How Datsun 260Z/280z Electronic Ignition Works (by synthpro)

[@luckenbachmachineworks7000]

Very informative. Thanks for posting.

[@synthpro]

Your welcome, glad you enjoyed it.

[@scottthompson5380]

Thank you!

[@synthpro]

Your welcome!

[@mattastropheflats]

Excellent video, thank you

[@farmliquidators1441]

Thanks for the video. Can you show us where the vacuum advance hose goes to from beginning to end. I would appreciate it.

[@synthpro]

Sure thing. I will make a video tomorrow for you.

[@farmliquidators1441]

@@synthpro awesome. Thank you

[@synthpro]

Made a video today going over vaccum advance as well as connections. go to 7:28 for connections. kzbin.info/www/bejne/nZKlhYKFYq95gKs

[@ERICHOLLAWAY-e9v]

Think i need a reluctor. Cant find one. Or should i replaces the whole distributor?

[@synthpro]

The reluctor itself is probably still good but you may need a new pickup coil. You can actually use a multimeter set to AC connected to the output of your pickup coil and turn the engine over....you should see a voltage generated if it's working. If you have signal here then the problem may be the ignition module or related harness from distributor to ignition module od from ignition module to ignition coil. Another test you can do if your car is a none California model, (ignore this test if your car is a California model) disconnect the red wire going to coolant switch, this will deactivate the electronic advance and allow you to start the car without the electronic advance which uses a different pickup in distributor. If you find that your pickup coil is bad, you can replace just the coil itself rather than the whole distributor. Found this pickup coil here: www.carparts.com/details/Nissan/280Z/Standard/Pickup_Coil/1978/SILX507.html?TID=gglpla&origin=pla&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAvdCrBhBREiwAX6-6UlHaWES9VkFzjKZKw3wmuR9FsTWXGs2xJCLqTjdySIxnpHNBUEMGRhoCCkMQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds Hope this helps.

[@Kylem5005]

I know this is an old video but is there a way to test that box, my 280z ran perfectly then one day it cuts out terribly under load and I'm curious if this box is my problem, my other thought is ECU failure

[@synthpro]

Yes, you can actually test this box in a very similar fashion to what you see in this video. Disconnect coil form negative post and connect a test light between + suppl and the negative terminal that was going to coil. Turn the engine over and see if the light blinks with rotation. If it doesn't blink, I would check to make sure ignition module is getting 12V power when ignition key is on. If so, you can actually check the output right at the module to make sure you do not have a open harness between module and coil. If you have access to a oscilloscope, you can test signal coming from the pickup coil in distributior as well to see if it's generating the sinewave you see in my video. The ECU is also clocked off ignition so if you lose ignition, you will also lose injection pulse. Some era Zs have a molex connector for the ignition module rather than the blade terminals as seen in my video which does make it a bit more tricky to test at module. Also, be sure to check out my video on vacuum advance here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nZKlhYKFYq95gKssi=8JPp5Wy-Pk5RX4tR this can also cause lots of issues when car is under load. Hope this info helps you out.

[@Kylem5005]

@@synthpro yes that will give me something else to check, I had a 5 or six hour cruise and the car ran great parked it for the week and when I started it up the following weekend it ran like crap. Idles and revs perfectly but as soon as I'm driving it gets to about 4k rpm I lose fuel pressure and it stalls for a second then comes right back and will repeat that constantly. Never had trouble starting and staying running. New fuel pump, new fuel pressure regulator and hard wired the pump to a switch and it still does it so I'm really grasping at straws here. My thoughts are bad ECU, or something failing electrically in my ignition stuff. But I will check out your other videos and test some more things. Thank you for the response the more I rule out the less money I spend lol.

[@synthpro]

@@Kylem5005 that's interesting, fuel pressure is unrelated to timing but could cause a similar behavior for sure. Happy to help you try to troubleshoot this problem. I have a few questions: 1.Are you actually monitoring fuel pressure when this happens? (You can buy a fuel pressure tester that goes inline with the fuel line and temporarily install it between the fuel filter and fuel rail.) If I remember correctly fuel pressure is around 28PSI at idle and goes up to around 39PSI when you give the car throttle. You can also test regulator operation by temporarily taking off the vacuum line going between regulator and intake...pressure should go up without vacuum. 2. Are you running a original fuel pump? (I was running a generic one on my car but found there was no good angle to install it without kicking fuel line a bit....you may have a slight kink that has collected trash). 3. Has the fuel tank been cleaned? There is a screen in the sump of these tanks that can fill with rust and trash causing fuel pump to starve Something else I have ran into personally is that the ignition coil can go bad and it will get some kind of odd resonance inside the coil at higher RPMS causing misfires and delayed spark.

[@Kylem5005]

@synthpro I purchased a fuel pressure regulator with a gauge built in and mounted a go pro in my engine bay to watch it. The pump is a cheaper one but from Z car depot (they are local to me) for a 280z 280zx fuel injected car. The tank is a new fuel cell with both a pre filter before the pump and the standard filter in the engine bay (both are new). Even when the car cuts out and acts like the fuel pump has shut off I can press in the clutch and it revs fine with no load. Also if I just throw it in 3rd and put my foot flat in the accelerator it goes to about 3500 cuts out for 2 or 3 seconds then comes back with a decent amount of acceleration and a back fire for a few seconds then does it again. If I stay in it I can eventually reach the red line with the off 2 or 3 seconds then on 2 or 3 seconds. So that leads me to believe it's not TPS related or just a dead spot in the AFM contacts. And I have one of the "black boxes" (the dealer sensor tester for the 35 pin ECU plug) it just acts as a really convenient multimeter to ohm all the sensors. I used it and all the sensors AFM tips seem to be in order so that's why I'm leaning towards the ECU/injector because it's predictable and ran great one day and the next it's like this. I can also send some videos if that would be helpful.

[@synthpro]

@@Kylem5005 that's indeed a interesting fault. So, it sounds like you are running a completely custom fuel system on this car which would rule out some of the typical faults. You are on the right track by checking AFM etc. It would be interesting to see what the injector pulse is doing in this event as well. You might have a water temp sensor problem which could be causing a fuel mixture issue but this typically causes more issues than what you are experiencing. Another possibility is we are back to ignition/timing fault. With vacuum advancement or possibly something either with reluctor pickup, ignition module, or coil doing something strange, (coil would be a big red flag because I have had them go bad and actually cause retardation in timing at higher RPM). Or indeed it's a fuel injection ECM fault.