Guest NorCalZ Posted November 28, 2003 Share Posted November 28, 2003 Hi everyone, I have quite a dilemma. I was at a family Thanksgiving dinner and I drove there w/o any problems in the 73 240z. It comes time to leave and I go and start my car and start driving away about two blocks and then I totally lose my throttle response until my car dies. Then I turn it over and over and over and nothing. My dad was there and I still live at home so I did get home fine. I ran back and got my dad to help me push the car into a safe spot and we tinkered with it but it was 930 and we called it a night and are going back tomorrow. So we need some ideas if anyone can queue in that would be greatly appreciated. We pulled off the distributor cap and there was some soot stuck to the top middle one and what it connects to so we scraped it off with a knife and tried to start it and for a second it seemed to hesistate to start but never did. It isn't the carbs they are all hooked up fine and never give me problems. I am almost certain it is a distributor related problem but if anyone can give me a clue of where to look I would love it. My first thing I was going to check tomorrow was if it is getting spark by pulling a plug out still connected to plug wire and crank the car over to see if spark is there. If that is happening then it may not be the dist Im really pissed because I hate spending my money on fixing shit for my car because they are pretty reliable for the most part. Thanks in advance, a troubled high school student. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted November 28, 2003 Share Posted November 28, 2003 Are you running the stock distributor? A very common upgrade is to a non-points dizzy out of a later Z... if that's the case they have a module that provides signal for the spark... a little black box on the side of the dizzy. These tend to go out every so often. Or the coil itself may have bit the dust. Or the coil wire. I've never heard of anything going wrong with a distributor itself to cause one to die, they usually have problems that will effect timing and will cause your car to run erratic long before it would actually quit, I think. I agree it is most likely ignition though, SU's really can't just stop working, if you're running SU's Check for spark and just start eliminating stuff, starting with coil, coil wire and the little black module. All three are cheap and easy to replace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VRJoe Posted November 29, 2003 Share Posted November 29, 2003 Don't forget to check the fuel pump and fuel flow. - Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted November 29, 2003 Share Posted November 29, 2003 true... even the old 240 pumps can fail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest NorCalZ Posted November 29, 2003 Share Posted November 29, 2003 as a matter of fact I believe it is the fuel pump. We got it to provide spark all the way to the plug and it ran for about 2 minutes, I started driving and it sounded funny and the whole car lurched forward like I hit a wall and it wouldn't start again. I went to the local kragen to get some fuel stuff like a filter and I ran into a kid that works there about my age and I told him what was up and what car and he went nuts because He loves Zs too. So he told me the electric fuel pump right below the gas tank craps out sometime but I don't think my car has that, I think I only have the mechanical that is found right afteer the fuel filter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted November 30, 2003 Share Posted November 30, 2003 yeah you shouldn' t have an electrical one. You can install one if you like and bypass the mechanical. Personal I stuck with mechanical because the generic electric one you usually find at auto parts stores is LOUD. Well the mechanical one is easy enough to test, just disconnect the fuel line at the carbs, crank it over and see if any fuel comes out. Those fuel pumps are hardy units though i would be more suspect of a clocked pickup or line coming from the tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nismo280zEd Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 check your altenator connections as well, but if you have spark and the timing is right... there is no question... it's a fuel issue check the fuel bulbs see if they are full or empty. -Ed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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