1990 300zx died at idle. now cranks and no start

[Andrew9793]

Good morning guys,

I recently purchased a 1990 2+2 300zx NA manual trans that had been sitting for a few years and when I got it home it wouldn't start due to fuel pump issue.
after a few hours I got the fuel pump happy and it started pretty easily. after letting it warm up for about 15 minutes and checking operating temperature everything was good. still some lifter noise but I expected that to hang around for a while. I drove it around my country roads slowly just to see what I was working with.
only thing that did work was the power steering which didn't not even have a belt. I drove the car back into my shop the other day, replaced the belt. and added some Dextron ATF to the power steering pump. turned the wheel hard left. waited.. then hard right a couple times. then jumped out to add some more fluid, and after I added the fluid the car just shut off on me. and puked allot of power steering fluid from the reservoir back on the ground.
the car did start back up, but if you tried to give it any gas it wanted to bogg down and die. I shut the car off after about a minute of letting it run like this, and then after letting everything sit and trying to start again it would not.
I put the ECU in mode 2 and I got code 55 which shows no faults, however the car has not been running for all that long and I wonder if it has been running long enough to register a code anyway. the car does appear to have the original PTU, and I did pull the CAS and slowly spin the knob with the car in on position and I can hear injectors priming. doesn't sound like all but I definitely hear some. I did try to pull cylinder 2 plug wire and attach it to another spark plug just to see if I could get spark grounded and it appeared to have a faint spark, but it was late and hard to tell by myself.

The engine turns over and sounds normal and turns over quickly. It feels as it has a slight shake but I think that's just bad motor mounts and not actually trying to fire. I do hear the fuel pump kicking on and priming when I turn the key. and if I loosen the fuel hose to the rail after the filter it does squirt fuel at me so I believe the engine is getting fuel.
I have not done a compression test and I only pulled the top left corner of the timing cover to see if belt looked intact and it appears so from a small view. I have read allot of post that say the PTU is prone to failure. and I have tried the guide on how to test it, but I don't think I am doing it correctly as my readings are all 0.
I don't know if power steering system sensor can trigger the engine to not start, and I just wanted to see if anybody has any advice for me. any help is appreciated!

[Andrew9793]

just a status update.. after work today i tried to start it real quick. and it felt like it was stumbling like it kinda wanted to start and that makes me question if my timing belt jumped.
i did swap out PTU with my 92 300zx na and it did not change anything.

not sure what i should do next. maybe remove the timing covers and follow the steps to see if cylinder 1 is top dead center and see if the timing marks align?

[Andrew9793]

a status update. it did start after sitting for a few days. it ran in the garage for about 5 minutes. then as i pulled it out of the garage it died lol.
if I pull the fuel pump relay it starts for a brief second then dies..
I replaced the spark plugs with new plugs. and that did nothing for me. I replaced fuel pressure regulator and fuel pump does prime up.
when I pull the CAS and rotate I am not hearing all 6 injectors. sounds like possibly 4 which I am sure doesn't help my cause.
also my CAS has to be adjusted all the way to the right for it to fire. I am thinking car may have jumped a tooth on timing belt. going to try to get it back in my garage tomorrow and remove front dress and get engine set to TDC and see if belt is aligned. and then see about pulling plenum and checking out those injectors.

let the fun begin.

[Andrew9793]

it turned out the driver side exhaust cam jumped 3 teeth. I replaced timing belt and tensioner and the problem is gone and everything runs good

just wanted to leave a status update in the event that it helps somebody in the future.

[JJT211]

Yea man, im having a different issue, but gives me a few TSing ideas. Thanks for the updates!