Z32 overheating problem. At a loss.

[thatguynananana]

Hey, So i'm new to this forum, any forum at that, and this is my first post so please forgive me for any dumb things i may say.

So I have a '94 300zx TT and when i was driving down the freeway the other day i noticed it started overheating so i immediately got off the freeway and pulled over. When i stopped i noticed there was smoke coming out of the engine compartment near the back of the engine around where the battery is and some near the brake booster. There was also some coming out of the center console where the radio should be (redoing stereo system so currently no radio). So i pop the hood open and smell this weird burning smell that I've never smelled before so i'm not really sure what it was, and pretty much all the smoke was coming out of the back. So i check all my fluids and they all check out fine. I turn the car on without turning the engine over and turn on the heater full blast to let some of the heat out. Then notice that the heater is no longer working either which was working fine a few days before.

I figured that they're somehow related but i have such little experience on engine performance and ac that i honestly don't know. Someone told me that it's probably the heater core but that would cause a mess of coolant in the car wouldn't it? Yeah i'm at a total loss right now. Car has 200k mile on it and is completely stock if that helps in any way.

[NolimitZ32]

First of all Welcome to NICO. With a car having 200k on the clock all of the rubber hoses tend to let go so it could be something as simple (not so simple to replace) as the coolant lines for the turbos. or one of the heater hoses. What bothers me though is that you said it was smoke not steam which would mean that something is either contacting your turbos/downpipes, or its electrical. Very hard to diagnose without seeing the car in person and having fairly vague info. Either way at this time if I were you I would park it until you find the problem, if you cant park it then at least go buy an ABC fire extinguisher just in case.

[Taleek]

You said it was overheating. Do you mean the needle was going up on the gauge or you just started seeing smoke coming out of the engine bay? If you can maybe post some pictures so we can see what you're looking at as well, maybe something will stick out.

Since you're new to forums in general, if you dont know how to post pictures. First upload them to an image sharing site, photobucket for example. and grab the link from there and put it into your post.

Hope thats helpful

[DCaff300ZX]

I'm going to say from the clues that you gave that you may well have shorted out a portion of your wiring.
This happened to me as a kid doing some electrical work on my Mustang, I forgot about some open wiring and turned on the key to work on some other stuff, jostled that wiring (short) and torched up about 4-5 feet of dash wiring before I realized what was up and I needed to shut off the key.

You may have seen the gauge moving via a short and pilled over thinking overheat, but then the smoke/strange smell (burnt wiring smells AWFUL and is very strong) not steam/coolant smell and location of it is the next clue, along with the coup de gras- the stereo work and smoke from that area and in the cabin.
Check all wiring in that vicinity and I think you find your next project...sorry man!