A little info about myself is that I own a show winning 300ZX that some might have seen or heard about. I do a lot of "tinkering" on it, but I have a full time mechanic that does all the mechanics for me. I have never seen or touched a 240 before, so I don't even know where to start, although it looks less intimidating then the 300ZX. I have a large toolbox full of standard Craftsman tools that usually gets me in more trouble than my mechanic cares to get me out of.
I do not have anything like Ohm meters or fuel pressure gauges. Who knows what I would blow up if I did. I grew up on domestic carburated 350's so try and tolerate my ignorance if I do not appear to know what I'm doing or talking about.Let me explain. I bought this 1992 Nissan 240SX with roughly 120,000 miles on it (not sure as it's been estimated) as a beater/daily driver off a friend of mine. He had the car and said it idled rough with a little power loss but otherwise ran fine. He said it might be the MAF as he has replaced the plugs, cap, etc. I bought it and drove it for 2 weeks with the rough idle waiting for my mechanic to make some time to look at it. On Monday of this week, I ran the car pretty much empty on my way home from work being too lazy and tired to stop and get gas. The next morning I stopped at the gas station and put in 1/4 tank and headed off to work. Took it to lunch, and drove back home with no problems.
Wednesday morning comes and I jump in to go to work and it doesn't start. It turns over with plenty of power and sounds like its just out of gas. I tried several times for about 30 seconds each time but nothing, not even a sputter like it wanted to start. I push in the clutch and back it out of the driveway and onto the street where I roll it in front of my house. My driveway has about a 35% incline and the street has about a 10% decline if that matters. I take the Z to work and when I get home I jump in to see if it would start. It starts right up without hesitation and runs fine. I drive it into the garage thinking it was just flooded or something and forget about it. Thursday morning I get in to go to work and it doesn't start again. I decide to stay home and see if I can figure it out since it was in the garage anyway.
First thing I did was check the ECU and I got a 55 code (no problems). Hmmm...don't think so. So I pulled the first two plug wires and notice cracking along the side of plug wire #1. I assume this is partly the cause of the rough idle and loss of power. I pull both plugs and check for oil/gas and they are clean, so I know its not a flooding issue. I put the plug in the plug wire and turn the engine over and see plenty of spark. I then locate the fuel filter located on the passenger side fenderwell and pull the fuel line that runs from the top of the filter to the engine. There wasn't even pressure in the line when I removed the hose. I again turn the car over and no fuel comes out of the line. So that got me thinking it was a clogged fuel filter. Running low of fuel, picked something up off bottom of tank and clogged it into the filter. Went and bought a new fuel filter and replaced it. Tried to start it again and once again, nothing.
Here's where it gets weird. I then back the car out of the garage and down the driveway and back onto the street in front of the house. I leave it sit for a couple hours and when I come back, it starts right up, like it will only start sitting out in the street. I think maybe bad gas/not enough gas, etc, so I head down to the gas station and put another 1/2 tank of premium in it. I did not shut it off and when I was driving it back home, it was a little sluggish at times. Kind of an on/off type feel. I would take off from the light with little power, and then it would kick in, go for a little while and then die off again. While stopped, it seemed to run better at idle and when I tried to go into higher RPM's, it would cause it to faulter. I feel it barely made it home as it was having a tough time running, but not like it wanted to die out. Like I said, at idle it seemed ok. I backed it into the driveway thinking maybe the decline had something to do with it starting, but after awhile of sitting in the driveway, I tried to restart it and nothing.
Not sure if it matters, but the air temp in the morning was mid 60's and the afternoon/evening was mid 80's.
Sorry for the length, but I wanted to be as thorough as I could. I'm thinking maybe its the fuel pump, but I'm not sure. I can't find any technical info on where its even located let alone some easy trouble shooting tips. I'm looking for something to look at, or ideas on what it could be. If you think its the fuel pump too, any write ups on how to replace? Or if its something else, how would I go about fixing it. Although I'm not stupid, please answer me like you would a 10 year old. I'm looking for straightforward and simple terms that I can easily understand because as previously mentioned, I have no experience with these engines and its pretty foreign to me just looking at.
Who should I ask for?