Thanks Frank! My car has the NGK BP5ES plugs. They all definitely look oily. The car revs great and there is no backfiring. There is a lot of smoke from the tailpipe though...I have no idea what is causing that yet.

I will do some research and see what happens when I put the new plugs, etc in. I would welcome any other insights from the group. I will tickle Paul while I am at.

Thanks,
Marc

What color is the smoke, it may just be burning off the fluids you poured in the cylinders... I would think the smoke would diminish as the car is running more.......... Run it a bit more to burn the ATF out before you install the new plugs...

_________________
Now on my 15th/update/16th Zcar, Z's4vr....

Well, if you have good compression but they're ALL wet and it's oil, I would suspect valve guides leaking. Not a huge or terribly expensive job, but but not one to be jumped into without confirming that's the problem first.

Run your finger around the inside of the tailpipe and see if you get actual oil. When you install new, clean plugs, run it until it's warm then pull all six plugs again and check them for oil.

There are members in this Club who have changed their valve guide seals without even pulling the head. They can explain to you how to do "The Rope Trick".

Maybe a valve guide job costs more in California than it does here, but I don't consider such a minor problem to be justification for selling such a beautiful car. Your good fortune, guy!

*(BY THE WAY, Marc ~ your INTRO has drawn over EIGHT HUNDRED hits, making it far and away the most-read NEW MEMBER INTRO in this Club's history! Congratulations! . See? I told ya' you were gonna make a lot of new friends in here! )

Thanks Tom, you may be right. The smoke yesterday was white, billowing and plentiful. ALL of the neighbors stopped by to comment. I am pretty sure that was simply the ATF. I had the car running for a good while on Sat, but only for a few minutes today. The smoke was whiteish/brownish, but I was juggling too much (read: wife,kid,mom) to really pay attention to it. I will try to burn off all the ATF first.

Edited:

Frank,
I will check the tailpipe and the new plugs for oil. Let's see if your hunch is right. I tried to post a lot of pictures to make up for my general lack of knowledge. LOL. Hopefully everybody has enjoyed the pics and the story. I have to admit that I had more fun getting the car started yesterday than I have in a long time. Thanks to everyone who helped out along the way. The first round of Schlitz is on me this summer!!!!

Hi Marc,

Welcome to the club, congrats on your new "babies"! And having the most read thread!!
Your compression is good, do you notice any loss of coolant in the radiator?? It may possibly be a head gasket, problem ????? Not to scare you. These motors have aluminum heads, and can warp, due to overheating. Allowing the radiator coolant to seep into your oil and burn out of your tailpipe as white smoke. I've had to have the headgasket changed and have the head shaved .40"....Just a thought, but I'm not as versed in diagnosing problems with these cars as others in the club.
It may have been overheated severely, in it's previous life?
If it's white smoke, it's water, and blue smoke is oil...........NO? Help Frank!!!!

BG!

Forgot to mention.........see if your oil is thinner than usual. Pullout dipstick and lay it on a paper towel. If it spreads quickly on the towel, you may have H2O in the oil!!! A little test I was told by a mechanic at Courtesy Nissan, in Texas. I believe they used aluminum heads back then!!

Hahaha! Sorry Gary ~ can't help much.
Tom's idea sounded best (and CHEAPEST!), because he remembered that Marc had squirted some ATF into the cylinders to loosen things up. Until that gets burned off entirely, we should withhold guesses, I guess.

You're right tho ~ white smoke often indicates a blown headgasket, letting water into the cylinders. But his Z wouldn't run that well if the gasket was blown. He only JUST got it running, so he hasn't had time yet to conduct any tests. When he gets another weekend he can tell us more.

OH ~ I can add the basic, simple stuff. Water in the oil will turn the oil yucky brown. Oil in the water or antifreeze will appear as small floating globs in the radiator, and create a white foam on the underside of the radiator cap. (Wait until the car is cool to check). Either sign is a solid indication of a blown head gasket or worse.

10-4, Capt.!!!!

Glad you got the car started! This will be a very sweet summer for you. The car sounds good and after you detail it, you will be turning heads every where you go. When are we going for a drive?

Wow, what a nice day today! I saw a sweet black 280z on the LIE today. It was my first official Z sighting of the season. Yesterday, I was able to confirm that my car is blowing mostly brown smoke. I am trying to make up my mind about what to do to the car next. I will keep you guys posted.

Hopefully my Z will be sea worthy soon...

Brown smoke sounds like the ATF burning off. Run it until it either stops smoking altogether or changes to a color you should worry about!

I'm beginning to look fwd to weekends, so we get reports from you on the progress of this Z car!

I hope there's a good chance for us all to meet you in New Canaan this Wednesday night. It's not far from you and you're familiar with the general area. YES, you can bring your wife and I doubt anyone would object if you brought your new baby, as long as the kid can say "ZZZZZZZZZZ". It's a fun group of folks and the whole Club is very family-oriented.
(It HAS to be ~ the wives won't let us keep our cars otherwiZe!)

Long as it's not raining Wednesday you might even see a few members Z's out and about, fingers crossed....

_________________
Now on my 15th/update/16th Zcar, Z's4vr....

Shouldn't that be Z-worthy Marc??

Z-Worthy!

I definitely meant Z-worthy. LOL.

I don't think I am going to be able to make it up on Wed. The kid's sleep schedule, and wife's relief schedule can't be disturbed during the week...

When do the Friday night and or weekend events start?

Geez and I thought it was a good thing that it stopped blowing white smoke...

Marc