steering wobble and car stalling HELP!

[ZR8ED]

2 problems now on my 82 280zx.

 

1 is the stalling. I replaced the battery, the pos cable, the neg cable was in excellent shape. I cleaned all the connections on the battery, grounds, and fuseable links. The car starts fine now with the new positive bat cable.

 

Problem is it just randomly dies.. you don't even notice it, till the gas pedal no longer makes the car go faster. you can't hear it stall while driving... It does it within 2 min of driving or idleing in the driveway, all the way to not stalling for an entire drive????

 

I'm planning on trying a new coil next..I'f I'm desperate, I may rewire the car to keep running..

 

 

Problem 2

 

The car has a wobble in the steering while driving. I checked the power steering fluid, and it was low, I topped it up, but no luck. I do notice the steering rack boots are leaking, and I found some brand new ones in the trunk....

 

The steering wheel moves back and forth a few inches, rythmically, I have not gone too fast, but it sure appears to be speed related.. the faster I go, the faster the wobble. I can feel the whole car wobbling..

 

I'm not sure where to proceed yet, other than to a garage...

 

Help. I have 10 days on my permit as of today before I have to start towing this thing to garages.

 

Thanks,

Scott.

[Mike kZ]

1) not sure, but isn't there a module on the side of the dizzy that sometimes causes problems like that on ZXs

 

2) sounds like outer and/or inner tie rods are worn

[Drax240z]

1) check the ignition module on the side of the distributor. Connections may need cleaning. Also clean ECU, thermotime, TPS & AFM connections while you are at it.

 

2) Grab a wheel while the car is resting on the ground and wiggle it top to bottom/side to side and see if there is any clunking or abnormal movement. I'd guess tie rod ends or ball joints!

[JMortensen]

1. Module or coil would be my guess too.

 

2. That would have to be one hell of a bad tie rod to cause that. If the steering wheel moves back and forth a few inches first thing I would do is look at the tires, make sure the tread isn't separating. Then I'd make sure the lug nuts are tight. Jack up the front end and spin the tire by hand and see if it's really badly flat spotted or bulged out.

 

After that I'd start looking at tie rods, ball joints, and bushings.

 

A few inches is a LOT, and there should be something noticeably wrong to cause that kind of movement in the steering wheel.

[BrandonsZ]

Drax got it.

 

1) I'd bet it was a connection, it's always a connection. At least you'd hope so, don't want to think of the alternatives. Bad harness?

 

2) You may need to get the front off the ground and try to move the tires, it could also be a wheel bearing.

 

Oh and one really stupid thing, Check your lug nuts, I mean take the wheels off and put them back on. You'd be surprised.

[datsunlover]

1: I had a similar stalling problem on an 86 Yota Rustrunner.. it uses a LOT of similar looking FI/sensors (Denso, AFM, ect) I replaced a throttle sensor/switch (can't remember) and it was fine..

 

2; My old 81 had the same shake.. I just got used to it over time But it was tierod's in mine.. You may have a badly bent rim as well.

[ZR8ED]

I took the car to the garage today to have the steering checked. Looks like the tie rods are bad.. I don't know if its inner or outer or whatever..Ill find out the part name when I call the garage later tonight.

 

On a note of the stalling. It died 2 times on the way to the garage (one time was precisely the instant I drove over some bumpy train tracks). Both times I happened to notice the tach. I was running at 3k, then instantly, the tach went to 0 (car was in gear and under load) It restarted fine. both times.

 

Thanks for the ideas. When the car comes back tonight, I'll check the dizzy wiring and clean the connectors.

[ZR8ED]

Well more news

 

I picked the car up from the garage. Nothing wrong with the tie rods. They put new boots on the steering rack.

 

turns out I had missing wheel weights on the front tire, and that a belt had let go. I had two tires installed up front, and the wobble it gone.

 

Next:

 

I have been checking out some of the ideas you guys gave me. With the car running, I was poking around under the hood, and I was able to make the car stall by jiggling the wire connection on top of the black box on the side of the distributor. I tested again, and the connection was loose and the connectors were very dirty/greasy. I've redone the connections, and so far so good. I need to drive it for a while to see if that is the fix. It sure made the car stall the same way..(instantly)

 

I'll post again if the problem with the stalling is fixed.

 

I'm on to the next challenge.. make sure the brakes are good, and check to see why the E brake is very hard to pull...

 

Thanks,

Scott.

[JMortensen]

Your rear calipers are frozen I bet. Those calipers are fairly notorious for that. I think the only solution is to rebuild or replace.

[ZR8ED]

Thanks Jon. I suppose I'll have to have the back wheels off this week and have a look.

 

I only have 6 more days on my temp tag, so I'm running out of time for my cert inspection.

 

Well I replaced the connectors on the top of the black box on the side of the distributor.

 

The car doesn't stall when i jiggle them.. (unless I pull them off) The car stalled 8 times going out last night. I replaced the last connector on the black box while at my parents house (for thanksgiving dinner) The car stalled 3 times on the way home. I have now gotten up this morning for work, and drove 10 min to work without it stalling even once.

 

I doubt that it is solved, but I'm slowly working through each idea.

I have not replaced the coil yet as I need to dig through my parts in my attic to grab a few coils to try.

 

There is another plug on the side of the black box on the distributor that I have not pulled off and looked at yet. I looked in the distributor, and saw nothing missing or out of place. It is a different looking distributor that I'm used to seeing on a first gen Z, but I still couldn't find anthing obviously wrong with it.

 

I think I mentioned this already, but when it stalls, and I'm just driving along, the tach drops to zero instantly like all of a sudden it doesn't have a signal. Same if the car is sitting in the driveway.. The tach just drops to zero instantly.. no fuss, no stumble, just like you shut if off with a key.

 

I pretty certain it is electrical. I think today when I get home, I'll idle the car and start poking the wires (not with my hands or metal utensil) hehe and see if anything else is loose. A cracked wire will be really tough to find.

 

Thanks,

Scott.

[A. G. Olphart]

Have you jiggled the ignition key/switch? My Toyota pickup had a similar problem, and it was the switch itself.

[datsunlover]

Could be the 'black box' on the dizzy is ready to quit on you.. I've heard of them just going bad. I have a spare 280zx dizzy I might be willing to sell if you like.. heck, I could drive down there and we could drop it in just to see if it helps.. Im only about 1.5 hours away from you ya know! I think I have a Haynes manual for the zx too.. need one?

As for the e brake, I agree with jmort.. those zx calipers SUCK.. you might be able to rebuild/fix them though.. I've done it.. I know how you feel man.. it sucks when the 10 day is running out and the vehicle refuses to cooperate! Anyway, I'll send you a pm with my # if you wana hook up. I'm always up for meeting other Z guys!

[Drax240z]

The 82-83 rear calipers aren't that bad actually... it's the 79-81 ones that really suck. The later ones are a very similar design to the 240sx rears.

 

Sounds like electrical to me. How are your battery cables/connections/grounds/etc?

[JMortensen]

The 82-83 rear calipers aren't that bad actually... it's the 79-81 ones that really suck. The later ones are a very similar design to the 240sx rears.

 

I have to disagree with this. The early one uses a smaller pad and is heavier, but I've had a couple of parts ZX's now and never seen a bad one, I used mine for ~6 years, never had a problem, and a couple of friends with 510s run them and they've never had a bad caliper.

 

The later style is much smaller and lighter and cleaner looking, but the ebrake very commonly freezes on them. One of my parts cars had a frozen caliper, a couple of friends had the same experience. A Nissan master tech was the one that convinced me to go with the early style despite the weight, because they are so much more durable. I had a little help making the decision because another friend was fixing his calipers on his '82 at the same time.

[Drax240z]

Wow Jon, your experiences correspond exactly oppositely of mine on these.

 

I've used the early 280zx (79-81) 'flange' style sliding calipers on a fair number of cars now. Using early 80's 200sx stuff we've done a couple 510 wagon rear disc conversions using these calipers. Within 6 months, both those cars developed issues with the calipers sticking. These were new and used calipers, all dissassembled and lubed. In all cases they needed to be unfrozen, dissassembled and re-lubed.

 

We've also had issues with these calipers on 79-81 280zx's themselves, same issue. Often this problem leads to severe rotor wear on 1 side of the rotor only, and rotor cupping. Maybe it is the environment around here that is to blame?

 

With the later 280zx calipers we've had zero maintenance issues, spanning probably a half dozen cars and no less than a year of useage in each car, some substantially more.

 

I was pretty convinced until I read your post that Nissan realized that the 79-81 design was flawed, so they replaced it with the 82/83 design which seems much more maintenance free. I know where my money would go anyway.

[JMortensen]

Well I can't argue with your direct experience Drax, but here's a little more of the other side:

http://hybridz.org/nuke/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=21469

 

It could very well be the environment. My previous experience was in sunny CA. Doesn't really matter though for ZR8ED, he is stuck with those calipers unless he intends to upgrade his cheapy daily driver...

[quicker240]

I had a 260z once that stalled the same way.Turned out to be the electrical part of the ignition switch.Tach and car would just go stone dead and immediately crank right back up.Take off the cover and wiggle the wires goin into the switch next time it goes dead,or borrow a nother switch from somebody.Its a quick and easy check either way.Good luck!!

[ZR8ED]

I've been jiggling wires tonight under the hood and dash right up to the ign switch. Nothing seems to be 100%. I've had more instances of the car stalling while playing with the distributor wires.

 

I have found my extra coils, so I'm going to swap coils to see if it made a difference.

 

Real funny how the car behaves.

This morning on my way to work, no probs. On my way home from work, no probs. I go to my parents place to find my spare parts, it stalls 4 times on the way there, and at least 10 on the way back during the first 10 minutes.. the last half of the trip it was fine, till it stalled just as I pulled the front wheels in the driveway. ????

 

I've jiggled and pulled at the wires and connectors with the engine running, and nothing seemed concrete about making it stall. I'm not sure if it was stalling on its own, or because of what I was touching. I was even proding the wire connections on the ecu.

 

Well its the coil next, and then I'll try borrowing some spare dizzies and see what happens.

 

Other than that, the car is working out ok. I'm driving it to work again tommorow, and then its off to the garage to have the e brake looked at. Then I will drop of my GF's sentra to have its cv boots replaced. THEN I still have to replace my diff mount in the 280, and I haven't even touched my 240! AHHHHH I own three z's and none of them are working right...even my GF's very reliable Sentra.. till the other day when I found grease everywhere on her car, and decided to look around.

 

[ZR8ED]

BTW when the car does stall, I dont' even stop the car, I just put it in neutral, and give the key a quick turn, and just keep driving.

[BrandonsZ]

Remove, clean and replace the battery terminals, and the connectors both at the chassis and solenoid.

 

I was using those "anti corrosion" washers on my battery and the car started stalling on the freeway, I replaced the battery and a yaer later same thing, then I noticed the terminal was loose even though I tightened it as tight as possible. I removed the dumb washers and they tightened right up.