damienb

Thanks Gio, I'll give him a call too, he's only down the road from me, Many thanks Damien

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll probably contact both and have a look through the traders forum - I hadn't spotted that! Cheers

Can anyone recommend a mechanic in the Essex area that can work on the engine and gearbox of a 300zx? Doesn't have to be a real 'garage', someone operating from home is fine. I live in Chelmsford and have used SE Nissan (or SE NissTek or whatever they call themselves these days) and they were worse than useless. The Nissan garage in Chelmsford (Glyn Hopkin) are very helpful but have politely refused to work on the engine or gearbox, Many thanks Damien.

Thanks for the replies, I'll check the ECU and clean the connectors and see if it makes any difference, Cheers Damien

I've got a UK TT auto, and I noticed over the past couple of months a strange hesitation whilst accelerating. Just after I hear the gearbox change to 2nd gear, around 20 mph, the car throttles back for 3-4 seconds and slows slightly, before picking up speed again. This happens even if I keep my foot steady on the accelerator. I don't know if it's related but the fuel consumption has gone up and the exhausts have a sooty black deposit, implying the mixture's too rich. Any ideas would be much appreciated, Cheers Damien

Thanks very much guys, you were spot on. A strange hissing sound from near the ABS unit confirmed you were correct, but without your accurate description I wouldn't have found it. The tiny pipe that comes off the black box had come off. The gauge is moving around again, it's all looking much more healthy! Thanks once again to you both, Damien

My Z has somehow lost the use of the turbos. It's a standard UK TT with no mods to the engine. The boost guage is permanently just to the right of 0 (I'd say about 2) and does not move at all when accelerating. When I switch off the engine it returns to the left. The engine still seems to run fine and revs OK, but there are strange flat spots in the acceleration. I appreaciate it's impossible to diagnose a problem from a three line description, but if anyone can point me in the right direction as to what to check first I'd be very grateful, Many thanks Damien

that does make me feel a bit better, at least it's not just me! Mines a UK model, perhaps UK models don't have the diag???

Anyone ever got the auto box diag to work? I've been through it 7 times now following the instructions I found on zedworld, and I've also found identical instructions elsewhere, so I'm sure the instructions are correct, but it don't seem to work. The A/T check light comes on for two seconds, so it ain't that, but it just doesn't flash once I've gone through the combinations of gear settings and overdrive settings. Any help would be much appreicated, Cheers Damien

Hi Mike, I think I may have seen you on 'Police Camera Action' - there was a white 300zx on Southend seafront being seen to by the boys in blue. Perhaps that wasn't you though! I've used a variety of garages so far. I started with SE Nissan in Maldon but don't like them at all, very bad customer service. I actually live next door to the Nissan dealer in Chelmsford who I buy spare parts from. They were very honest with me and said that they could not service the engine as it was too complex! They helped me diagnose which cylinder had the problem though. Incidentally they do now have a 300zx fanatic working for them called Russell. Very helpful and knowledgeable, he's rebuilt an accident damaged 300zx himself and replaced the engine. He also knows other people who work on Zs. I've also used a chap called Mike Kerins in Boreham who runs a company called RallyTech. He's not a 300zx expert but is a first class mechanic and has a very logical brain. When my car was having emission problems he helped track down the oxygen sensors as the problem and replaced them for me. Not cheap, just over £400 for the lot, but it has no emissions now! Not been to Lakeside recently. When and where's the meet then? Cheers Damien

This is both the problem and the solution. I've gained a lot through using this forum so I thought I'd give a little back. Two weeks ago I was driving very casually at about 30mph when I noticed a sudden drop in power. When I came to the next set of traffic lights I noticed that the engine was running rough and the idle was low. It sounded like it was not firing on all cyclinders. If you revved it up it seemed to get better above 2000 rpm, but the car still lacked power. A local garage helped reveal that it was number 3 cyclinder that was not working, but they could not see why. Swapping the ignition coils had made no difference, so I (well, my Dad actually) figured it was the injector. After taking off the connector to the injector there was loads of green corrosion in there. A quick clean with some electrical cleaner and it was all back running again. I think I am now going to go around all of the connectors in the engine bay and clean and re-seat them as this seems to be a common problem. By the way, it's a 1993 UK spec Twin Turbo.