Hey all, People probably hear these sort of things all the time, and possibly bored of answering such questions, but please bare with a hopeful soon-to-be owner of a z32. I'm in the market for a 90-96 300zx tt, and have travelled all over for the past week looking at a few... I've found one that is absolutely stock, and in what appeared to be pretty immaculate condition, at least compared to some of the junk I saw for sale. The interior is perfect. The exterior only has a couple of light scratches, and I took this one for a test drive today, a late '90 tt 2+2 import from Japan. No signs of being repainted, no bad noises, no smoke at idle, nor under accelleration... It's got 93,xxx km on the odometer, so I know from reading the forums it will need to have the timing belt replaced soon after I get it. During the test drive, I noticed a couple of behaviors that cause me concern. As today is Sunday, I couldn't have a shop look at the car, so I'll arrange to do that sometime this week. I've got a couple of questions that I thought you all might be able to answer better than the shop, so here goes... 1) When driving in third gear (and it only seems to happen in 3rd gear), if I bump the throttle, the gearshift moves back and forth. Initially I thought an engine or transmisison mount might be faulty, but then I noticed it definitely DOESN'T happen in 5th gear. I didn't notice it in 1st, 2nd, or 4th, so I don't think it was doing it in those gears, or I would have noticed. Is this normal behavior for these cars, and/or does anyone have any idea what might cause this? 2) The car pulls quite strongly to the right, which feels like an alignment issue. Funny thing is, the seller had an alignment done when he imported the car about a year ago (He's got the reciept, and I've seen it). The rear tires are worn terribly (looks like they were cambered in quite a bit before the alignment), and he said he didn't replace them when the alignment was done. I'm sure the dealer will be able to tell me if something else is awry here... 3) When I started driving, the car had a bad vibration (felt like a wheel out of balance). This seemed to get a little better after driving for awhile, but I can't say for sure... The owner suggested that it had done this to him every time he lets the car sit for awhile, and it has been sitting though the winter here. I had him jack up the rear of the car, and I couldn't feel any play in the wheel bearings. Again, this is something I expect the dealer can diagnose... 4) Oil pressure gauge.. The gauge dropped off as I drove, and it was down to registering nothing by the time I returned with the car. I did check the oil, and no lack of it... Because the engine runs so smoothly and quietly, I REALLY suspect a faulty gauge here, especially after reading that these seem to have a history of this. The seller said he had it checked, and the shop checked it with a stand-alone gauge and reported it was OK... Of course, the shop I take it too will easily verify this. Anybody have any thoughts? Cheers, and thank you in advance, ...Steve...
You don't say the approx area where you live, so it's a bit hard to give specific advice where to go. 3. Bad vibe might be a centre bearing on the tailshaft. I had a problem like this with a rebuilt two piece tailshaft. That turned out to be something not recond properly up the diff end of the driveshaft. Horrible when cold but would smooth up a bit when warm 4. Neither the factory water temp gauge or reputedly the oil pressure gauge work very well. I have an aftermarket water temp gauge and paid about $90 to either have a better sender fitted to the oil pressure gauge which now works well. Can you assess the general cond of this car. If the back tyres are worn out sounds like you have some alignment or bush issues. Once you have these set up properly there is very little vibration or pulling. It sounds like you need to make some extra checks on this car and find out the source of the problems before handing over your cash.
IMHO Keep looking Steve There should be plenty of well maintained Zeds in BC without having to resort to something with maybe major undiagnosed problems. Admittedly the OEM oil pressure gauge is almost universally faulty and nothing to worry about but the jumping gears may well be a broken g/box mount or worse and it appears to also have camber arm problems aswell so unless its an absolute bargain price I would keep clear of it and keep looking. Goodluck hunting,cheers Col
G'day Steve The car sounds fundamentally good, and a few of the issues you've described aren't of much consequence when it comes to the overall condition of the car. Anways, here's a few answers for you: 1: I've noticed similar behaviour when my car is in third as well and my gearbox functions fine. It seems to be a characteristic of this kind of car and as long as it's not causing the shifter to pop out of third, it shouldn't be a big problem. 2: I'd be worried about the alignment issue the most, as it could indicate that this car either mounted a kerb or sustained damage to the suspension for some other reason. Uneven wear, particularly on the rear tyres is commonly caused by sagging springs and/or lowered springs increasing negative camber. The suspension of these cars in stock form does not allow for much adjustment at all, so if a tension rod, control arm, mounting point or other is bent, adjustable parts will probably have to be purchased. No biggie in most circumstances, but make sure you allow for this in your budget. 3: Sounds to me like the tailshaft centre bearing is on its way out, a common fault on Zeds of this vintage. Had similar behaviour in my car when I bought it and it was solved by replacing the tailshaft with a one-piece unit. Again, factor this cost into your budget (not sure what the going rate for a fabricated tailshaft is in Canadian Dollars, sorry!) 4: Stock gauges, particularly the oil pressure gauge, are notoriously unreliable. you can either replace the sender, or modify it to increase reliability ( I think there's a tech article that covers this). Running some sort of engine oil flush during an oil change me help the symptoms (it did on mine, cleared out much of the gunk that clogs the sender). These issues seem relatively minor to me, and as long as the rest of the car is good, it should be okay. Like you mentioned, a full 100,000km service is mandatory for a car of this age, so purchase a kit from a place like Concept Z Performance in the US and get a reputable workshop to install it and you should be rewarded with a car that goes like no other. Remember, the above points can be used as bargaining chips should you choose to buy this vehicle. I'd urge you to eep looking though, there may be better cars out there. -Tony
Have a shop check the chassis geometry, ONLY be concerned if it is out so much that only a stretch will fix it. You really need to budget for 1] new Adj shocks [eg KYB AGX] 2] Adj rear camber arms, 3] adj upper front camber arms, 4] Adj front torsion arms and then you have a perfectly adjustable suspension - new springs are not really a concern unless you want to race or lower the car Vibration is your enemy, search is your friend, notable and notorious causes first 3 of the VERY common vib in these cars are , engine mounts, trany mount, driveshaft [centre bearings and/or out of balance] also i have always loved this write up - which is still ongoing by the way - http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/t419768.html
These cars are notorius for rear inner tyre wear. It is just the setup of the car I am afraid, and it was designed that way to enhance corning ability at the expense of tyre wear. This can not be adjusted with a wheel allignment, you need to get adjustable arms as mentioned in a previous post. You can get good arms through this forum, member [street to strip]. A set at about $200 will easily pay for iteslf by the time you buy a set of tyres. It will double the life of them. The oil pressure sender is notorious for failure and can sometime be fixed as per the tech article found here (link at the top of the page). The temperature gauge is fine in these vehicle (aka reliability), the problem is that the needle will sit in the horizontal position when the coolant temps are between 60 degs c and 105 degs c. When the needle starts to march northwood, you are already cooking the engine.
i have adjustable rear arms from egg ,is it necessary to get fronts as well as i know the rear is the main problem.Its going for an alignment on wed and i wont take it if i should also put front ones on,or wont i know that until it has been inspected by the suspension place its just been lowered 38mm and also has new kyb agx shocks as you have probably read
Thanks for the info folks, I really appreciate everyone taking the time to answer... From what you've said here, and what I've read elsewhere, I'm expecting that it is indeed the tailshaft that's causing the vibration, and alignment that's causing the pull... I think that this car, with expecting to have to pay for a new tailshaft (1 piece is the way to go, I understand), or at least to have that one rebuilt, new tires and an alignment is probably the best example I've seen around here for a reasonable price... The other ones I've seen are at least as expensive, and look far more "thrashed" than this one. I'll get the dealer's opinion about the repairs, factor them in with the cost of the 60,000 mile maintenance and the price of the car, and I expect I'd still have pretty good value. Of course, it'll take a few days to get the dealer lined up to look at it, and I'll be watchnig the papers etc. for any potential better ones... Cheers, and thank you again.. hopefully I'll be able to call myself a full fledged "member" before too long. ...Steve...
if I was out shopping for a Z, I think I'd stay away from those with noises and vibrations as they're a biatch to track down. At least you can throw money at an engine problem and it'll be fixed.
Hi I think Unique Cars summed it up best with their review on ZX's in Australia when they stated there was no excuse for buying a poor quality Z. Due to the fact that there are so many on the market. I'd give this one a miss and look for another example - or - at the very least get it checked and use the defects (if any) as a bargaining chip to get the price reduced.
