The Nissan Path

Bizarre problem with my 1989 Z24 WD21 Pathfinder. When driving straight, or when turning right, at any speed on any terrain, the engine runs perfectly fine. Beyond about a half turn of the steering wheel to the left, and the engine behaves like it's starved for fuel. It will either backfire and cut out, or briefly run rough and just stall.

Any ideas?

Is anything rocking and maybe pinching a fuel line?

VStar650CL wrote: ↑

Mon May 02, 2022 8:08 pm

Is anything rocking and maybe pinching a fuel line?

I'm not sure. I replaced the engine mounts, which I think were the original ones, and they did have some minor separation. This didn't help. I'm not sure where to look for pinching, but I'll head outside in a minute and have a look around under the bonnet.

Is it a Z24 or Z24i? If it's the carbureted version, you could have a problem in the fuel bowl too.

VStar650CL wrote: ↑

Mon May 02, 2022 8:35 pm

Is it a Z24 or Z24i? If it's the carbureted version, you could have a problem in the fuel bowl too.

Yes, it's the Z24 with a carburetor. That's interesting, because I'm sure I read somewhere online a few years ago about a different car that was cutting out when turning in one direction, and that there was a problem with the fuel float. When mine started playing up, I went looking for that article, but couldn't find it again. Started thinking I miss remembered it.

VStar650CL wrote: ↑

Mon May 02, 2022 8:08 pm

Is anything rocking and maybe pinching a fuel line?

Looking in the engine bay, there's nothing obvious around the fuel lines.

Earl Of Locksley wrote: ↑

Mon May 02, 2022 9:24 pm

Yes, it's the Z24 with a carburetor. That's interesting, because I'm sure I read somewhere online a few years ago about a different car that was cutting out when turning in one direction, and that there was a problem with the fuel float. When mine started playing up, I went looking for that article, but couldn't find it again. Started thinking I miss remembered it.

Been a very long time, but my recollection is that those carbs had a really weird fuel-bowl shape. So you may be having a "slosh" issue where the float level is low or the float is sticky and turning left is causing one or both jets to be uncovered. I'd pull whatever spark plug is handiest and see if you have a white or very pale burn. If so, it's running lean and a float issue may very well be responsible.

Been a very long time, but my recollection is that those carbs had a really weird fuel-bowl shape. So you may be having a "slosh" issue where the float level is low or the float is sticky and turning left is causing one or both jets to be uncovered. I'd pull whatever spark plug is handiest and see if you have a white or very pale burn. If so, it's running lean and a float issue may very well be responsible.

Thanks. I'll check it out and let you know what I find.

I remember working on a 2001 Buick Park Ave. that would stall out on right turns per the customer and I verified. Turned out to be a bad ignition switch. Terminal 1 on the switch provided power to both the turn signal switch AND the ECM. There was some apparent resistance within the switch for terminal 1, so when the turn signal was activated, it would put too much drain on the circuit so that it caused a voltage drop in power to the ECM causing it to stall. Searching for the problem on the web saved a lot of pulled out hair for me that day!