skiboatm Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 (edited) So to make a long story short... I'm in the process of stripping my 280zx to prepare it for the LT1 that will ultimately go in it. I took the hood hents off one day to put the new MSA NACA ducts in, but didn't have time to before dark, so I pulled it out of the garage and parked it on the street as I always do. The motor was running fine at the time. Overnight it rained like a mamba-jamba, and the next morning it sounded like someone had rearranged the spark plug wires. The belts were squeaky (as is to be expected at a rain storm and perpertual 90% humidity), and the motor was misfiring and hesitating pretty bad. I drove it to work though, thinking it would resolve itself, but the performance just got worse over the course of the day. This car is a non turbo, and I just installed new injectors in it a few weeks ago. Since then (until this issue) it was running like a dream. I figured it had to be either fuel, air, or spark, so I took the MAF out and cleaned it. I checked the spark plugs, and they looked golden brown, but a little bit of what looks like scoring on the OUTSIDE (aka where the wires attach) of the plug, which I thought was weird. I put a clear fram G3 filter in place of the standard filter to see if there was a ton of crap in the fuel, and it appears that (SURPRISE) I have a bit of a rusty tank, but it seems that the pressure and everything is running good. It idles nicely now, with the idle ajust screw all the way out, but when i hit the gas, it stops at 2000rpms, backfires a ton, and runs extremely rich... Any ideas what to check next? When I got the car 6-7 months ago I had to replace the ignition module, so that should be good I thought, but when I went to work on it yesterday, i got shocked touching the wire going to the ignition module on the the distributor. Could this be the issue, and if so, what is the ACTUAL issue? Thanks in advance... sorry, I tend to ramble Matt Edited July 27, 2011 by skiboatm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluDestiny Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 Did you check the Dizzy? Before when I used to wash my car, it would run like crap right after a wash, Turned out my dizzy cap was letting water in. This happened on my 260z with the louvered hood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zx_drift Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 Yeah water under the cap is most likely the cause. I'd also try unplugging connectors in your engine harness and gently blow them out with some air. When it's really humid or wet, water can cause high resistance between the connections. Try the same with the ECU connectors in case you have any leaks inside the car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetleaf Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 Water in the distributor cap as others have said, but if it's hitting a wall at ~2000, I bet you have water in the TPS. Remove the cover, dry and clean the contacts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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