heat transfer. I want to put antifreeze in to help the WW with the anticorrosion and antifreezing (glycol/alcohol part) but i dont want to put too much in which might prevent WW doing the job it was designed for and harming my pocket to much by buying 10 litres of quality antifreeze.

I am planning to a flush out of my coolant system and add some Water Wetter when I refill to help ease off some of my over heating problems. Could someone give me a step-by-step guide of how to do a coolant flush on a zed and where I can find all the bits I need to remove etc? Much appreciated. Also, for those of you who are using Water Wetter how much do you use and how much regular engine coolant do you use? From researching on here I can see that most people say one bottle is fine and it does have anti-corrosion properties so can do without additional antifreeze but this will last me through the winter (car outside at night) so don't want to take unnecessary risks but also don't want to loose the improved properties of Water Wetter. One final question is will the type of anitfreeze/coolant used after the Water Wetter properties at all? I plan to use the advanced Halfords stuff in the dark blue bottles.

Thanks jack. Unfortunatly i had already taken it to the garage but they were able to identify it as a leaking power steering cooler (small radiator infront of the main rad), which rings true as i had to top up power steering fluid as my hicas light came on and the leaking oil had a red colour of ATF. Has anyone had any experience of this fault before and would they know how much it would cost (Nissan only part?) part + labour or is it a straightforward enough job that i could do myself. If so how? Also, is there any recommended outlets that would stock such parts that would be cheaper than going to Nissan directly. Thanks Tom

just been out to top up my power steering fluid and noticed a couple of spots of oil just under the the front. Traced them up and looked though the gap in the front spoiler and saw a mess of black oily substance underneath the offside dump valve. I immediatley checked the oil level to see if i had been running dry (and hence my high temperature issues, see thread "New z owner") but it was on full and seemed nice and clear and new, unlike the stuff coating the bottom of my car. Iv checked all other fluid level and seem fine apart from cant see how to check transmission fluid level (manual box). Could it be a crack in the gearbox or something like that? It is deffinetly prominantely on the offside that the oil has appeared to could it be my left turbo leaking oil? I described before in my other thread that my car was gaining heat during idle so i have not been able to let the car cool down probably before turning off, even though I have taken the precautions of taking it easy and coasting alot before the end of my journey, the water temp is never below 80C when i turn off hence i have been turning off after about 30 seconds at standstill to prevent it getting even hotter. The other thing i could think that has caused me the problem is that i was going over one of the straddeling type speed bumps and it scraped the bottom of the car, it was very very low speed but sounded quite harsh. No immediate noticable problems before that and i there is never any smoke from the exhaust. I am going to take it to the zen garage if they can fit me in, or any other garage if not but any help from you guys in the meantime would be much appreciated

The previous owner gave me the maintenance manual on CD but it isnt reading it on my computer. It has the website http://www.ideal-z.com on it but i went there and it doesnt exist. Can someone email me (tp-ventham@msn.com) or tell me where i can find a .pdf of the manual to download. Ta Tom

many thanks. Should i top up with Nissan Power steering fluid / any brand / premium brand? Should I just top up or is it advisable to replace the whole lot? If so, what is the capacity and step-by-step instructions of how to carry it out if you would be so kind. Ta Tom

I have just bought my Zed a have noticed that the red HICAS light sometimes stays on when I first start the car up then goes out after about 5-10mins of driving. It also feels like the steering lightens up a bit when the light has gone out. I have just bought the car but it has only just started doing it and in that time i havent hit any kerbs or anything to cause the HICAS to error. I have done a search and there is so much about HICAS on here so can someone with experience give me a quick answer of how to fix it. I dont have any of the diagnostic equipment so cant check for error codes. It seems like it may just need resetting. Is there a fuse i can pull to wipe the HICAS memory of the problem?