fuse link

[chris frizzell]

Hi all Zfans can i pick yout brains my 280z was running great until the other day when the fused link started smoking . now car will not start got spark and fuel but no fuel at the injectors . fuesd link is damaged . is this a safety cut out to save over charging the ecu thus cutting the power to the ecu ? anyone do a upgrade on the links any help welcome many thanks keep safe chris

 

[jonbills]

I dunno Chris, but there's a long thread on 280z fusible links over on classiczcars.com - it looks like there should be 4 separate fusible links, and one of them is for the ECU for sure.
https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/61793-280z-fusible-links/#comments

 

[MaximG]

You have to wonder why it’s started smoking in the first place.

 

[chris frizzell]

may have got a little wet .i was cleaning down to battery tray and chassis rails but it looks to have many broken strands . dont have any injectors firing so it could be no power is going to the ecu .will have a look thinking off doing a upgrade to maxi fuses . does the broken wire reduce the ampage so not opening the ecu? i hate electrics give me a spanner any day , 280z electrics are whitch craft . any pointer ? Chris

 

[Rob Gaskin]

may have got a little wet .i was cleaning down to battery tray and chassis rails but it looks to have many broken strands . dont have any injectors firing so it could be no power is going to the ecu .will have a look thinking off doing a upgrade to maxi fuses . does the broken wire reduce the ampage so not opening the ecu? i hate electrics give me a spanner any day , 280z electrics are whitch craft . any pointer ? Chris

Broken strands will reduce the current carrying capacity of the wire. Think of it like water - if you reduce the size of the pipe the flow will be restricted.

 

[toopy]

Broken strands will reduce the current carrying capacity of the wire. Think of it like water - if you reduce the size of the pipe the flow will be restricted.

That's a nice analogy, although the remaining unbroken wires will continue to flow the same current, just that they will probably over heat and break, melt or cause a fire, hence the situation Chris finds himself in, especially if there is also moisture involved!

 

[chris frizzell]

thanks for the info my problem is i have no power going to the fuel pump will not even run if i by pass the afm will have to have a look at all the efi . my problem is the more i try to make the car better the more it fights me back . thinking of dumping the hole efi shit and putting it on webers 2k though had this ptoblem before but i could over ride the afm and advise ? thanks chris

 

[chris frizzell]

hi all hope every one good . any 280z owmer know how to get power back to pin 10 on the ecu plug . fuel pump runs when solinod is disconected but not when it is . every other test is ok but i need to look at the circuit from the thermitime switch and the cold starter any body got any ideas many thanks chris

 

[chris frizzell]

Hi all got the car running again the electrics on these car are a little fragile and fused links are old had . Now the car runs it has the same old problem . some times it starts quick and others i have to crank it a few time ie when cold . i was thinking of fitting a air/fuel gauge and looking for vacuum leaks . i think its running rich would a simple car tuner do this on such a old efi system ? my car has a z story exhaust so i do have a O2 port . Any thoughts would be fantastic many thanks Chris

 

[Makesy]

You could fit a gauge and a wideband sensor, though I'm not sure that would help you too much. You'd be able to identify if you're running rich or not, but it wouldn't give you any functionality to do anything about it.

The old e-tronic system is fine when it works, but a nightmare to fault find when it doesn't. Worse still, obtaining parts for it is a pain as almost everything is used now and therefore of questionable quality.

I removed my old kit so have some parts of you need anything (I'm in Leeds so not too far).

Start with the FSM and see if that leads anywhere.

http://www.xenonzcar.com/s30/fsm.html

If it's a pain to start when cold, your cold start valve may be playing up (in my case it was completely disconnected by the previous owner as it was rarely required in sunny Arkansas.) The manuals are quite good and most of the other Z forums will refer you to them before they'll offer any help (Zclub is a bit friendlier )

Longer term, you might want to explore a complete replacement of the EFI system. I now use the EZ EFI kit reviewed here:

https://zclub.net/community/index.php?threads/fast-ez-efi-my-experience.26930/#post-307358

Good luck!

 

[chris frizzell]

thanks for the info i read your post on fitting the EZ EFI kit looks good but i think i would go down the carb route as less things to go wrong and more power upgade are possible . apart form the starting the car runs well part from my AFM everything has been replaced . the car has not been restored that long iam hoping to look at the vacuum and air/fuel just to tune the car up . the only other part i think i could replace is the AFM as you can get recon ones fron the USA. it look as if you can ajust the AFM but you would need to fit a air / fuel gauge which is more expensive than a reccon AFM £180 . may be as we to go to a tuning garage and show them how to adjust the meter . will keep looking many thanks chris