Wagz Posted June 8, 2004 Share Posted June 8, 2004 I hate wiring! I hate burnt wiring even more! Last Thursday I was driving my commuter beater ('87 300Z) and stopped for gas on my way to a meeting. As I pulled up to the pumps, I can see some wisps of what I assumed was steam. Oh crap! it must be over-heating; check guages; nope, temperature was right where its supposed to be. OH CRAP!! I rolled the car several yards past the pumps and shut it down as fast as I could. I popped the hood to find flames eating up the wiring harness on the passenger side. I have a fire extinguisher in my Maxima and my Expedition, but not in my daily driver. Smart, huh?! Sooo, I ran into the convenience store and calmly asked for their fire extinguisher. The attendants spent the next few minutes doing their best impression of keystone cops. Keep in mind, this is in Oregon, where us lowly drivers are too stupid to pump our own gas and we rely on the the 'highly trained professional attendants.' In the mean-time, the flames are getting higher and higher. In the end, I located the extinguisher myself and ran out to douse the flames. The only real fun about it was when one of the brainiac attendants puts his head under the hood after the flames were put out. There was an abrupt and loud hissing sound of pressure being released (probably the fuel system). The sound scared the guy so bad, he damn near jumped out of his uniform as he stumbled back from the car. In the end, the harness is toast; a melted glob o' crap. The plug wires on the first two cylinders are toast and the injectors are just big chunks of nasty looking plastic. Looks like I'll be cruising eBay looking for Z31 parts... Here's a shot of the harness after I spent an hour scraping and cutting plastic and separating wires as best I could, It doen't show the melted components very well: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyZ Posted June 8, 2004 Share Posted June 8, 2004 Man, that really bites. Sorry to hear that about your daily driver--makes it difficult to get to work! Hopefully all will get sorted out... About the gas station attendants that pump your gas: hey, no need to tip them! I was a bit taken aback when I first rolled through Oregon a number of years ago and they would not let me pump my own gas. Paid the same price so I wasn't upset (I'm cheap ). Davy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim240z Posted June 8, 2004 Share Posted June 8, 2004 Wags...it's probably bad Karma from having a Tenzo-R sticker on your toolbox! Sorry about the fire man.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted June 8, 2004 Share Posted June 8, 2004 Man, that stinks! BTW, wasn't your car one of the ones that Nissan had the injector/injector harness campaign on? I had an 85 Maxima that had that done at a dealer. The issue was really the injectors though - not the wiring. Did you have it done and they screwed it up? Sorry to hear about that, Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slownrusty Posted June 8, 2004 Share Posted June 8, 2004 Wow - Scarry, so what was the source of the fire! Leaky injector I presume? I have lost count as to how many Z31s and Maximas I have seen at the scrap yard with under hood fire damage. I am glad you caught it early and you are fine and the car is fixable. Yasin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillZ260 Posted June 8, 2004 Share Posted June 8, 2004 Way to remain calm! Some people freak like that attendant and usually end up making things worse. Too bad about the car, but it sounds like you have at least one back up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted June 8, 2004 Share Posted June 8, 2004 that brings the count to FIVE 1st gen 300zx's that I've either seen or heard of that have had electrical fires under the hood... what's up with these cars???? The first one shot HUGE flames out when the owner opened the hood and was popping and stuff and had a bunch of people, myself included, scared to death that it was gonna explode.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wagz Posted June 8, 2004 Author Share Posted June 8, 2004 Wags...it's probably bad Karma from having a Tenzo-R sticker on your toolbox! Sorry about the fire man.... Shoot! You saw that picture, huh? I knew someone would give me crap about that Tenzo sticker. The honest to god truth is that its my brother's sticker. No, really! I assume it was a leaky injector. But, I don't really know. No way to know now. They're just lumps of goo. I didn't have any work done on it myself. I just bought the car a few months ago when I gave my Maxima to my wife to drive. Gas is getting too expensive for her to use the Expedition as a daily driver. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted June 8, 2004 Share Posted June 8, 2004 Call Nissan customer relations, or whatever. That campaign is never ending. I believe with your VIN they can tell you if it was ever fixed under the campaign. If not tell them what happened and that you need to have the injector campaign applied to the car. I'm betting they pick up the entire bill! (update) Here's the info I found on this campaign from the Z31.com site: http://www.z31.com/rt/recall.84.shtml "NHTSA CAMPAIGN ID Number: 95I006000 Make: NISSAN Model: 300ZX Year: 1984 Causing Fault : FLOODS,LEAKS Resulting Fault : FIRE, FLUID,ELECTRICAL,GAS(LPG),GASOLINE,OTHER Component: FUEL:FUEL INJECTION SYSTEM Manufacturer: NISSAN MOTORS CORPORATION Year of Recall: 1995 Type of Report: Vehicle Improvement Potential Number of Units Affected: 1 Summary: NISSAN DEALERS WILL REPLACE THE FUEL INJECTORS AND RELATED HOSES OF THE AFFECTED VEHICLES. SYSTEM: FUEL; FUEL INJECTION SYSTEM.VEHICLE DESCRIPTION: PASSENGER VEHICLES.DESCRIPTION OF PROBLEM: THIS IS NOT A SAFETY RECALL IN ACCORDANCE WITH FEDERALREGULATION 573. HOWEVER, IT IS DEEMED A SAFETY IMPROVEMENT CAMPAIGN BY THEAGENCY. THE CAMPAIGN WILL REPLACE THE FUEL INJECTORS AND RELATED HOSES OFAFFECTED VEHICLES WHICH COULD LEAK.CONSEQUENCE OF PROBLEM: FUEL LEAKS IN THE ENGINE COULD RESULT IN A FIRE.NOTE: NISSAN HAS DECIDED TO CONDUCT A SAFETY IMPROVEMENT SERVICE CAMPAIGN TOREPLACE THE FUEL INJECTORS AND RELATED HOSES WITHOUT CHARGE. OWNERS CAN CONTACTNISSAN AT 1-800-647-7261." Other info (different phone number given: http://tms.ecol.net/newcars/auto0918.htm "Meantime, at Nissan, fuel injectors and hoses are being replaced without charge on about 700,000 cars. Cars affected by the voluntary callback campaign are 1984-89 300ZX sports cars and Maxima sedans made from 1985 to 1988. For information about the Nissan recall, call 1-800-867-7669." Just google for it, it's out there . Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wagz Posted June 8, 2004 Author Share Posted June 8, 2004 I will definately be making some phone calls. Thanks for the tip, Pete! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted June 8, 2004 Share Posted June 8, 2004 Look at my above post for some info on that campaign. Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wagz Posted June 8, 2004 Author Share Posted June 8, 2004 I figured there would be some kind of info at Z31.com, but you are moving way faster than I am!! Thanks for chasing that down for me. I'll grab the VIN# off the car tonight and make some calls! It would be wayyy cool to have Nissan take care of this. I'll let you guys know how this pans out. Thanks again, Pete!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Thurem Posted June 8, 2004 Share Posted June 8, 2004 For good measure you should find a creepy ambulance chasing lawyer (or whatever you call those) and sue the gasstation for not having that extinguiser handy, at a moments notice. Man, I think it is GROSS that they don't know where the extinguisher is at a gasstation.... Thure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datsunlover Posted June 8, 2004 Share Posted June 8, 2004 Meh.. I worked at a gas station for a while and it didn't even HAVE an extiguisher for the first few months I was there! (And on top of that, a guy freaked at me one day because I told him to put out his ciggarette or I wouldn't pump his gas!) Anyway, too bad about your car man, hope Nissan comes good for it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wagz Posted June 9, 2004 Author Share Posted June 9, 2004 Things are looking very positive! I called Nissan USA customer service. Their records indicate that my 300Z has never had the fuel injector recall work done on it and they recommended that I get it to my local dealer. The local Nissan service manager says that as long as the injectors have never been replaced and/or are original Nissan components, Nissan will cover the towing and complete repair of the car! I'm cautiously optimistic. The car is 17 years old, I've owned it for all of 2 months so, I really don't know for sure that the injectors are definatley original Nissan stuff. I REALLY hope so! I'd love not to have to spend the time and $ repairing this myself. Fingers crossed, toes crossed, sacrificing chicken to the Nissan gods... Pete: Thanks again for the tip! U Da Man!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted June 9, 2004 Share Posted June 9, 2004 If Nissan didn't show your car having that done, I doubt the injectors were touched - they usually don't go bad (other than these particular ones leaking!). You should have seen my 85 Maxima - beat up piece of junk - but the dealer fixed it free with this campaign anyway. You're welcome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest SeanyD300zxT Posted June 15, 2004 Share Posted June 15, 2004 Curious if nissan made good on it, for future reference I suppose? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wagz Posted August 20, 2004 Author Share Posted August 20, 2004 Well, after submitting mountains of documentation, pictures of fire damage, waiting months for answers... Nissan says no. They say that the fuel injector replacment campaign was a voluntary service on Nissan's part and wasn't a mandatory safety recall. That, coupled with the fact that I don't have ALL service records from ALL previous owners gets them out of covering the fire damage. The best they'll do is give me a $250 credit toward getting the damage repaired at a Nissan dealership. The dealership gave me a $2500 estimate to fix the damage. Oh, well. It was worth a try So, now I have to decide if I want to: - Spend the time & and cash to fix the car myself (that means even less time and money for the Velo Rossa) - Sell the complete non-running car. - Part out the car. Anybody want a Z31 for a V8 install? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jason84NA-T Posted August 21, 2004 Share Posted August 21, 2004 So' date=' now I have to decide if I want to: [list'] - Spend the time & and cash to fix the car myself (that means even less time and money for the Velo Rossa) - Sell the complete non-running car. - Part out the car. Anybody want a Z31 for a V8 install? Why don't you just do a crossmember swap and install a VG30ET? If all you need is a wiring harness and injectors for a N/A car, they can be had used for under $300. Post in the Z31.com classifieds. The work is easy, I've done it numerous times... you could probably have it back to normal in an afternoon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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