ignition issue - jy solution?

  • #1

    ignition issue - jy solution?

    Hope this is the correct section…

    Pretty sure I have narrowed my issue down to either the coil or the distributor. I have pulled all other connections and swapped other parts with no luck. My car will just decide to repeatedly die at some random point, usually during start up. (It dies immediately unlike a fuel issue.) It will go from running to not several times, never with any consistency in length of time on either side. After TS'ing the issue, which is much like an old points distributor going out or coil going bad, I think it is either the CAS or coil.

    Are said components from various VG30E vehicles functionally compatible with my 85t (aside from wiring / connectors)? No Z distributors or coils in the JY. Only maxima/quest stuff. (Dizzies for pathfinders are also all gone.)

    Thx in advance!
    dan
  • #2
    No, this isn't the right section.

    But anyway, you can use the CAS from a Maxima in the Z distributor. Just have to tear them both down and transfer it over. http://z31performance.com/showthread…-07-Cam-sensor

    You can also use a Maxima coil. I believe the plug is different than the one on the early model Z though, so you'd have to splice the new plug in to replace the one on the car now. The coil being bad is very unlikely though, they very rarely fail.
    Prius… because Pretentious wouldn't fit across the back of the car…

    Cheap, Fast, Reliable - pick any two

    My 1986 Turbo Build
  • #3
    jaqattack02;341864 wrote: The coil being bad is very unlikely though, they very rarely fail.

    no real truth to this. I have had a total of five z31 coils and two nissan sentra coils. 2 of the Z31 coils developed cracks in the casing, not from being mishandled since they were mounted in the car. 1 of the sentra coils seems to arch to the metallic portion that is covered under plastic on the z31 style coils we're used to seeing, but it didn't seem to have any cracks or visible defects in the center plastic area, which was weird. The other sentra and other three z coils are still good after 25+ years.

    one of the z31 coils developed a crack while driving, and I had to keep the car under 2000rpm in order to drive to a friend's house, or spark would jump to the mounting screws. I then picked up the sentra coil from my friend's house to drive home, and I had to use small jumper wires we made (blade-type female crimp-on terminals to slide over the ignition coil male pins inside the connector housing, and modified fork-type crimp-on terminals with one leg cut off to press into the female z31 harness connector).

    almost all mid 80's to early 90's nissan coils of the same general "look" will work with the z31 ignition but some share a different connector (I believe sentra uses same as maxima, 2 prong grey connector).

    Now I have a spare coil in a box inside the storage area because it's small and it almost required me to tow my car home. Now I keep the small wires I made with the coil as well just incase neither work and I am in a desperate situation where I need to just try another coil to get the car moving.

    I would say its not TOO common but i wouldn't say very rare. Coils going to shit on cars now and in the passed has been somewhat of a common occurrence.
  • #4
    Thanks a ton for the quick responses gentlemen. You have no idea what 2 weeks in the summer without my Z feels like; or maybe you do… I swear I want to cry. LoL

    I do not suppose there is a gain adjustment for the CAS I could use as a temp TS method?
  • #5
    what do you mean gain by adjustment? the cas is just a spinning disc with a that's having its picture taken hundreds of times a second.
    try a different PTU, and borrow a known working distributor.

    i highly recommend nistune as a diagnosis tool if you like your car. for the 500 bucks, it's prob one of the better investments, even in a stock car. at least for me… i like what it provides as far as knowing more about what the motor is doing/not doing.
  • #6
    Gain as in the measurement from input to output in an electrical circuit. In this case either a multiplier on the backside or power control on the front.

    I would like to go with an AEM unit someday. I think I am about a year or two out.
  • #7
    Careless;341866 wrote: I would say its not TOO common but i wouldn't say very rare. Coils going to shit on cars now and in the passed has been somewhat of a common occurrence.
    I'll just say then, that in my experience, I've never had one fail. I did swap the coil on my old 86 to a Maxima coil just so that if it did fail, a replacement would be easy to come by, as Maxima's out number Z's in the junkyard something like 10:1 around here.
    Prius… because Pretentious wouldn't fit across the back of the car…

    Cheap, Fast, Reliable - pick any two

    My 1986 Turbo Build
  • #8
    adroitcaptor;341881 wrote: Gain as in the measurement from input to output in an electrical circuit. In this case either a multiplier on the backside or power control on the front.

    I would like to go with an AEM unit someday. I think I am about a year or two out.
    no dude, that's not how a CAS works. it's a photoelectric circuit. it either fires pulses or it doesn't.