Hi all,

 

As some of you already know I bought my car with an overfuelling problem. Since I bought it, it has been sitting for 3 months at my girlfriends parents place awaiting me to start on it, all I have done before today is filled with fresh oil and replaced the spark plugs with some more NGK's and fired it up, it sounded fine all the way up to temp with a heavily smoking exhaust and revved freely. The only sound that caused concern was the turbine rattling in the housing that Jeff identified when he looked at it for the previous owner.

 

Today I chucked 10 litres of fuel in it and fired it up. It chugged away with smoke puffing out the exhaust, the more gas the more smoke have a look at the video I made, it didn't sound to special today but the echo in the shed makes it sound even worse on the video... http://youtu.be/Gk6X5NPYcgg

 

Today however it did not rev freely it struggled. The temp gauge did not work and neither did the fuel gauge. I let it warm until I heard the choke come off, all the time it was sounding more and more lumpy then I went inside and came out again just as it died. I fired it up again and there was poor throttle response. It had been running 10-15 mins so I did my compression test, the results as follows.

 

Cylinder 5 = 161 Cylinder 6 = 160

Cylinder 3 = 158 Cylinder 4 = 159

Cylinder 1 = 160 Cylinder 2 = 165

 

So a range of 7 psi and all within the Nissan workshop manual limits. When I took the plugs out they were badly sooted just from that warm up which I think may have been why it got worse.

 

I then poured a trickle of oil in each cylinder one by one and did it again but could only get the tester into the front four cylinders, cylinders five and six were being pigs then the girlfriend got back from work and screamed at me as I hadn't got the cat into it's basket ready for the vet :glare: so I had to leave it....

 

Cylinder 5 = ? Cylinder 6 = ?

Cylinder 3 = 158 Cylinder 4 = 159

Cylinder 1 = 163 Cylinder 2 = 168

 

I have smoke pellets so tomorrow I will do a boost leak test as nothing on the car seems to be secured well so im sure this is the cause. Failing that I will check the fuel pressure regulator, fuel damper and ecu codes once I have a cable.

 

Now I know it's an engine out, turbos off for rebuild job but now need to find the source of the over fuelling. Im thinking the most likely thing is a boost leak as nothing seems to have been done up properly on it.

 

Should I hold the throttle open when doing the boost leak test to see if the plenum has leaks?

 

Any replies, advice etc would be much appreciated....

doesnt quite sound like everything is coming together in the right order ther bud. i would suggest getting someone local with consult ior simular to come and get some codes and reading off. i wouldnt have thought it would have been a boost leak to make it sound like that at idle. mines popped off oine of teh main four hoses before sounded fine till you hit boost. you can pull codes from the ecu itself aswel if you so wish. boost leak test is a good idea though, even if its not the problem it cant hurt. it would soun dto me like your out of time. so compression is incomplete leaving unbutrnt fuel this is causing the black plugs and smoke. iirc your cars a little special under there isnt it, a little out the norm. the compression results are encouraging. but i really think that getting it hooked up to some software would put you miles ahead of where you are at present.

get a leak down done my 3000gt had the same problem fine on compression but when i got a leak down test done 1 cylinder was bad on further inspection it had a broken piston

 

cheers Trev

Sorry to rain on your parade but as I posted when Lorenzo was selling this zed we had looked into repairing the car and I posted the following thread, Lorenzo decided he did not want to go ahead, the best by far option is to fit a replacement engine, swapping over parts you want to retain.

 

Jeff TT

 

http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?156070-SOLD-My-car-for-sale-non-runner-PM-with-offers-SOLD&highlight=lorenzo

 

 

posted 10th November 2011

 

"Lorenzo unfortunately had a major issue with coolant mixing with the engine oil, this fills no 4 cylinder with water and also has runined at least one turbo bearing, when drained there was around 3 litres of water in with the oil.

 

We did have it running at one point but the smoke from the passenger exhaust was extream, hell of a lot of zed there.

 

Good luck matey

 

Jeff "

 

 

 

Edited March 5, 201213 yr by JeffTT

doesnt quite sound like everything is coming together in the right order ther bud. i would suggest getting someone local with consult ior simular to come and get some codes and reading off. i wouldnt have thought it would have been a boost leak to make it sound like that at idle. mines popped off oine of teh main four hoses before sounded fine till you hit boost. you can pull codes from the ecu itself aswel if you so wish. boost leak test is a good idea though, even if its not the problem it cant hurt. it would soun dto me like your out of time. so compression is incomplete leaving unbutrnt fuel this is causing the black plugs and smoke. iirc your cars a little special under there isnt it, a little out the norm. the compression results are encouraging. but i really think that getting it hooked up to some software would put you miles ahead of where you are at present.

 

Thanks mate,

 

I can vaguely remember Jeff saying that he connected Conzult to the car and and got weird results or something like that. Good thinking on the ECU codes from the ECU I will have a look for a how to guide on that.

 

Yeah it's basically a remapped ECU, HKS vein pressure convertor (maf removed), two extra injectors on the inlet manifold that fire when a certain rpm and throttle position are met and uprated cams. Im going to simplify it by removing the injectors and adding 550's to the block and will also check tomorrow to see if the ECU is socketed and if so get a chip made up for it. Any idea if a VPC can be used with a chip?

 

Cheers

Hi Jeff,

 

When we spoke I thought you said it was petrol in the sump not water? There is no emulsification visible on the dipstick or through the fill hole so could the crap in the exhaust be from the turbo oil seal blowing oil into the exhaust and emulsifying with the water from the combustion?

Eggs my advice would be get the engine out of the car and asses the turbos, but expect to be changing an engine to be honest, quickest and easiest solution and most likely the cheapest. then if you still feel that engine is good, strip it down and have a look you will soon know, but at least you will have a working zed, id advice changing exhausts for a while as well when changing engine or your going to find you will not be able to tell if the new engine is smoking or not due to the amount of oil / water in the current exhaust unless you can get that one cleaned up some how.

Hi Jeff,

 

When we spoke I thought you said it was petrol in the sump not water? There is no emulsification visible

 

Yes thats right, the petrol in the sump is from the massive overfueling getting past the rings, but water is getting into number 4 cylinder also, bear in mind we had this running good enough to drive on the road at one point, but the water and fueling issue was so severe that when switched off re-starting was a nightmare.

 

 

Eggs my advice would be get the engine out of the car and asses the turbos, but expect to be changing an engine to be honest, quickest and easiest solution and most likely the cheapest.

 

Agreed, if this route had been taken the car would have been fixed months ago.

 

Good luck and keep the faith!!

 

Jeff TT

Yes thats right, the petrol in the sump is from the massive overfueling getting past the rings, but water is getting into number 4 cylinder also, bear in mind we had this running good enough to drive on the road at one point, but the water and fueling issue was so severe that when switched off re-starting was a nightmare.

 

 

 

 

Agreed, if this route had been taken the car would have been fixed months ago.

 

Good luck and keep the faith!!

 

Jeff TT

 

Would of been my solution from the start jeff, change the engine.

after the back story jeff has given you i think the only informed decession would be to do as sujested to replace the block.. sucks but hey.

Cheers guys,

 

Jeff TBH I completely forgot about the water in cylinder four as it was months ago and the confusion I had over whether it was petrol or water in the sump and that we had it running and it sounded fine initially made me try the compression test to see if there was any chance something could be done without going through a 'davezx' series of mishapes with various replacement engines that don't work. When the results came back ok I thought I had just got lucky and it hadn't been borewashed and i'd get away with just refurbing the tubs. Don't think I was thinking 'I know better' or anything like that, I clearly don't as this is the first time i've got involved with anything like this :pinch: I was just doing what I thought was right

 

If anyone has an engine hoist and/or stand for sale then let me know asap in my thread in WANTED,

 

Cheers

if you know how long your going to use one for, hire it for a weekend, should be able to get the engine out with in a day even if your new to it. you have my number i can talk you through it so no issue there, hiring a hoist is what ive done on 3 occasions and the cheaper option than buying it. cost me here £30 to £40 for the weekend, that was friday to monday. so plenty of time to do what i needed to get done.

Cheers again for the offer vods, yeah I did consider that but my girlfriends brother and old man will make use of it as well as they have a few cars between them so I reckon it'll be worth buying one in the long run

in that case then, hit ebay bud, you will only need a 500kg for the zed, but always a good idea to go for a 2ton, covers everything then lol

its about 375ish for engine and gear box together

ebay sell the lifts for about £130 for 1>2t

Yeah that's what I was planning if nothing comes up by the time I finish work tomorrow. Lol, a two ton hoist in case I need to do an engine transplant on my tank

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-TON-HYDRAULIC-ENGINE-CRANE-HOIST-LIFT-BRAND-NEW-/120643752243?pt=UK_Lifting_Moving_Equipment&hash=item1c16ed9133#ht_3489wt_1270

 

Only a tenner more than a 1 tonner.

 

What do you guys recommend in terms of chains/rope/straps to attach to the engine?

yeah thats spot on ... i normaly use my tow rope ... but just last time i used to 1.5" wide strap with buckle on it ..

 

when u do lift the engine strap it around the 4 front plenum tubes should just give u the right angle to get the engine out and back in

Thats the same hoist i have,got it at Makro 4 years ago for £79.99 on special,cheap as imho.

Cheers Mark that's exactly what I wanted to know

 

Just checked the Makro online store but there's nothing at all but will check the local auto stores tomorrow. I need to think beyond eBay for things cheers Jimmer

take your time taking the engine out

 

quick run down of what to do

 

disconnect exhaust pipes

remove heat shield

undo Center drive shaft bearing and center Bolts

if Manual u will need to take off the Gear Leaver 3 nuts 1 bolt&nut

if auto just the Leaver beside of gear box

undo plug all wires on gear box

clutch slave and starter motor wires or take it off

drop the sub fame by 1"

disconnect steering joint from rack

undo the engine mounts from bottom

disconnect batt or take out

undo all wires from top of engine

take off all boost pipes

remove radiator and pipes

all belts

remove fan and fan unit

undo AC pump and let it hang in front of sub frame

take off the alternator

take of the steering pump and tie it up to the front of the car

u may want to undo the bolts to the pass pot

heater water pipes at the rear need to be disconnected

top engine mount bolts

oil cooler pipes down on the left side

 

think thats about it

Cool cheers Mark, you reckon it's easier to take the box with the lump and split it when it's out? The top bolts of the gearbox look a pig to get to without a mass of extensions

ive always taken it out seperatly, the top bolts on the gear box are not that hard to get to, you do need extentions, but with a trolly jack at the rear of the gearbox, undo the 6 x bolts holding the box to the car, start lowering the gearbox and it will pull on the engine leaning it back far enough to get 10" + 3 x 3" extentions onto the top bolts. very quick and easy to do.

 

Reason ive never taken the gearbox out with the engine is due to space. ive asked and asked on here at what hight i need to raise the car in order to drop the sub frame, but then found as im using axel stands, the subframe sits on them so id have to raise the car off the subframe instead. due to being on my own, never liked that idea. so just split the box from the engine and pulled the engine out. also if you do not need to work on the gearbox, you can basically leave it where it is with some wood and a trolly jack, work on the engine, or swap it and when you stick the engine back in, the gearbox just needs pushing back onto the engine.

 

Never had to worry about dropping the subframe or undoing the steering joint then.

I did my engine and box out on axle stands, the sub-frame needs to be dropped about 4-6 inches to allow the sump to get by, but you can actually release all 4 sub-frame bolts and the steering rack will stop it from dropping to the floor. Obviously take the weight of the engine with the hoist before dropping the frame lol.

its far easyer taking box out with engine ...

 

no need to faff with the top 2 bolts

or trying to part and reline the gear box back up when its in the car

 

edited

 

get the car up on Ramps at front and axel stands at the rear

u will need a Jack to support the gear box a little when u start to take engine out

all so Do not take the drive shaft out of the box

you will get oil everywhere

best thing to do is tape or use string the shaft in place so it doesnt slide out

 

disconnect exhaust pipes

remove heat shield

undo Center drive shaft bearing and center Bolts

if Manual u will need to take off the Gear Leaver 3 nuts 1 bolt&nut

if auto just the Leaver beside of gear box

undo plug all wires on gear box

clutch slave and starter motor wires or take it off

Gear box support ...

drop the sub fame by 1"

disconnect steering joint from rack

undo the engine mounts from bottom

disconnect batt or take out

undo all wires from top of engine

take off all boost pipes

remove radiator and pipes

all belts

remove fan and fan unit

undo AC pump and let it hang in front of sub frame

take off the alternator

take of the steering pump and tie it up to the front of the car

u may want to undo the bolts to the pass pot

heater water pipes at the rear need to be disconnected

top engine mount bolts

oil cooler pipes down on the left side

when lifitng the engine there are two

wires that are bolted to the back of the engine

undo these when half lifted