Hello to all forum members,
I’ve been trying to find someone with a similar problem, but I haven’t found any real solution so far.
I’ll briefly explain the full history of what happened.
I bought the car from a German owner. At that time, the camshaft sensor on bank 2 was not working. In my country there are only about 6 of these cars, and nobody really has experience with the Nissan 350Z.
I bought a new aftermarket cam sensor, but the problem was not solved. The car went to 5–6 authorized service centers and 2–3 independent mechanics. Everyone said the engine timing was incorrect. It was checked twice and confirmed to be correct. The VVT (VANOS) was replaced as well, but nothing changed.
Then I found a solution on YouTube saying that these engines require genuine Hitachi sensors. I bought all 5 Hitachi sensors — 4 camshaft sensors and 1 crankshaft sensor.
That finally solved the problem.
Unfortunately, not for long. I made a classic Japanese “money shift” from 3rd gear into 2nd. The engine did not survive. The car sat for months, then the engine was fully rebuilt. After the rebuild, it started immediately without any issues.
Later, I decided to install an HKS supercharger and aim for around 400 HP. Coobico from Poland tuned the car properly (there’s even a video on YouTube). He told me to replace the fuel pump as soon as possible and not to go near redline.
I didn’t follow that advice, and the engine failed again.
The engine was rebuilt once more — forged pistons and rods, new crankshaft, block bored for larger pistons, and this time I replaced the fuel pump. The engine started, but there was no oil pressure. During machining, the piston oil squirters were installed incorrectly.
The engine was removed again, the pistons were slightly notched (a few hundredths of a millimeter) so the oil squirters would not touch them. The engine was assembled and installed again — this was the fourth time.
And that’s when the current problem started — which I still haven’t solved.
The car is assembled exactly as before, but it has never had this issue.
It cranks but will not start. There is no fuel and no spark. Cranking speed is around 150–160 RPM.
Here’s what I have tried so far (without success):
Checked the entire wiring harness to make sure no wires are broken
Checked all connectors
Tried another crankshaft sensor
Programmed a new key
A local electronics specialist said the ECU might be faulty
I found another ECU with the same part number and had the electronics specialist clone the full data from my original ECU
Installed the cloned ECU — but the problem remains exactly the same
My next step is to try IMMO off.
Has anyone ever had a similar problem and managed to solve it?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Im not sure if you had the battery laying around for a while but check the voltage on in it. If its low sometimes it wont have enough voltage for the fuel pump or ignition to operate even if the engine is turning. Worth taking a look at that. Good luck

 

The car was without a battery the entire time. When attempting to start it, a brand new battery from the store was installed.

 

I suspect a timing issue. The ECU will not give spark or fuel if the cam and crank sensors are severely out of sync. You would need a shop that can use a scope and compare waveforms for crank + cam sensor and compare to a known good. This engine has been apart and back together multiple times, it's possible a timing mistake was made on the last rebuild. Just my thoughts. It's always possible there's a wiring fault somewhere.
-Icer

 

That’s my last option to check, because the whole front end has to come off. I have three oil coolers — for the turbo, the transmission, and the engine — so it’s a lot of work just to inspect the timing.

I even thought immediately that maybe the flywheel is not positioned correctly. But first, I wanted to ask here if anyone has had a similar problem and might know what’s going on.

I’m also worried that the immobilizer might have lost its coding after the car sat without a battery for so long, or something like that.

 

If you can find someone with a scope who knows how to use it, you wouldn't need to take anything apart to check timing. All you would need are some probes connected to the signal wires for intake cam sensor (bank 1) and crank sensor. You could get more data from more channels hooked up, but to do a quick timing check that's all you would need.

Here's an example video on a Nissan Quest (VQ35DE).

Good Luck!
-Icer