I knew it would happen sooner or later

[zmaster]

(This might take a while to read)

 

 

I finally broke down 32 miles from my house, and 8 miles from my dads house, so now my car is sitting in front of my dads house without shelter, and under a tree none the less. Heres what happened. I was driving on the highway, and taking the exit off, and the engine shut off, so i coasted into the gas station, where i figured out what happened. The metal tab on the new rotor that i just replaced fell off (it doesn't have more than 40 miles oin this new part), luckily i had the old rotor with me, and put it on, and I thought i would be on my way....nope, now it the engine turns over, but it won't start. I pulled a few spark plugs, because i thought the coil went out, but I am still getting spark, so now i am thinking i am not getting fuel.

 

(BEFORE anyone says it I have about half a tank so I did not run out of gas) my fuel pressure guage is reading 34 psi so i have fuel pressure, now i am guessing the injectors aren't firing, unfortunately i have to wait till friday night until i am able to work on my Z. I thought if the fuel rail gets too hot on these cars, it will cause the gas to bubble and put air in the lines which would make it not starts either.

 

Anyones answers are greatly appreciated, and useful to me at this point. I am starting to think these L6 motors aren't that reliable (correct me if I am wrong) But this makes me want to do a engine swap even more.

[naviathan]

Check fusible links and yes vapor lock is a possibility. Just because you're getting spark doesn't mean you're getting enough spark. Check it all out. Good luck.

[ktm]

I am starting to think these L6 motors aren't that reliable (correct me if I am wrong) But this makes me want to do a engine swap even more.

 

You are wrong. Your inexperience is what makes you believe the L6 motors are not reliable.

[zmaster]

(Sorry for the long repost)

 

if it is vapor lock how would i fix this??? should i keep cranking the engine over, or is there some other way I could get rid of air in the line?.

 

would i be able to get a aluminum fuel rail with the heat sink fins, like a few other people on here have done, and would that solve my fuel vapor problem? I have also searched on google for an aftermarket fuel rail, but i really can't pin one down. If anyone has one for sale, or part # and where they purchased it that would be great. would i be able to still use the stock injectors if i went this route?

 

Has anyone else had problems with vapor lock on the stock L6 engines?

 

This is the first problem I have encountered with this car so I jumped the gun, and started saying they aren't reliable, I have seen these cars get at least 300,000 miles before they are junked, so i know they are reliabsle.

[Evan Purple240zt]

Vapor lock should not be an issue after the motor cools, look elsewhere.

 

Maybe you need to live your life a little longer then a quarter at a time for maximum reliability?

 

Evan

[zmaster]

hahaha lol

[naviathan]

If it is vapor lock then the car should have started once everything cooled down. Get a FSM from http://carfiche.com and do the tests for the ignition system. Also check out Blue's Tech Tips for the EFI bible and some other good info. Check fuel pressure, spark, timing, injectors, fuel pump, etc... There's many things that need to be checked that you haven't yet. The L series engine is actually a very very reliable engine so long as it's well taken care of.

 

Also, this should be under the S30 forum, not the non tech board.

[naviathan]

BTW, if your Z is stock, there's no way you're doing a quarter mile in 10 seconds or less.

[bjhines]

ummmm... little metal tab on rotor fell off. They are not just snapped on.

 

I would check for further damage inside the distributor. There could be several little bits of rivets and the tab still in there. No telling what damage they may have caused.

 

The original problem was likely due to improper fitment or the wrong part. You need to figure out if that is the correct part and what other damage is done to the cap and distributor.

 

Have you checked timing??? that might be more telling... even if the plugs seem to spark.

[zmaster]

the new rotor that i boughtwas made like this. there were two pieces a metal tab and the plastic rotor. the metal tab had a hol drilled in it and then the rotor was molded into the hole to hold the thing together. The plastic got warm, softened, and flew off. there is not that much damage done inside the distributor luckily.

 

Basically what I am saying is the metal tab was held on by a 1/4 inch hole filled with the plastic the rotor was made of there were no rivits holding this on the rotor.

 

The fuel pump is working, and pumping gas, fuel pressure is still 32-34 psi, spark from what i can tell is the same before and after this happened, timing is correct, I am going to check the injectors this friday when i go to my dads house.

[zmaster]

BTW, if your Z is stock, there's no way you're doing a quarter mile in 10 seconds or less.

 

 

 

lol I know. its a quote from vin diesel from the fast and the furious movie.

[zmaster]

Do you think if I run one of these before my injectors, it would keep the fuel cold enough to where it wont make any more vapor? http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=FLX%2D4136&N=700+115&autoview=sku

[Gollum]

Vapor lock isn't THAT big of a deal on these cars, I should know.

 

I'm running a TURBO motor with a giant heat radiator called a turbo sitting right under the intake. I'm running ZERO of the STOCK heat shields, and I'm running the earlier NON webbed intake manifolds, so even the intake doesn't block the injectors much from the heat and I STILL don't have issues with vapor lock.

 

bjhines is on the right track I think. The problem is probably within the distributor still.

 

These motors are extremely reliable. I have no doubt that if well taken care of any of them should reach 400k miles at stock power levels.

[zmaster]

If it is the distributor, then why did it always start up as soon as I turn the key? Should I check the timing, and what should the timing be set to on a stock motor, but if it just a vapor lock issue will the fuel cooler help and fix this problem?

[naviathan]

I'm well aware...I've seen that wreck...I mean movie many times.

[X64v]

If it is the distributor, then why did it always start up as soon as I turn the key?

 

Because before, the rotor hadn't flown apart yet. I would get a new (quality) cap and rotor and go from there. Check your timing, set it around 10-15* advanced at idle.

 

if it just a vapor lock issue will the fuel cooler help and fix this problem?

 

If the car didn't start after it cooled down, it's impossible for it to be a vapor lock issue. When vapor lock occurs, you don't magically get air in the lines, it's vaporized fuel that has boiled. As the engine cools back down, so will the fuel, and it will condense back into a liquid.

 

I'm running a turbo motor without heat shielding just like Gollum, and I don't have vapor lock issues either. You don't need that fuel cooler.

[zmaster]

ok thanks. I will try and post friday or saturday when i am at my dads with an update.

 

Do you think it would take more than an hour for the fuel to cndense back into liquid?

[Daeron]

unlikely... especially if the car didn't FAIL because of vapor lock in the first place. It failed because the tab broke off. how is this non-tech?

[zmaster]

after the tab broke off, i replaced it with the old one, and the car would not restart at all. it would crank, but would not start. I do recall it did sputter once when i tried to restart it, but thats pretty much it.

[Daeron]

that indicates further problems in the distributor, not vapor lock. Don't imagine you have problems and then spend money on pretty parts to "fix" them; that wastes money, time, effort, and makes you (and anyone you know) consider the car a money pit.

 

Problems do not (usually) cause pother problems in wholly unrelated areas to HAPPEN... it may bring attention to other issues (for instance, i fixed my timing belt alignment on one head of my subaru, apparently it was a tooth off, I had no idea.. the idle is so much smoother now, even though it was OK in the first place.. BUT, now it is apparent that I have a vacuum leak under load that I wasnt previously aware of.) but my point is, keep your attention focused on the problem area until you are certain that the problem is elsewhere. Does the timing advance on your dizzy function right? is your spark good and strong? (blue colored, not yellow) Does your shaft wobble at all? where did you check spark, coming out of the coil, or coming off the tip of a spark plug? did you really shoot the timing with a light, sitting there under the tree, or did you just say the timing was fine because the timing was fine before the car died?

 

 

Your distributor broke. The piece that broke is fortunately, an easily replaced "wear" part, but the piece that broke off fell into the distributor. To me, I would say that warrants running tests for any mechanical failure of the distributor possible. Get an FSM, and start reading now. If you read through all the procedures twice before you actually do them, it makes the work go faster.

 

good luck.