Old Zed

Could well be a faulty CAS unit. Also a good check is to unbolt the CAS (mark position first) from the engine, turn 'on' the ignition (do not engage the starter) and then rotate the shaft on the CAS unit. You should hear the injectors firing and the fuel pump running and if you remove one of the plug coil packs and insert a spare plug in it (make sure it is earthed) that should also spark. If you don't have fuel then check the fuel pump ECU which is fitted behind the N/S rear side panel.

Yes that will be OK as it does not interact with the support bar.

You done that last week Si. Why not polish the inside of your exhaust for a change.:rofl:

There are not any places for cheap parts now, especially oil pumps, £200 minimum. Gasket sets, rings etc., bearings will set you back £400-£500, and they will only be any good if the pistons are all OK. A cheap job now will result in another job later and would certainly not take any aditional tuning stresses. Really if you are going to refurb then turbos should also be in the budget for replacement.

Pocket money ??:eek:

Just bought this from a guy down the road. I did not know it existed as I have never seen it around. Its an import with a shed load of bills with it including almost £2K some three years ago being spent re-conditiong the auto box. It has a quite good leather interior with only a small bit of wear on the drivers squab, a cracking stainless steel exhaust and the original owners handbook and service book. The chassis is spotless and all the trim inside is clean and very good. The engine is really sound and pulls well but is losing water which I think is 'HEAD GASKET'. Its been standing since December 2008 when the MoT expire, but starts on the button. It formerly belonged to a guy in Clevedon near Bristol who spent all the money on it. Any one know the car ??

Those illuminated sill plates are nice and useful as well. They would need to be wired into the door switch to come on when you open the door.

Make sure you have the plugs leads on the right coil packs, this can cause the engine to run with only one plug not really in sync. Secondly when its running, get a long screwdriver and put one end on an injector, and your ear to the handle end. You should be able to hear the injector clicking as it works. Compare number 3 with one of the others. You may also have a faulty plug so swap 3 over with another and see if the fault moves with the plug. Do the same with the plug coil packs.

SUBSCRIBING.:mad:

He is averaging 1.1 posts a day, surely he will run out of questions soon.:cry:

From my experience the connector on the TPS can cause this problem when is gets a little mucky / corroded. Clean it up and brush some vaseline on the contacts before re-assembly. Mine is now steady as a rock at about 650rpm.

I don't think there is a legal requirement to have the bootlid/tailgate in place. it is no different than a cabriolet where only the back of the roof opens / folds down.

Although the standard boost gauge is not great it would still give you an indication whether the turbos were boosting properly when you are accelerating. A sign that the turbo seals may be worn is the appearance of grey/blue smoke from the exhaust when hot and on tickover.

With autoboxes its mainly down to previous maintainence, or lack of it. The box is a good box but if not serviced properly will cause failure. The oil should be changed and the filters which are inside the box sump should be cleaned. This normally ceases to happen when they get cheap and into the wrong hands. They are not strong boxes so bearing in mind that if the car is 18 years old and has probably had poor maintainence in recent years, then if you start to increase the demand on the box, it will fail. If you find a car with a good box and the oil in it looks great (clean and not smelling burnt) then the addition of a decent oil cooler will certainly extend its life. If you want to start increasing the power then I would buy a manual in the first place.

I wonder if I could disguise my Megane as a Zed.:cry: work in progress.......won't be long.......I hope.;)

I think that this is a personal thing and absolutely your call. It is certainly great to keep the Fairlady name alive and I suspect most people in the street would wonder where the name came from. I like the name myself and Jimmers Zed has a chrome Fairlady badge fitted to his nearside wing. This was apparently standard on some early 300ZX's.

Naughty chap !!

Sorry Lisa, been out on the sauce !! and fingers are not connected to the brain which is old anyway.:)

Are you saying that it is not 'turning over', if so then it is either battery fubered or a bad connection to the starter, or am I misunderstanding the problrm here.

Is the car auto or manual ? as autos do not like being left standing. The clutch like plates in the bos dry out and then disintegrate when put back into use. As regards towing, Machine Mart do a sprung loaded towing bar for about £30 and a tow of 2 miles would be easy for most 2 litre cars.

Hi Lee, I have been here and you will not get a speedy responce from Z1. I am still awaiting replacement big brake discs after about 5 months of the previous ones cracking. As stated before it took about 5 months to sort a faulty turbo out that failed after 300 miles and it still cost me money to get it changed. I'm gutted for you Lee as this will not be a quick fix unless you are prepared to pay up front for a replacement. I am still not sure what the 'oil return leak' is as there should not be any leak anyway from anywhere ??? if all is done properly. I can see £££'s again here mate and that is sad. You have spent a lot of money, time and effort on this car and still not got what you want which is a reliable performing Zed. I guess I am lucky as Jimmer is my son and I dont get this sort of problem.:mad:

Back to basics I would recommend head skimed and valve seats recut along with the valves. If the engine is stripped then if the pistons are all ok and no damage due to ring problems then new rings are a must. Obviuosly if there is ring damage then new pistons are required as well as rings. The bores will require glaze busting in any event. Get the crankshaft measured and if within tolerance then a polish would be OK but otherwise get it reground to a relevant undersize, and new bearings. The same with the bores really, get them measured to assess the wear. The block should not require grinding.

I have a car thats running with a great TT engine but it is losing water which I have not yet traced. It is a 92 auto which goes like hell and has not been boiled. It has done 72K miles and has all the MoT's to support this since import in 2002 plus a shed load of bills from a proffessional performance garage. I think it may be head gasket as opposed to core plug/water pump etc., but the exhaust is clean and clear ?? no smoke whatsoever, good oil pressure and pulls exceptionally well. I would take £250 for it with turbos, plenum and ECU.

Does the clutch pedal feel the same now as it did before the problem occurred ?. It could be a clutch, gearbox or back axle failure or even the crankshaft shearing at the rear main bearing. Sounds like you need to do some testing to determine what has failed. jack the rear of the car up and put on axle stands ensuring you can get underneath. Put the car in gear (engine switched off) release the hand brake and then whilst under the car turn a rear wheel (you will have to get someone to hold the other rear wheel still) and see if the propshaft is turning. This will show that the axle is working OK. Next, start the engine and put into gear and shine a light into the opening where the clutch release arm enters the bellhousing to see if the clutch and the input shaft are rotating. If not then your crankshaft has sheared. If the clutch is spinning and the input shaft is not then your clutch has failed. If the clutch and the input shaft are both spinning but not your propshaft, then your gearbox has failed. Good luck.

Not really, it is a standard oil seal arrangement that would normally function perfectly for about 5 to 6 years before a little wear would have occurred and the seal would also degrade with age.