350Z Engine Problems
A quick diagnosis of the engine problems I've had recently with my 2003 350Z, the SOLO2.ORG autocross Project Z.
Sat/Sun 3/19-3/20 in Arkansas for an SCCA National Tour my codriver had the car shut off on him twice, once each day, with problems restarting the car while on course. I ran the courses fine without any problems, we believe his problems were due to the fact that he left foot brakes and the car/computer doesn't seem to handle that well, thinking the driver is in trouble and shutting the power off to the motor.
Fast forward to Thursday 4 days after Arkansas. I am driving up Jefferson in St. Louis and the motor shuts off, it'll try to run in gear, but won't take any gas, I pull off and try to restart. The car will restart, but will now not idle, or if it is idling not well at all. I drive home, on the way it appears better so I try to head to work in Earth City. I don't make it that far, idle gets horrible so I head to my codriver's house to run an OBDII scan on the car, no errors were shown on the OBDII scan. I stop at a dealer, then end up telling me that my K&N has most likely hosed my MAF. Mass Air Flow (indicator?)
I head home, pick up some carb cleaner and remove the MAF from the car. It doesn't look dirty, but I spray it off with the carb cleaner anyways. I reset the engine computer with the proper sequence, which I'll post in another blog.
The car has run fine ever since, the only thing I have left to do is clean the MAF again, either with brake cleaner or some electronics cleaner, the carb cleaner may have left a residue, so I need to use something that won't leave a residue behind.
Spent $2 on a can of cleaner, instead of $480 on a new MAF!