A Few Maintence Tips.. Need To Know With R33 Skylines

[horze]

hey guys .. misses just bought a r33 gts auto

i woudlnt let her buy a turbo or manual lol:P

me being not a huge fan of jap cars unlike her (please no fights:P)

im abit low on knowledge when it comes to the mechanical maintance of the skylines.. however i have a pretty good knowledge mechanically as i have done up my own cars (im into 25+ year old cars)

just need to know what

power steering fluid to use (i think its dexron 3 but i thought id ask)

what spark plugs you guys reccomend

what transmission fluid to use (i think its dexron 3 but i thought id ask)

and the guy she bought it of was using castriol magnatec.. do you guys reccomend keeping it on that...

personally i have used magnatec on my cars for temporary and running in ... and it aint too bad.. however i permanantly use penrite hpr30

but my cars are 25+ and are a totally different system than these

any help greatly appreciated

and to be honoust.. it aint too bad of a car...not my taste in looks but very fun car to drive.. so thumbs up for you guys i can see why you guys like em;)

thanx

Charlie

[Kujotk]

hahaha and thats the auto non turbo your talking about, the manual turbos are a whole different ball game so don't have a drive in one unless your financially prepared to buy one lol.

no idea about transmission and power steering fluid, dont think it really matters too much, auto transmission and power steering fluids are pretty much the same across the board so i cant see why skylines are different (dont quote me on that), but i have a manual so i dont know about auto trans oil on skylines and ive never had probs with power steering thus far...

I use NGK platinum, some people recommend iridium, but really in all honesty the good old copper NGK's will do the job just as well (unless the car is heavily moddified).

I dont use castrol at all, i think motor oil is the most importnat thing in any car.... I always use ELF semi or full synthetic, think i last used 10w40 last time, but either way i like elf and motul (even though i dont use motul) friends reccomend it

[Kujotk]

oh and if the fuel economy isnt getting over 450km/tank, clean the throttle boddy, do spark plugs, change the oxygen sensor (02 sensor), i put a $60 ford falcon ea 02 sensor in my gtst and my fuel economy went up from 250km/tank - over 450km/tank over night.

the genuwine nissan 02 sensor is about $200, less hassel though since it clips right in

[dkbcleaner]

Seriously you let your g/f buy a non turbo auto. Get some dick! If she can't handle the power than she shouldn't be on the road. I wouldn't say there powerful if it's stock. If she's a huge fan of jap cars at least let her experience what it's all about.

[SLY-25T]

  dkbcleaner said:

Seriously you let your g/f buy a non turbo auto. Get some dick! If she can't handle the power than she shouldn't be on the road. I wouldn't say there powerful if it's stock. If she's a huge fan of jap cars at least let her experience what it's all about.

A++ will read again. very helpful to OP.

[horze]

  dkbcleaner said:

Seriously you let your g/f buy a non turbo auto. Get some dick! If she can't handle the power than she shouldn't be on the road. I wouldn't say there powerful if it's stock. If she's a huge fan of jap cars at least let her experience what it's all about.

hold on.. i didint say the car is powerful .. when i meant the car isnt bad to drive... i meant the handling and "driving the car in general " i didint mention anything about power.. i own a very quick car i kno wat power is... .. and i dont feel comfortable with my misses driving a turbo manual when she dont know how to drive manual first of all ..... so next time before u post.. if u havnt got anything to say about the "topic" dont waste your time.....

Kujotk on the other hand

thanks for the info.. also i have a driven a r32 gtr.. quick cars for the price except its just not my style in looks..oh and sound:) every1 to there own taste i guess. i

she is gettin very bad fuel economy.. ive got some carby cleaner that i use for my cars.. ill put some of that down the throttle body and see if it improves

every 10k enough for oil changes ? or should i stick to 5k.. on mine i do before every 5 but she is only drivin once every month

[Kujotk]

carby cleaner wont make that much difference on its own, but combined with 02 sensor and new spark plugs and it'll get allot better.

Its a non turbo so every 10k is fine for motor oil, always better to do it earlier, but 10k should still be alright.

DKbcleaner stop being a bully, its the guys first posts lol

[Moodles2]

Dump the castrol magnatech for a better semi-synth, something in the $30 range like Pennzoil, Penrite etc. Motul Turbolight 4100 10w-40 is probably the most popular with street driven skyline owners.

Nissan specify their Matic D for auto gerboxes and powersteering, using Dexron 3 in the powersteering is fine, in the autobox you want the genuine fluid or something that meets Matic D specs.

If you're willing to change them every 5,000-10,000 km, NGK copper plugs are the way to go, gapped down to 0.8mm (done most of the time with turbo models to avoid missfiring), otherwise go with iridiums/platinums.

Other than that the engine & gearbox shouldn't really give you problems for awhile, for peace of mind it might be worth doing a 100,000km service (timing belt, water pump, idler & tensioner pulley, cam oil seals etc) if the service history is unknown (especially when the previous owner put magnashyte in)

[DaGr81]

id get the copper spark plugs because its a non turbo its one pipe to take off and easily changed. Clean the air filter or buy new air filter as well and the air flow meter can use a clean too

[GTR-N1]

GDay Charlie,

If the car is a recent import & you don't know its history, I'd change the coolant water with a good flush asap.

I'd hate for Jap water to still be stuck in there > rots out heater core, radiator yaddayadda

10,000Km (or 6 monthly) oil change is fine for that type of car. I use Elf Excellium like Tom, but Motul Turbolight is just as good.

And BTW, welcome to SAU!

[SilverECR33]

All good advice, Cant offer much more than already said, Just think like your own. just go with the cars recs. I went from v8s to this, aint that much difference in terms of maintence. Especially considering your Mrs' car is NA.

so Air, spark, fuel. and... go. and you should be good

[mad082]

before you go changing things like the o2 sensor to get better economy, check how long the car takes to come up to temp from a cold start, as well as how she is driving. the o2 sensor only works on light throttle so if she is giving it the beans everywhere then a new o2 sensor won't help at all. the car should come up to temp within about 2 or 3km of driving. if it is taking much longer then i would look at getting a new thermostat. go a genuine nissan one for that. if she is driving sedately and the car comes up to temp quickly then look at a new o2 sensor. you can check the o2 sensor with a multi-meter to see if it is working or not. i would also change the fuel filter just for piece of mind.

as for spark plugs, BCPR6ES11 are the way to go. if you get any misfiring then gap them down to 0.8mm. i wouldn't bother with wasting the extra money on platinums or iridiums. they don't last that much longer but are about 5 times the price. you certainly don't get 5 times the life out of them.

for the powersteering, any powersteering fluid should do the job.

[horze]

thanks to you all for the posts... everything i needed to know:)

ill get on to it this weekend.. i think ill stick to the copper plugs..after all its only n/a..

thanks for the welcome to boys:)

ill let you's know how it all goes

thanx for now:)

[horze]

  Moodles2 said:

Dump the castrol magnatech for a better semi-synth, something in the $30 range like Pennzoil, Penrite etc. Motul Turbolight 4100 10w-40 is probably the most popular with street driven skyline owners.

Nissan specify their Matic D for auto gerboxes and powersteering, using Dexron 3 in the powersteering is fine, in the autobox you want the genuine fluid or something that meets Matic D specs.

If you're willing to change them every 5,000-10,000 km, NGK copper plugs are the way to go, gapped down to 0.8mm (done most of the time with turbo models to avoid missfiring), otherwise go with iridiums/platinums.

Other than that the engine & gearbox shouldn't really give you problems for awhile, for peace of mind it might be worth doing a 100,000km service (timing belt, water pump, idler & tensioner pulley, cam oil seals etc) if the service history is unknown (especially when the previous owner put magnashyte in)

hey bud.. just checked up on the oil for her... found the motul turbolight 4100... found it quite expensive .. was about 60$... u sure i should stick to that for a n/a skyline? i know u all run that oil.... but im sure u guys running turbo aswell........did you mean the penrite might be alright.. or did u mean dump the 30$ oils completely.. sorry bud bit confused now ..

[Moodles2]

Go for the $30 range minimum, turbolight is usually $48.. i havent brought any oil in a while since repco had a 20% off all motul oils.

[W0rp3D]

  Kujotk said:

the genuwine nissan 02 sensor is about $200, less hassel though since it clips right in

Been on the forums long, if you have been you would have found a trader selling them for $80 not $200

  horze said:

hey bud.. just checked up on the oil for her... found the motul turbolight 4100... found it quite expensive .. was about 60$... u sure i should stick to that for a n/a skyline? i know u all run that oil.... but im sure u guys running turbo aswell........did you mean the penrite might be alright.. or did u mean dump the 30$ oils completely.. sorry bud bit confused now ..

I use hpr 30 in my turbo, will be fine for an atmo auto daily, personally i would only look at something like motul if it was doing a lot of track work or is heavily modified, you will find a lot of people around here will spend lots more than they need to because they are told "its the best you can get" (although they dont need something that good) or because it has a name brand sticker on it, same name brands are worth spending more on some are just wank factor.

[horze]

  W0rp3D said:

Been on the forums long, if you have been you would have found a trader selling them for $80 not $200

I use hpr 30 in my turbo, will be fine for an atmo auto daily, personally i would only look at something like motul if it was doing a lot of track work or is heavily modified, you will find a lot of people around here will spend lots more than they need to because they are told "its the best you can get" (although they dont need something that good) or because it has a name brand sticker on it, same name brands are worth spending more on some are just wank factor.

cool i think ill stick to penrite.. should i get hpr 30 which is 20w-60 or should i get hpr 15 which is 15w-60... cars has done about 180 000km

[W0rp3D]

  horze said:

cool i think ill stick to penrite.. should i get hpr 30 which is 20w-60 or should i get hpr 15 which is 15w-60... cars has done about 180 000km

Depends on the condition of the engine, my has done 210000 and is blowing a little bit of smoke at high revs, if yours is still running well and no smoke try 15, if it starts blowing smoke change to 30.

[GTR-N1]

Yep HPR15 to start with...

I used to use that on an Alfa Romeo 164Q (3litre 6cyl) and it did everything I asked of it for that engine.