Rb20 Problems

[D-limo]

Hey,

Got my Laurel about a month ago. Everything was sweet.. Until I took my aircon out (condensor, lines etc). Now idles poorly on start up, and gets steadily worse after 5-10 mins of driving.. After 10 mins it's almost at the point of stall

I bought it uncomplied off a guy that had it in hs back yard for prob the better part of 8 months.. plus however long it had been sitting in shipping yards etc.. the easiest solution I can come up with is after I gave it some spirited driving I may have dislodged some gunk or rust in the fuel tank and blocked the fuel lines or filter?... Going to drain the fuel and replace the fiter this week. (Fuel is prob 1/2 Jap fuel still)

or

When I took the aircon out I have accidently messed with something electrical? Problems seem to coincide with taking the aircon out.

Help and idea's are Greatly appreciated.

Jarryd

[D-limo]

:confused:

[D-limo]

still confused

[someonestolecc]

Air con... air con... Not sure about that one... is there something you un plugged say from a manifold or something that might be causing it to loose vacuum? I'm not sure if the air con would even be hooked up to something like that but it's possible?

Is it blowing black smoke?

- Check if the car is in limp mode - pull out the ecu and see if there is a red light. If there is it's limp so it'd be running hell rich.

- Check the AFM is still plugged in - who knows maybe pulling the air con tube out you dis-lodged it.

Have you changed the spark plugs?

The fuel in there would have gone off. Hope you weren't punting too hard...

[Miller the hoon]

What fuel do u use and last Good service and wat mods do u have and y take the air con off

james

[D-limo]

Air con... air con... Not sure about that one... is there something you un plugged say from a manifold or something that might be causing it to loose vacuum? I'm not sure if the air con would even be hooked up to something like that but it's possible?

Is it blowing black smoke?

- Check if the car is in limp mode - pull out the ecu and see if there is a red light. If there is it's limp so it'd be running hell rich.

- Check the AFM is still plugged in - who knows maybe pulling the air con tube out you dis-lodged it.

Have you changed the spark plugs?

The fuel in there would have gone off. Hope you weren't punting too hard...

Cheers CC..

-No black smoke

-Will check ecu tomorrow

What gets me is it getting worse from start up.. That makes me lean towards vacuum lines.. But I've checked all the lines and electrical plugs.

checked the spark plugs.. The're very good.

And yes i was punting hard What sort of troubles am I looking at if The fuel is bad? Maybe HG if its getting worse from start up? Like water evetually heating and building up enough pressure to make it's way into a chamber?

fcuks me.. Gonna go cheack all the lines again now.. It's really annoying.. Like it was loosing traction easily kicking it back to 2nd.... Now a commodore would prob have the goods on me

James- Bog stock. I took the aicon out cause it hadn't been re-gassed.. for weight reduction. Doing a service now. But problem came from nowhere. I only put premium in since I've had it. Have'nt been through a tank of fuel since I've owned it Don't really want to drive it like this and possibly do some damage.

Edited March 1, 2006 by Drift_Limo

[D-limo]

Where is the ecu?

Thought I may have fixed it with loosening a zip tie holding one of the return lines to the charcoal canister... Also replaced the fuel filter.. Took it for a run.. Exactly the same.. and just before it starts getting bad there is a bad sorta hot smell. Like in between exhaust and firecrackers ... Forgot to mention that

The exhaust isn't in the best of shape. Like big holes and dodgy patch up job... When I got her back and turned her off I went searching in the boot for the ecu and the boot was pretty damn hot. (no sound deadening etc) The exhaust was definatly hotter than it should be. And made the hot crinkling sound as well.

Looks like I'll be off to waste some money at a mechanic soon cause this is pissing me off..

What about dodgy oxy sensor?

[huddy]

tested your coilpacks / igniter pack?

[D-limo]

tested your coilpacks / igniter pack?

How to do this?

I just serviced my coil packs and they were in very good condition

Edited March 5, 2006 by Drift_Limo

[GTRNUR]

How exactly are you testing your vacuum lines are all connected properly?

There is quite a few there to check. The best place to check them is right next to the throttle body where they join onto the hard line that follows the cross pipe around past the turbo and toward the airbox.

Start the car and then kink each hose with a pair of plyers (gently) and see if there is a diference.

You may have also left a hose clamp un-done when putting it all back together previously too, so check they are all tight.

The only other thing I can think of has already been suggested... thats to check the MAF sensor. Its worth giving it a clean to be on the safe side too. There is a cleaning proceedure here somewhere on the forum... try a search.

[D-limo]

Ian I have'nt tested my vacuum lines... Problems started before I touched anything. I will test them using your method to be safe.

What is the best way to test Coil packs? Do RB20's have a seperate igniter pack? If so where is it located?

Cheers for the idea's people.

Edited March 6, 2006 by Drift_Limo

[huddy]

when car is idleing rough.. disconect coil pack - if rpm changes and runs rougher then you know that is ok... if you disconnet and no change - possible coilpack problem

i had a dodgy igniter pack in my car- and it was inconsistantly running good then bad - best way to test that is borrow another rb20det igniter pack and see if the problem continues...

[D-limo]

Sounds more likely to be the igniter pack due to the problem being very consistant... And after 15 mins of the engine running it's at the point where there's no way 1 or even 2 faulty coilpacks could be the culprit.

Where is the igniter pack?

[GTRNUR]

you need to unbolt the ignitor module and remove the 8 allen head bolts that hold the center plate on the rocker cover. That exposes the coils.

Follow teh above mentioned method of removing each plug from the coil once its started to miss and that will help you isolate the dead coil pack. Someone is selling coil packs cheap on ebay at the moment too so there's a quick way around your problem...

Cheers,

Ian

[D-limo]

So igniter pack/Coil pack are the same thing???

The way the engine is behaving I really doubt it to be one or multiple coil packs.. After 15 mins it's spluttering and almost at the point of stall.. Like the timing is way out. I will test them though.

THE SYMTOMS CONSISTANTLY GET WORSE FROM START UP... Just in case anyone missed it

And there's a suss exhaust/firecracker smell just before it starts to get bad (between 5-10 mins)

Cheers,

Jarryd

Edited March 6, 2006 by Drift_Limo

[GTRNUR]

So igniter pack/Coil pack are the same thing???

The way the engine is behaving I really doubt it to be one or multiple coil packs.. After 15 mins it's spluttering and almost at the point of stall.. Like the timing is way out. I will test them though.

THE SYMTOMS CONSISTANTLY GET WORSE FROM START UP... Just in case anyone missed it

And there's a suss exhaust/firecracker smell just before it starts to get bad (between 5-10 mins)

Cheers,

Jarryd

No the ignitor is a square shaped thing bolted with 4 bolts to the top of the rocker cover center plate next to the firewall.

Definatly sounds like coils.

[D-limo]

Checked the coil packs.. Their all fine.

Did the vacuum test on all the obvious lines.. Nothing. There are'nt any cracks on any of the lines, and are all attached properly.

-Do I have to swap with someone elses igniter module the only way to test mine?

-Should I disconnnect my oxy sensor? Has anyone heard a dodgy oxy sensor show these symptoms?

-Has anyone heard of a dodgy afm make an engine run worse from start up?

[GTRNUR]

Checked the coil packs.. Their all fine.

Did the vacuum test on all the obvious lines.. Nothing. There are'nt any cracks on any of the lines, and are all attached properly.

-Do I have to swap with someone elses igniter module the only way to test mine?

-Should I disconnnect my oxy sensor? Has anyone heard a dodgy oxy sensor show these symptoms?

-Has anyone heard of a dodgy afm make an engine run worse from start up?

So what your saying is that when you checked your coil packs you un-plugged the connector from the top of each coil and didn't notice ANY diference in how the engine ran? Sorry I doubt it. Here's the procedure in detail.

1. Remove the 4 screws that hold the ignitor module to the valve coil cover plate (the black plate on the rocker cover). Move the ignitor module to the side but leave it connected.

2. Ynbolt the hose clamps that hold the cross pipe in place and remove the two 10mm bolts. Remove the pipe. Then remove the 8 allen head bolts that hold the black plate on and finally remove the plate that covers the coil packs.

3. Put the cross pipe back in, reconnect all hoses and tighten clamps again.

4. Start the car. You said it gets worse as it warms up, so let it run till its running absolutely crap!

5. Press the release button on each coil pack clip and remove the plug from each of the 6 coil packs. If the engine runs even worse with the plug removed or stalls all together, then that coil pack is GOOD. If it doesn't run any worse with the plug removed, well the only possability is that that coil pack is dead.

Chances of the ignitor causing the problem is next to 0. If it starts its not dead. Disconnecting the oxygen sensor will make no diference to the car running at idle. For that matter you can even disconnect the MAF sensor and the ecu will run in limp home mode, but should still run ok, or at least well enough to do the test for the coil packs.

See how you go with that. Good luck!

Ian

Edited March 7, 2006 by GTST4Newbie

[D-limo]

I detached each coil plug from each spark plug (seperatly).. It ran roughly for 2-3 seconds (with each coil) then I geuss the ecu took over and noticed it was minus a cylinder and it reverted back to what seemed the same idle I started with.

P.S. I've done a pre-voc course in automotive engineering.. So I'm not completely automobile illiterate

[GTRNUR]

I detached each coil plug from each spark plug (seperatly).. It ran roughly for 2-3 seconds (with each coil) then I geuss the ecu took over and noticed it was minus a cylinder and it reverted back to what seemed the same idle I started with.

P.S. I've done a pre-voc course in automotive engineering.. So I'm not completely automobile illiterate

The ecu isn't able to detect if a cylinder is down or not and even if it could there is nothing it could do to sort out the problem. Don't rule out that you may have more than one faulty coil, and the coil fault can be intermittent too, so spend a bit of time testing each coil.

If your confident that you've eliminated the possability of faulty coil packs your onto checking out cylinder leak down and blow by. When you've got the plugs out check the plug gaps also. 0.7mm is whats recommended. There is a thread called spark plugs in the forced induction section thats worth a read too.

Sorry i didn't mean to be condercending before either, its just your previous comment "So igniter pack/Coil pack are the same thing???" had me wondering if you'd be better off taking the car to a professional.

Keep trying, nissans aren't that complicated. You'll nut it out in the end.

Cheers,

Ian