turbocraigy

Suspected turbo failure :( Smoking at hot idle!

Then swap the ECU over, give it a try.

Whats the harm in trying a different ECU? It'll be an easy 10minute job and the cost of one from a breaker will be peanuts. Give it a whirl if you think it might solve the problem, the worst you'll loose is £10/15. Personally though, I think its unlikely to solve your problem. Is your speedo working correctly?? because this is where the PAS ecu gets its signal from NOT directly from the speed sensor.

Code 53 - O2 Sensor (right side). The O2 Sensor is open or shorted (abnormally high or low voltage is registered).

Be sure to change the 4 hoses (the 5th one at the back is not too critical) as well and ensure you get UK/Jspec ones and not US spec. Read this thread for more info... http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=114553&highlight=PCV+question I really hope you don't have a problem, but all too often these things don't just fix themselves. It may return. Good luck...:) I really

Personally I wouldn't worry about it just yet, just drive the car and see if the problem develops. If you start getting regular smokey tail pipes when stuck in traffic at idle then further investigation is needed. It sounds like the early signs of worn turbo seals (sorry!), but the smoke is normally very smelly. Just drive it normally and keep an eye out for smoke and note the conditions it does it. I have this problem as the moment (smoke at hot idle+odd puff when booted) and I believe it to be my turbo seal. (smoke only from one bank, but have separate exhaust runs). As a precautionary measure, you could change the PCVs and hoses as this can cause a smoking problem, I did, but no cure. It is a cheap 1st option to chance on though. Search some of my recent posts if you like for other ideas and comments on this problem.

Its probably not related to the fuel regulator at all and just a coincidence. Is it a lot of smoke, sure it wasn't just condensation from a cold engine?? Don't jump to any nasty conclusions just yet, drive the car more and report back on the problem with more information. Does it do it at cold idle or hot idle? Does it smoke on overrun or hard boost? From one or both tail pipes (if both do you have a H/X sytem or 2 separates exhaust runs?). Does it smell like burning oil? Using any? Check water levels, any gunk on underside of oil filler cap? Like I said more information req'd, don't panic yet though!

I got lucky then!

Strange, I bought my rear caliper kit from here and they were the right size and all fitted correctly. Maybe you were just unlucky and got send the wrong kit or something?

Don't know the answer to your question mate, but will just offer an opinion - some will not agree! Like you thought the standard brakes were crap, so I serviced all 4 calipers, stripped them, cleaned the pistons, new seals etc. Fitted quality pads, new discs, shim kit, braided hoses and full fluid flush. Let me tell you this was not cheap by any means. The brakes, albeit better were still crap by modern standards and I quickly warped this front discs and boiled the fluid with out too much abuse. Money well wasted! I have recently invested in the K-Sport 330mm front kit with Ferodo D2500 pads. Believe me, this is a very high quality kit and well the brakes are 1000% better! They actually give the tyres a hard time even in the dry. I have left the rears standard, although overhauled with quality pads and braided hoses as I feel they are fine considering the bulk of the work is done at the front. The ABS still works, haven't noticed any biase problems. The kit cost £1000 - expensive, but a front overhaul with good discs/pads/seal kit etc will cost a few hundred. The difference in brake power justifys the extra expense. Was also very easy to fit. Really wish I had done this straight away, would have actually saved me hundreds and some spanner time! There is also the Brembo upgrade to consider. The stock brakes will never be any more than adequate at best.

The slight pulse only comes if you don't fit a one way valve. Also make sure the clutch booster is actually ok before its fitted... Without the vacuum tanks the only draw back is that if you try to operate the clutch pedal and you haven't eased off the throttle a bit to change gear, the pedal is stiffer, but if you drive correctly and ease off when changing gear the pedal is light. This is because the engine isn't producing a vacuum if you don't. The vacuum storage tanks solve this, but the proper ones req the wing to be removed to fit - don't worry about it!

I have done a manual conversion and do not have the vacuum storage tanks fitted. Just got the booster fitted to the pedal and a one way valve fitted in the pipe between booster and balance bar. The pedal feel is perfectly reasonable, you or wife won't have a problem with it. I am running a standardish clutch though and not a super heavy duty item.

Absolutely! They are difficult to get off when the original clips are used and often the clips end up popping off and falling into the dash lost forever. If you get a new one, take off the rest of the console and figure the removal out for future reference. When it is clipped in place look under the trim and you'll see the cut outs that you push a flat blade up into and this releases these difficult clips to allow it to be removed.

You need to becareful now otherwise you are going to spend a fortune and still not be right. Book it into a well known 300zx specialist such as Zedworld, D2, Jimmer etc and let them diagnose it properly and fix it correctly.

Normally black smoke is linked to over fuelling...

If the car was cold then yes the ECU will not allow full power until fully warmed up. Maybe this is what you experienced? You need to do a ECU check for fault codes. It stores the last known fault. Take it from there....

Looks like a bargain to me. Very nice!

Sounds more turbo related than engine related especially if the smoke clears with in a few minutes of normal driving - as the turbos get hot the tired seals swell up a little with the heat from spinning and stop the oil leaking directly into the hot exhaust. One common & cheap 1st fix attempt though would be to change the PCVs as these can cause similar issues.

Another difficult to assess problem, but if you problem is occuring more at low engine speeds, close to tickover and when stuck in traffic I would think a turbo seal is on its way out. Valve stem problems tend to cause blue smoke on cold startup and also on engine overrun. Did you notice if the smoke was there immediately when you started it or was it after a couple of minutes when crawling in the traffic to get off the boat etc.

The Jap spec car is limited to 112mph. The 'chip' convertor off ebay or anywhere else converts the JDM speedo to read MPH by simply taking the speed sensor input and reducing it by approximately a 1/3rd. By doing this the main ECU is tricked into thinking the car is going 1/3rd slower than it is hence not limited to 112mph. This is because the speed sensor feeds the clocks 1st then the clock tells the ecu how fast the car is going!! So really the car is still limited, but not at 112mph because the ECU thinks you are only going around 75mph! The car is still limited, but at a higher real value. Fitting UK clocks just means no convertor chip is needed. The speedo reads correctly, but more importantly tells the ECU the true speed. So the car is still limited to 112mph. A proper reprogrammed EPROM that fits in your main ECU is the true way of delimiting the car, the limit can be raised to the programmers discretion. By using the UK clock method, the PAS ecu and auto ECU if applicable will also get the true information and behave correctly. (PAS is speed sensitive, using the jap clock chip converter feeds the PAS ecu 2/3rds real speed and makes it lighter than it should be, I think the autobox ECU also uses a speed signal to help the changes).

Wish I could help you more, but unfortunately London is rather far way from me to have a look! Please do let us know how you get on and what the solution was because its very helpful for future Zedders that may have similar issues and use this site for help & advice. All too often people forget to add the conclusion to threads. Best of luck:):duffer:

Things like this are very difficult to pin point because they can be from many causes. The PTU on these cars is a common weak point and can cause the car to cut out or run lumpy when failing - this tends to happen with heat and then later after a cool down they are ok again for a while. It could also be bad connections to coil packs or injectors. The looms on these cars get brittle and/or gunked up with green corrosion. Remember the engine moves slightly under varying loads and this can effect these connections if poor. You need to learn quickly, use the search function to help - there is years of help & advice. Ultimately though if you've just got it I would booked it in to a specialist for a health check whilst you learn more and more....

I for one can not recommend the Mongoose exhaust - sadly. http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=136875 http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=139415 A lot of people have had good ones, but not me. Be wary.

And haven't caught on. Rubbish idea.

The odometer part still working suggests that the speed sensor is working. Is it an import and if so have you check the pretty standard fit kph to mph convertor box that gets fitted? Maybe this has a bad connection or gone faulty causing your speedo to stop working. That said, if that was the problem, the odometer would stop as well.