I'm thinking about buying a 1990 300zx. It's very clean aesthetically and seems to run very smoothly. It's not the turbo model, but seems to be pretty quick when I test drove it. It has 115,000 miles on it and they are asking $8000.
I'm looking for advice on anything someone can tell me. Do they seem to have any inherent problems that I should look for ?
put your hand on the bulge where the Transmit goes down the middle of the car. is that hot to the touch? if so... that isn't good.
make sure you get the roof covers. and net for the trunk.
For whatever it may be worth to you, I'll offer you my personal opinion as a current owner of a 1990 300ZX N/A(normally aspirated--or non-turbo if you will). Here goes. For starters, the body style on these cars were WAY ahead of their time. To me, they still hold their own with about anything new that is out there today. Including the 350Z. That's just one good thing about the
1990-1996 300ZXs. They are a whole lot of fun to drive too. I still thoroughly enjoy driving mine after all these years. That's amazing for me, because I usually get tired of my cars fairly quick and either sell them or trade for something different.A friend of mine that owns his own garage and only works on Asian cars has told me a lot of things about the particular generation of Z car that you are interested in buying. By the way, he is a certified Nissan mechanic and builds his own Nissan racing engines for the cars that he drives himself at various tracks across the U.S.A. So I put a lot of stock into his opinion on these cars. He said that it is best to stay away from the 1990 and 1991 model 300ZXs and buy a 1992-1996 instead--IF you can find a nice one at an affordable price. Here are a few things with the 1990 models that he said were fairly common problems for people that drove their Z past 120,000 miles or so of operation:
-Automatic transmission hard/bang shifts from 1st to 2nd gear on some of the
1990-1991 models--depending on how the car was maintained and driven. Not an uncommon problem for these Zs, but can happen to any car with an automatic tranny for that matter.-Delayed shifts going from 2nd to 3rd gear with some of the 1990 and 1991 models.
-Valves not seating properly*
-Air intake valves causing a girgling sound from the front fender/wheel well area on one or both sides of the car. This one can cause the vehicle's low speed idle emissions inspection to fail in certain cases. Water gets trapped in the air intake valve system and causes the girgling sound.
-Air conditioning problems weren't all that common for these cars, but it's really expensive to have them resolved if you do encounter them. Depending on the nature of the problem, of course.
-The black finish on the T-top and windshield trim pieces eventually flakes off pretty badly. This is very, very common with these cars. It doesn't take away from the appearance of the car too terribly bad, but it can lessen the appeal to some degree for those of us that are picky about our ride(s).
-If the car has leather seats it's not uncommon for a hole/tear to get rubbed into the driver's side of the backrest down near the belt line. Comes from frequent entry and exit of the vehicle. For some reason this problem has been worse with my Z car than it has been for other vehicles with leather seats. Others have agreed with me on this assessment of the Z cars' leather quality.
Other than these few items, I would say that overall the 1990 Nissan 300ZX was/is a GREAT car!!! I rate mine a 9.0 on a 10.0 scale. Fun to drive, plenty of pep, awesome looks, VERY reliable, comfortable and cool. These cars appeal to a WHOLE LOT of people. Mine still generates positive comments almost daily from someone--and it's not even in mint condition. Close--but not quite by my standards.
Lastly, I believe that even if the one you're looking at is totally immaculate, that price is too high for the car.
Regards,
S.T.
Thanks for the info. The car is a 5-speed. The interior ( cloth seats ) looks new. The paint looks a little worn on the drivers side mirror but other then that it looks excellent.
I agree the price is a little high. What do you think would be a fair price ?
wow. you know your stuff.
Not one dime over $5,000.00 USD. I'd stay firm to that offer too--and wouldn't cave in for the $8,000.00 asking price. That's way too high for the car.
Best of luck to you and I hope that you can get the price worked out for yourself. It does sound like a nice car, but just don't let them rip you off. It's just not worth the extra 2 or 3 grand in the long run.
Regards,
S.T.
I found another one ( 1990 300zx ) with 78,000 miles on it. It's actuallty a little nicer with a few more options as well. The asking price for this one is about $6600. It's a 5 speed with leather seats.
22:53:04 -0400, "S.T." snipped-for-privacy@nowhere.com wrote:
Now THAT is more like it amigo!!! You may want to jump on that one before someone else does.
Again, best of luck to you. I'm sure you'll love the car.
S.T.
aesthetically
fender/wheel
ST can you elaborate on this noise and problem? I have a similar noise coming from the (right side/Passenger Side) this noise has BUGGED me ever since I bought my 90ZX in July. I can hear it more loudly when I open the Pasenger door, it seems as though it comes from the inside of the fender like you mentioned! Why would the noise come from there? does the air intake tube route its way to that point?? and up to the front of the air filters??
THANKS in Advance
dm
1990 NA, Red, 2+2, Auto. I love my Z!
For whatever it may be worth to you, I'll offer you my personal opinion as a current owner of a 1990 300ZX N/A(normally aspirated--or non-turbo if you will). Here goes. For starters, the body style on these cars were WAY ahead of their time. To me, they still hold their own with about anything new that is out there today. Including the 350Z. That's just one good thing about the
1990-1996 300ZXs. They are a whole lot of fun to drive too. I still thoroughly enjoy driving mine after all these years. That's amazing for me, because I usually get tired of my cars fairly quick and either sell them or trade for something different.A friend of mine that owns his own garage and only works on Asian cars has told me a lot of things about the particular generation of Z car that you are interested in buying. By the way, he is a certified Nissan mechanic and builds his own Nissan racing engines for the cars that he drives himself at various tracks across the U.S.A. So I put a lot of stock into his opinion on these cars. He said that it is best to stay away from the 1990 and 1991 model 300ZXs and buy a 1992-1996 instead--IF you can find a nice one at an affordable price. Here are a few things with the 1990 models that he said were fairly common problems for people that drove their Z past 120,000 miles or so of operation:
-Automatic transmission hard/bang shifts from 1st to 2nd gear on some of the
1990-1991 models--depending on how the car was maintained and driven. Not an uncommon problem for these Zs, but can happen to any car with an automatic tranny for that matter.-Delayed shifts going from 2nd to 3rd gear with some of the 1990 and 1991 models.
-Valves not seating properly*
-Air intake valves causing a girgling sound from the front fender/wheel well area on one or both sides of the car. This one can cause the vehicle's low speed idle emissions inspection to fail in certain cases. Water gets trapped in the air intake valve system and causes the girgling sound.
-Air conditioning problems weren't all that common for these cars, but it's really expensive to have them resolved if you do encounter them. Depending on the nature of the problem, of course.
-The black finish on the T-top and windshield trim pieces eventually flakes off pretty badly. This is very, very common with these cars. It doesn't take away from the appearance of the car too terribly bad, but it can lessen the appeal to some degree for those of us that are picky about our ride(s).
-If the car has leather seats it's not uncommon for a hole/tear to get rubbed into the driver's side of the backrest down near the belt line. Comes from frequent entry and exit of the vehicle. For some reason this problem has been worse with my Z car than it has been for other vehicles with leather seats. Others have agreed with me on this assessment of the Z cars' leather quality.
Other than these few items, I would say that overall the 1990 Nissan
300ZX was/is a GREAT car!!! I rate mine a 9.0 on a 10.0 scale. Fun to drive, plenty of pep, awesome looks, VERY reliable, comfortable and cool. These cars appeal to a WHOLE LOT of people. Mine still generates positive comments almost daily from someone--and it's not even in mint condition. Close--but not quite by my standards.Lastly, I believe that even if the one you're looking at is totally immaculate, that price is too high for the car.
Regards,
S.T.
Simple if it's the noise I'm thinking it is, sounds like a gurgling? You have water in the AIV filter hoses. These filters are for the AIV valves which put air into the exhaust and are located behind the fender liners in the rear of the front fender wells. An easy solution is to drill small holes in the bottom loop of the rubber hose so the water can drain from them. Once you remove the fender liner you'll see the problem and understand the solution.
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