Steve-o

This is odd (bit of a long one) As you may or may not have read there have been a lot of incidents leading up to me taking my car off of the road last xmas. It was leaking coolant, breakfluid and smoking (which was the more worrying thing!) Anyways, took it off the road, blinged it up, inside and engine a little, and replaced the water pump, M/S pistons/seals etc etc, checked and had out ALL of the breather system (it was all clear). Whislt it was off the road I serviced it AGAIN, although I like to do it every 6 months, but this had only been ran for about 2 from the last service, anyway on to the point im making (if it is one) My car is today running mint, no problems, no smoke, no water no brake fluid leaks. The water issue being sorted and MS I can understand but the smoking? weird. After having many diagnosis by people over the past months, mechanics etc it came to the conclusion my rear turbo seals were ****ed as it wasnt the breather sys, after high boost if I let off quick, smoke would drag out of the back of the car. No smoke however on tick over, reving or part bost (eliminating valve seal issues) nowt. Also the car would go a bit rumbly when this happened at times (ala scoobie style) whilst the smoke was comming out then shut up! it stank of oil??? On the way to billing it was her first run back on the road in the four months she was off, she was runing like a bitch, smoking when I let off after boost loads, then safety boost, then some detting :O On the way home tho she ran mint, no probs. I was confused, I took her for a spin round town, no smoke whenever i boosted full and let off ? so anyway, opened her up down the duely on the way home again and POP, then sounded like a scoobie. I thought i'd lost a ****ing piston!!! Oh great I thought, not only new tubbies but rebuild too. Anyway's after much thinking, I checked the TPS, CAS, PTU, and the coil packs. The result? a ****ing loose connector on the top of coilpack 1 and 4 by about a cm. These little ****ers must have been working loose for a while. After banging them back on, I have done 400 miles, and no smoke, the car is running good as new absolutly mint? Anyways, the only thing diff I have done is drop the oil (from fully synth cause its crap for old seals apparantly) to semi synth, changed oil filter etc, then sorted the coil pack issue. There is no more smell of burning after high boost, no more smoke, no more safety boost, no firing probs (no more dodgy scoobie sounds lol). I mean dont get me wrong im chuffed but seems weird? how the **** could I have been burning oil (black/bluey smoke) and now not????? The only thing I can summise is that it was a combination of things, coolant leak (which only became apparant over time) I guess the engine was running a little hotter than usual prior to sorting this, then the fully synth oil in it, and perhaps the coilpacks had a dodgy connection making it fire oddly but not enough to warrant noticing all the time. The only thing that was not fixed was the loose connection on the coilpacks on the way to billing? perhaps there was the old oil somewhere that needed to burn out? perhaps the smoke was a combination of the old oil being too thin and seeping past the seals and the engine overfueling somewhat. I guess after high boost, and letting off the engine jumps slighly, and could have made the connection on the coil go. I really have no idea, it's bizzare as **** but im chuffed its working now. And i've already got the cash now for new turbos lol. I just want people to throw some thoughts as to why it could have been burning up oil in the zorst before? and why the coil packs would have an effect on it? Lots of people have smoking probs in the Z and through this experience I guess if we can put together what may have been the issue, it will help in future for us to know what else to check for smoking probs. Its a little early to be counting my chickens, but the smoking prob was every time i let off after hihg boost, now, it's not there at all. A somewhat confused but happy Steve-o

A sparking issue could cause that sort of effect especially when you are pulling heavy then you have a spark problem it would be seriously noticeable. I had a similar issue on me 2hundy, apart from I couldnt hit full boost, it was horrible, it would boost up then at about three quater boost the engine would make a cracking noise and stop pulling throwing me forward. I didnt like the sound of it at all I thought something was very wrong by the seriousness of the fault. I changed all of the plugs, and serviced it as a first result, it was fine. Never had the problem on it since. The strange thing is with yours tho matey you get 0 boost?? if it was a sparking issue, you would feel it running rough as fook if it wasnt running well enough to get past 0 psi, so it sounds like it might not be sparking issue. It cant be a boost leak either or it would more than likely be there all the time? not better then worse then better? Try and get a consult on it mate see if that throws anything up. Other than that, just give it a good going over, all the little things first to see if it helps. It does sound to me tho like tubby probs :( Best of luck matey, at least ya car still looks sweet :D

And once you got the above skills you gotta go to a station then create and pay a registry fee of 1.5 mil i think !!!!!! :O

Hi Jester, Yeh I was at billing matey, did I see you there? chatted to a fair few peeps. The burning smell could well be the clutch, not noticed any slipping or anything have you when under full throtle / boost? It could be something as simple as some oil / engine lub or cleaner burning off, if the last person tried to clean the engine up a bit b4 u seen it (always think positive lol) The other thing is it could be the front brakes, have you been giving it a bit of a thrashing since you bought it to test it out? The standard front Z breaks always seem to stink after very heavy breaking. Pulling to one side if not traking issue could be a slightly seized calliper piston sticking one side of the breaks on more causing it to pull, or it may have had a shunt :S get some one to check under neath and make sure its all straight under there. One thing I have noticed on mine because of the mass of rubber and weight these cars have on the road, my car always pulls pretty badly to the gutter dependent on the camber of the road. Good luck HTH

I havnt been on since I got back from billing, me pc's playing up. Be up and running again soon tho :D

Np's matey, hope that run in with the wheelie bin wasnt to bad ;) I wont be there till evening tho chaps, got lots to do in the day, like being lazy. If I get there early I will just drink too much and then have to sleep in the Z lol.

600 sounds about right matey mine was over 700

Mac mate, Delivered that guage to Shunter, any chance of getting hold of another one, I heard they are easy to get hold of :D

There you go mate stevo's got some, I bought mine from a local welding shop in siwndon, AFAIK b&q dont do things like that matey. You need standard vacuum hosing for your guage matey, you can buy it from halfords.

lol gotta show that to the missus tomorrow she'll apreciate that :D

lol, like your improved sig for this post by any chance hehe. How did sunday go anyway mate did I miss much?

No probs mate, servicing me missus sister tomorrow day time, so i'll be free from late afternoon on.

p.s chris was yours the silver motor parked infront of mine on sun morning?

Unlucky dave mate, but did you manage to do some more donuts before that happened? lol

Didnt see you smithy? I had your silicone in me boot all day to give you. Never mind mate i've posted it off to you today now should get it back soon. Cheers

That calls for higher boost and TC matey :D my car corners like its on rails with TC on 5% slip totally transformed the car.

Not sure how many sections matey, youve got the down pipes, cats and then a centre section, then the back boxes I beleive but mines been ripped out and all replaced with straight through pipes so someone else can answer that one better. If its an NA then you shouldnt have any probs decating as long as its pre 1992 otherwise it MAY not pas an MOT, as its against regs (depends how dodgy the garage is) Otherwise decating an NA usualy helps it decrease heat from the manifold, give better flow and rev more freely.

I missed you as well james and was there all day where were you hiding! hehe

Yeh count me in as long as its still working lol

:D Nice to see you indeed matey, thanks for the use of your fridge even if it killed your Z, but a few cold brews were worth it lol, and at least my beast fired yours up again ;) The ribs were especially nice that evening as were the ambient lighting you provided! top man :duffer: I'm looking forward to next year already! And I still cant beleive your brakes lol! Take care matey Steve p.s i'll be in touch soon about that bonnet just gotta sort out me cash this month when I get paid and i'll PM ya.

Yeh petes is good for a redun :D gregs was mint too :D

Dont you mean reddy / pink with all the fading red paint sure does like the sun :D :tongue:

Yeh take it careful matey hope you sort it soon ;)

Yeh about time I had some good luck this year :D cheers matey.

p.s the dont meantion the whole auto vs emanuel thing...:D :D Its personal pref do a search on the forum you'll dig up loads of stuff....