MattDaKav

Wow. Top stuff! Great to see another one saved!

Hi all, I've still been enjoying the Z, even with the occasional cloud of smoke. However, the rev limiter is set pretty low, I guess as part of the safe map to try to protect the (potentially) damaged engine... The spark cut limiter fouls up the plugs. I have been running the NGK PFR6B-11C gapped to 0.035" ... do you think that I could get away with using a slightly hotter plug at 1 bar of boost? I see that the PFR5B-11B was the stock plug before this was superseded to the 6. Thanks.

Quick update here... I've been super busy and haven't done any more investigation into the cause of the problem, but I have been using the car occasionally with no issues other than the smoke itself. I went for a proper two hour hoon last week, the most aggressively I've driven it, and it didn't miss a beat.

Nice one, thank you.

I found your old thread about this: https://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?181790-I-am-losing-it-need-advice It does sound very similar although you mention that it only happened when warm, pretty sure mine is initial driving when cold too... if anything, it seems to smoke less as it warms. I'd be interested to know if the crown(s) showed any damage as I might be able to see something similar when I put the endoscope down the plug holes. Cheers.

Cracked crown? Do you know what caused the crack on your engine?

:excl: Uh oh!

Guys, I appreciate the input from all. I didn't mean to cause any conflict... just trying to figure out how to get this Z healthy again.

Thanks

Sorry, just so that I'm clear, do you mean that the timing would've damaged the pistons because they may have hit a valve? ... or some other reason?

Thank you. I have just bought myself a cheapo endoscope so I may discover something over the weekend.

Yeah, but then I wouldn't have ended up with a Z32... so... silver lining (for me... kind of). If it needs a rebuild, it is what it is. It's not my daily so no biggie... I'm just hoping it turns out to be something more easily resolved, even if that's a long shot.

Hi Mike, thanks for the further details... although my understanding of the mapping process is limited, it may help me figure out what the current state of things is. Cheers. Any thoughts on what damage having the timing off that much may have caused?

Johnyboy, Jimmer, I like your optimism! Although if the cause of the smoke is now left over oil in the plenum or in the exhaust, I would've thought that it would be more constant (once warm), rather than coming on after the intake has been in vacuum as before when the suspect was oil being sucked up the PCV pipes... I would have expected a change. I will certainly give her a spirited drive and will report back. Thanks all.

I haven't driven it hard and only went for a 20 min drive. There was certainly oil in the plenum beforehand. I will take her out for a longer drive on Thursday night.