Hmmm something bad seems to have happened with the replacement engine I got fitted

 

There didn't appear to be any problem when I picked the car up.

 

The engine sounds OK and it seems to run OK however when I drove it back yesterday my friend who was following me said it was smoking a lot just from the near side exhaust but I didn't notice as the car felt like it was running fine

 

This seems to have gotten worse today when ticking over the nearside ehxaust is 'splutterring' a bit like there is an intermittent misfire on that side and when you rev it you get copious amounts of white smoke from that exhaust - and I mean plenty of it!!

 

I popped to the garage across the road and they had a look and revved it quite a bit and said they thought it was a turbo but could not explain the splutterring so then they said it could be 'just about anything' which wasn't very helpful

 

I parked up outside the house for 15 mins and then asked the missus to rev the car so i could put some video up here and now it seems to be smoking a lot from both exhausts like it just got worse in those 15 mins

 

The guy from next door came out (who also runs a garage) and claimed it is both turbos because if you compress the intercooler pipes with your fingers then rev the engine it should force the pipes back out again against your fingers. You do feel a little pressure 'kick' when holding the intercooler pipes compressed and revving but he says it is not enough

 

I'm not sure this guy knows what he is talking about or not but I must admit when you rev the engine the guage on the boost controller does not go positive it goes from -70 to about 0. I would have to run the car on the road and watch the guage to be certain

 

Any suggestions please, no doubt when I take the car the few miles to Trentham on Sunday (so it can sit there looking pretty even if it is turned off so it don't smoke) I will have 19 more opinions as to what is wrong with my car now :huh: so I may as well ask here first

 

I'll upload the video if I can remember my youtube login lol

 

Rich

Edited June 14, 201312 yr by dicky96

@ruishy1

 

Just moved the car from where it has been standing outside the house since I returned frm the show yesterday

 

One tiny spot of wet oil on the tarmac, but I couldn't say for definite it cam from my car. If it did come from mine the (having marked a couple sratches on the curb and moved the car again) it's come from somewhere towards the rear of the engine, nearside. Imagine a direct line down to the road within 4-6 inches of where the nearside windscreen wash jet is on the bonnet, if you get the idea

 

Don't know if anyone spotted anything on the grass after I left the show yesterday?

 

Rich

Edited June 17, 201312 yr by dicky96
speeling and add pic

have the car running parked on the one spot for a wee while, see if any oil leaks out

Save me messing about with a compression tester the guy at the garage at the end of the street is going to test for me tomorrow, and it was no more than me buying a tester from Halfords

 

I'm expecting the compression to be OK tbh, but let's eliminate that to be certain

 

Now I'll go and put a sheet of cardboard underneath and run it for a little while.....

 

Rich

Forgot the pics lol

 

That all looks pretty normal induction wise, bear in mind though the left turbo drives the right cylinder and/or vice versa. However that plug looks wet in the photo... got a blow torch and a vice?

Ran it for five mins on a dry section of road but could not see any evidence of oil leaks, so if there is one it's very small

 

Rich

That all looks pretty normal induction wise, bear in mind though the left turbo drives the right cylinder and/or vice versa. However that plug looks wet in the photo... got a blow torch and a vice?

 

No blow torch sorry.

 

Got five more spare plugs on my old engine but can't get at them until the morning now.

 

I'll go and check the opposite side intercooler pipes now (silly me lol)

OK some more info and at last something different to report.

 

Now I did actually know in the back of my mind that the tubs feed the opposite side bank of cylinders so why I originally looked down the wrong ones I don't know.

 

Having removed the offside intercooler hose there is hardly any difference to the nearside one - OK maybe a touch more black in the photo but nothing to write home about

 

But looking down the metal pipe that feeds from the turbo towards the intercooler I can see it looks blackish and a bit 'shiny'. I took a photo but it is a bit dark to see down there however you can see the 'glistening deposit' I think on the edge, but sticking a thumb down there got me a nice sticky oily feeling brown/black thumb which shows up great in the next pic!

 

I then went to the same intercooler pipe on the nearside and took that off. Though there is a little bit of deposit rubbed off when putting a thumb down there, that one it feeels dry

 

Rich

thats an average aount of residue mate, if it was ablown turbo, the amount of oil in the pipes would be very noticeable

Damn... and I thought I had found something :blink:

 

The other side pipe (non smoking bank) is dry though and this is wet, does that say anything?

sorry mate, the turbo may have a slight leak, but its def not blown.

Ive actually had to pour the oil out of an intercooler after running with ablown turbo

sorry mate, the turbo may have a slight leak, but its def not blown.

Ive actually had to pour the oil out of an intercooler after running with ablown turbo

 

OK 'nuff said!

 

And there is lots of oil going somewhere

 

Compression test tomorrow morning.....

 

Rich

That to me looks like bore damage/rings smoke....try find the ken twinturbo thread when he bought the car before Noel got it,i know there was a few issues with it but i cant remember what now.

Good idea Brian, I found the thread when the car was sold by Ken to Noel

 

http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?167187-cheap-compleate-TT-For-spares-with-mods-may-break-myself&highlight=

 

Ken

Good news is .The engine is spot on , *no tappet noise or any other noises , *it really growls and sound well , doesnt overheat and no smoke from tubs cold or hot, the gearbox selected great whilst moving it around .*

 

and

Noel

Yup. I bought it blind hoping to finish it off, but the bodywork is needing too much for a road car so it's being broken as I need plenty of spares myself. It's a shame because everything other than the body is pretty mint.

 

Props to kenztwinturbo for an accurately described car, it can be a real lottery buying without pictures, especially with a 260 mile round trip involved

 

Edit to add: Zero faults on the diagnostic check too. Impressive!

 

Doesn't really tell me more than I bought in good faith from two trusted members

 

 

 

Rich

Good idea Brian, I found the thread when the car was sold by Ken to Noel

 

http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?167187-cheap-compleate-TT-For-spares-with-mods-may-break-myself&highlight=

 

 

 

and

 

 

Doesn't really tell me more than I bought in good faith from two trusted members

 

 

 

Rich

 

gives you a little to go on mate..goodluck

hmm all it really tells me is I shouldn't be having the major problems I seem to have got.

Check out post number 41 page 3. Just for reference really more than anything else, what mine was doing is leaking past the rear seals in the turbo.

http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?163503-seriously-disheartened-now-and-just-wanna-burn-the-car-help!/page3&highlight=turbo+smoke

At idle it wouldn't smoke much, and this really threw me as most things mention that it leaks and smokes only at idle. Smoking only at idle combined with grey smoke(rather than blue) is a characteristic, rear turbo oil seal failure. What sealed it for me was the loss of smoke as the revs raised and the lack of any contamination in the induction tract. When we pulled everything apart I soon realised what was occurring, the oil was weeping by and sitting in the bottom of the turbo exhaust housing, when the revs raised it blew it out the housing for a while till it decreased the puddle enough for it to not be visible. What throws me off your issue being this, is the fact that cylinders are dropping out, that doesn't ft the issue, but could be something else. At least when you get a solid answer from the garage tomorrow, you can know weather its something internal or not.

i thin a trip to see a proper mechanic would be the best bet, right now trying to diagnose over the internet is all just best guess

i thin a trip to see a proper mechanic would be the best bet, right now trying to diagnose over the internet is all just best guess

 

Totally agree, even the best mechanic in the world is going to be able to help you 100% solidly as you just don't get the full gravity with videos etc, no substitute for being able to touch smell see etc etc.

the proper tools help a bunch too.

 

We can only help you so far mate, and we could all be completeyl wrong and it could be something mega stupid and easy, or dead engine. its not fair on you so i stick by my statement :)

That engine was mint when it was removed from Ken's car. Zero smoke & silent. :confused1:

 

I have no idea what's happened here, but I thought it was supposed to have been checked over before being fitted* :(

 

I can't remember the compression test results, but there was nothing amiss at all. I think I looked back through Ken's posts before buying his car to see if there were any revealing issues, but can't recall anything.

 

*In addition to it having been sold as a good working engine of course

Edited June 17, 201312 yr by Noz

That engine was mint when it was removed from Ken's car. Zero smoke & silent. :confused1:

 

I have no idea what's happened here, but I thought it was supposed to have been checked over before being fitted* :(

 

I can't remember the compression test results, but there was nothing amiss at all. I think I looked back through Ken's posts before buying his car to see if there were any revealing issues, but can't recall anything.

 

*In addition to it having been sold as a good working engine of course

 

This is the condition the engine arrived at our workshop in:

 

 

 

 

If nothing was amiss why would it need checking over? as you would warranty it of course.

 

Jeff TT

What on Earth?

 

The engine was NEVER in that state when it was removed. Where's the plenum? Why are all the pulleys rusty?

 

It should have been road-tested once fitted, so why weren't the issues discovered before he got the car back?

 

Something very odd is going on here.

Hi all, could I just ask Jeff TT and the other knowledgeable people here if the problems could be PCV valve problems?

I found a write up of a similar problem and wondered if it could just be the same problem??

http://www.twinturbo.net/nissan/300zx/forums/main/view/1101340/PCV-reroute-blowing-smoke.html

 

Only an idea, just thought I would put it forward as a possible cause ??

Hope someone can help with this Dicky96.......

I just keep thinking if the engine was okay and I know it was fitted by experienced quality company..... maybe it was something silly, something ancillary??

Maybe wrong.....

Russ

What on Earth?

 

The engine was NEVER in that state when it was removed. Where's the plenum? Why are all the pulleys rusty?

 

It should have been road-tested once fitted, so why weren't the issues discovered before he got the car back?

 

Something very odd is going on here.

 

 

That is how the engine arrived at our workshop, the plenum had been removed prior to then to be powder coated, the bottom pulley was so rusty I did not use it.The smoke issue did not show itself whilst we ran it up and set it up on the ConZult, the fast idle and 2.5k rpm emissions tests was fine too, nothing odd just a mechanical mystery.

 

Jeff

It's also missing the cambelt covers (IIRC), the injector rails, injectors, coil packs etc. I forwarded the CAS on to Rich about a week after he bought the engine in January, so that should have been with it, too.

 

It was definitely not sold in that condition. The only explanation for the rust is that it has been left outside for some time.

 

dicky96: Is the white smoke sweet-smelling or acrid?