Track Day Trouble, Car died twice, and tech guru's help appreciated

rlharris

Hey guys, first post although I have read many threads here before.

2010 370Z Sport, 23k miles, no mods, all stock, great car, no problems except for front tire feathering that oddly my '05 350 never had, but...

Monday at NJMP, got there light on gas because I wanted to run the 100 octane they have there, put in 4 gallons to run light so probably had 5 or 6 in the tank. Temp was a nice mild 60 something which is why I waited for the October session because I haven't put an oil cooler in.

I got to within a couple laps of the end of the first session and felt momentary power loss in a corner, and a few corners later the engine shut off. Pulled it over to the guardrail and at a complete stop, it started first time and acted like there was nothing wrong. Oil temp was a hair over 240, nothing else out of norm. Pulled it into the pits and let it cool down for the hour + before the next session.

Just to rule out fuel starvation I went and put another 4 gallons in and the gauge was reading 1/2 tank.

Go out for the second run, first hot lap down the front straight I again felt a momentary loss of power, but it cleared. Although now I'm spooked just waiting for it to happen again, on the second lap in almost the same spot on the front straight probably just passing 110, it died, again. Coasted and pulled it over next to the first turn flagstand, when I went to restart, it chugged a bit, barely restarted, ran very very rough with no power and when I went to give it a little gas, died again. We sat there and waited a few minutes, tried again, pretty much the same thing, although it would let me give it a little revs, but still running extremely rough and just died at any sign of letting the clutch out. I didn't try to start it again until the end of the session just to try and avert a tow, but, no change and they towed it back in to the pits.

After sitting for probably an hour it was either try and start it or call roadside assistance [wondering if they would do a track pickup!] and it started first shot and acted like there was nothing wrong, pulled it around, parked it in my spot, and left it while I watched my buds enjoy the last 2 sessions, one of them in my old 350 that saw the end of ever session without problems it just seemed pointless to take it out again expecting it to just die.

Just got back from Service at Turnersville Nissan and there wasn't a single code captured for the event, so they have no idea what could have been the problem.

Has there been any similar known problems like this? Does this sound like it could have been fuel starvation [if I had known about this issue I would have tried the second run on full tank]?

Any help from any service guru's much appreciated. I would love to take this car down again, what a FUN track that is, but as it is now I have no confidence in it making it thru a session.

sig11

You have to run a full tank to prevent fuel starvation. I fill up after almost every session.

cossie1600

you can't go less than 3/4....

let me guess. it happened after a right hand turn

phohman

Yea, I have seen fuel starvation at 2/3rds of a tank. Fill it UP!

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ValidusVentus

Yep, if you had filled your tank completely up you could have gone right back out hehe. Fill it up every run, with just a handful of dots gone you can get fuel starvation - and if your car doesnt immediately restart, continuing to try runs the risk of burning up your fuel pump. Go take a look here: Fuel Starvation Control Product

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pen

It could be fuel starvation but it seems odd that the car would shut off like that. I've had fuel starvation at two turns on the same lap (for entire 20 min session) but the car never came close to shutting down. But if no code was thrown then the most likely culprit is fuel starvation.

phunk

with a half tank of gas i was able to fuel starve bad enough to shut off, on the street, a long 270 degree or so on-ramp at full tilt. Just as I was putting in throttle to pull out of the turn it sputtered and wouldnt accelerate. the engine was only spinning because it was in gear moving quickly, it wasnt actually running because there was no fuel injection. as soon as i put in the clutch peddle the RPMs dropped to zero and I coasted. Car refused to start.

With all the fuel on the drivers side of the tank, the fuel pump had no way to draw in any of it. the overtank siphon is "fueled" (lol) by the return fuel out of the integrated regulator. With no fuel pressure to even regulate, the siphon is dead, and cannot pull fuel to the passenger side of the tank.

what surprises me, is that the car started again for the OP eventually. All I can think of, is that the fuel must have gravity siphoned through the overtank hose while the car was at rest... otherwise i dont see how it would start again later. I had to add fuel to my tank to get mine to start (filler neck feeds the passenger side), but i only waited 5 minutes before heading off for gas, as I knew exactly what had happened. My friends and I even tried rocking the car left/right as hard as we could to see if we could slosh some over, lol. Perhaps if you had the car flatbed towed, the incline while loading and unloading it would allow fuel to equalize some.

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cossie1600

I have had a car towed to a gas station as the car refused to fire back up

rlharris

Thanks for all the replies!

The email notifier must be on strike, I got the first response and then no more, I was really surprised to see this many posts!!

OK, now I wish I had filled the tank and tried it again, but not knowing about the starvation issue, I just had no confidence in it, and shutting a section of track down to passing and another tow with possible damage to the car just didn't seem like a good experiment, at the time.

That it was so different the second time is what just made me park it. It just would not run, until it sat for an hour.

It's crazy the 350's don't have this problem and the 70's do! But that'll teach me not to check the boards before hitting the track next time! I knew about the oil temp problems but haven't checked since I first got it, because it took me a year to talk my pals into doing a track day. Strange I didn't run accross the problem when I was reading before though because I was specifically looking for track day issues

Is the tank that baffled that even with gas it can't get to the pickup while sitting? And to answer a previous question, most of the turns are right handers! Should I ask them to run counterclock next time?

So,,,, are there any other quirks I should know about before I hit Thunderbolt in November?!

Rusty

I had this happen to me on an off ramp. The motor shut off at the end of the ramp. I knew what was happening. I ended up looking like a F1 driver trying to heat his tires up by cutting the steering wheel hard left then hard right a couple of times. Trying to get to get the fuel to slosh over the the right side of the tank. Lets just say I got lucky, and the motor restarted. But I almost hit another car doing this.

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matcop

Agree with everyone. You need to top off the tank. After a few laps at Spring Mountain on a full tank, long sweeping right turn with an elevation drop will do it ! biggest problem for those of us that track these cars.

cossie1600

If you are a quick driver, you will probably start experiencing brake fade and possibly losing your brakes. Oil temp will probably not be an issue in October.

You might have to fill up after every session as the decreasing radius right hander will cause problems.

Yes the pickup can't get to the gas once the gas is on the other side. If you look at the fuel pump design, you will see the car has a very tiny amount of reserve within the fuel assembly. Once you used that up, you are SOL. If you are lucky, it will refire immediately. If not, prepare to wait an hour or get a tow. At the track, my car always refired. At the autox, my car had to wait one minute before it refired. On the street, it never restarted until I got a tow truck

ValidusVentus

I will add a couple of stories here as well just for kicks... I had to get towed off the track for this issue on my first ever track session, went out with just over half a tank. Car would not restart,; until I put gas in (I had heard about the issue and knew what it was but just was not prepared for how easy it was to trigger). After tracking the car and knowing the limits better I forgot and got fuel starvation on a long clockwise onramp -twice, the 1st time I too swerved left VERY hard once I realized what had happened and it worked, the second time it didnt and I barely made it to the gas station just off the next ramp.

If you can get them to run cc next time... yes! lol.

Other quirks... brakes. Read up on that. I recommend Endless RBF 650 and some new pads, Endless MX72s work well.

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bigaudiofanat

Op let me know when you will be at the track again, I work right down the street from there and live about 45 minutes from there. Would be great to meet another member so close.

Pm me if you want to chat.

Sorry to hear about your trouble.

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rlharris

Thanks for all the advice.

Turnersville just did the front brakes under warranty for me, they always take good care of me. I was just going to have the rotors trued up again as they had a little pulse over 100 [had them done about 12k also] but they went ahead and changed the pads too. I can't believe they still had 6-7mm left. My 350 I would have had the fronts done every 12k like clockwork, and I'd have to clean the wheels every week or they'd be black. The 370 I can drive a month and it barely looks like the fronts are dirty! I love that!!! I'll just run it like it is and if I get racey enough and get enough fade that I feel they need to be upgraded, then I'll look into it.

It's really strange I've never had this happened on the street when I was low on gas. But I'll definitely know what it is from now on!! You guys rock.