Did you snake out the ½ fuel line on the tank? When I filled my tank with water and tipped it, water would just trickle out the line. After I snaked it with a coat hanger and knocked all the rust out the best I could the water flowed out fine. I failed to do this the first time I had the tank out and still had a fuel starvation problem.
Before dropping the tank did you notice your fuel pump was loud? Mine was to the point where it was tough to talk over the sound then once the tank was clean the pump was very quiet.
sethmeister4 wrote:
I continued the tank cleaning this morning. It definitely needs some help-the acid had oxidized a little and it's still not nice clean metal. I poured fresh acid etch in, and sloshed it around a bunch throughout the morning while I did other stuff. I got the fuel sending unit as clean as it's gonna be, so I think that should be fine.
One thing you could try in cleaning it out and getting as much rust knocked out is, take a length of chain and throw it in the tank before you tumble it about. It should help knock anything loose and the smooth edges won't gouge the metal. You could also put some bolts through the links if you want to add a little more cleaning power. 
In reply to PseudoSport:
No, I didn't snake it out. I can blow air throw all the lines on the tank, but maybe I should run a coat hanger through them anyway. I didn't notice the fuel pump being loud, but maybe it will be extra quiet now! 
It had to have been suffocating itself trying to suck through all that rust!
Take a look at this web site. http://atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/fuel/g3filter/index.htm
It has some good tips on a fuel filter between tank and pump. The G3 filters are about $4.50.
In reply to utahznevada:
Thanks! I really don't like FRAM, but that looks like it should work pretty well...especially since it is just supplementing the other filter. And since they're cheap I can change them frequently if needed.
Got the tank back in and the R/R wheel cylinder and brake hose on. Tomorrow is the L/R, and the front hoses. I also need to grab some other hose clamps for my additional fuel filter. I'm hoping to drive this thing to work on Thursday (2 miles away)!
My advice: work is only 2 miles away but don't drive it there and shut it off. Let it get up to temp first at least. I drove my 240 (carbureted) to work a few miles away after getting running and just turned it off. Ran like E36 M3 when I went to fire it up. Were different because of the fuel delivery method but see how it warms up and if you can start it when warm etc. Before driving it 2 miles. Towing it even two miles sucks.
In reply to crankwalk:
Good advice, thanks! We'll see how tomorrow goes before I know if I can drive it on Thursday.
Got the other wheel cylinder on yesterday as well as the front hoses. I'm hoping to go get a couple more hose clamps and some fresh premium fuel in a little while and hopefully take her out for a drive! Fingers crossed!
Well that didn't work. I got some clamps, added 5 gallons of premium, and she just cranked. And cranked slowly. I hooked my other car to it as the battery was obviously weak, but that didn't help much. I don't see any fuel running through my new clear filter which is right between the tank and pump. I will have to start checking for power at the pump and seeing if the pump is just bad. I guess suffocating itself on all that rust could have killed it or even just blown a fuse. I don't hear any noise coming from it that would make me think it's even trying to work. Looks like I'm riding the bike to work again today.
Did you double check the sending unit and wires to the pump are good again once you put it back in?
Fusible link for the fuel pump relay, fuses, grounds...
In reply to crankwalk:
No, I didn't really diag anything yet. I looked quickly at my install to make sure I didn't miss anything obvious, tapped on the pump, and called it a day. I wasn't planning on doing anything huge today, and I didn't have time to dive in before lunch and work. I know it was working before, so I'm thinking it's something simple (like one of the things you mentioned). Here's hoping...
About to head out a tackle the Z and hopefully diag the problem. Thank you XenonS30 for having FSM's free to download!
I've got fuel in the clear filter! Unfortunately the battery is really dead so I need to wait till my wife gets home with the CR-V so I can try to jump start it. I did a little tapping on the fuel pump relay, then noticed I had fuel in the filter. Maybe it will be alive soon!!
I also lubed up the tracks on the psgr side window regulator, and it's working great so I won't need to replace it! I have an extra one now, so that will go in the parts bin. Once I get this thing moving I'll get it all vacuumed out and cleaned and then I can put the door panels back on (I need to vacuum out the doors-they are full of leaves and dirt and other junk).
I've never done a heater core in one of these, but according to the FSM it isn't too bad! Once I'm up and running and have the bugs worked out I'll get a heater core in there so I can have heat/defrost, and also pass VA State Inspection!
I'm getting excited!
Nice, I had to have over 5 gallons of fuel in the tank before my pump would prime after being dry.
Hopefully you will be out driving around in no time!
In reply to PseudoSport:
Good thought. I've got right at 5 gallons in it...maybe I need some more. Hopefully tomorrow will be the day!
I finally got some time to work on this thing. Last Tuesday was a bust--even with the CR-V connected, the battery was still really weak. I charged it up over the weekend, and this morning I hooked it up. I checked for fuel coming out at the engine bay fuel filter, and I've got nothing, so obviously I have a fuel issue (the fuel in the rear filter by the tank must be just a fluke). I checked for voltage at the pump with my wife cranking and I got about 7 volts. I hear no noise coming from the pump, which makes me think it's dead. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to have battery voltage at the pump (I assume so) or if the 7 I got is just a reference voltage. The FSM I downloaded and my Haynes manual don't tell me the voltage I should have. I was going to do continuity checks on the fuel pump relay, and the AFM (there is a fuel pump cutoff circuit in the AFM), but none of my resources tell me which terminals to check either (I only have a partial FSM from the internet and some of the details aren't present). The relay is clicking, and the fact that I have some voltage at the pump, whether it's right or not, tells me I have continuity in the circuit, if not a large voltage drop somewhere.
I took part of the pump apart to clean out the inlet strainer--could I have messed something up with this? Do I need to apply battery voltage directly to the pump to prime it? Any ideas from the GRM braintrust?
Here's what I did with the pump when it was out--
Inlet plugged solid:
Took top off to clean strainer:
And for something positive, here's my new brake hoses that I put in the other week!
Don't have time now, but I think tomorrow I will "prop" the AFM open while cranking in order to dis-engage the fuel cut circuit in it-I have had the AFM out in order to reinstall the cover that had come off, so maybe I have an issue there. I'll keep you posted--any help or recommendations are still appreciated!
Did a little more diag this morning. I applied power directly from a battery to the pump and I got nothing. I could feel it making a little thump, but no pump running heard or felt. Just for kicks I ran a new ground wire (a former coworker with 35+ years of Nissan experience said they used to do this on these cars a lot) and propped the AFM open just to see what happened. Of course still no fuel. I'm off to try and source an OE pump for cheap.
I'm running an Airtex E2182 which flows 190 LPH / 50 GPH and has a 1/2" inlet and 5/16 outlet just like the stock pump. I wanted something cheap that would flow enough if I ever turbocharged the car.
In reply to PseudoSport:
Ok, thanks. How did you incorporate the stock fuel dampener? Just in-line after the pump?
It looked like it had rust in it so I tossed after the second time I dropped my tank. Didn't notice any different in noise and I've gone without it for 5K miles.
In reply to PseudoSport:
Good to know, thanks. You have any pics of that Airtex all mounted up in there? Did it fit in the stock mounting bracket?
I guess any universal pump with those specs should work...maybe I'll just do that.
In reply to PseudoSport:
So you still have your Z, you didn't sell it?
