Sputtering, electronic spasm, and ticking/smoke. Please help
 

Hello all

First off I have searched the threads and thank you for all of your feedback on all the other posts, however, I am in a unique situation where I need halls assistance.
I purchased my 09 Z with 36k miles on it last year. Well lone behold during my warranty period the dealer replaced the rear drivetrain and a battery. No big deal.

Now, another issue. It never ran bad, slow, spasy. All I did was put short tails and lowering springs. That's all. Well yesterday it was 70 outside and my oil temps were at 220 before I went inside to the restaurant. I come outside to start my Z and it starts but immidietly starts misfiring, and sputtering. The engine was also making THE EXACT sound that Eleanor was making towards the end of Gone in 60 seconds. Scary! My electronic dash also delayed startup and stayed maxed out for a couple of seconds. So I shut it off and check everything. Seemed ok. So I started it up again, same story so I tried backing out (shakingly) and put it in drive. I stepped on the accelerate slightly then mashed it and I was going nowhere. I was idling around 2500 in drive and my accelerator didn't function. Fast forward 30 seconds driving, and it went back to normal.... been driving for a day so far and it didn't happen again.


HOWEVER

Today as I embark on my trip home 3 hours away,I was at the local Starbucks drive thru and my engine started making a soft ticking sound and small smoke trails started running from under my front splitter. I popped the good and no smoke or noise.....

I am driving right now and nothing bad happening, oil temp steady at 190 but I am extremely worried as my car just got off warranty last week.

I know this was long and there are threads on misclenneous items mentioned here, but I'm not sure if proving the comprehensive breakdown will potentially help a diagnosis?

Please and thank you!

Modern cars are pretty good at diagnosing what's wrong. Use an OBD/CAN scanner to see if any DTCs have been thrown or are pending.

No codes have been thrown. Nothing flashed. Nothing stayed on. I tried Autozone but there was no light present at time of test nor has there been.

It's a stupid question, but did you check the oil level?
Quick heat up, plus smoke, plus ticking could mean oil starvation.

Kirk B.

I have checked. Yes. Oil seemed fine at a standard level. I will check when I arrive home again however. Didn't seem dirty or anything either.

Sounds like a bad mechanical problem, for some reason i think its the transmission valves. Because u have an automatic transmission? This i had happening to me on two different cars, both died due to reverse gear engagement fail.(took a while though)

Oil change recently, spilled oil on exhaust?

Update to all. Took to dealer. They had it for 4 hours. Everything looks to be in good shape.....more to come?