So anyway, Purchased my 89 TT 5 months back. It had a hesitation which has become dormant again now. Exhaust holed itself right out in the centre section so I fitted a 2.5 inch cat-back system with a deep discreet note. My bottom radiator hose cracked a pin hole which is now replaced, fan shroud is basically shredded (PM me if you have one for sale), Series 2 PTU upgrade as the Series 1 stuffed itself, one turbo is making that siren-like sound when you give it solid throttle winding up so I'm guessing that's on it's way out, one injector has a problem when cold and car misses but when temp gets to normal all is fine, diagnosed that the car could be in safety boost as it only reaches 6.5-7psi and has no error code 34 showing so I'm assuming the sub-harness to the det sensor or the det sensor itself are screwed, HICAS ball joints and rods have developed movement and have the new OEM rods and ball joints to replace with. Wondering does this often happen? Does a Z always develop many problems in 5 months or is it just my bad luck? The car ran fine for the previous owner for 6 years not a problem. One thing I would like to know, could this safety boost have been triggered by the previous owner running 91 octane fuel in it for years? He was not the type to thrash it, he basically never drove it out of Adelaide. It was a weekend car and after 6 years had done 7000 kms on 91 octane fuel pussy footing basically. I now always run only 98 octane premium. Could this have anything to do with safety boost issue?
Dude.. Running 91 instead of 95 or even better 98 is a no no. The problems you are experiencing are normal for a zed of that age doesn't sound like it was maintained particularly well over the years. I hope enginge compression is good cause the you can pull engine out, clean twenty years of gunk/grime out of engine bay replace all the hoses, get turbos rebuilt, delete egr, aiv etc, change timing belt the list goes on. Turbo rebuild is 1500 minimum, I would think to go through it and restore it to reasonable health your looking at 4k if you can DIY more if you have pay someone. I don't know south Australia but I suppose ppl down your way go to Adelaide z cars (google it) forum member as well so u could search here for info.
Yeah mate I only run 98 octane. Also yes I and my old man can do the work. Also I live far from Barry at Z Cars so really this forum is my only Australian legit help of know how for the Z. I mean, I can always buy my parts from the US but each shipping is a 3 week wait etc etc.. I'll get by with persistence and help from other forum members I'm sure of it.
1) Hesitation. More info needed, when / how does it occur, list all possible conditions... 2) Exhaust Hole. Expected. You are dealing with a 22 year old car... TWENTY TWO YEARS OLD! Give that time to sink in. Have to expect small annoying issues every now and then if you just keep driving it as is till the next thing breaks. Even I've had my share of annoying crap like this. 3) Bottom Radiator Pin Hole. Again, 22 year old car, and the scary part is some hoses haven't been touched since factory. They've had to endure ridiculous cycles of weather over the years... heat, cold, humidity, dryness etc. Hoses do not come with a life-time warranty sadly. 4) Fan Shroud. Throw up a thread also in the wanted section, keep an eye out on the for sale section for someone wrecking a Zed. You'll get one eventually for a decent price. 5) Turbo Noise. This is the BIG one. Exact same issue as Arvin (pennyarvs) went through not too long ago. My money is on stuffed Turbo, as it was then. Basically one of your Turbos has developed very bad shaft play and during spooling the compressor wheel will very lightly touch the inside of the housing causing that god awful screeching noise. No easy fix on this one. Engine out and Turbo rebuild / replacement. 6) Safety Boost. Code 34 is an error code (Code 55 is the 'all good' code), that is the DET sensor error and will cause said safety boost. There are numerous fixes for this from quick work arounds to full blown replacing the DET sensor, seek and you shall find. 7) HICAS Issue. Could look into getting a HICAS Eliminator Kit, similar to this one. Can't recall right the setup right now, its been a while since I was under that part of the Zed but it could negate the ball joint issue entirely and eliminate one more 22 year old system that could fail. Does this crap happen often? Sadly more often then not. I myself have quite a list if you search through my threads over the years (had my Zed since Feb '08). But if you truly love these money sucking machines you grit your teeth, learn what you can and work through it. Without the forum I wouldn't have been able to keep the Zed, simple as that. As for your comment about this Zed giving the previous owner 6 years of trouble free motoring, I call absolute bullsh*t considering the multitude of problems that have smacked you in the space of 5 months. As for the fuel thing, in theory 91 octane could run just fine in a TT... IF, and I can't stress that if enough, the car was never pushed. Octane denotes a fuel's resistance to knocking / pre-detonating. 98 will give no power benefit over 91 just by switching fuels, the power increase lies in the ability to increase timing and boost due to the fuel being more resistant to knocking / pre-detonation. Having said all this, and seeing how you have a DET (knock sensor) problem, I wouldn't trust the previous owners words too much about never having given it a bit while on 91. Either way, sincerely, good luck MoulaZX
Actually, man that's a good run - most Z's have like tripple that number of issues to fix each 5 months! :rofl: The previous owner is probably still celebrating having sold the car! :rofl: Nah, just kidding of course. Just go all-out fixing all its little issues and you should be right for a couple of weeks.
Each time i have ordered from Concept Z i have the parts in 3 working days + weekend. Not bad i reckon and parts are a lot cheaper even with postage.
