A Note from DracoZX

[DracoZX]

Just got back to Richmond. Had a great drive back home from Greenville SC where I stayed last night finally getting to go have a drink and not stress over the dragon's health.
First i want to thank any and everyone who offered diagnosis, loaned tools, held the hood open, provided lighting, or turned a wrench on draco. I have to say it was quite overwhelming finally going to a big Z event and being around a large group of guys and girls who shared the same love of the Z as I do.
State of Draco: He is better than ever with all the help he recieved. I kind of hate saying what the final fix was cause it only cost $10 bucks and took 3 minutes to fix. Now that I think about it I will leave that as a clue and see who guesses it right,lol. Z1 guys can't play along.
Even though it was a simple fix, the symptons of the car could have been so many different things....injectors, dirty connections, bad ptu, bad ecu, burnt wire, dead cylinder........and so on. Glad it wound up not being internal.
Special thanks to John and Spencer at Z1 who after a call at 9a.m. sunday morning allowed me to come by and see if they could figure out what was still ailing the red guy, even after all the stories I heard of there saturday night/sunday morning party. Damn I wish I could have went. There is no place that compares to Z1 near me in Va. so I decided I would try them before limping back home. Spencer I will try to find out where I got that din drawer/cupholder for ya.
Special thanks to Chris on the left and David on the right for the plenum pull. Like ya'll said it will make my next pull easier.
Thanks to Chris who had the blue z32 for taking some great video of me on the track friday. At least I have those memories, before the car got ill.
It was great getting to meet everyone else at the show..Z1, AMS, 3ZC guys and everyone else, I have terrible short term memory. Alot of beautiful cars and good spirits kept the pain of my car being sick to a tolerible level. I hope that alot of you guys are at Zdayz. It looks like a blast.
Thanks Again!!! Hope everyone else made it home safe.

P.S. did anyone take a pic of us under the hood in the parking lot?

[TnkrsToyCo]

I have a couple under the hood. When I get them off the camera I'll get them to you.

That's great news about the fix. Fraid I was betting on a burnt valve.

[sunset123]

Hate to hear it was a $10.00 fix well anyhow it just goes to show how much love there is with those whom own a Z. I have been in NO other club ,group what ever that would stay up til 4 or 12 in the morn to FIX SOMEONES car let alone a business lend a helping hand late late at night thanks Z1. I can stay it was really a time to bond with people from around the country and from that I am greatful and hope to see ALL OF YOU down the road especially you DracoZX (Chris)
in a running car Ha!. Again it was great meeting all of you take care and my son Robert says Hello too. Sunset123 Columbus ,Ohio ZROC member.

[90 coupeconversion]

replaced the injector connector @ cyl# 1

[DracoZX]

replaced the injector connector @ cyl# 1

Nope, but getting warm.

[TnkrsToyCo]

#1 coilpack connector where we heard it arcing.

What was causing the lite smoke on the drivers side.

[Andy]

Man , you were one awesome dude with you attitude about the whole thing. Enjoyed talking with you and getting to know you a little. Ok , I will guess....the temp sending unit to the ecu?

[my_300z]

man your one cool dude hated to see you go threw that
but heres a video for you to check out
get tony ,aaron ,eric and nate to check it out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77_I1NFSkZc

[DracoZX]

#1 coilpack connector where we heard it arcing.

What was causing the lite smoke on the drivers side.

Nope but getting warmer.

Smoke was the air being so humid and the hot exhaust.

[DracoZX]

Man , you were one awesome dude with you attitude about the whole thing. Enjoyed talking with you and getting to know you a little. Ok , I will guess....the temp sending unit to the ecu?

You too Andy. getting colder on the temp sensor.

[Andy]

no way it was the fuel pressure regulator , no way!!

[DracoZX]

no way it was the fuel pressure regulator , no way!!

Nope.

[sumguyfromtx86]

bad spark plug??...or coil pack boot?

[Twisted Six]

Well, #4 injector was definitely bad, it was open on the OHM meter, and the plugs were burnt up, so atleast our plenum pull wasn't in vain. I too am curious as to what Z1 found as well, given the circumstances, we all kinda came to the same conclusion as to the internal damage. One time I'm glad I was wrong if it's indeed true! :D

[dirt114]

^shit i was betting a thousand it was bad rings so im glad im wrong too.
i cant imagine you being able to go through all that then have to pull the whole motor for a rebuild!

i would agree with steve on the coil pack but you didnt say so idk. i just wanna say, i was the one who yanked out the first egr pipe!! brute force for teh whin!

[dirt114]

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc277/dirt114/Mobile%20Uploads/0926090133.jpg
looks like david is working on the right and chris is killin time on the phone letting him catch up haha
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc277/dirt114/Mobile%20Uploads/0926090133a.jpg
my dad sitting at the bottom and me takin the pic

[dirt114]

pcv hose?

[DracoZX]

Drum roll please................... ......................... ......................... ..........#4 coilpack connector.

[dirt114]

hey, tnkrtoyco said that! well he said number one.. snap, it was moist from gas with no spark... :wall::chair:

[DracoZX]

Lol , I said he was getting warmer.

[dirt114]

hey, random, but i got my own red lights in today! lol red dash wins at life (cuz SBL's cant make a good white haha)

[DracoZX]

hey, random, but i got my own red lights in today! lol red dash wins at life (cuz SBL's cant make a good white haha)

Kool, just be patient installing them and make sure you get a very skinny tip for your soldering gun.

[dirt114]

huh? what lights do you have? i installed mine in 5 min... they plug in just like the old bulbs. and i can do it only taking off that top dash cover and reaching down behind the dash. ive done it several times in the last month going through all the diff whites.. btw, the red ones i have seem even more deep red than yours. if you ever have any desire to change, its the WLED-RHP5 from superbrightleds.com i think.

[dirt114]

and ill add that their service is amazing. dont get any white dash lights they suck but there red and blue are great and there white pod lights are phenomenal. i sent back probly 4 sets of lights and they keep turning around and sending the next ones i want to trade for with no hesitation.

[sumguyfromtx86]

(^ could have just added to the post before that instead of making another off-topic post in this thread)

anyways...well Draco i'm glad you got your car up and goin finally after everything. After doing the plenum pull and still having that misfire, I couldnt really convince myself that you had a burnt valve like most ppl concluded.

Nonetheless you did atleast get some useful work done on your car by some great guys...true enthusiasts!

[sunset123]

Good to hear it was a simple electrical issue. Chris see ya next year running!

[eagle2284]

im glad to see it worked out for you in the end.. like i said to you before, this really couldnt have happened at a better (or worse) time.
i am still kind of in aw about how nice Draco looked!!! i am going to pm you soon to bug you on details on how you painted your car :P

[jschrauwen]

I love happy endings.
Good for you Chris, I'm glad that you didn't have to "limp" home after all.


I think a big kudos has to go to Z1 for filling that shopping list of all of those tiny little bits as part of the plenum pull / injector change and deletes of a few systems. To fill out that shopping list of parts in the middle of the busiest days of their year is a testament to their support and dedication to the customer.

[DracoZX]

I love happy endings.
Good for you Chris, I'm glad that you didn't have to "limp" home after all.


I think a big kudos has to go to Z1 for filling that shopping list of all of those tiny little bits as part of the plenum pull / injector change and deletes of a few systems. To fill out that shopping list of parts in the middle of the busiest days of their year is a testament to their support and dedication to the customer.

That was impressive, but not as impressive as what John and Spencer of Z1 did most of sunday morning/afternoon to the car while nursing there hangovers,lol.

[zxrider13]

I was going to step in and help man but it seemed like you had more than enough help and figured one more may get in the way.

[Twisted Six]

Hey Draco Chris.......remember when you connected your data scan up to my car to see if it would work (since it wouldn't connect to your ECU), and it came up with the code34?!? I checked it again, and sure enough, the BRAND NEW (like 2000 miles on it) detonation sensor was bad, it was still throwing the code after clearing it. I had to replace the sensor. I relocated it back in 2007 when I had the motor out. To anyone who has to replace their detonation sensor, this is the prime reason why you want to relocate it, the replacement took 10 minutes, and now no more code34!! YAY Also glad my data scan works....HAHA... I'll never again have to pull the floor apart to check for codes! :rejoice:

[easter9053]

Draco, do u have any detailed pics of your car including your dashlights?

[TnkrsToyCo]

#4 was where we were hearing the arcing at the back of the engine, but the noise sounded like it was moving around. That's why I was thinking #1.

[DracoZX]

Hey Draco Chris.......remember when you connected your data scan up to my car to see if it would work (since it wouldn't connect to your ECU), and it came up with the code34?!? I checked it again, and sure enough, the BRAND NEW (like 2000 miles on it) detonation sensor was bad, it was still throwing the code after clearing it. I had to replace the sensor. I relocated it back in 2007 when I had the motor out. To anyone who has to replace their detonation sensor, this is the prime reason why you want to relocate it, the replacement took 10 minutes, and now no more code34!! YAY Also glad my data scan works....HAHA... I'll never again have to pull the floor apart to check for codes! :rejoice:

Glad that worked out. Needless to say I have an ECU Talk cable to sell or maybe I will give it away as a prize in our clubs Z show next month.

[DracoZX]

Hey Draco Chris.......remember when you connected your data scan up to my car to see if it would work (since it wouldn't connect to your ECU), and it came up with the code34?!? I checked it again, and sure enough, the BRAND NEW (like 2000 miles on it) detonation sensor was bad, it was still throwing the code after clearing it. I had to replace the sensor. I relocated it back in 2007 when I had the motor out. To anyone who has to replace their detonation sensor, this is the prime reason why you want to relocate it, the replacement took 10 minutes, and now no more code34!! YAY Also glad my data scan works....HAHA... I'll never again have to pull the floor apart to check for codes! :rejoice:

Draco, do u have any detailed pics of your car including your dashlights?

I have a few shots of the outside , but need to do some interior pics now. I had been waiting on putting my new seat skins in first. I'll work on a photo shoot for Draco and will post sometime soon.

[dirt114]

Glad that worked out. Needless to say I have an ECU Talk cable to sell or maybe I will give it away as a prize in our clubs Z show next month.

GIVE IT TO TAYLOR!! lol hes been dying to get his hands on one and hes trying to find/make one cheap... his name is eagle2284

[TnkrsToyCo]

Draco, here's a couple pictures.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a199/srfowler/Z1%2009/DSC00727.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a199/srfowler/Z1%2009/DSC00728.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a199/srfowler/Z1%2009/DSC00729.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a199/srfowler/Z1%2009/DSC00667.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a199/srfowler/Z1%2009/DSC00666.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a199/srfowler/Z1%2009/DSC00665.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a199/srfowler/Z1%2009/DSC00664.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a199/srfowler/Z1%2009/DSC00663.jpg