1980 280ZX Won't Start

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11-23-2002 | 08:30 AM

DIVERDAVESZ

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Posts: n/a

1980 280ZX Won't Start

About 2 months ago the crankshaft pulley came loose on my car and the car shutoff. Which I didn't know at the beginning. After I took the car to the Nissan dealership they recommended that I install a new engine. After seeing the damage I didn't agree with there analysis. They told me that when the crank shaft pulley came off it damaged the crank shaft to much to just apply a new one. So since I was going to take the car apart anyway I also replaced the following:

Valve Cover Gasket
Oil Pan Gasket
Oil Pump Gasket
Water Pump Gasket
Timing Cover Gasket
New Spark Plugs and Wires

I set the crank at TDC and then reinstalled everything. The shaft off the distributor was set at 11:25 as described in the manuals. I have the spark plug wire set equal to the firing order.

Now here is my problem. When I try to start the car it start. It turns over. You can hear the fuel pump. The car occasionally backfires in the exhaust but that is it.

Is there something basic that I am missing?

Please help. The car ran fine before my disaster.

11-25-2002 | 09:27 AM

Bleach

The Evil Twin

Joined: Mar 2001

Posts: 9,296

From: Seattle, WA

Re: 1980 280ZX Won't Start

Having the crankshaft pully come off is sort of like having a timing chain break. (if that ever happens) Your pistons continue to go up and down while the valves will come to a slow stop. If that is actually what happened, then all of your valves are bent, and all of your cylinders have hard indentations where they hit the valves. I bought a parts truck with an L20b in it that had this happen to it. If that is the case then the techs at Nissan were right. You need a complete rebuild. Most likely you don 't need a whole new engine, but 6 brand new pistons, new valves, valve guides, cam and followers would be a good start.

Your valves are probably bent to one side a little and not sealing when the cam lets tension off. Therefore your cylinder pressure would be extremely low or maybe none at all. that is why it won't start. Do a compression test to verify this.