Few Questions About My Rb20

[iruvyouskyrine]

Hey guys, first a bit of background information

'92 r32 gts-t

rb20det

175,xxx km

rb25 neo OP6 turbo running 14psi

3' straight through exhaust

Car has what i presumed was a standard ECU, as when i put the stright pipes in there would be some black smoke coming on to boost. I know there is more than with a standard cat back, but there did seem to be a lot. Buuuut, the car has no problem revving out to 8300-8500 revs, and i thought the stock rb20det limiter was 7750?

Have had the car for about 5 months now and has started giving me no major trouble until this past week. Go back about 2 months ago and i was travelling home from tailem bend, had done about 150 k's and then all of a sudden it dropped a cylinder, sounded like a WRX etc. Pulled over and had a look under the bonnet, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. It was about a 41 degree day and i have hear some stories of the ignitor overheating so i though i would let it cool down and see how it goes. Went into the pub and had a drink, come back out and it was fine for the other 400k's. Just thought it was a one off thing and ignored it.

Now come last week i was just driving around town and it did it again. left it overnight and it was fine, then the next day did it again, so i started investigating. Borrowed an ignitor from my mate and it was still missing so ruled that out. borrowed 5 of his coilpacks and left one of mine in to try and find out which coilpack it was. thought i had it narrowed down to my #4 coilpack, so completely taped it up in electrical tape and thought it solved it, but now a week later it is still missing, and i am still using my taped coilpack plus my mates coilpacks i know are 100% working. Any ideas on what else it could be, maybe a shit plug from running rich?

Also another problem which i think should be my main concern >.<

The car blows copious amounts of white smoke. Like, shittones. When you lift off from high revs/on boost plumes of white smoke come out the exhaust, it looks like you are doing a dirty big skid. Also does this when you hit the rev limiter. The dipstick often comes out of its tube as well when you are thrashing it. So after a bit of reading i am thinking one of the piston rings may be f**ked? The compressed fuel/air in the cylinder is leaking pas the piston ring and blowing the dipstick out? Could that have somehting to do with the white smoke as well? That's about the only explanation i can give, hopefully you guys can help some more (:

Thanks guys!

[Hanaldo]

White smoke means burning coolant.

Would start with a compression test.

[poo32]

Sounds like ya might have done ya head gasket, my old ca did the exact same thing, check ya over flow bottle for exhaust fumes

[Wheezy]

Take the breather hoses off the cam covers and vent to atmosphere. Could just be a dead PCV, blown turbo seal etc.

Probably worth doing a compression test and a leak down test if you can arrange one.

[iruvyouskyrine]

Yep was going to do a compression test this weekend and see what the results were, and if one was down do a leakdown test to see what the problem is, headgasket, rings etc.

Hopefully it is just a headgasket

[Adriano]

White smoke can be turbo seals, which can be caused by blowby

[toffy]

Sounds like you were right mate , melted piston by your description. Pull the spark plugs out and have a look , get a cheap compression tester from burson or where ever and test it

[GTSBoy]

One other thing. Whilst I agree with the possibility of the various mechanical problems, as they are likely causes of your issue......Don't assume that taping up a coil will stop it missing. If it's old and shit enough to miss without tape, it can be old and shit enough to miss even when taped up. An R32 that is revving that high with an OP6 turbo on it is placing quite a lot of load on the coils. A lot for tired old RB20 coils, anyway. You might as well find a Neo motor to go with your turbo. It will be better value than fixing the RB20 anyway. You're going to need to buy Splitfires either way!

cheers

[Bsa]

But saying that it's 2 g rather then 700 bucks

[Lukez32]

have you put new plugs in it lately?

as for the smoke id say its fried rings-with it having blowby.

[GTSBoy]

But saying that it's 2 g rather then 700 bucks

Well, actually, as it turns out, it's a lot more money than that for dropping in a Neo if you want to do it correctly. Even trivial things like a new oxy sensor set you back upwards of $150 ($220 genuine I think). Plus you'd always be mad not to put new belts and and various other things onto the engine while it's not in the car. And the work to do the conversion, wiring, tailshaft etc, can add heaps of $$ depending on how it's done. Another $1000+ for a gearbox.

But even if it all adds up to $6000, it's still better value than spending ANY money on a broken RB20.

[Bsa]

Yeah I was just thinking the cheap way buy a neo and drop it in using all the 20 gear but yeah. Some people are happy with there rb20s

[Roy]

First things first...keep it simple and replace the coil packs with some new ones. The miss coming and going is the coil packs. Very common, mine did it for about 2 years until I got sick of the random nature of it and threw in new Splitfires. RB20s take the same coil packs as RB26 so shop around for whatever new replacement ones you can find.

Maybe these

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/topic/297703-yellow-jackets-coil-packs-best-price-world-wide/

Throw some new spark plugs whilst you are at it. Gap them down to 0.8mm. Then at least you will have a decent baseline. Next time you get a miss just remove the plug from the back of each coil pack whilst the engine is idling. If the miss gets worse its not that cylinder. If the miss stays the same with a particular plug removed then you know thats the offending cylinder.

As for the smoke. Are you using oil? Do you run a catch can setup and is the factory PCV valve still plumbed into the rocker cover and turbo inlet? Is it smokey at idle or with a quick punch of the accelerator to 2k or so? Or is it only after load/boost and lift off?

Also, do you run a boost gauge and do you know the boost its running? Have you pulled the kick panel off to see if the ECU has any stickers and things on it or other signs it has been tampered with...if so by who?

I suggest you get a mechanic you trust to look at it if you cant diagnose bits yourself. Last thing you want to do is put an RB25 or another engine in it and find you have the exact same problem because you are re-suign shitty old coil packs that overheat and short out and the same R34 turbo that is shagged.....oops, nothing wrong with the old engine I just paid good money to remove

Check the basics....Nissan enginers are just fancy Datsuns, they make noise, bits fall of them...but with bacically std power they take a lot of abuse...so usually all the bolt ons that age and fail...not the engine. USUALLY

[HYBR3D]

wholly!! 8500 rpm, talking about raping lol!! got cams????

[Roy]

RB20s loves the revs, this is 8,800rpm limiter with std cams

And the engine is out of an unloved 89 Laurel or something and been in my car for 60,000kms of thrashing

[Bsa]

I used to take mine to 8500 loved it hard motor to kill

[HYBR3D]

I know rb's love the revs but on standard cams I thought otherwise. I've set my one to 7000 limit haha until the next tune anyways.

[Bsa]

Rb20 small bore short stroke love to rev they need it to make power

[Bl4cK32]

But even if it all adds up to $6000, it's still better value than spending ANY money on a broken RB20.

$6K vs $850 to get an rb20 bottom end reco'd....yeah thats similar.

[GTSBoy]

I didn't say it was similar....just that it was better value. I've said it before, no doubt I'll say it again. Any money spent on an RB20 is wasted money. In all the years I had an RB20 in my car I never once spent a cent on anything for the engine that couldn't be used on an RB25 (except Splitfires, but they can be sold on). If I had ever had to open the engine for anything more than a headgasket I would have pitched it for a 25. Why many spend hundreds or a couple thousand on rebuilding (or building) an RB20, when that money gets you a good portion of the way to a 25? It just doesn't make sense to put money into a torqueless little thing like a 20.