Jump to content
HybridZ

Injector tick


travlnman

Recommended Posts

Hello all, New to this forum, but not to Z's. I have just recently acquired a '78 280Z with the 5 speed. The car is all original, almost no rust, and the interior is in very good, just shy of excellent , shape. My previous Z cars had this issue, but not as bad. I have the dreaded injector tick, and it is loud ! At high revs, it sounds like spark knock. The plugs are a nice tan color and clean and also new. No indications of lean running anytime. I have checked the timing and it checks out at 10deg BTDC. Adjusting it has no effect. Naturally the injectors are the original 31yr old units. Are new injectors the only solution ? The engine has a rebuild in it's near future, hopefully with a stroker kit, but until then, do I have any options ? Thanks in advance for your help. Nice forum by the way, much more activity than the other Z forums I lurk around.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Crap, left that out, sorry. I adjusted the valves the first week , hot, .010" intake, .012" exhaust. Same day I flushed out the possibly 31 year old brake fluid ( yuck! ) That crap was as black as the tires. I used an automotive stethescope to try to pinpoint it, and it seems to be the injectors, as sure as I can be anyway. Anybody got any cold valve lash numbers ? I could check it both ways.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's cool. Thanks for the cold lash numbers, I may double check it to be sure. It seems that some are just louder than others. I had another '78 years ago, not quite so loud, then I had a '79 that was pretty quiet. Seems the ZX's may be a little more quiet than the Z's. Some good info, here, most of the other forums are dead,or full of teenagers street racing and putting on wings and such. Cool if that's your thing, but it's not mine. Thanks again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Usually you can't hear the injectors, except on hydraulic heads (no valvetrain noise).

 

I would try pulling the injector connectors one at a time while the engine is running to see if one injector is louder than the rest (or that they all sound about the same).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

are the injectors supposed to all tick loudly? My L is only running on like 3 cylinders right now and my plugs are always coming out really wet and black, not to mention the exhaust smells like a lawnmower just went by, should all the injectors have the same loudness of tick? I mean, some are LOUD and other are pretty soft, you have to put the screwdriver up to them to hear them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One would think they would be nearly equal, but who's to say. I tell you what has helped. There will be naysayers, doubters, I was skeptical, but after my wife said, it's quieter, what did you do..... The proper dose of marvel mystery oil in the tank. I know, I know, I'm not a wonder in the can type either, but it was suggested, and it has helped. may come back with a vengence when I run a tank without it, but halfway into this one, and it is better. So much so , that I now believe I hear a hint of detonation when I rev it up(believe that was mentioned out of the gate, sorry) . I will try pulling back the timing a little tomorrow, and see what's up. Maybe it's just a twist of fate that they got quieter now, who knows. Time will be the ultimate judge here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...