| Bought this Z. Never tried to start it, just flat decked it away from previous owner as he indicated that he “was driving the vehicle, and it very suddenly starting running poorly making loud noise. Think it spun a bearing, shut it down, towed it home and have not driven it since.” I buy the car, as I happen to have a short block in my garage from an old Twin Turbo engine I bought years ago. The car comes to my work place, and has been sitting here for months and months. I finally decide I’ll get working on it, and so here we go. I figure, screw it, I’m going to start it. If a rod bearing has spun, it’s going to be nasty as I’ve done that before and it was absolutely insane grinding/squealing and very quickly destroyed the short block, crank, etc. When I took it apart, yeah, crank walked, rod bearings to itsy bitsy pieces of metal, just pounded to death. This car - isn’t that I feel. Let’s start. I get it a battery. Remove fuse for fuel. Crank it just to hear it. It cranks, and actually doesn’t really give me any sense that something absolutely catastrophic is going on in the bottom end. Decide we’ll actually start it up. See what happens. Fuse for fuel back in, start the car. It doesn’t start well, but does start and runs really bad -sounds like a fucking tractor. Shut it down. No real thoughts yet as I don’t feel like I have enough information. But I feel like it cranks fairly normally, and I feel like it runs like shit (Fuel? Timing?) Not sure, but I decide I’ll just start with some basics and do a compression test. These numbers are cold, because I can’t properly run the vehicle. 1 – 140-145
2 – 120-125
3 – 140-145
4 – 140-145
5 – 140-145
6 – 140-145 So, cylinder 2 is the only anomaly and if I’m being honest, I’ve seen far worse. I did not oil the cylinder and retest. OF NOTE: When I removed the balance tube to do the compression test, a very strong gasoline odor emitted. Noting only because that was unusual, and might mean something to more experienced problem solvers. Plugs -> All look to me like a rich state, super black, but not oily. So when it was running, it was rich. Some plugs, including plug #2, has brown spots on it (not on the tip, but basically on the end of the plug where the threads end) Almost looks like rust. Minimal. More information from the owner's ad when it was being sold: Work just done:
Injectors
Fuel filter
Spark plugs
Coil packs
Belts [I can see they are new, but can't see the timing belt of course]
Water temp sensor
Coolant flush
Brake pads and rotors
Fuel pressure regulator and damper
Intake gaskets
Valve cover gasket
New wiring for injectors and coil packs So for me, all those items become suspicious. The wiring, all spliced. But based on the previous owner telling me he was driving it around down town when this suddenly happened, I think it is all correct and something, somewhere, goes wrong instantly. Thoughts on how to proceed? Interested to hear some experienced opinions.
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