roger.svoboda

could have something to do with a/c removal. there is a high idle setting which kicks in when the a/c is on so that the engine can take the extra load of the compressor. cant' tell you much more than that it is there and quite noticeable on stock car when you kick in the a/c at idle.

if you are sure you have no vacuum leaks (pull the oil filler and it should run worse) you might try reseating the connectors in the ecu and the afm. clean em up if you see some corrosion. eletrical connectors on cars old enough to legally drink start to get dicey. It always suprises me that they do keep on keepin on. Might be worth checking on battery condition (load test at a reputable shop). check battery cables for corrosion and clean both ends. If you have one of those clamp on connectors that people use to replace the original factory get some good cables. ZX are real sensitive to voltage. you can have enough to turn the starter but not enough voltage to run the ecu properly. Check your ground it originally went from negative post to a bolt beneath the battery box and thence to the starter. some get cut off and they run direct to starter but this eliminates a good ground point to the frame. i run a 10 gage wire from negative post to both sides of engine compartment to play it safe on grounding. Remember lucas prince of darkness got that name for insuffient earthings as the limeys say.

guy on one of the sites had put mustang lights in his looked good.

not a good idea to buy a car that comes in multi colors been made of parts. but the price was right. dump the black fluid in the clutch hydraulic system and replace master and slave. they run like 30 35 each at schucks. course if you drive across the river you can save the tax. of course this is assuming that the pressure plate is actually working and not rusted out.

not sure about the 80 but pretty sure the 81-83 are the same. they look the same from underneath but haven't replaced one.

make sure someone didn't cut off the ground cable. The ground cable should go to a bolt just below the battery box and then to the starter. If that bolt gets corroded some people go straight to starter. this can cause insufficient earthings as the limeys say. Also not a bad idea to run a couple of grounds to either side of the engine compartment. I use 10 gauge wire to a convenient 6mm bolt on either side of the frame. There are plenty to chose from.

alternators don't have brushes you are about 20 years behind this car.

try replacing the cylinder head temperature sensor. that unit can cause the type of problem you see. Relatively easy to replace. Check the web someone posted a procedure for this. basically you stick a screw driver down there and bust off the plastic connector you can then unscrew the unit. I was able to install a new unit with a deep socket and wobble type extension. Check the wiring up to the connector for melted/hardened insulation. if bad I would cut the connector off put in new wires and use either bullet or flat connectors. the connector to the CHTS is the same as the injector connector. you need to remove fan shroud and fan to do this. I have done this on two turbo engines and it made quite a difference in running smooth on both engines at any temperature. Sounds like the ecu doesn't know what temp the engine is at if it runs fine when hot. I also found on one engine that the thermostat was shot and she never got to correct temp.

Oh by the way. Check the hydraulics on the clutch circuit if soft you may have low fluid, water soaked fluid or a bad master or slave cylinder. The cylinders are cheap like $30-40 each so just replace and be done with it. if the fluid is black as india ink then full of water and not prone to working well when warm. put some new stuff in there.

the 280zx are really voltage sensitive as far as the electronics go. Mine had a marginal battery which was the last thing I blamed as it was a new Interstate. After going thru many things I finally said got to be battery problem took her to interstate they checked and yes here is a new battery under warranty. So I would really check on hte battery status have them put the load tester on it. Then check to be sure the battery cables are good and corrosion free. Doesn't sound like a blown fuse or fusible link. Bad starter wouldn't cause the sudden loss of power as you are driving. but a bad battery would show up as a loss of starter. a bad battery would do as you describe. Mine was similar. The original battery cables were like a strap clamp and prone to breakage from overtightening. then that got cut off and someone put on one size fit all type clamp the cable. Those then corrode down the insulation and the cable becomes incapable of carrying the proper current to where it is needed.

could easily be a leak in the turbo. there are seals in there to keep the oil from blowing out the exhaust if one failed what you see is what you get.

the hood scoop was only on the 84 and 85 z31. You probably don't want the digital dash.

depends what you mean by don't drive it hard. I had a stock 5 spd in a 81 turbo that ran fine for 2 years til I sold it. Maybe you need to look inside the tranny before sticking it on the engine. Put new bearings in the tranny. I drive fast but I don't do jackrabbit starts either.

Go to an interstate battery shop and buy a new battery and cables. Snake oil is snake oil no matter what. Once a battery sulfates it is on the way out. You may get some extra life with the gizmo but hey $35 to fix a piece of junk and a new battery costs $70 what did you gain but a headache down the road. Yeah if it works to keep a $1500 forklift battery working might be economic sense but for a car battery???? Want to be at an interstate rest area at 0200 with a dead battery - I don't.

what tranny z car are talking about . helps to know some details.

be helpful if we knew you were talking about a 240z, 260z, 280z, 280zx or zxt, 300 zx or zxt

Might be as simple as crappy battery cables. The original battery cables were junk. They had a strap type connector which broke when people (meatheads at the local les schwab) overtightened them. Then it looked like you had a connection but a bump would jar it loose. So the next thing they did was to put one of those clamp on onesizefitall type which corrode under the clamp and down the insulation. First off I would get some good new cables (most good battery shops fab cables). Get the battery tested while you are there. I recommend Interstate. Only had one go bad in 25 years of using them and they replaced that no charge under warranty. If that doesn't solve the problem then you got some trouble shooting to do. Pull ground strap. I'm assuming you have a VOM if not get one from Harbor Freight they got a pretty good one for under $20. Get some alligator clip jumpers from Radio shack the heavy duty ones. Put the VOM in series with battery and ground strap on the 10 amp scale. See if there is a drain. Start pulling fuses until the drain goes away. Don't be fooled by the interior lights. Pull that fuse before you start. Security system on these babies will drain the battery for sure. If the ac light (air conditiion????) is on pull the wire to the clutch on the a/c compressor. then you got some work finding the ground or short whatever it is. On a VW bus I found some wires from an add on a/c system that got fried in a fire drained the battery. I bought the bus for $50 and ran it for 5 years as a work van. Toyota had fried wires under the dash in the a/c system cause the clutch went out. My 85 zxt had the bad cable issue and security system going off at odd times. Luck.

Maybe he disconnected the cold start valve or the cyl head temp sensor those will cause hard cold starts. Mine doesn't like it below freezing. If I let it crank a while and she don't start I give it some air by depressing the accelerator and that seems to let it fire up. These things do flood even tho fuel injected if they don't start right up. When it floods giving it some air is all that will make it go.

Sounds like you ought to rerun and repair your battery cables. The ground should drop down to a bolt below the battery box and then to the starter. Have real battery cables not something that someone cut off an put one of those clamp on one size fitall type. They corrode down inside the insulation. zx electronics don't like low voltage. You may be able to turn the engine over but not enough voltage to make the ecu work. I know you found your problem but caution that a few loonies spent on making sure you have good battery cables will save some hairpulling and cussing in the future. Or it could be interference from the northern lights

Cylinder head temp sensor on those babies is often the culprit. Don't cost much but takes some fiddlin to get it in. It is on the left front side of the engine. Take off fan shroud and fan. Look from right side down and to your left you will see this gizmo with wires coming out and up to right side of engine. It can be changed. There is a write up on the web. Basically just bust off the plastic connector part to get the old one out. 19mm socket. I was able to install a new one on a 86 engine with a 19mm 1/2 drive socket and a wobble extension. Replace the connector same one as the fuel injector. Buy new or find in junkyard. there is a post on what other cars use the same connector. these things are all common stuff but they keep the mfg numbers secret. Check the wiring back to the connector which is on the right side about at the end of the air box. usually they are all bolixed up from heat and will snap off. 300 doesn't have a cold start they just add fuel until the CHTS says I'm hot. Don't reject the idea that the computer is bad. I just changed out my 85 engine cause it was a burning too much oil with a 86 junker. The 85 engine setup ran well dyno 185 at the wheels but the 86 ran for crap after warmup. Put the 86 computer in for the 85 and now she runs good. Why did a computer die in three days it took to swap out only the auto gods know. You might want to find a fan shroud which you are missing or go to an electric fan. As you are set up now you could experience overheating in hotter weather. basically the cooling system is depending on air flow from driving speed your fan is doing nothing much but robbing engine power. Hopefully the picture is before you changed stuff cause that looks like a used engine rode hard and put up wet.

what year model did the 2.8 engine come out of that will tell you what clutch plate to look for. As said above flywheel from 2+2 or a turbo takes the 240 mm clutch. If you can find a 240 mm flywheel at the junkyard I would go with that as you have more contact area.

You can solder up the leaks pretty easy. Super clean the brass and use good flux and enough heat to get a good bond. Usual leakage spot is around the filler neck at the top. Look for green slime or dry dust.

First Check your battery cables thoroughly, both ends. Usually on these cars the original strap clamp goes bad from overtightening (to be charitable really just a crappy design). So then some meathead in Les Schwab cuts that off and puts one of those clamp on types which after a couple years develop corrosion cancer badly down the cable inside the insulation. If your cables are clean, tight and not corroded then drive to a reputable battery shop (some sort of name brand not Wal-Mart) and have them load test the battery. They can usually also check the charging system. Everybody jumps to the conclusion that the alternator is the culprit when really it is the battery and cabling that is the problem of course changing the alternator fixes the problem because they also redo the cables and put in a new battery. I would reccommend Interstate. In 30 years I have had only one Interstate go bad on me. They replaced in for free when I had it checked as it was giving my 280zx bad vibes. They will usually last far beyond the warranty Period whereas all other batteries I have used will die one day after the 60 months is up. I just replaced one on my 85zxt that was nine years old and still going strong. Guy said why replace but I like to be ahead of troubles.

well first off the guy gave you a line of crap about the battery being overcharged. Over charging a battery causes boiloff and you have to add water to keep the electrolyte level correct - UNLESS you have one of those crapola gel cells which die for no apparent reason they only work in a fairly new car with charging system in good order and driven every day. If you actually paid this clown you are screwed. Small claims court maybe. The fact that putting on the brakes did weird things would indicate that there was some sort of ground in the brake light circuit. The guy might have blown out one of the fusible links or disconnected something cause he obviously doesn't know the first thing about auto electrics. Sounds like a ground got taken off if the fuses are all good. Or you lost power which feeds through the ignition switch. Are all your battery cables in really good shape ie no corrosion no one size fit all clamps. Does your ground cable go down to a bolt in the frame and thence to the starter. The ground cable should first go to a bolt just below the battery box. Lots of people cut this off and go direct to starter but that can cause ground problems. Other good thing to do is run a 10 or 8 gauge wire from the battery negative terminal to either side of the engine compartment. Find a convenient screw to tie them to. Good luck take a gun with you and go see the guy who screwed you.

probably not even worth $3000 us these days. unless you find some seriously deranged collector who just won the lottery.