Project wife's birthday present: Sketchy's Z32 TT

dam, bad luck. im crazy busy this week, but if i get free time one afternoon or on the weekend maybe i should come listen to it

 

In post 47, you said oil was pissing out.
How much did you put in?

It is a Zed and tools can eventually drop out of the engine bay, or jam in.
Tools?

 

Thanks mate, I'd appreciate it.

Highly unlikely as the motor has been running at least 2-3 times before I started it this time and I very much doubt lifters would be as loud as this noise is.

First thing I did was check the dipstick just in case I'd starved it of oil forgetting to put it back in. Smack on the high level mark so no issues there.

Dropped tool was another thing I thought of but there's nothing hanging off the motor at the back where the noise seems to be coming from that a tool could have come into contact with. I'll have another look at the front end tonight just in case I've somehow left a socket extension hanging off something but I'd have thought that would have gotten flung around the garage like a 12mm socket shaped grenade.

 

Not sure if you have all the pipe work fitted but have you checked if anything such as a nut/bolt/clamp etc is sitting infront of a turbo compressor wheel?

 

Turns out Mike won the guessing game, it was indeed lifter(s). I was just being a cat and not running the engine long enough to accurately diagnose the noise. Strange because the engine has been run before without issue but obviously just where the cam had sat after the last shut down.

The lifter hasn't fully unstuck yet but it's much quieter after letting it run for a minute or two yesterday arvo over a few beers so I'm going to continue with the assembly, reinstall the front bumper and cooler piping this weekend and take it for a sighting lap to get everything up to temp and double check all hoses, lines, clamps.

So close!

 

I think every other time you tested the engine to diagnose or plan the next steps

 

Question: are the VG30's a non interference engine? The mate who has helped me peice this thing back together viewed a first start video my wife put up on FB and is questioning whether it is a sticky lifter and not something more serious.

He believes if the lifter was stuck that the associated valve would be belting the piston and if it's not that then it's more likely done a big end.

I'm going to drop the oil and pull the plugs later today for a closer inspection just in case but what is the likelihood of having done major engine damage after replacing the filter tree gasket? I pulled the filter off and there is plenty of pressure there and the filter was full of oil.

My friend has queried the condition of the internal O ring inside the filter tree. If that was somehow compromised would it prevent oil being pumped around the engine or just allow unfiltered oil to pass the filter and into the oil cooler?

I was ok with the lifter being stuck and just needing to pop out but now I'm paranoid about having a munched engine again :sad:

 

No it usually goes the other way. When people say stuck lifter they mean a lifter that has not pumped up. The Boise comes from the lifter not having preload against the cam so it won't have caused any contact issues. In fact that balance would be opening less than others and still at the correct time

If that o ring was not sealing it would allow a certain amount to bypass the oil filter but won't effect overal oil pressure.

If I was you I wouldn't stress too much. Run it up. Do an oil change and give it some time to settle in

 

Thanks mate, much appreciated. Your explanation of the lifter not pumping up was exactly what I imagined was happening. I've stuffed an interference motor or two with valve slap and I know how horrific that sounds, this didn't seem to be it.

I pulled the plugs on the left bank last night and other than number 4 plug shattering (!) as I removed it, everything seems fine down inside the bores. Don't worry, it was the ceramic part and I made sure to vacuum out all of the pieces sitting in the plug recess.

Going to drop the oil tonight to double check, chuck in new plugs and kick it over. All the intercooler pipework is now together and I have a couple of spare AFM's to test. Looking strong for a block lap later this week!

 

What's the preferred plug of choice for these rigs? Picked up a set of NGK BRPR6ES a few months ago and when I went to fit them yesterday the outer nut is much larger than the ones that came out, so much so that it was impossible to get a socket over them to tighten them up.

The ones that came out look kind of obscure. Still a NGK plug but wildly different model code and overall look. Didn't think to snap a photo but I'll grab one this arvo when I'm home for reference.

 

Bcpr6es

 

Hooked in with a bit more work on this over the weekend but still having the same dramas.

Lifter appears to still be stuck but I haven't been able to take the thing for a drive as the car refuses to rev. I thought it may have been a dead AFM, tested a spare with no change.

Figured I must have been suffering from some vacuum leaks so went searching for anything I may have missed and sure enough found at least three or four random hoses disconnected or loose hidden under other things. Tidied up all I could find but still no change.

Chucked in a fresh set of plugs to be certain and got the same result. Fuel filter as well as it was leaking.

So now I'm running out of options. The car starts fine but refuses to rev at all over about 1500 rpm and if you hold the throttle open the car just dies. I was concerned about the fuel in the car as I have no idea how old it is but it smells fine and hasn't been an issue so far with previous starting/running.

I'm beginning to think the ECU and injectors might be the culprits. I purchased a Nistune with a set of 750cc injectors of a forum member here some time ago that was apparently tuned and ready to go. I'm beginning to think that A) the injectors might be blocked B) the ECU isn't a nistune as it has some strange Japanese tuning sticker on it and isn't tuned for the much bigger injectors.

I'll drop the fuel out and put some fresh stuff in as soon as I get a chance just to be sure but has anyone else come across the same issue with the car refusing to rev?

 

Silly question...have you set the CAS?

 

So when am i going to get my hands on this thing?

 

Nope, wasn't touched from when the motor was removed and reinstalled.

Unless you are now running a charity not any time soon unfortunately, much as I'd like to just throw it at someone and not have to think about it not in the budget. Besides, it's kind of personal now. I want to defeat this thing into running and prove myself as the master [TIS]

 

Swapped out the ecu back to the stock one last week, no change. Tried slow rev over 1650, nothing. Doesn't matter what you do it will not rev over 1650 regardless of throttle position.

Checked for vacuum leaks and found a bunch that are now sorted.



This giant bag of split dicks won't be helping. Rocker cover to turbo inlet hose, equally split at both ends. Had a good spare in stock thankfully.



mad_cow suggested on another forum that I should get Consult to help with diagnostics and I remembered I had this one the entire time in the packaging uninstalled.

So TPS seems Ok, gets to just over 4v at WOT, AFM doesnt read any higher than 1.6v but I'm unsure if thats a fault or simply a function of not seeing enough airflow due to the limited revs.

Started working through the factory ECU diagnostics and two faults have popped up.

13 which indicates coolant temp circuit and 34 which is the detonation sensor circuit. My money was on coolant as Consult shows the temp sitting at 80 degrees with the car running for about 30 seconds.

Also as I type this I've realized Consult has a faults section which shows the same errors.
Probably should have plugged this thing in about two weeks ago instead of pulling every ****ing thing apart.... but I digress.



Yeah that could be the problem

Nekminnut



Code cleared normal coolant temp function returned. Win. Not done yet though unfortunately as it still refuses to rev past 1650rpm. Final fault is knock sensor circuit. Found the loom plug:



Lo and behold, it's been replaced like a bunch of the other plugs. That is, poorly.



Sure enough as soon as I moved it to get a better look the shit fell apart and pulled out of the plug. Yeah, nice one Gary.
Confident I'll have a spare plug I can use in the meantime I figured I best check the rest of the circuit to be sure and discovered I'd not only had it plugged into the left bank vct plug but the knock sensor is nowhere to be seen. The sensor itself lives here:



If that looks like a prick of a spot you'd be right, if we zoom out a little it tells the full story.



It lives in the engine valley under the inlet manifold behind where the EGR plumbing normally lives. Shouldn't normally be a major issue as there is a short fly loom that runs from the sensor up the back of the engine and pops out at the back of the inlet manifold except in my instance it doesn't. It appears to have completely disappeared and I can't locate it anywhere so one of two things has happened. When the engine came out I popped the fly loom out the way tucked inside the valley OR I somehow disconnected the entire fly loom and never put it back on.

Started pulling stuff off the back of the manifold to get a better look and see if I could fish the loom up or at least make sure it's there before it all comes off.

Any 90's Nissan gurus know if a disconnected or faulty knock sensor would cause the issue I'm currently having? Seems like it would be a prime target for a limp mode situation.

I had intended to hit the AFM with a leaf blower to test the voltage increase first but a bit of googling shows dead knock sensor circuit defaults straight to limp mode so pushed on to find the loom.



An hour or so, a few ciders and some light swearing got me to this point after figuring out pretty quickly I had no way of getting to the underside of the manifold.

Unfortunately that didn't do shit so I pulled most of the water pipes off the back to get my hand under there to chase the loom and found... nothing. ****. The sensor is there but the fly loom has broken off which would explain why it never got connected.

All good, just whip the lower manifold off then and put a new plug and loom on. Except:



The lower manifold has the upper timing belt guide because of course it does. So to get the lower manifold off the timing belt has to come off. For the timing belt to come off the tensioner has to come off and for the tensioner to come off the lower timing cover has to come off. For that to come off all the ancillary belts and the harmonic balancer need to come off.

So of course all of that noise can go get ****ed. I cut the timing case around the tensioner with tin snips, gave it the finger and retired for the night victorious with my time saving genius.

Next battle is the timing belt and tensioner, the tensioner doesn't look to be super tight on the belt with the car not running, is it rooted? Will get a pic tonight. Looking for the belt procedure now to see how much I have to do to just get the lower manifold off without disturbing everything else.

 

I've had DET sensor fault code 13 for like 6 years now... One day I'll get around to installing a new DET sensor, but until that time, it's ok.
IIRC, a 1meg-ohm resistor soldered into the ECU side will emulate DET sensor resistance. For what it's worth, code 13 will not limit vehicle to the ~1500RPM you are seeing.

My bet is on the AAC valve or TPS if the PO has it all dicked up with his stellar wiring job...

 

I have a 2nd hand spare aicv unit i bought off Niall a while back, so happy to lend it too you too see if that could be the issue, as Mitch said with all that expertly done auto electrical work that's been done :rolleyes2: anythings possible and it's always a good way too eliminate things as you go.

 

So I didn't need to pull everything apart? Awesome, great news.

I've come this far, I may as well keep going and just do it properly so the sensor works. Knowing my luck with this thing if I don't it will knock down the track somewhere and shit an engine.