i am working on a 1981 280zx turbo, i believe i have a fuel issue. The car will not start and idle. will start if you hold accelerator down. have checked most everything on the car everything seems to be right, to include fuel pressure. you can squirt berrymans b-12 in the vacumn port at intake and the vehicle will start and run as long as you keep squirting. When vehicle starts while accelerating, runs rough and rich, burn your eyes rich. I dont really understand what is happening. If some one can give me any advise I am desperate.

 

did some reading on this forumn about the chts. disconnected the chts and the engine will start and surge for a few seconds between 1500 and 2200 rpm. if this helps anyone come up with any ideas, im at a loss

 

Welcome to ZDriver!

Did it suddenly not want to start one day?
Has it been sitting for a long time (years)?
Have you inspected and read the spark plugs?

The CHTS and AFM are the two main fuel controlling sensors, so I'd start with an ohm check of the CHTS, and clean ALL sensor and ecu connections.

If you haven't downloaded the FSM yet, you can do so for free at XenonS130 - S130 Reference

 

bought the car this way, did run a little but has steadily gotten worse, has new spark plugs, wires, etc... ohmed out the ecm connector pin 23 to ground, have no resistance, ohmed wires from ecm to chts connector and all are fine, removed chts from engine and ohmed 2.0 kilo ohms, however in car it doesn't seem to read correctly

 

Did the car sit for a long time? Old gas?
If you have to full throttle it just to keep it going, that usually means it's flooding. Pull a spark plug or two after attempting to do a normal start to see if they are wet or dry.

 

spark plugs will get wet, that doesnt explain to me why the engine will start and idle on b-12 though, car has new gas in it. i ordered a new chts, should be in tomorrow morning

 

Pinch off the fuel line right after the fuel filter with vice grips or pinchers (be gentle, but close off completely). Then crank it at full throttle. See if it sputters and starts.

If it never starts, then it's not getting fuel.
If it does start, then dies out, it's flooding and the CHTS is most likely the prob.

 

have done that and it does start and sputter, runs really rich

 

We had the exact same problem on a friends car - turns out the AFM connector wasn't on properly. Boy was he embarased