[Phantom]

I recently put out a plea for help. My daily driver was running on about 3 cylinders and blowing huge clouds of black smoke out the tailpipe. I got a couple replies that pointed me toward the engine temperature sensors up by the thermostat.
I then contacted my friend at ALL Z CAR SPECIALIST in Fort Worth and he said that it was the engine temperature sensor. A bad connection on it would indicate a very cold engine and cause all six injectors to fire very rich. Turned out that the bayonet connections which were wrapped in shrink tubing were badly corroded. I went as far as to run the tests in the service manual on both the thermotine switch and the engine temperature sensor to ensure they were OK - they were. Then I cleaned the connectors at the senors and then went back and opened up the bayonet connections where the leads tied into the wiring harness. They were badly corroded so cleaned them too. Unfortunately by now I had gas fouled my spark plugs trying to start the engine each time I worked on something so it wouldn't even cough. I had never experienced that before so was clueless. Another call to AZCS and got another correct diagnosis. Changed the plugs and car runs like a champ.
THANKS JERRY!!!!!!!

 

[Chris Behney]

> I recently put out a plea for help. My daily
> driver was running on about 3 cylinders and
> blowing huge clouds of black smoke out the
> tailpipe. I got a couple replies that
> pointed me toward the engine temperature
> sensors up by the thermostat.
> I then contacted my friend at ALL Z CAR
> SPECIALIST in Fort Worth and he said that it
> was the engine temperature sensor. A bad
> connection on it would indicate a very cold
> engine and cause all six injectors to fire
> very rich. Turned out that the bayonet
> connections which were wrapped in shrink
> tubing were badly corroded. I went as far as
> to run the tests in the service manual on
> both the thermotine switch and the engine
> temperature sensor to ensure they were OK -
> they were. Then I cleaned the connectors at
> the senors and then went back and opened up
> the bayonet connections where the leads tied
> into the wiring harness. They were badly
> corroded so cleaned them too. Unfortunately
> by now I had gas fouled my spark plugs
> trying to start the engine each time I
> worked on something so it wouldn't even
> cough. I had never experienced that before
> so was clueless. Another call to AZCS and
> got another correct diagnosis. Changed the
> plugs and car runs like a champ.
> THANKS JERRY!!!!!!!

The Phantom prowls again!

That's good to hear. Once again, a Z is back out on the streets, because of the help of a fellow Z owner. Kind of like a brotherhood, huh? Almost brings a tear to my eye.

Keep it rollin',

Chris Behney