My 370z Crapped Out on Track

scruffydog

Fuel starvation problem sounds to me more aligned with Fuel Pump going out, or like what most people right now are telling me, not enough fuel or fuel not reaching to the pump due to the hard turn I'm making.

I'm still not inclined on believe that's the case because I am taking my car to track April 6th and I like to hope my car will not crap out because my gas tank wasn't completely full. I don't think this is a common problem on the 370z and I like to think the car should not crap out (like the way I did) on the track just because they take a couple of twisties in a track at a half tank of gas. My car's engine completely shut off after that turn. Can you imagine what will happen if someone was going through some Cayon road and the same problem occurred? (Okay, I realize I'm totally over-reacting here)

I thought fuel starvation problems presents itself when a car is ungoing such a huge turn where there's enough lateral acceleration (G's) to cause the fuel to shift leaving no fuel to the fuel pump - which should happen only if there's really that insufficient amount of fuel where a car can undergo such a scenario at even at a half tank of gas.

I'm not denying the fact that fuel starvation can't happen even at a 85% amt of gas. I'm just saying I'm not sure if right now I'm incline to believe that was what happened to me. The car didn't start right after I restarted it. The fuel pump seem to work as the whole car smelled like gas after I kept trying to start it. If it was a fuel starvation issue, shouldn't the car start right back up?

I can somewhat relate this issue to a motorcycle i own which needs manual switch over for reserve tank. And this didn't seem like the same case.

cossie1600

Unfortunately I think you have to believe that Nissan did put in a crappy gas tank (they are not as good as some of the fanboys think). It is a stupid design flaw and they haven't fixed the problem yet as I have a new gas tank and I still get the same problem. You have to fill up after each session, two if you really push it. Trust us on this, most of the time it will occur at mid turn or after the car comes out of the turn. If you are lucky, you will get a stutter and the car will start back up. If not, you might have to wait a little bit for the gas to get back into the right place to start it. Two days do seem a little extreme, but it doesn't surprise me if your tank is that low. Do a search on people having the car dying after long highway on ramp and how the car starts back up after they get to the dealership or when the tow truck arrives. There are more problems related to that than limp mode from oil temp too high.

_ace_

It's happened to me once on the track at half a tank, and that was my first experience with it. I fueled up and now always run a full tank there.

A few months later I had the car starve and die on the street with two ticks under half a tank indicated. It was a long right hander (180 degrees, right turn from freeway offramp to 45mph road) and I came close to holding the speed limit, so I was cornering near the limits of the tires. About the end of the corner, the revs slowly drowned down in each gear, and the car died when I left the clutch for a moment. I didn't get it, forced a restart by putting it in a gear, and the revs again slowly drowned down in each gear. At this point I realized it must be fuel (strange with so much in the tank!). I thought I would have plenty of gas to restart, so I tried several times to no avail. I ended up bringing back a 5 gallon gas tank. I put in a gallon or two in, and between the time and the extra fuel, the car started with no issues.

I also had the car fuel starve climbing a steep grade mountain/canyon road with 1/4 tank. I flat out had to to turn around. When going up, the car wouldn't get gas because gravity was pulling the fuel away from the pickup. It didn't matter how slowly I climbed. I turned around, filled up, and had no issues after that.

The car has a lousy fuel pickup design. And the oil temp limp mode initiates at 280F, no sooner. Although it's far from proven at this point, I would consider fuel starvation at the top of the list for possible explanations of this problem.

Red__Zed

I don't know exactly how your car died, but I had a complete shutdown with ~7/10s of a tank, where I could not start the car until the next day.


Your issues also sounds like it could be electrical.

scruffydog

Perhaps a stuck thermostat? I'll have to take in my car, but it's fair to say that there's something not normal with my car right?

I like to hope it's not because I didn't have enough gas or even if I did have enough gas this will happen again.

cossie1600

Ask freaking Nissan, the engineer who designed the pump should be fired

JB1

OP, read this: Fuel starvation, who else?

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Speedy

Is this just an issue on road courses are at the drag strip as well?

Red__Zed

Unless you are making hard right turns at the drag strip, you should be ok.

theDreamer

So I should be good on a Nascar track......another left turn!!

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m4a1mustang

Not in a Z unless it was a really short track... you wouldn't be able to pull enough G's to keep the fuel on the right side of the tank.

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Red__Zed

Nissan wanted to be like Toyota

Japanascar

Speedy

LMAO, well let's hope I don't do that!

On the Challenger, they have the fuel pump in the driver side of the tank. They have a "venturi pump" in the passenger side that pump fuel back over to the driver side to avoid this issue.

Does the Z not have a similar system? The diagram posted earlier looks like it may have something setup like that, but maybe the pump is underpowered in the passenger side and can't keep the driver's side bucket filled?

shadoquad

I've heard rumors that there are some aftermarket options to help fight fuel starve. I can't remember who was doing it or if their solution worked out.

But I have to start looking into this, as I'm aiming to hit the track this summer!


Looking to go from bench racer to real (slow) racer

m4a1mustang

Phunk was/is working on something.

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