Nissan 370Z Forum - View Single Post

_ace_ · 03-09-2012, 01:27 PM

It's happened to me once on the track at half a tank, and that was my first experience with it. I fueled up and now always run a full tank there.

A few months later I had the car starve and die on the street with two ticks under half a tank indicated. It was a long right hander (180 degrees, right turn from freeway offramp to 45mph road) and I came close to holding the speed limit, so I was cornering near the limits of the tires. About the end of the corner, the revs slowly drowned down in each gear, and the car died when I left the clutch for a moment. I didn't get it, forced a restart by putting it in a gear, and the revs again slowly drowned down in each gear. At this point I realized it must be fuel (strange with so much in the tank!). I thought I would have plenty of gas to restart, so I tried several times to no avail. I ended up bringing back a 5 gallon gas tank. I put in a gallon or two in, and between the time and the extra fuel, the car started with no issues.

I also had the car fuel starve climbing a steep grade mountain/canyon road with 1/4 tank. I flat out had to to turn around. When going up, the car wouldn't get gas because gravity was pulling the fuel away from the pickup. It didn't matter how slowly I climbed. I turned around, filled up, and had no issues after that.

The car has a lousy fuel pickup design. And the oil temp limp mode initiates at 280F, no sooner. Although it's far from proven at this point, I would consider fuel starvation at the top of the list for possible explanations of this problem.

03-09-2012, 01:27 PM	#18 (permalink)
_ace_ Base Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: USA Posts: 140 Drives: 370Z Rep Power: 14	It's happened to me once on the track at half a tank, and that was my first experience with it. I fueled up and now always run a full tank there. A few months later I had the car starve and die on the street with two ticks under half a tank indicated. It was a long right hander (180 degrees, right turn from freeway offramp to 45mph road) and I came close to holding the speed limit, so I was cornering near the limits of the tires. About the end of the corner, the revs slowly drowned down in each gear, and the car died when I left the clutch for a moment. I didn't get it, forced a restart by putting it in a gear, and the revs again slowly drowned down in each gear. At this point I realized it must be fuel (strange with so much in the tank!). I thought I would have plenty of gas to restart, so I tried several times to no avail. I ended up bringing back a 5 gallon gas tank. I put in a gallon or two in, and between the time and the extra fuel, the car started with no issues. I also had the car fuel starve climbing a steep grade mountain/canyon road with 1/4 tank. I flat out had to to turn around. When going up, the car wouldn't get gas because gravity was pulling the fuel away from the pickup. It didn't matter how slowly I climbed. I turned around, filled up, and had no issues after that. The car has a lousy fuel pickup design. And the oil temp limp mode initiates at 280F, no sooner. Although it's far from proven at this point, I would consider fuel starvation at the top of the list for possible explanations of this problem.