XedLos Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 Well i was driving my 82 280zx non turbo today to school and about 10miles into the commute my car started to loose power. I was going about 70-75mph when all of a sudden it felt like the transmission disengaged or something. I would give it gas and nothing. I changed to lower gears and nothing i kept trying it until it finally kiked in. The only change i have made to the car recently is that i put in a new battery last night. I also was running late and i didn't have time to warm it up. But it didnt give me a problem until 10miles in, by then it was warmed up. Any ideas what might be going on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 Auto or stick? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pharaohabq Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 New Battery? Did you tie down the battery? sounds to me like something was shorting, Shorts bad, cause fires. Make sur eyour battery is tied down, and nothing can contact the positive batt cable. Phar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XedLos Posted February 11, 2011 Author Share Posted February 11, 2011 Its manual. I made sure to tie down the battery. I dont mean lost power as in no current flowing in my car. I mean power as in the force that moves the car. I dont think the battery is the problem though. Why would it be? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pharaohabq Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 Because if you were shorting the battery, then you'd have a weak or non existant spark to the plugs, and thus no power. It could act exactly how you described, especially since you said the power came back. which tells me your battery could have shifted away from the short again.. Just check where the positibe terminal is and see if anything could be shorting it to the frame/inspection lid/other wires/screwdriver you forgot to put away etc.. etc... Phar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XedLos Posted February 11, 2011 Author Share Posted February 11, 2011 Because if you were shorting the battery, then you'd have a weak or non existant spark to the plugs, and thus no power. It could act exactly how you described, especially since you said the power came back. which tells me your battery could have shifted away from the short again.. Just check where the positibe terminal is and see if anything could be shorting it to the frame/inspection lid/other wires/screwdriver you forgot to put away etc.. etc... Phar Ill check. But why would it do it towards the end of my my commute. Ill make check and see if its the battery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pharaohabq Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 Ill check. But why would it do it towards the end of my my commute. Ill make check and see if its the battery. Because you may have perhaps hit a bump and shifted the battery to a shorting position. Obviously I don't really know what's wrong with your car. I'm trying to give you constructive advice based on the information that you've given me. If you want different diagnosis, then you need to be more specific in your description of the problem. I can only till you what it sounds like is happening. It is possible it could be a different problem. but since you were just working on the battery and the car was fine before that, it is likely it's caused by something you did, or didn't do correctly. The S30's are notorious for having positive battery terminals near the fender under the inspection lid. Which, was also another factor in my recommendations for where to look for trouble. Phar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XedLos Posted February 11, 2011 Author Share Posted February 11, 2011 Because you may have perhaps hit a bump and shifted the battery to a shorting position. Obviously I don't really know what's wrong with your car. I'm trying to give you constructive advice based on the information that you've given me. If you want different diagnosis, then you need to be more specific in your description of the problem. I can only till you what it sounds like is happening. It is possible it could be a different problem. but since you were just working on the battery and the car was fine before that, it is likely it's caused by something you did, or didn't do correctly. The S30's are notorious for having positive battery terminals near the fender under the inspection lid. Which, was also another factor in my recommendations for where to look for trouble. Phar Yeah ill check thanks. But now that i think about it i actually have a plastic cover over my positive battery terminal. I'm thinking it might be some kind of transmission or clutch problem. Ill check on my drive back home see if the problem continues Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pharaohabq Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 again, more information would be nice... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burninator Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 (edited) So was the engine revving up like it was out of gear and the car was just coasting? That would likely be a clutch/transmission problem. If the car felt like it was still in gear and just wouldn't accelerate when you gave it gas, then that's different all together. Edited February 11, 2011 by burninator Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 If the clutch loses its grip the further you drive, you probably have the adjustment on the master cylinder wrong. There should be 1/8" of free play from the time the pin starts moving until it starts to move the master cylinder. If you don't have free play here, what can happen is that the port that opens the master to the reservoir gets blocked. When this happens the pressure in the master never gets fully released. It's OK when you start out because there might be just a couple lbs of pressure in there, but the more you use the clutch the hotter the fluid gets and the more it expands so as you drive the clutch disengages more and more until it just starts slipping all the time. A good test would be to open the bleeder on the master or slave when the problem was occurring. The fluid would squirt out, because it would be under pressure. Your description of your problem is pretty bad. If you can tell us if the engine was going faster but the car wasn't accelerating that would tell us if the clutch was slipping, or if the engine just bogged down, that would indicate that the clutch was not the problem. More description would be helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XedLos Posted February 12, 2011 Author Share Posted February 12, 2011 Well when it happend i gave it gas and it felt as if it was in gear but didnt accelerate. I did an oil and spark plug change last night. It really needed it. I drove it today again the same distance and nothing happened. Im also going to change the transmission oil. Ill keep driving and see if the problem happens again. Thx everyone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XedLos Posted February 13, 2011 Author Share Posted February 13, 2011 I took a video of what happens. I was applying even constant force when accelerating. The car was in neutral and i was just giving it constant gas. Hope this illustrated my problem better Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgsheen Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 (edited) Fuel pressure? It's so rythmic, sounds like fuel starvation... Did you double-check your spark plug wiring? Then, it's always a good idea to check all of your electrical connectors on the EFI harness. Edited February 13, 2011 by cgsheen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Globerunner513 Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Well at least we can say its not a drive line issue, unless maybe something is out of balance? double check every last electrical, fuel, vacuum connection you can. Have you changed the fuel filter? Hard to say that would be the cause though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oddmanout84 Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Sounds like a vacuum leak to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XedLos Posted February 14, 2011 Author Share Posted February 14, 2011 Well i took out all the spark plugs and noticed that the 6th one didnt look burnt at all. So i put all the plugs back in. I then unplugged the 6th fuel injector and noticed no change in the engine when idling. I then took the 5th fuel injector off and noticed the engine started to slow down right away. So im thinking its the fuel injector. Could this be the problem? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pharaohabq Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Ahh Much better, See More information is MUCH more helpful. If you said it was kinda surging we'd know a little more where to direct you. I see now it's likely not the Battery arcing on anything. IT could be your vaccuum advance it stuck (Open the Dist and make sure the little vaccuum actuated carriage moves freely, that or get a hose and suck on the pot to actuate it. this to test.) Also you could try pulling a vaccuum hose and see if it acts any differently. Separately it could just be that you're getting starved for fuel, Like CGSheen said, I would replace the fuel filter as a first part to check. The 6th FI that you pulled the plug on is worrysome, but try just tapping on it with the butt of a screwdriver and see if it knocks loose. plug it back in and see if the problem is still there. AFTER replacing the Fuel filter, you could replace the injector, but we don't know for certain it's the problem, since I wouldn't expect an injector to cause surging like that, usually that's due to fuel starvation or a vaccuum leak. You can use a piece of tubing to listen for vaccuum leaks by holding an end to your ear and placing the other near each tube connector. obviously don't connect the tube to any nipples. hehehe unless your wife is kinky.. JK!~ Anyway, try the fuel filter first, I think it's most likely, these cars are 40 years old and theres usually a lot of crap in the tank. Phar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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