Danny350z

Well, after almost a 2 week delay thanks to Royal Mail, they finally decided to deliver the new spark plugs (along with an assortment of other packages we'd assumed were nicked or lost). Fitted them and it started on the first go. Unfortunately, when fastening one of the coilovers back down the bolt head sheared off (happened just as it was starting to get tight) so now I've one coilover that isn't secured and a bolt I can't get back out. Will I have any problems with this (the wiring and cables above it are holding it somewhat firmly in place)? Also, I'm still unsure on this oil issue. Now it starts and I can let the oil cycle a bit I can't get a decent reading from the beyond useless dipstick. It's over but I can't really tell how much as it varies every time I put the stick in, sometimes just slightly over the H, sometimes about 1-2cm over. At most it's going to be a litre over (what I put in before I did the plugs) but then that depends on what the oil level was at the time I garaged it. As it has to be MOT'd anyway I might just get them to do the oil change, so will I be safe driving it there? What should the oil pressure be at idle?

Lol, I read on another forum you had to remove a load of bolts and a big panel to gain access but I wasn't sure how accurate that was. I've not lifted the car up yet (was planning to do it whilst I wait on the new plugs), I wanted a general idea of what I'm looking for. I managed to get the spark plugs out, I'm sure I'll manage to do this. I'd love to take it to a garage but a) Royal Mail have yet to deliver the replacement plugs and I don't want to start it up with too much oil in it.

Don't you need to keep your finger pressed on the ESP button for a few seconds to actually turn it off properly? Should I have said that? I tried it once.... as I was coming out of Tescos on to a small roundabout. I somehow managed to get the car to spin 180 degrees despite barely moving at the time, although it was absolutely throwing it down. Luckily it was late so the roads were quiet.

Where's the sump plug, do I need to remove something to get to it?

Heh, didn't work, the tube was too light so I imagine it just floated on the surface. How much messing about is the oil change?

as far as ive been led to believe, putting the HT leads in the correct places is the problem with all off ill be doing one at a time as im a mong did you remove your strut brace? Unfortunately I didn't know about the HT leads until after I did make sure they were positioned by their respective coil pack though so hopefully they won't get mixed up. They should really as there's not much slack on the cables so it should be difficult to mix them up. I left the strut brace on. It's not a major issue, it's the cables that cause the problems but you just remove one or two of their brackets as someoen else pointed out.

It's not too hard, just a bit fiddly. I'm doing it and I know nothing about cars. I already removed the old ones and I'm just waiting on the replacements, hopefully I'll still remember where everything went.

I was planning to use a large syringe and bit of plastic tubing? Draining it means lifting it (not much room in the garage) and removing a load of bolts and something from the underneath, and the opinions I've read elsewhere suggest it'll be a pain trying to plug it whilst there's oil still inside.

Cheers. Sent him a PM. Next question, how much oil is too much? When I added some more oil (as it was a bit low), a bit more went in at the end that I'd intended. Now when I check the dipstick it's a bit over the H mark (just near that first bend in the stick). Should I attempt to drain some or is it okay to leave it as it is? NVM: I see it's supposed to be between the L and H so I'll get some tubing and syphon the rest out, saves having to drain it.

Link to a reasonably priced site or member who can supply them at a good price? What am I looking at per plug? Local shop wants £11 each for platinum tipped.

I have removed the plugs, opinions:

Any tips on attempting it without moving the brace? I can get at them all (at least on the left side anyway), it just seems there's very little give with a lot of the wires. The little grey parts that plug into the side of the coil pack, can they be removed making it easier to pull out?

So after everything else failed I managed to get one of the spark plugs out (the far one on the left as you look straight at the engine, seemed the easiest, yeah right!) and the consensus is they need replacing. I'm pretty pi**ed off, the guy who last serviced it was supposed to have replaced them but clearly hasn't. He was a mate of a mate (has his own garage) which makes it even more infuriating. I might have a go replacing them myself, it's just a right pain. They could have at least made them a little more accessible rather than hiding them under all the wiring, etc. Ah well, it's a learning curve I guess.

Skill level? The basics. It's not the plugs that I find daunting, it's that strut brace. To me that seems the sort of thing that might screw up the handling if I don't put it back properly. I'm in Blackpool. I know a few 'professionals' who could probably sort it out but I kind of like to attempt these things myself (otherwise, how do you learn?) until I reach my limits and concede it's time to call in someone who knows better

I saw a guide on another Zed forum about replacing the plugs and it was a strut brace off job. Can it be done without removing that? Because that seems the sort of thing I don't want to be messing with (too tight, not tight enough, etc).

The guy who sold me the new battery is attempting to charge the old one, so I should be able to jump from that and the new battery no problems? I just went back to the car and the volts are back up to 12. Had another go and it's definitely getting more lively; it starts shaking as if it's about to start up but then fails to fire completely. Missus says there's smoke coming out the exhaust. I imagine it's porbably just the crap and sediment from standing for a year that's the issue. At least I hope so. Hoping it's not the spark plugs, that looks a b it of a ballache to do.

Yep, it sucked air in when I opened the petrol cap. I put another 5l in today, plus some oil and tried again. It almost started. It sounded like the engine was almost firing, but after a couple more attempts the battery drained rapidly.

I garaged my Zed a year ago and decided recently it was time to get it back out. The battery had died by this point so I've replaced that today. When I garaged it there was £10 of fuel in it, I've also put another 5l in today. On first attempt to start it, it came to life, roared once, then died. On Subsequent attempts it simply does this; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqqh9fbPRYc I assume it's either a fuel problem or the spark plugs? Or something totally beyond my somewhat limited knowledge.

As of this morning my 350z has developed a grinding noise from what appears to be the drivers side front wheel. It gets louder when I turn left. The noise only appears when the wheels are moving. If I stop, the noise stops, braking itself doesn't seem to have any effect on the noise so I'm guessing it's a bearing issue? How much am I looking at to repair this?

As this Tax rape is all about saving the environment and an attempt to force us into 'greener' cars I took the liberty of knocking up this comparison between the 350z and other smaller engined cars: Yes the Zed produces more CO2 but the Ka and Yaris produce more of the other pollutants. Of course, it's all about the dioxide isn't it and the government won't care if smaller cars actually produce more pollutants or not.

Do you use 3rd gear and above? Wait... what??!?! This stick thing goes above 1?

No puddles I can see. I'll see if it drops from 16.9mpg to 16mpg and then get it checked. It was always a fairly consistent 19.8mpg for town driving being reasonably sensible. Since fuel prices have gone up I've been more sensible than usual so I'm surprised it's suddenly started to drop so much.

They were dirty, don't know if you could call it 'sooty' though. However, should I be worried my Nismo tailpipes are developing little patches of rust?

So since I bought my Zed in Dec 2006 my fuel economy has always been an average of 19.8mpg, even after having the Nismo fitted, etc. Then, over the last few weeks I've watched as it's slowly started to drop, despite no change in style of driving, still driving the same routes, etc. At the start of this week it dropped to 17mpg, todays it's at 16.9mpg. My DTE came up as 20 miles to empty the other day so I stuck £20 in, reset the odometer and now, 30miles later the light is back on and it's showing 20-30miles DTE. Should I be a little concerned?

They did mine six months out of warranty for free, I assume they replaced whatever it is as it would have cost me somewhere near a grand if I was paying. Then again my mum works at the dealership so that might have had some influence over them.