First Fuel Starve on 8 year old Z

mcphelps

So after 72k miles, I've had my first two fuel starve incidents withing two days on hard right turns. This is a right turn I've been doing for a few years, taking the 90° corner at about 25; not really too aggressive. The first on was just a little bucking, and then recovered. The second one, with a little bit less fuel in the tank, resulted in the car to completely quit running, but restarted after coming to a stop. The fuel gauge was 7 dots; registering about a 1/3 of a tank. After about an additional 10 miles of city driving, I filled the tank and found that it took 14 gallons to fill. The fuel gauge then shows one dot below "Full" which had been the norm for this car. Taking the corner after filling it resulted in no sputter or dying.

Does this seem typical of the problem? Is it something that can manifest as the car ages? Like I said, after 8 years, this is a first, and I'm pretty sure I've done harder turns with less fuel without issues. Still just in the "spirited driving" mode; nothing too aggressive. I'm also think my gauge might be off as the remaining 5 gallons maybe should be registering less than what it was; maybe a 1/4 tank, being a 19 gallon tank. I know that this is also an issue with Z's, but all in all, it seems like a new problem with this car.

Array

If I recall correctly some people have had the actual fuel pump come apart or break

see this thread..

Possible fuel pump failure

its mentioned a lot around here googling "Fuel pump issues the370z.com" will yield all the results


I imagine that this happens with age, the plastic becomes brittle and cracks, its something that cant be predicted thats for sure

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ltullos

I experienced a similar problem at around 78K mi and found that both fuel pickups had to be replaced. Fortunately, my extended warranty paid for itself on this one. The first symptom was that I had severe fuel starvation at the track with over 3/4 tank at places I never had before. Then a few days later even though I had nearly a full tank, the reported level suddenly dropped to half. This was intermittent for a few days, but by the time I took it to the dealer it became constant. They found that the level sensor was broken on one side and that the mount was broken on the other such that the pump was just laying in the bottom.


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mcphelps

The latest is that yesterday the fuel gauge quit working altogether...no dots at all. I guess I'll pull the floats out and try to figure out what going on. Out of warranty...

ZinEU

What was your fix mcphelps? Everthing you said in the first message and your last fits my same problem that just started 4 days ago. I havent had a chance to mess with it yet just researching. Thanks!

Spooler

The fuel pump plastic top breaks. The fix is to replace it with a billet top by CJ Motorsports. (phunk is his user name on here). You have 2 fuel sensors, one of the drivers side and one on the passenger side. Either one could be bad causing the issue with the fuel gauge.

JARblue

I daily drove the Z for over six years and experienced my first fuel starve last year. Since then my fuel gauge is wholly inaccurate, and I routinely experience fuel starve on right hand turns when at 1/2 tank or less. This is despite driving it hard for five years and running the tank down low enough to fill up 18 gallons nearly every tank with no fuel starve issues ever. Frankly, I'm pretty irritated about the sudden, recurring issue. I wouldn't be surprised if something happened to the top hat or the pump because of age, but I'm just not sure since it drives fine otherwise.

I guess that just means it's time for a CJ Motorsports Road Race Pump kit

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cooltoy

Subbed.

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Z_ealot

Similar situation as you when i first picked up my used Z....turned out the pump was hanging on by one piece so everytime i made a right turn the whole assembly was shifting toward the outside of the tank away from the gas

Read T

I have had fuel starve on a full tank. I know there are some options to help avoid the problem (and if I was tracking I would), unfortunately they're a little to rich for me.

Has anyone tried a Holley Hydramat in the car?
https://www.holley.com/products/fuel_systems/hydramat/

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Z_ealot

Apparently a few people have tried it that left good feedback on z1’s website

mcphelps

I'm currently still living with it. The fuel gauge has been intermittent. It will starve with 3/4 tank now. I will be tearing it apart soon, as it left my wife stranded, showing 1/4 gas, and 300 miles since last fill up. Adding gas got her going.

DarkJak

Anyone know what that sounds like when it happens?
I took my Z around town last weekend and the fuel gauge was showing 0 dots the whole time. On the way back home, I heard a whirring spinning sound from the gas tank for a few seconds, before a loud metallic thunk. After which the sound stopped.
The car made it back home without any irregularities.

Figure a broken plastic top and bad fuel sensors?

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