Rough running, ECU & Wire Harness

Asked by Leigh Aug 15, 2012 at 12:38 AM about the 1986 Nissan 300ZX Base

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

My 300ZX began running VERY rough (car shaking), would not go past idle and would then shut down. Pressing the accelerator pedal had no effect. The shop, after testing it advised my that I need a new ECU AND wire harness. (I had a similar problem a few moths ago which was traced to an air mass sensor)
Is this type of problem indicative of a bad ECU and Wire Harness?  Is it worth repairing? (I was quoted $1,600.00 for labor and if I can get the parts they would be about $1,000.00. ) (the car has about 340K miles on it)  Thanks.

3 Answers
24,745

aztec626bf answered 12 years ago

With that many miles I would be cautious putting that kind of money into it. The problem could be an ECU and or wire harness. When vehicles get this old wire connectors and connections start to corrode and give problems. This might be why he is talking wire harness.

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Veinticuatro answered 12 years ago

I have a similar problem on my 1990 TT but it only happens after I drive around for about 20 minutes so I was told it could be the coils or the gas pump...your car is probably a different issue since it does it all the time...I am probly binging it to th eguy who rbuilt my engine since he knows these cars very well and will avoid me from spending money on ramdom things....on e advise I can give you is that these car are so old that you dont spent money on them by the book value but becasu eyou love these cars like I do....These cars are timeless classics and when I drive mines around I turn more heads then any of the new cars right now...plus they are super fun to drive when they are running how they should.

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