1983 280ZX: Shuts off while driving. Any help?

get some freeze spray from Radio shack and shock the ignition module when she dies. Have your battery load tested free most places. check your battery cables for looseness and corrosion. if you have the one size fit all terminals (pic) get a real set of cables those things are a disaster waiting to happen. Use some Deoxit by CAIG to clean the connectors to the ECU, AFM and TPS. Check your fusible links for corrosion. your problem sounds electrical as tho something is losing connection. you might have a bad ignition switch. Download the FSM from xenon (free) and look thru it

First is there any thing that prompts this? Hitting a bump...or will it do it idling at a red light?

If it were the ignition module, it would probably take 20-30 min to cool down enough to restart. So I would put that on the back burner.

Ignition switch: The fact that you have to turn the ign sw all the way off may mean that something is loose inside. How can we test this? Run 12v to the hot side of the coil. That is the same as tuning the IgSw on. I've made myself many of these "jumpers" with alligator clips.. Now if it drives ok you might want to run it from the 12v source that goes into your ign sw. Everything OK, probably the ign sw. Be advised the Ign Sw is separate fronm the key switch and can be replaced without replacing the key switch/tumbler apparatus that bolts around the steering column.

This will be complicated b/c Datsun used 4 breakaway screws. Sometin\mes thet did not break them off and you can undo them with pliers, I've done it with small phillips and others have taken a dremel tool and cut a notch.

Another possibility is the green and red wire inside the distributor coming from the ignition module may be so close together that they short out. Elec problems are a bitch. Usually if it is corroded terminals it will not carry the load to the starter, but it never hurts to clean them at the battery terminal and the main wire going to the terminal as suggested.

Finally, if you had enough crud in the gas tank, it could get sucked into the outlet line blocking fuel flow. When the car settled, it would float backward into the tank clearing the line. There is a small mesh filter going into the fuel pump at the inlet side.

All this said, and sorry for writing a book, I had a similar thing happen to me, only it would not just start back up. It would turn over and I had fire, so somehow I concluded I was not getting fuel. I finally got it home and put in a Fram G4 filter b/t the tank and fuel pump. Never did see any trash in the transparent filter and never had any more problems, finally removed it after a year. To this day I really don't know what it was. If you get yours fixed, let us know the solution.

This is the problem I have with these "local mechanics with 30 yrs certified experience working on Datsuns, Scaredyrabbit. (not you sandbike)

You said, "Also my injector fan isn't working when like a week ago it was working fine any suggestions?"

Yes, as any real Datsun mechanic would know, you will play **** getting the fan to come on in this weather. It is powered by a thermostat in the waterneck. After the car is shut down, if the temp risings above a certain amount it kicks on for 10 min to cool down the injectors. Unless you are driving in Texas in the summer, you will seldom hear this fan.

I got trashed the other day by some nitwit b/c I made reference to his glorified mechanic. I have said it before. Most of them are parts changers and unless they are over 50 years old, chances are they really do not know the ins and outs of this car. Do they know basic mechanics applicable to all cars? Sure, that's why they are "certified." Kinda like school teachers...they are certified but most of them really do not know squat ablout their subject. In fact the disclaimer on the certification tests says, "This test does not predict if applicant has a mastery of the subject nor would be a good teacher." But the public buys into the charade b/c they are "certified."

I was curious if this issue ever got resolved. It sounds almost exactly what my car is doing.

Ok, I am new here, new to Z cars, and just now looking through the manual:

With that said: 1981 280ZX NA, automatic

Car seems to run fine except is will just die as if you turned the key off. No sputtering and the tach will just go to zero. Always starts right up. I've gotten good at shifting it into neutral and restarting. Sometimes, it will recover on its own after a heartbeat or two.

Truly seems to be intermittent as I can't discern a pattern. I commute 60 miles one way to work. A few trips, everything fine. One trip, died three times. One trip, twice at a stop light within 15 seconds of each other.

I've poked around under the hood but nothing jumps our at me.

My wife wanted this car and now doesn't want to drive it until this is resolved. I can't blame her. I find myself traveling in the right lane on heightened alert in case it dies. Not exactly fun.

Please give me some idea and be patient. These Z cars are foreign to me (joke intended) and I'm still figuring out how they work. I absolutely hate intermittent electrical gremlins. . . .