Hi All. Need some help and advice !! Driving to work this morning and the Z stopped - engine just died. Pulled over and wouldn't start again. Called for a tow Tried engine again, and it fired up - for around 50 seconds.... then died. Towed to Ultratune. Car wouldn't start. They checked fuel pump & pressure, played with wiring etc. Then one time car fired up. Ran for around 10 minutes. Then died again. General consensus seemed to be Crank Angle Sensor. They've replaced that, and it fired up. They had it idling for 40 minutes, drove it for 20 minutes etc. all "fine" they said. Time to collect it and got a call - when they went to move it it and it revved to 1500 then stalled. So $285 CAS didn't fix it. I'm not getting warm fuzzies on their knowledge to fix it. Need advice FAST. What should I do? Also, are there any Z mechanic guru's western suburbs of Melbourne? Should I get them to put my CAS back in? Don't want to replace things that don't need replacing! Simon. 1990 NA Ausspec.
Agreed PTU! So it starts all right when it's cold? You can repair your old one (prick of a job) or buy a new one (easy). Grab the series 2 one and rest easy...
There's a couple of Zed's in the wreckers down the road. I'll see if they've got a PTU I can try out. If I get one - is it worth staying with that, or should I plan on getting a Series 2 after that?
If you stick with the S1 move it to somewhere cool and without vibration. Under the nose panel or next to the ecu. If I was you I would get the S2.
Yeah, Ultratune wouldn't be my first choice either. Until now Nissport did the servicing. I had to do the last one as I can't get hold of them My choices then - when the towtruck has to take you somewhere - Nissan (none within 30k's), ultratune (road side assist - part of my insurance - is part of Ultratune - they'll give the car priority), Home, or somewhere else. Basically - rock and hard place. Need my car! Damn I gotta find another Zed mechanic THIS side of town!!!:bash:
UPDATE..... Ultratune wanted to send PTU and ECU to get tested - $88 each. Stuff that - I'd much rather trust the forum members thanks! Given PTU was likely culprit, went to TTZ to get a Series 2 (per everyone's advice). TTZ were out of stock, but went to great lengths to help me out - VERY much appreciated!!! He couldn't find one at his place, but managed to find someone with one I could loan to get me going - Major thanks Mike! (What a legend - when I got there - even connected to his car to verify it was OK before I took off) Anyway, Ultratune promised they'd fit it (even though it's an easy enough job) as soon as I got there for no charge. I get there (after a 130KM trip to get it) and I'm told "we'll try fit it today, but no promises". Stuff that! I grabbed the PTU from the workshop, my keys from the office and started to fit it myself. No probs there. Dissapointment though when car didn't fire up. Asked if they could put computer on it to verify if same codes. Nope, and no I can't borrow it and do it myself. Apparently I should feel lucky they let me work on my car in their car park! Well that did it, dead or alive, it's not staying there. Got it towed home. Went and calmed down, then had a play. Put PTU on and off, tried mine again, played with this and that.... no joy. Walk away frustrated..... Did the ECU Code trick from tech section - code 21 (ignition). Remembered noticing the carpet where ECU is had been pulled back. Undid it all. Looked like ECU had been unscrewed at some time - don't know if it was them. Unscrewed and played with connectors. Turn key - BINGO! All back together now and going. Would swear it has a little hesitation now reving from idle - maybe I'm too fussy? If the CAS adjustment isn't spot on - could this cause it? Cost $285 for Ultratune to replace the CAS. Not happy but they reckon they charged me for only one hour labour when they spent heaps more time, and it would take more labour to remove it. $60 to get it towed home - worth it! Lesson - Never, Ever go to Ultratune if you need them to actually figure out what's wrong with your car! Again, Thanks to all you guys for your help! I now know that bit more about my Zed! Simon.
Charged you ONLY 1 hour to replace the CAS... WTF! Takes about 5 minutes to replace! Without knocking Ultratune's capability with respect to your average Falcadore, I'd suggest they know as much about Zeds as my local Nissan dealer... NOTHING. Said Nissan dealer even told me to take the car elsewhere (ie a specialist), because their mechs knew nothing about them. They could do an oil change, but not much more. Can't beat that for honesty!
With the ECU, the connector is very long. It is secured in the middle of the connector so the connector can't physically fall out of the ECU. If the fastener is over or under tightened, the ECU Connector can either warp, or fall out sufficiently to give open circuits, thus simulating other faults, and maybe even causing damage.
I pretty much pinned it down to: 1) PTU failed. 2) When they removed ECU for checking or whatever, they didn't push the plug firmly in along the length, but relied on the screw in the middle. Spoke to them about missing CAS cover. They asked how it was going and told them got it going, and that when *they* had the ECU out, *they* didn't plug it back in correctly. They didn't argue.... Mind you, the classic (when I told them I fixed it in around an hour) - "See, I told you we we needed more time with it"......WTF! Their next thing was going to be sending off the ECU for a $88 check.... to find nothing wrong! :bash:
I had same problem... about a month ago, progessivley got worse, and like you, i have a 90 aus spec zed. Caz From cazracing.com hooked me up with a brand new series 2 PTU... hadn't had a prob since.. thanx caz btw!
