Jspec603

Ok, so it's been a week since I last posted in here. I had my buddy get a replacement thermo time switch and FPR, used but came off of a well running Z. I verified the thermotime switch was good with my multimeter as well. With these installed, it now seems to not want to run at all . I took the plugs back out and cleaned them up again and she barely runs now. I decided to double check TDC just because. I wanted to post pics of the distributor rotor direction and tang orientation. Do you guys feel the tang is still off too much? When I was installing the distributor drive shaft, this was as close as I could get it to the proper alignment. One tooth over and it seemed to go well to the left, more like 9 o'clock if I had to guess. Starting to get pretty discouraged here... To recap on what has been done to this point; Replaced; FRP Thermotime Plugs swapped cap, rotor, wires from my own z checked fuel pump blew out return line checked for vacuum leaks checked fuel pressure Here are the pics of rotor and tang orientation currently, at TDC

Fixed the links to the videos. Looked into a few more things. First off, I checked the vacuum at the FPR. It seemed weak so I removed the nipple fitting and found it was almost completely closed up with sludge. Popped it in the bench vice (on the hex portion) and ran a drill bit through it, opened it back up nicely. However, it did not help the issue. I was however playing around with my hose pliers and was able to pinch off the feed line between the filter and pressure gauge. Tried to get it as close to the 22ish psi that you all recommended and she ran pretty decent. Below is a link to that video. http://s456.photobucket.com/user/jspec603/media/100_2844_zpsde89ed5d.mp4.html The more I starve it of fuel, the smoother the idle gets (to a point, then it dies). It's idling high because I have the screw adjusted way out at the moment. I did this because it was the only way I was able to keep some kind of idle. Also, Zed, I am going to do just that. You are correct on that matter for certain.

Zed, strange they were working links when I first made the thread. I'll look into the fuel pressure after I try my switch. I did however already try disconnecting the vacuum line for a few minutes while the car was running to see if it started spitting fuel or not. The FPR was actually one of my first thoughts as to a suspect. At this point it appears that this is a combined effort of failing parts.

Dan, I thought it was high as well. But at this point, I feel it's an entirely different problem. The thermo time switch is most definitely in-operational with zero resistance or continuity between the two posts on the switch. I may pull the switch out of my own Z (already verified it reads properly) and just try it in this car to see if it corrects the issue. Then I will move onto the next issue if there is success.

Zed, sorry about the confusion. The * is what I use when I am lazy and don't want to type out the word degree . What I was temping was the coolant with a thermometer as per the book At the radiator cap it was reading 60 degrees. That was my fault as that is the test for the temp sensor, not the thermo time switch. I was not checking the single leg sensor as I know that goes to the cluster only. As for the pins I was referring to, per page 23 of the "engine fuel" section of my PDF, pins #4 and #21 on the ECU plug are tested to chassis ground for continuity. I am not stopping there either . Just wanted to preform each test per the book. Pin #35 is listed as a ground circuit on the diagram. I'm double checking the switch readings again just in case. Directly at the switch I get no reading between the two posts, 45 & 46. Also, at the ECU on pin #4 & #21, I get no reading. Neither equate to ~60 ohms as you stated. I think it's fair to say the switch is inop.

Thanks for the input. If you re-read my last post, you'll see that I did reference the book and temperature table. Unless I am misunderstanding your meaning. As for having the plugs reversed, I don't feel this is the case. I under stand that they are reverse-able and could easily be mixed up, one of the previous owners of the car had made the two pigtail leads longer and shorter to reach the specific sensor and taped them off. There is a brown plug that goes to the water temp sensor w/ 6-7" of lead and a yellowish plug that goes to the thermo time sensor w 3-4" of lead. I did however check the wrong pin at the ECU in my last post. I checked pin #13, water temp sensor. I just double checked the FSM, it should be pin #4 and #21. Both have continuity to the body, but no resistance across the two pins at the ECU. I still feel like getting a new sensor would be the appropriate way to go at this point. Does anyone know if the two sensors are interchangeable? Water temp and thermo time? Rock Auto has one 2 pin water temp sensor listed, not specifying if it is for thermo time or not.

Ok, so here are my findings as I'm going, am doing the tests as described in the FSM. Thermotime sensor; Continuity between sensor and block, none. Check Pin #46 to swtich body, no resistance. Check Pin #45 to swtich body, 51-62 ohms. Fail, no reading. Resistance between pins #45 an #46 @ 60*. Fail, reads 4.28 ohms. Book wants to see between 2.75 and 3.25. Continuity between pin #13 @ ECU and body, none. Fail I have not warmed the car up as of yet, need to clean up the plugs again so it'll fire. But it makes sense at this point, the sensor is reading higher ohms so it's telling the ECU that it is actually colder which would make it want to dump more fuel. With out warming the car up and testing the sensor further, I feel it's safe to rule this as the cause of the rich condition at this point. Question on the water temp sensor and the thermo time sensor. Are they the same part? Most of the local stores list the sensor for the cluster and a 2 prong sensor for water temp. I just wanna make sure before I get one for the car that it uses the same 2 pin sensor for both.

I did, yes. He had bought the complete Felpro gasket kit. I've even tried spraying brake/carb clean around the runners to see if I could get it to choke a little with no results. And yes, that is what I have the firing order at, that alone has been checked numerous times. I've also tried rotating the plugs clockwise an counter clockwise on the dizzy cap to see if the #1 was wrong.

I'll double check the sensor. I did have a friend helping me at one point and he did check it with a multi-meter and it was reading 2.1 ohms I believe. but I'm not sure what the engine temp was at the time, so I can not honestly say if it was accurate. However, I did not check this myself, so I will go back and do it again. I'll try it as the ECU as suggested as well. Thanks for the input guys.

Hi everyone, I need to reach out to some of you long time Z owners for some assistance. I recently did a head gasket job for a buddy on his 280z. Ran into every possible issue I've read up on. I spent a while drilling out and tapping studs, jumped a tooth on the timing either when I was inserting or removing my wooden wedge, etc etc. Took it all down and reset the timing. I now have this car all back together. I checked my timing marks over and over, clock the distributor shaft to 11:25 (as close as it would come), verified with the screw driver trick between the bolt holes etc. It is currently timed to 10* btdc on the crank pulley. However, I am currently at a loss as to where to go next. The car is fouling plugs like crazy. Super erratic idle. Blows black smoke (unburnt fuel, hence the fouling.) etc. I've tried a second set of plugs, distributor and wires off my own 280z. I've done a fuel pressure test while running, holds between 34-36 at idle(the needle is jumpy) I've made sure to check connections at the temp sensors, AFM, injectors (wired new clips in already). I've blown out the return line etc. I've pretty much done everything I could find online for common causes of this symptom via google search. However, that really didn't get me anywhere. So here I am. Below I'm going to post photos of my timing settings. Also a few vid clips of the car running as well as the fuel pressure test. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated! New Plugs 1-6 left to right. Have had to pull and clean them numerous times. Timing link on crank, is a little blurry... Timing link at #1 spot on cam gear Cam lobes Cam notch Distributor at TDC (don't have a photo of the tang) Here are a few vids of it running and the fuel pressure while running; Fuel pressure http://s456.photobucket.com/user/jspec603/media/100_2832_zpscb17443c.mp4.html Running with slight acceleration http://s456.photobucket.com/user/jspec603/media/100_2834_zps2c507208.mp4.html http://s456.photobucket.com/user/jspec603/media/100_2834_zps2c507208.mp4.html Running at idle http://s456.photobucket.com/user/jspec603/media/100_2831_zps53953a5e.mp4.html http://s456.photobucket.com/user/jspec603/media/100_2830_zps66d90abe.mp4.html I hope you guys can offer some good feedback and suggestions. Sorry for a long post Tom