Hey guys. So when we first got the 1982 280zx Turbo, it had a problem where when you first start up the car it drives like crap, but once it warms up it drove great. Well after changing out the fuel pump and running a SeaFoam treatment, it fixed the problem and it drove fine.

Well now I have it at my place, and am in the process of stripping it. I gutted the A/C System and plugged the vac port that it taps from the IM, and also removed the Cruise Control system. Now since doing this, I have had the problem where when I first start the car, the car won't want to revv at all, and when I press the gas pedal the car boggs down and acts like it wants to die. I plugged both lines that were involved with the A/C and CC, so I don't think it's a vac leak. Has anyone else had this problem? Once the car warms up for about 5 minutes it is easier to drive, but occasionally will still try to bog down.

Any help would be greatly appreciated...

 

Air Regulator or AFM. Check em both.

 

which is the Air Regulator? I am planning to take off and clean the AFM tomorrow, but not familiar with the Air Regulator...

 

There's lots of threads in the 280zx section talking about cold start probs and air regulators.... just use the SEARCH

https://www.zdriver.com/forums/showt...ight=regulator

https://www.zdriver.com/forums/showt...ight=regulator

this is the air regulator:

 

The search sucks, every topic i've ever tried to look up I always get 496 results or 0 results

 

I just typed in REGULATOR and selected "search in only the 280zx section".... brought up tons of threads on cold start probs.

 

yeah try multiple times and use different words, also try harder. lol

 

Let's see, I just typed in air regulator and chose the 280zx section and got 259 threads... and quotes dont work, I added another word and now I got 498 threads!

 

Indeed it's not the best search tool, but it does work. It won't recognize words w/ 3 letters or less, so just search for REGULATOR, or COLD START.

 

yea, well i just searched for aux. air reg. and got a 176 finds, so there...lol so just calm down and take a breath...lol. it works better then hybridz, so its cool. and when i say shnit lake that i'm usually joking...unless you deserve it.

 

ok, so today I drove the car to work after swapping the Blaster 3 Coil that I had from my other car, and the car drove beautifully for about 10 minutes after letting it warm up for about 10 minutes.

Then, while cruising down the highway about 65, it popped and the engine shut off, sounding like my other car did when I threw a rod, minus the loud clanking noise as the engine came to a hault. However, I stopped the car and tried cranking again, but it wouldn't turn over. After cranking a few more times it fired up, and after making sure the revvs were fine I continued driving. Got off the highway and stopped at the redlight, then went to go and the car died. Pulled into the parking lot and it fired up again. Got to work another 3 miles without it messing up.

Then tonight, i went out and started the car about 20 minutes before leaving, but the car didn't even stay running until I came back. Started it up, revved a few times to make sure it wouldn't bog, and pulled out. Drove down the street to the highway onramp, and she died at the turn. Fired back up, but drove like crap til halfway down the onramp, then kicked back in. Got to the end of the onramp and she died again, wouldn't restart. Let it set for a few minutes and she fired up, kept driving. Got to the offramp and she died halfway up. Fired up again went to the light and died. Took 3 minutes to restart then drove to the light and died. Then drove home another 5 miles perfectly fine...

Gonna check the AFM and Air Regulator tomorrow, but any other ideas that it could be? Those searches yielded that a bad Head Temp Sensor could be the problem, and when we first got the car it wasn't even hooked up, and the car ran fine. Found it about 2 weeks ago and hooked it up, and the car has now been running like crap. Could be coincidence from the cold weather, but might try unplugging it and seeing how she goes...

 

yo that sounds like my problem. sucks huh, after i changed the oil she idled for like 10min, the i shut her off till school, then she died on the way to school..so after the fuel filter shes getting better but i'm still missing some things...welcome to the club though my next step is afm rebuild, then z31 upgrade.

 

well it's not my car so I'm not dumping any money. I am just doing the interior mods as I am given money for it... Just waiting for the funds to come to get the 240 then this goes away...

 

The search function here sucks because the thread titles here SUCK. When someone needs help its usually a thread titled: Please Help! or something like that. So when someone goes to search for a problem they're having they get 1,000,000 threads (cause thats how many threads you'll find on the SAME topic) with titles that dont elude to the content of the thread at all. The search function works just fine...if you want to sort through all the crap

 

Wow Lee, it's sad I find out more problems with my Z on here then what you tell me on the phone...

 

ok, so the aux regulator is ****ed... but AutoZone doesn't have any available... neither does O'Reilly's... where would I go to get a new one?

 

has anyone ever just taken it out of line? If I just routed the coolant and air hoses to skip it, would there be any negative effects? Could it make my cold starts and running better? Let me know if anyone has tried this, because if i can save a few bucks and do this instead of replacing the part, I most definitely will...

 

Um... it's designed to help w/ cold starts, and idle. If it's bad, it causes the car to run rough.

AutoZone / Checker / Napa / Pep Boys / Parts Plus / Advance Auto should all have that part available. If not, you can always call NISSAN or go to courtesyparts.com

 

ok. Just for curiositys sake since I had extra hosing, I went ahead and took it out of line, and found that although the car was hard to start at first due to the change, that after it fired up it had no visible problems aside from a 2k idle... it revved perfectly fine on the first start of the day, which usually would kill the engine if I revved that quickly.

On my last car, a Ford Probe, the throttle body had a screw that you could turn to restrict airflow at idle to compensate for a high idle. Does this car have one? it got dark too quick and I didn't have time to look...

This may just be a temp fix until I can find another regulator... but it's better than a car that dies everytime I idle then hit the gas...

Also, at AutoZone what is the part called? I looked up air regulator, auxilary regulator, and got nothing, but they had an EFI Warm-Up Regulator that I looked into, but they say that they don't carry them anywhere near here...

 

If you bypass it like that, yeah... It will run better when cold... It will also continue to run way too rich once it warms up.

Rod.

 

that just means up the boost right? lol

 

That was my thought

 

Various online retailers carry the regulator. Try www.rockauto.com. You're Nissan dealer should also carry it as does www.blackdragonauto.com and www.zcarparts.com

Dont bypass the regulator though. It's pointless unless you plan to eliminate it altogether. If it's bad then just leave it in and raise your idle to compensate. You'll have to find a happy medium between cold running and a higher idle until you can replace it.

 

well right now the car won't run period with it, but when I took it off and bypassed it the car runs fine minus the high idle...

might look into making a block plate for the inlet for it to see if I can just eliminate it...

 

ok, so I can't find my idle control screw... where is it? the place that it lists on the hayne's manual it is isn't there...