Jennys280Z

Okay I won't eat the lead. As for car repairs I already have eaten it compared to most people here It would be nice to solder my R0 and R10 and just see what happens with that, first. I'll leave pin 7 alone because I'm not sure what to even do around that one. I have some copper wire from when I did Cozye's TPS test. So you're saying just solder with that? I shouldn't need much. Just a small length of copper wire should be all I need right? Just a tiny penpoint might be enough to do it but I will have to use more than that as I have no experience. I think my dad has a soldering gun he'll let me use. My newest computer here is 3.5 years old. My oldest one is probably like 15 years old . So working yes, but utilitarian, no. And yes I need a PC upgrade. Newegg dot com and assembling them myself is fun. I bet you're on a laptop. I've thought about getting one of those for the first time coming up in another month or two. I cleaned up the water temperature switch ground with WD40 and a nylon brush. I didn't anti-seize this one, which is a rarity for me now. I have learned so much from this website I'm going to make a donation soon! I'm going to turn my AFM back to stock, or at least what I believe to be stock at the same time that I install my new water temp sensor. I am so hoping to have a better running car. Has anyone else found the spherical notch on their AFMs BTW? It's easy to look, just pop that black cover off, get a flashlight and look close! I think I fixed the oil leak in my Camry tonight! It was a stuck PCV valve! And some dipweed took off the clamp on my PCV hose! This would let unmetered air into my engine and worst of all, get dirt in my engine! WTF? And I can see where the clamp was on the hose, but there is NO clamp there. I hope and pray I traded my oil leak for a vacuum leak till I clamp and seal it tomorrow! Installed some GE Nighthawk headlights on the Camry and they're so nice compared to the factory bulbs! Wow! If anyone doesn't like driving at night, I highly recommend them.

The AFM looks beautiful. I was heartbroken when I discovered in two seconds flat that I would never install it on my car.

Little update: Python determined instantaneously that my AFM is defective when I read them the numbers. Which leads to a very intriguing question. Why did they ship this out, knowing full well that a customer can determine in a matter of seconds that the part is bad, a fact which proves that they can determine in a matter of seconds that the part is bad! What is this? Are they dishonest or are they decadent?

Wow thank you! I've had a touch of experience with this stuff from school, though never in practice. I am going to practice on some of my PC parts first. I have an old PC that still works, and so will provide a good test bed for my work. I'm scared to use it because I'm scared of lead for one thing. It's just not for me. I probably won't have fun doing it. But having a 280z that runs like new is what the mission is all about. Your philosophy of how to approach auto repairs is so nice. I might just glide into a great running car here, by fixing one problem at a time, replacing my AFM last, if at all! OT: Do any of the boardmates here work on Toyotas or know where I can find a good online resource like this website for Toyotas?

Sarah remember I did do the yogurt cup test, at least in the way that I did. I forgot about that. I guess I don't have a leaky intake manifold gasket. *lack of awareness* One thing I love about my Z is it doesn't leak a drop of anything! *looking on bright side*

Wow that's interesting experiment guys. I'll help you guys with some data. Just let me get things right in my head. I won't do any tests on this new one. I don't want to touch it or even look at it. I just want my money back and I'm sorry I bought it now. It's a lot of money for me. I shouldn't have bought it. It was an impulse decision just based on lowest cost and I regret it. My daily driver is a '94 Camry and it's leaking oil from the valve cover and I am hoping the PCV valve is shot and that I wont' have to change the valve cover gasket. It's got 58,000 miles and a 3.0L. Anyhoo, two compromised cars right now is no fun! hmmmph xx

Wow that's cool!! I think I could actually handle that! Remember I can do simpler things. x I'm going to stick with classiczcars and MSA. xoxo This site isn't just an automotive clinic, it's also a counseling center

But Sarah is roughly the same good enough? Sorry I guess I'm asking what you just said. I'm just wondering how much small errors in voltage matter? How influential would 0.05V difference be?

I am so depressed about my car right now I'm sorry if I "let it out" on anyone. I was so excited about this weekend...sometimes I really should lower my expectations x

Bless you hunni your advice is always so good. :kiss: Look I hear you and I agree with you of the possibility that there may well be nothing wrong with my AFM at all. If it's voltage ratio and all these values shifted together, that sounds accurate to me. But this further degrades the value of the EFI Bible doesn't it? It puts so much emphasis on resistance. I made a smaller point earlier that if these units "fail" the same way and arrive at these higher values 126 and 226 (why?) then this information should be common knowledge too!

Actron CP7676. It works excellently and handles these low values easily. I understand how to get a good resistance reading and how the resistance reading decelerates down to its true value when working correctly. POS = Piece of Stuff I got mine from Python. Blech. Going to just replace the CTS for now and see if I can get my magic mixture problems resolved. I suspect this to be one of the problems my car has been having. All of my symptoms point to the CTS. Yes I have an out of spec AFM perhaps . Zed when was your '76 manufactured? Mine was in 11/75. If yours was made in 11/75 can you tell me for sure what model# AFM you have?

I understand and concede your points about the voltage being the important measure. Perhaps all I really need is a water temp sensor and a well-tuned AFM to have a great running car. That's what I feel like doing at this point. Ordering the right temp sensor, turning my AFM back to stock, and enjoying the ride. That's the hope (fumes) I'm running on right now at least. sigh

Now I've got 3 AFMs all reading the exact same freaking 126 and 226 Ohms If I have three good AFMs on my table and I'm wasting time money energy and sleep on nothing I'm going to blow a fuse. In fact this rebuilt POS reads higher resistance on the adjustable figures than either of my other two units. 12 month warranty? I wouldn't run my motor with this POS installed in it for 12 seconds. Pins 8-6 226 Ohms Pins 8-9 126 Ohms Pins 7-8 251 Ohms Pins 6-7 126 Ohms That's MY frame of reference. A 1976 Z gets 226 and 126 on pins 8-6 and 8-9 respectively so say 3 different 1976 AFMs including one fresh reman. Any questions? What's someone got to do in this world to get a good AFM to spec, or is the "EFI BIible" starting to look severely overrated? I am past the point of SICK of F'ing around with this stupid thing I just want my damn car back.

argniest: What brand is it from Amazon? I'm hoping you're going to say Actron because I got an Actron compression tester from Amazon and I hope this thing works well.

Well I bought a $7 19mm deep socket from Autozone and it made removing the CTS a snap. Now my problem is, the Beck Arnley CTS I got from Rockauto doesn't fit. The electrical connector on my car has three nubs that lock the connector on via the clip and my connector's nub is in the middle of the side. The nub on this Beck Arnley sensor is offset from the center. Now what. I don't know what their return policies are...anyway I bought the $12.65 one for a '76 280Z. Beck Arnley part # 1580134. To be clear, it fits on the housing but not the connector. Buyer beware. I'm so frustrated at this point I'm about ready to sand down or cut off the extra material on the connector that's sticking out in the wrong place, and then install it with only 2/3 of the usual lockdown. Looking up rockauto's return policies now...they'll probably say that if I bought their new plug and connector, it would fit fine with this part. Beck Arnley has another CTS for my car that's like $27. Is THAT the one that actually FITS? GRR

Thanks Zed I'm just going to buy a 19mm deep socket at Autozone. I need a 1/2-to3/8 adapter anyway so it's tool time again.\ I answered my own question when I tried to pull the bolt all the way out the head butted into the fuel rail. I don't even want to take it off now so I'll just clean it as best I can where it is. xx

There's rust on both sides of the ground wire including the surface of the engine housing. I get paranoid about stuff like this. Could this resistivity on this switch cause runnability issues?

What the heck? I've got three rusty washers, a locking washer, and what looks like a ground wire coming off of the "water temperature switch". Why are these iron washers on here? I hope this isn't going to be a horror story like my alternator where some mechanic broke the bolt off and then just jammed another bolt in there (now too long for the hole, hence the washers). The FSM just shows a bolt head there with one washer at most. Putting these washers on here has not only caused considerable rust but it's made the bolt head almost inaccessible as it's going right under the fuel rail, getting close to the distributor, there's no way I can even get a pinky underneath it to catch it when I pull it out. I don't even know for sure what this thing is...it looks smooth like a sensor but it might just be an unthreaded bolt. I got the thing loose by using the open end of a wrench from the top but I don't know how to get this long bolt and all these stupid washers off without it falling down into the engine bay somewhere. GRRRRRRRRRRRR Not sure if all this corrosion could be related to any of my issues??? The FSM told me to take my upper radiator hose off to get to the CTS. It doesn't look very helpful to take the hose off however. I can't figure out how to get a wrench in there. ...do you guys think that this rust is an issue or should I just retighten it and not worry?

Noted :kiss:

Okay Stephen thank you.

Jenny, since I cleaned up and painted the top end of my engine, I think it's gained 50hp! That sounds JUST like something I would say! So this guy is selling a very pretty engine, certainly! But how good is the rebuild work underneath? Are the parts of a high quality and well matched? Are the tolerances tight? Is the machine work well done? If I understand correctly, that's where this guy falls short. Ahhhh. If/when you need your L28 rebuilt my advice would be to go to a local engine builder with a very solid reputation. I don't think the rebuilder needs special knowledge of the L28 unless it is to be used for racing. In that case, go to your local Z specialist, who might end up farming out the work to the local guy with the solid reputation. However, the Z person will know what mods work well and which ones don't. Otherwise, if it's for everyday street use, any GOOD rebuilder should be up for the job. I'm wishing I could get another 60,000 miles out of this motor before rebuilding it *sigh*. I'd like my Z to be a semi-weekly driver during the warmer 9 months a year. I should do a compression test but I'm just scared or whatever.

Nope just regular maintenance according to my shop manual. Step one in a major tuneup if you will. But I'll follow the advice here. No problem, then no need to touch it. Thanks!

Isn't it possible that we could "bump into" the right people working for some of these remanufacturers and steal the secret formula? At the very least, to have the baseline from which to Dx the car. I just drove my car again...first time since last time I wrote about it. My idle was no more than 900RPM even with the AR looking the way it is. However, the car held that higher idle speed for a lot longer than the 20-25 seconds that it was. So it seems plausible that my AR is fully functioning now and something else is still affecting my idle (900RPM when I should be 1400+?!). I swear this damn car is like a different car every time I drive it. On the road the car backfired a dozen times out the tailpipe when letting off the throttle during the course of the 20 minute drive. I smelled exhaust sometimes and sometimes not. Most noticeable about this drive was how herky jerky the motor felt this time. The motor looked like it was shaking while still warming up, like it was shivering. I thought I heard some kind of breathing sound and I'm worried that my main problem might be a blown intake gasket. I sniffed the heck out of it and couldn't find any vacuum leaks on the top of the gasket. But what about the bottom of the gasket??? Would a hole in the bottom of the gasket be the kind of thing to put my vacuum at 14-15, cause wacko problems with my mixture, maybe even cause different mixtures in different cylinders? FastWoman I know you had this issue before and I've tried to put it out of my mind. Anyway I will probably go to a mechanic if it's an intake manifold issue. Maybe I'll get him to slap on a new exhaust gasket too if he tells me he has to take the exhaust off first. Now that everyone is bored from reading my rant, and wishing they had their two minutes back, here is the question: How do I test for a vacuum leak under this bedamned intake shield? Is it safe for me to get loose and funky with the carb cleaner down there? Has anyone tried seeing underneath it with mirrors/lights (periscope) or camera? I figure if the mist is fine enough just getting the carb cleaner in the air in the vicinity of the gasket's bottom is enough, right? I don't own a good fire extinguisher yet. And my floorjack is like...old. Does anyone have a low-cost recommendation for fire extinguishers and/or a new jack for my car?

Well I've never heard of anyone having to get rid of their car because of how bad it smells before. I'd try walking your carb a few steps lean and see if that clears up your stinkies.

Wow! :classic: