| Hey guys, I've been trying to figure this one out on my own for a week or so, trying to get someone else's opinion. My Z is a 90 with a rebuilt engine about 8K miles ago, the turbo's are solid and the car seemed to be running well. Last Sunday, which was the last time I took her out. I went about 15 miles and back, about a 20 minute ride home from my destination. As I pulled onto my street i noticed steam or smoke coming from the corners of my hood. My temp gauge was not spiked but at about the 85%. I stopped at my house, and let it cool down for a few minutes before I opened the hood. At once I noticed a sweet smell, what I think may be coolant, accompanied by a strong fuel smell. Steam or smoke seemed to be rising and hissing out of the rear of the engine, mostly on the drivers side at the back of the engine. I had noticed a very strong gas smell in the car twice before this occurrence especially when I had the air system engaged to A/C. It didn't seem to affect performance and I, possibly mistakenly, did not look into it. I pulled the Z out of the garage today and started her up. I brought it up the street once slowly, the strength of the engine seemed slightly "muffled", so I turned around and went home to have the Z sit in the driveway and run for a couple minutes with the hood open to see if I could see anything apparently wrong. One thing I noticed right away was that one of the rubber hoses attached to the fuel rain seemed to be wet, and when I wiped it and smelled it, it definitely smelled of gasoline. So, it seems that I have an apparent fuel leak. My temp gauge did not read today, it stayed at the bottom which is obviously not the true temp. I noticed steam coming out of the upper plenum in between the last cylinder (all the way at the back of the engine) on the drivers side, sorry I forget which number it is. The engine didn't seem to get crazy hot, hissing and spouting a lot of steam as it did last sunday when it had been driven for 20 minutes. But, it was still a slight misting coming from that area during idle. It smelled sweet, and reminded me of the smell when my old explorers thermostat used to get plugged. I didn't notice any apparent water leaks coming from the bottom of the car, and I did put a little extra in the radiator to make sure that wasn't the issue, I still had the steam and the definite strong gas smell. One thing I should mention is that I used a hose to bypass my heater core because of a serious leak and lack of interest in taking the entire dash off. I never drive it in super cold weather so it is not needed, and a Nissan master tech helped me and advised me to do so. My thinking is this could possibly be: Fuel problem.
A. plugged injector? Four out of 6 of mine have been replaced in the last 3 years.
B. Loose fuel hose. Overheating issue.
A. Blown water hose or pipe?
B. Water pump not working, but doesnt seem likely because it takes a while for this pup to overheat.
C. Is there any correlation to the temp gauge on the dash not working?
D. Thermostat issues? Thanks guys, I've been searching of course but it seems my problem is not pinpointed in the data base. If you have any comments, they are much appreciated. Wish you all the best!
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