SGT Grumbles

Thanks Duncan. Have you heard of a lost wheel causing a rough idle and sputtering for 30 seconds to a minute after it happens? That's what has me worried I may be one of the unlucky few that had ceramic backflow into the cylinder. I've also heard of the ceramic damaging the internals but wasn't sure how common it was. I have a borescope so hopefully that should be good enough to see any damage that might have been caused. And that's a good idea, I'll check all the intercooler pipes closely. It's all original and almost 30 years old so definitely a possibility. What I could see without diving to much into it last night looked like everything was connected still at least.

Hey all, so from what I've read in old posts I'm pretty confident I blew one or both of the stock turbo exhaust wheels last night. Car was on boost at WOT, then I shifted (around 6500/7000) heard a loud noise car juddered and rattled and no more boost. What I wasn't able to find searching and has me worried were some of the other symptoms I had. I don't remember if I let off right when it happened or not, but shortly after the pop I pulled up to a red light. It made some horrible rattles noises, sounded almost like my front pipe came off, idled horribly going from too low to too high, but then rattles went away and it settled down. I didn't notice any smoke out the back but to be honest wasn't looking back there. After the engine settled down there was still a spiny rattle noise that's particularly noticeable when near the exhaust tip, idles normally, and drives normally off boost. I limped it the 2 miles home and it drove ok but couldn't build up boost. Oil pressure, oil temp, and water temp all remained normal; even when the engine was acting up. Haven't started it up since. For reference I have a decat pipe, tomei equal length downpipes, and a cat back muffler. Rest of the car is stock. I noticed the day of that the car was making a bit more boost than usual but I never turned it up myself and had been running stock boost until then. Planning to take off the down pipe, endo-scope up the rear of the turbos, compression test, and endo-scope through the sparkplugs for any noticeable damage. If I don't find anything doing that I'll start checking intake/intercooler piping and get the stuff for a leak-down test. Again, pretty sure this is a blown stock turbo exhaust wheel, but I'm wondering if anyone has any other ideas for what to check and if my symptoms indicate something catastrophic. Should I start budgeting for a new/rebuilt short block? Also side question, assuming the engine isn't boned, can I run -5's on stock boost with a stock ECU/fuel system? Not sure I have the funds to do everything at once and was hoping to get it back on the road this summer.

Thanks guys, answers my question! I'll go with the ATI one then, precisely for the availability and service bit of it. I appreciate the feedback.

I'm starting to gather parts to do timing belt/water pump/general maintenance work on my GTR this winter while it's stored before starting in on power mods later next year. One thing I plan to upgrade/replace while I'm in there is the harmonic balancer. Currently trying to decide between an ATI 750 street (overkill for power rating) and the Fluidampr. They are both about the same price so just trying to see if there is a general preference for one over the other in the RB community. Couldn't seem to find any discussion comparing them on RBs. Car is currently stock power but planning to turn it up a bit in the next year once all the general repairs/maintenance is done. I don't expect to ever go past about 450whp, but not shooting for anything specific; just what feels right for cruising/autoX/occasional casual track days. This just seemed like a good thing to upgrade while I was doing the timing belt.

a man can dream...lol

Just checked, one of the previous owners swapped it for a digital one. Looks pretty new, so I'm guessing that's not the issue. Man that's a bummer if that's the issue. I'll drain and replace the trans/transfer fluids and see if there are any plate bits in there. Based on how the car feels when AWD engages I wouldn't be shocked if the clutch pack is worn out. Figured it had more life since there is only about 96k km's on it (assuming no rollback). Are there any transfer case rebuild kits out there? I wasn't able to find anything when searching. Luckily there is a place nearby that rebuilds R32 GTR transfer cases if there aren't decent kits. I'll let y'all know how the new fluids work out...and start budgeting for a transfer case rebuild lol. Oh well good excuse to swap clutch/fly wheel and get a new down pipe.

I'll take a look at the sensor tonight after work, see if I can see anything up with it. I know there is one guy with a GTR nearby, may see if he'll let me borrow his for a day.

Looking at it again last night with the top diagram, I'm pretty sure that's the right PN. I'll try loosening and re-tightening the banjo's just to see, but it looks like it's coming directly from the rubber portion of the line. You're right though a clean should help pin-point it. Last night I tried topping up the system with some Castrol Dexron VI ATF. The AWD ran better but still felt like it was surging/slipping. I checked the reservoir and the fluid level was the same as when I filled it. Is the surging/slipping when the AWD engages a typical sign of a different problem? I thought I lucked out with a leaky line. I'm hoping it's not the pump since those appear to be rather pricey. In the meantime is it safe to cruise the car with the fuse pulled or does that risk wrecking the front/center diffs?

I need to replace the high pressure line from the pump to the transfer case since it's leaking (PN 41706), car was bucking under WOT acceleration and removing the AWD fuse resolved it. I'm wondering if anyone knows the best way to replace the line without spilling fluid everywhere? Is there a way to fully drain the ATTESA system or do I just unbolt the line and hope I have enough brake kleen to get it all after? Also, regarding fluid. I've poked around on the forum but haven't seen a solid answer. I can't seem to get my hands on Nissan Power Steering Fluid Special, so I was thinking I would just go for Nissan Matic D since others have had good luck with that, unless someone knows a place that will ship PSFS to Michigan, US? I included pictures of the leaky line and the diagram I pulled the PN from in case I got the part number wrong.

oh that looks like a great winter project. Thanks for the link. Yeah, the kit is definitely some cheap japanese H1/H3 adapter kit, meant to go in anything. I attached what me current light looks like, so I think I'll need a whole new housing to fix that.

So it has an HID kit in there, but I think it's too hot for the housing (internal chrome is peeling up). I was thinking of taking it back to stock to stop the heat fully wrecking the housing.

Awesome, thanks I'll reach out to him. That would be great, just sent you a PM.

Looking for the stock rear deck speaker grills for an R32 GTR. My car has big/clunky and rather ugly aftermarket speaker boxes that I'm hoping to remove. Any help finding some stock grill/speaker covers appreciated!

Looks great, congratulations! Picked up mine from MD just last week.

Hey, finally registering since I just bought my childhood dream car. It's a 1993 R32 GT-R in BL0. Just about stock aside from an HKS oil cooler, some audio stuff, HID kit and an alarm. Has a few odds and ends that need fixing but overall in pretty good shape. Already have an HKS Super Turbo catback in the mail. I'm in the Detroit, MI area so it stands out a bit in the sea of american muscle here. Some pictures of it are below, as well as the car I sold to buy it (I'm sure ya'll are familiar with it. It was one of the few in the US with a stick). Looking forward to getting to know everyone!