PhilbertZ

Thanks Gollum - I'll check out his post and bookmark it for the future when I can start doing these things. I actually broke down in the morning so AAA came to the rescue and we found the ONE shop open there on a saturday - whew! We were going to leave the Friday night before - around midnight - but decided not to due to the lateness factor and we were tired...thank GOD for that in hindsight! Cheers! Phil

We'll see Gollum - still want to make some changes, mods, etc to my ride before going to a show - it's in need of some TLC on both the exterior and interior - some long term projects I want to gradually ramp up to ("Buy House with Garage, then start" is the plan). BTW - for longer term...is there a sticky or thread you guys know of for getting the most out of a NA S130 (Exhaust, intake, plug wires, distributors, other "bolt ons")? The 132 HP is a little modest for a car this heavy, and as I replace/upgrade parts over time, I would like to choose the right ones to make up the best package in the long run. Plus, the last long trip I took ended with a dead alternator in Benicia - that wasn't fun I want to make my car more reliable before trying something as far as Vacaville! Which show is this BTW?

You guys are amazing - the diagram really helps too. Printing this out and taking home with me tonight. Much thanks!!!

Thanks Steve for the fast reply! I'll check that out and give it a shot. I have been unsuccessful the past few minutes searching online for the location of the TPS but I have a 2 inch thick service manual at home for this model, so I'll consult that sucker before diving into the engine bay. Will water likely ruin the TPS or just provide incorrect readings to the ECS until I "dry it out"? Is letting it sit for a day before drying it out going to be bad? And lastly, would it just dry on its own if left for a while (not trying to avoid doing this - just wondering since it's not a daily driver and I have a pretty busy week till the weekend. Thanks again!

Putting on my flame suit for this one....I just joined forum and seem to have done nothing but ask for lots of help (but have been successful in getting it from you guys, so I'm going to continue to press my luck!). So....the car has been running fine since the new alternator a few weeks back. However, I washed it a couple days ago and decided to use the generic orange and white can engine bay degreaser when I did this (from Kragen/Shucks/Checkers store). I checked the engine bay for inlets that the dereaser/water might get into but didn't see any obvious ones. With the OEM hood vents, it seemed like the engine bay was pretty robust as far as having liquids sprayed on it (degreaser and the water to rinse afterward). I sprayed the degreaser on, let it sit for 15 minutes, then rinses off, and ran the engine for 15+ minutes, just like the can said. Car seemed fine - parked it for 2 days. THE BIG PROBLEM: This morning, I drove it 10 miles or less to the train station for my commute. Noticed right away that it wouldn't rev past 2000-2200 RPMs - just cut out like a normal rev limiter would. This happened in all gears - if I downshifted, it would bog down to the 2000RPM limit - the only way I could get up to 45 MPH was to be in 5th gear - had to take surface streets instead of the freeway. I had a few minutes at the station to check under the hood but found nothing out of the ordinary. Took off air filter housing and it looked dry and just fine. I did some searching here on the forum when I got to work this morning but found nothing similar yet. Has anyone had this happen and if so, what's the fix to get it running again please? Thanks in advance!! Phil

I just posted at E46fanatics.com

it says in the very fist post here I believe that they are not...that they only fit certain japanese made headlight covers.

(mine's an '80)

those aren't OEM....

Will do! That's on my to do list next time I have some garage time with the car. I went back and checked my records....the car has been through 2 other alternators - the last one in 1995 at 150,xxx miles. That seems like a long time to go in between them so I'm not too down about it... still need to get in there and check for shorts/corrosion! I have a voltmeter (that I really don't know how to use...) - to check for a short (like in the Cig lighter), is there a quick and easy process to do so?

Then you must not overclock and water cool Yes, you can go "all show and no go"...but you can do some pretty functionally blingy things too, like watercooling. to each their own I guess. I just wanted to pimp my company's awesome SLI tech (and bitch about Crysis)

It's not that Pleasanton sounds so nice...it's that "Scaramonto" sounds so .... scary!

Speaking of tail lights....I was trying to take one of mine out to repair it (had a chipped out part)....I got all the hardware out on the inside, but it seemed not to budge. I ended up just taping over the chip for now. Is it just "sealed" in there with the existing gastket and I just need to push really hard? If so, do I need a new gasket to put it back on when repaired? Sorry to threadjack

Those are nice....but they are all running only ONE graphics card you need to start with an SLI motherboard (room for 2 or 3 graphics cards) and then go from there.... Check this out: http://www.slizone.com/object/slizone_rotm_january08.html Here's my 15 minutes of fame: http://www.slizone.com/object/slizone_diy_videoguide01.html And here's a nice link of other DIY guides: http://www.slizone.com/object/slizone_learn_howtoguide.html Anyone played Crysis yet? I finished it finally last month...was sorely disappointed at the end, but look forward to call of duty 4 next! Cheers Phil

Thanks again everyone. I heard from the mechanic today - it was the alternator and they are replacing it tomorrow. He said they were able to start it, then let it run and watch the volts go from 13 all the way down to 7 before it died. I'll get it tomorrow and check on the grounds you guys mentioned above - see if I can clean them up. Given what happened (and that I got a new alternator), do you think it's safe to still use 3rd party electronics like the radar detector mentioned in the beginning of this post? I'm guessing it put quite a load on the system, and triggered something that ultimately "killed" the alternator on Saturday... There was a comment above about Z electronics being "touchy" or something to that effect, so I'm wondering, even with a new alternator, if it's going to be an issue to use GPS, radar and other cigarette lighter electronics in my car going forward? Thamks for indulging me and again for the outpouring of ideas so soon after my post - it's very appreciated! Phil

Thanks Roger. So you can have multiple ground wires come off the battery? Keep in mind I know hardly anything about circuits... I've heard that having Long ground wires causes interference in radio speakers - but is that only when you're grounding the radio/speakers? I think I'm sensing a theme here: Bad battery Bad alternator Bad grounding on (possibly many) wires Thanks all - hope to have good news tomorrow when I call the mechanic. Phil

Looks like I may have a similar problem to Nathan11 - see here: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?p=855170#post855170 Nathan11 - did you fox your issue yet? Anyone else on this thread have an idea what happened to my Z? Sounds like possible bad grounds on my engine/dash connections (and/or alternator and battery issues). Phil

Thanks guys so much for the additional infromation - this will help me a lot when I speak with the mechanic tomorrow (hopefull he's thinking the same way and will have taken this approach to the problem as well. GrommetZ - I was driving at 9 in the morning so no lights were on. The scary part is that we were going to leave the night before - around midnight - to make the journey and avoid the morning traffic...so glad we didn't do that!! That's good to hear about the grounds - whatever the mecahnic does, I'll be sure to check the grounds everywhere and make sure they have good contact - is it as simple as disconnecting them, brushing with a wire brush on both contact surfaces, and then reattaching? I have a 2 inch thick model-specific service manual that I believe show where all the grounds are in the engine bay and dash (I had some time to read it while waiting for the tow truck...). Thanks again guys for your insight - cross your fingers! Phil

Thanks so much Roger - that's comforting to hear that it may be something that simple. Regarding the clutch - I bled the clutch and added more fluid last month - the pedal is still soft....replacing the master cylinder is on my list of things to do - I'm keeping an eye on the fluid level. If anyone else has input on the eletrical, let me know. Thanks again Roger - much appreciated!

Hi everyone - new Z owner here (couple months), and while taking my 1980 280ZX on a 150 mile trip up to my in laws this morning for the three day weekend, it broke down about 50 miles from home. What happened: Had been on road for an hour or so. Was doing about 75 on the freeway with no issues. Had radar detector plugged in to cigarette lighter, when the detector started to go a little haywire, making beeps and displaying lights all at once. This happened a couple times. Each time, I unplugged the cigarette lighter and plugged it in again. I finally just pulled it out altogether and left it out. About 10 minutes later, the car started to lose power in 5th. I downshifted to 4th, then 3rd - the power just "deflated". I went to signal to pull over and my signal didn't work anymore. By the time I got to shoulder and had slowed down, the car was dead. Voltage showed about 13-14 volts. Car wouldn't turn - just one click (not the multiple clicks you hear when a battery is dead). Fuses and fusible links in engine bay all seemed fine - checked twice. Everything else in engine bay seemed good - no leaks, no disconnections. With key turned, the power windows worked effortlessly, so power seemed to be fine. As we waited for the tow truck from AAA, I tried to turn it over a few times - waiting about 15 minutes between each attempt - after each period of waiting, the starter seemed to make one small "chug" or "churn" before stopping altogether. I had it towed to a shop nearby, and got up to my inlaws another way (would have cost $180 to tow back home, plus taxi home to get our backup car). So now it's at a AAA mechanic 50 miles from my home and 100 miles from my inlaws - they are going to run a diagnostic Monday and call me. Background: I've had the car for 2 months - got it from original owner and have full service records, which I have gone through and documented - no history of electrical issues that I noticed. The car's been great, except a soft clutch. One thing I noticed, is that at random times, if I have the fan on at any level - even its lowest point - the system will sporadically turn the heating/cooling fan up really high for a moment - then it goes back to normal. I have a sneaking suspicion that there is some electrical interference within the climate control, and perhaps the cigarette lighter/radar detector...I'm not electrically inclined. While I hope this is a simple issue like a dead alternator, as I wait for the mechanic to call me, I'd love to hear your input on this experience - maybe there are some questions you could recommend me to ask the mechanic Monday, since he's not a "Z specialist"? Hope you guys can please help me - I don't want to be marooned! Thanks for any input you guys can give

Thanks everyone! These are all great ideas - I'm sure I'll figure it out between then all (if I don't lose my skin/eyesite/engine bay paint in the process Cheers!

Thanks TeamNissan for the clarification! however, the other part of my post didn't get answered (about the kit referenced above having enough hoses in the right size to swap out our vacuum hoses on the S130). I'm going to add a real dumb Q now: are there any precautions to take when disconnecting/reconnecting vacuum hoses? I'm guessing it's not a good idea when the engine's warm Do you need to bleed anything off prior to disconnecting old/reconnecting new hoses?

Thanks guys for the comments and ideas! While the MSA bumper looks great -see below - it still doen't create the gap I seek, like in the S30 (also pictured). I really want something that allows me to move the turn signals into the grill (that's non existent on the existing S130). Unless it's something that doesn't require shaving/fabbing/etc, I'll probalby leave as is...I just really hate the OEM S130 look I have now.

ahhhhh....."chop" as in "photo s/chop"....I feel like a n00b now - nice work!