Z problems Options

[TSiwrx]

ok so heres the deal, while driving back from ISU, i got off 55 onto queenwood and pushed the clutch in to stop. well the Z died there and wouldnt start back up. i tried jumpstarting it twice and it did nothing but tick. so i rolled on down the hill and tried to pop the clutch, still nothing. so i had the car towed to a shop here in town, knieps, and are having them check it out. all the interior/exterior lights and stereo and stuff work so im guessing its not the battery. when you turn the key, it just ticks and doesnt turn all the way over. im having a pretty good feeling this is a bad fuel pump problem. have any of you had this problem? if this is indeed a fuel pump problem, i would like to buy a fuel pump for cheap. if i end up having the shop do it, it will take 2 weeks and cost me like $600 and i dont want to do that (again). so if anybody has a fuel pump laying around that will fit a '91 300zx, let me know. thanks.
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[badbu68]

Sounds like you have a bad ground. Play with your battery cables and see if the car will start.

[TSiwrx]

we tried that and it did help the clicking go a little faster, but it wouldnt start at all.

[awd4kicks]

I would assume knieps did a true battery test, but if they didn't your interior lights are not a good indicator. It takes a lot less power to light them up than to start your car. Plus if the car is just ticking then the engine isn't turning and no amount of fuel will help that. My guess would be the charging system failed and you ran the battery down while driving.

If it were me I would CLEAN all the connections, charge tha battery and then load test the battery and charging system.

[bigjiggy81]

Your best bet is to find another Z and get the sensor that is on the passengers side head, it has a plug on both sides of it, can not remember exactly what its called, i want to say PTU, maybe power transistor unit is what it stands for, nissan never done a recall on them but i know right off the top of my head of 2 90-96 300zx's that had the same problem, died and it wouldn't start, in fact i know of a dealership that bought a 300zx for like 1500 bucks and that was the only problem, the PTU's are the same for turbo and non turbo z'z, search www.twinturbo.net and www.300zxclub.com for more information, let me know what you figure out

[TSiwrx]

it is a broken timing belt. the shop said they are not even going to mess w/ it but want me to pay for towing to wherever i want it towed too. so i ordered a timing belt from advanced auto and it will be here tomorrow, the Z will be towed to my house tomorrow also. a friend of mine and i are going to do this in my garage. im pretty confident that this shouldnt be that big of a problem, but if anybody has experience with this, i would greatly appreciate any help, i am willing to pay. i just dont want to end up w/ a $2000 bill from some shop. if anybody is interested let me know. thanks.

[JMoushon]

Is the VG30 an interference engine?

[SPOOLED91]

is this not an interfearence engine??
if it's like the 4g63 you need a new engine.

no valves to pistons??
no broken valve guides??
no bye-bye engine??

[JMoushon]

NA VG30DE Engines are carried by numerous importers. I found them on three or four sites. Not all that expensive either. Obviously I am assuming that this caused valve to piston contact. I hope I'm wrong. Good luck!

[bigjiggy81]

they are infact interference engines, i hope you did not bend any valves, i am glad my tbelt never broke on my z

[TSiwrx]

well the Z is torn apart right now, we currently have pulled out the radiator, rad. shroud, cam gear covers, throttle cable cover, radiator hoses, thermostat something or other, and about a million different size bolts. all thats left to take off now is all the serpentine belts and then the gears for them. the timing belt in fact is not broken at all, but is missing a bunch of teeth on it. i dunno what this means, but hopefully is didnt break anything else. im praying my engine is ok.

i hope this engine is not toast for a bunch of reasons, one being that there is so much done to this engine that i would hate to have to get rid of it. be that as it may, if im going to get a new engine, you can bet its gonna be a vg30dett. ive found them complete w/ harness and everything for $1500. granted this is my LAST RESORT, i dont want to have to pull the motor out.

the car was towed to my house today sometime while i was at work. but the idiots who towed it locked the keys in the car, and only the dealer can cut a new key off the original "Z" keys so i dont have a backup yet (yes im an idiot). plus they charged me for towing twice because i already paid for the first time. PLEASE, FOR ANYBODY"S SAKE, NEVER TAKE YOUR CAR TO KNEIPS IN MORTON EVER, THEY ARE MORONS.

tomorrow the new belt should be here and we will hopefully have it on by the end of the day. so thats where we stand now.

[JMoushon]

How many teeth is "a bunch?" Whether or not your engine is damaged depends highly on how far the engine rotated ahead of the cam. If I am picturing this correctly, the belt continued to move while the cam gear did not, hence the missing teeth. If this is the case, and the rest of the timing belt looks OK, I would definitely look into why the cam abruptly stopped.

[TSiwrx]

from what i can tell (im not sure about ANYTHING to do with all this timing belt stuff,im working with a freind who knows how to do a lot of it) only the back side of the teeth are gone, like the side of the belt facing the engine is only where the teeth are missing, again, i dont know what this means. w/o looking, id say maybe 15 or so teeth here and there are like this.