twistedsymphony

Granted it didn't "run" (it just sputtered and popped) but that is exactly the method used to confirm we were having a fuel problem before I created this thread. this is exactly the method used to determine that the ECU was bad and lead me to creating this thread. After replacing the ECU we confirmed that the injectors worked because we could hear them click, the car sputters just like it did when we squirted ether into the intake with the dead ECU and the spark plugs are getting soaked with fuel. doubtful: The relay had 6-pins and a grounding plate, my replacement has 6 pins and a grounding loop. I confirmed that everything on the fuse panel that was originally non-functionaly due to the bad ignition relay became functional after replacing it. I didn't splice anything, or develop some complicated nest of wires, I literally made and adapter that let you plug in modern relays in place of the old expensive metal ones. The car is an automatic so I don't have much control over what gear it's in, it's also in a barn at the bottom of a hill... so the only way it's rolling is under it's own power or with a winch. I'm thinking i'll probably just pull the belts and wire brush it until I can find the mark. and mark it with white out

I've toyed with the idea of a megasquirt setup on one of my own cars (89 Toyota pickup) but my friend who owns the Z couldn't afford it even if he wanted to... so far we've spent about $30 for the relays, and another $10 for the ECM... I also highly doubt a MegaSquirt setup would have been up and running by now since we've really only spent about 5-6 hours diaging this car tops... (granted spread out over several weeks, but still). not only that but but we'd still be having the same timing issues megasquirt or not... about the only thing it would help is getting better visibility of the AFM output... but it looks like that link you posted will help.

yes definitely have good flow and pressure, we even checked over the diagram in the FSM to make sure all the lines were hooked up the way they should be (and they are) yes, based on this image: We brought a timing light but couldn't locate the mark... I'm not sure if we simply couldn't find it or if it had disappeared (the pulley is pretty rusted).

Ok so first the starter wouldn't even kick on, nor would the fuel pump and I determined that the ignition relay was junk... I build a little converter harness to use modern relays and and that powered up everything in the car, the fuel pump would kick on and the engine would turn over but it wasn't getting gas. After some more testing I determined the injectors were firing because the ECU was bad so I got a new one (thanks z-ya) and after popping that in the injectors started firing... but the car still wouldn't start... So I assumed that the timing was off, after checking I realized that the plug wires were all going to the wrong points on the distributor, so I swapped those around to the proper firing order.... still wont start. as it is now it will sputter like it's going to start but never actually kicks on. -We ARE getting spark, the plugs are all new and we've used a spark tester to verify that it's getting spark. we've also loosened the adjustment bolt on the distributor and tried tweaking it but it didn't seem to make a difference. -We are getting proper fuel pressure at the rail and the injectors are firing (brand new injectors and all new fuel lines too) I have 2 ideas of what could be wrong 1. the distributor needs to be removed and re-indexed to correct the timing. 2. the AFM is toast causing the computer to produce and incorrect mixture. I'm using to working on more modern cars with MAFs and coil on plug ignitions... if anyone has any suggestions on how to reliably test the above or other things I should be looking at, I'd love to hear them... The car needs to be out of the barn it's in by this weekend so I'm sure my buddy would be happy if it drove out under it's own power instead of getting loaded on a trailer.

these guys got back to me and confirmed that the proper ECM is A11-601-000, which does match what is in the car. z-ya is sending me another one to try out, Thanks!

Thanks! I'll give them a shout.

we ran a spark tester and we are getting spark on all cylinders. also we tested by manually squirting ether into the intake and were able to get the car to sputter. we also verified 12V at all injectors... this was one of the first things we verified, it was also covered as part of the FSM diag which we ran through twice. I'd really love to know the proper ECM Part Number so I can at least compare that to what we have.

I'm helping a friend of mine get a 1978 280Z up and running, he bought it as a failed "project" from someone else, so he's never seen it run. A little background: When we started it wouldn't even turn over, I traced that to a faulty ignition relay... now it cranks but it's not getting fuel -fuel pump turns on -we have proper pressure in the lines -injectors do not fire. The injectors are new, as they were replaced by the previous owner, we could get the injectors to "click" by manually hooking them up to the battery, today I went through the harness and a copy of the FSM and verified the wiring TWICE with a multimeter so I can say without a doubt that it is correct. So that leaves me to believe that the ECM is faulty. As I said before it's a 1978, it's an Automatic and it's California Emissions (based on the fact that it has a working floor temp light) I've searched around a bunch to try to figure out what the ECM differences are year to year and all I've come up with are people claiming that the 78 is wired differently than prior years, and that the California cars make use of additional pins. But I haven't found anything that sounds concrete, nor have I found what I'm really looking for, which is the proper ECM model number for this car. I don't trust that the ECM that is currently in the car is the correct one and I'd like to know 100% what the proper ECM model number is for a 78 California Auto. Any help identifying the ECM part number for this configuration would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!