The 1988 Nissan 300ZX
These pictures are of our beautiful champagne-colored 1988 300ZX, normally aspirated. It was very well cared for! We bought it with 127K miles. This was a great, reliable car, even with the miles.
This car is a 5 speed, 165 hp stock car. It has a 3.0L V6 engine. This is a fantasic engine in these cars. Ours was about the bottom of the rung that year, yet we still had power windows/locks, cassette, power lumbar and seat sides, t-tops, aluminum rims, driving lights, intermittent wipers, cruise control, and other goodies. And everything still worked.
What we had in ours:
- Added Duralube engine treatment to help quiet engine at startup. Ran with Castrol 10W30.
- Valvoline 80W90 lube in trans and rear end
- NGK plugs/wires
- Vented brake rotors
- dual chrome tips on exhaust
- Tan leather steering wheel wrap
- Sensors - Oil pressure, fuel level, wiper fluid, lights, etc all act up over time. This is only an annoyance, but a very common one!
- Auto trans - They overheat. Replacement is expensive, and you have to replace the radiator too (it contains the trans cooler).
- Suspension - Make sure the rear wheels in particular are straight - if they are bent inwards on the top, suspension work is needed.
- T-top seals - They tend to leak after a few years.
- Timing belt - It MUST be changed every 60K, and it's not cheap ($300+). If it goes, so does the rest of the engine, so it is REALLY important!
- Fuel injectors - Common failure point on the 3.0L engines.