Hyuri

I think it was right around 30F with about 6 inches on the ground when I left this morning, heading up to Barstow where it's colder. Not too bad, except the only heat that works on the car is the driver's side mirror. Massive vacuum leak in the automatic climate control system and the PO started to remove the hatch tint by cutting down the full length with a razor blade, I think 4 cuts? Oh, and the t-tops leak. But I have a lot of layers....

If you're trashing the seat anyway, what's the harm in trying?

Those aren't the only steps required to rule out the battery. Do you know what's the voltage across the terminals? What kind of cranking amperage is your battery providing? Is the battery fully charged? Is it still good? Have you checked your grounds? All of them? What's the resistance of your battery cables? Are any of the other electrical connections in the car corroded or dirty? Pull the battery and the starter and take them to Autozone, have them tested. Attached are two diagnostic pages for starter problems, from an '83 and a '76 FSM. Hopefully you'll find them useful.

Before you go pulling the manifolds, make sure it's the (upper, head, whatever you want to call it) manifold gasket, not the (lower) flange gasket! That's where my exhaust leak turned out to be, and it ended up with me drilling out all three studs. I put the new studs in, and the nuts just wouldn't hold - one actually welded itself to the stud, which I had to replace again, the rest just stripped themselves. Final assembly: dry-installed studs (from NAPA), 3 nuts from Lowe's with a little bit of copper anti-sieze on them, retorqued from time to time over several months. Hasn't leaked in a while, but now the intake's started.... Back to the point: starting with the car cold, fire it up and (carefully!) feel around all the exhaust joints you can reach for moving or warm air. A stethoscope can help too. Edit: whoops, missed that it was a turbo. Still, the basic ideas should be the same (verify the location and existence of the leak).

That would be it. The turbocharger is the distinguishing characteristic between the ZX and the ZXT[urbo].

Ducts may be blocked (vent or inlet), heater core may be blocked, blend doors may be frozen in an odd configuration (it's always odd, for some reason), motor may not actually be turning the squirrel cage.... Your best bet would probably be to 1) download a 1975 FSM (XenonS30), and 2) check in the S30 forum. I'd guess from various comments floating around the 'net that you might want to focus your attention on the blower.

I have a fairly worn-out stock '83 NA, and flogging it day before yesterday turned in just shy of 19 MPG the first leg and just over 21 the second. About 20 overall for the day then, with an average speed over ~300 miles that I wouldn't admit in court. Ancient plugs/wires, 233k miles, iffy clutch ... if my car can do it, just about anyone's should be able to. Possibly even with 200 HP. Especially if you can keep your foot out of it.

Just as a note, the float for the switch can get stuck if it gets too low, sometimes. Happened to me - I topped up the overflow and the light was still on - so I smacked the bottle and that fixed it. If that's the problem yours may not be that simple, but it's pretty easy to check while you're topping up anyway.

Although, according to the FSM, the '83 model's magic numbers are variable and range as low as 1500 and 1300, respectively. With a head temperature of over 200F, but still. But yes, very much appreciated. I never quite understood the point of the BCDD before now....

Try poking around in CarFiche.com, then see what part numbers come back at Courtesy. I've seen some rather ... interesting parts that their website claims they have in stock. Anyone ever heard of a 280ZX air pump? Courtesy says it ships in 2-4 days.

For further diagnosis you really want a manifold gauge set. They're reasonably cheap (e.g. manifold, hoses) and, along with a stem thermometer, comprise the basic diagnostic toolkit for MVAC systems. Couple of test leads, a test light, and a FSM, and you can pretty much test anything [A/C-related] on a Z. Well, and a vacuum gauge if you have the automatic climate controls. It's usually easier to have someone else do the work though, especially with R-12 as most people don't have a 609 certificate. Anyway, R134a works tolerably well in about every application I've seen, OEM or retrofit. The biggest problem I've observed in, again, every application, is that it doesn't work well at all at idle. Kick it into neutral and run it up to ~1200 RPM and it's usually cold again. If you retrofit, get as much of the old oil out as possible, flush the condensor and evaporator (at a minimum) and replace the receiver/drier. R-12 oil doesn't react well at all with R-134a and its oils. Replace every O-ring you can find, and consider a new TXV so you don't have to do that later on.

Quickie test: turn the A/C on, then look at the pulley. If the belt is going around but the front of the pulley isn't spinning, there's something wrong with the clutch or its control circuit. If it is spinning, there are still possibilities other than a leak - a bad TXV or strainer, for example. Is the belt installed and tension properly set? Assumption check: did you have the system evacuated or just charged? Your worries about a leak are making me suspicious on that count.

You can use a (long) screwdriver held to your ear or one of these (watch the sales, I got mine for $1.49) but hold the probe end to whatever you want to listen for noise in - fuel injector body, valve cover, side of the head, bottom of the block, etc.. The stethoscope is nice because it's longer and on flexible hose, and it pipes the sound to both ears. As JSM said though, it's probably your injectors. One complaint that everyone seems to come up with at some point is that their L28 has loud injectors.

Or (again assuming the interior A pillar stuff), what I just did this morning: a pack of #10x3/4" oval head phillips sheet metal screws. 93 cents + tax at Lowe's.

Oh yeah, bad grounds will definitely screw things up. If one was bad, I'd poke around and check resistance on all your grounds just in case. They're pretty easy to get to anyway.

Not wanting to spend the money for a replacement, I cleaned off the business end of my CHTS with some fine sandpaper (scotch pad would probably have been better) and it's been working fine for a couple of months now. Er, by business end I mean the end that contacts the head. You'll have to pull the sensor out to do that part (I think it was a 17mm wrench?).

The interior A pillar trim is normally, so far as I can tell, held on with screws. Lists 08530-51642 "screw-tapping M5" item #4 and 08530-51620 "screw-tapping M5" item #5. My vote is to go down to the hardware store and pick up some M5 tapping screws. Looks like, from my hardware, a 15-20mm oval head is the ticket.

The exterior trim? Every time I've seen people talking about those, they just call them [windshield] trim clips. Nissan calls them (I believe I have the right ones here) 72727-W1000 "clips". Item #7.

When it comes to electrical parts on my ZX, my feeling is that while you can fail to clean the right one, you can never clean the wrong one.

For starters, I think you have an electrical problem. Get out the FSM and the multimeter. Then keep the FSM out and start inspecting things: parking brake cable, brake pads/rotors, brake hydraulic system, clutch hydraulics, clutch/brake linkages, clutch assembly (I'd leave this until you eliminate everything else, personally), etc.. If all the linkages check out, I'd flush or at least bleed both. Did you check the fluid levels and condition?

Right side of the block, way down at the bottom toward the front. Right in front of the oil filter, actually. Should be a (large) rubber boot over the connection. And, may I add, it's cold out there!

Just a note: my oil pressure gauge was intermittently not registering anything a while back. When it stopped showing anything at all, I cleaned off the sensor terminals and the harness plug, and now it registers faster than the tach. Cleaning a sensor's connections, both electrical and ... sensory, should be one of the basic diagnostic steps.

I had good luck with a 4A-FE thermostat housing bolt, using a solid pair of locking pliers cranked tight tight tight.

Not sure about your engine, but I can think of at least 10 on mine (N/A L28E) right off the top of my head: 6 fuel injector 1 cold start valve 1 air regulator 1 thermotime switch (thermostat housing) 1 cylinder head temperature sensor (rear, right side of head)

This one, perhaps?