Ka running rich and dying out randomly!

[bigdiesel13]

the car sometimes struggles to start unless i open the throttle and when it gets warm and after driving a bit it sometimes randomly will lose rpms and die.
Also when i accelerate my exhaust blows white smoke and you can smell gas and the mpg is horrible. What can this be?

[KRUKED]

Tune up. Is there a lot of back firing? Check ur lower o-rings on ur injectors

[KRUKED]

Also, u might want to get a new distributor cap and rotor.... or at least get the both of them checked out. That might be a, if not the, problem why ur dying out

[bigdiesel13]

Theres no backfiring, and yeah dizzy cap and rotor are going on this weekend hopefully that solves it, could an O2 sensor cause the running rich problem?

[KRUKED]

Didn't even cross my mind about the O2 sensor. Yes, that could be a/the problem. I just replaced mine because my ka-t was burning through a 1/4 of a tank from driving to work and home in one day..... largo to down town Tampa. Now after changing the O2 sensor, I'm just using an 8th of the tank for the round trip. Mpg got better but the fumes not so much. Could just be that i don't have a cat. delete gasket but that's besides the point. Advance and Auto Zone's price is a few cents apart for the Bosch O2 sensor. The price is right around $30.00

[bigdiesel13]

Yeah i researched my ass off and for the most part they all said o2 sensor can cause the mpg problem, but i couldnt find anything about the dying. But i have a stock ka that burns half a tank in about 160mi a week and gas isnt cheap lol
can't wait to go ka-t though
Thanks for all your help i'll get back to you and let you know if this solved the problem

[Empire]

it blows white smoke and runs like ass.... sounds like a blown head gasket to me.

[bigdiesel13]

idk about a blown head, the smoke is barely noticeable and isn't very thick and smells like im burning too much fuel, and the oil didn't have any coolant or gas in it.
Car doesn't run like ass, it picks up fine and and sounds good except for random shutting off.

[Empire]

the coolant/oil/fuel doesn't have to mix for the head gasket to be blown. It doesn't have to be totally toast for it to be blown either. A lot of times, they just give out in one spot, and leak some coolant into the cylinder. makes it hard to start and causes it to smoke.


are you running water or anti freeze or a mix of both for coolant?
-white smoke is typically coolant/anti freeze.
when you're running rich, the smoke is typically black.

When you get on it, does it break up? Notice any misses at higher RPMs?

have you pulled any codes yet?
-might not show a check engine light, but the ecu could still have codes in it.

tried a different kind of gas?
- since they started adding ethanol to the fuel, the odds of getting bad gas have gone way way way way way way up. ethanol holds water, so if their tanks suck or even if the gas sat in their tanks for a little while without getting mixed up, the ethanol separates out, so instead of e10, you get more like e30 or e40. I've tested some fuels when they first did the switch that had been as bad as e60. Don't really see that so much any more, but bad gas still is a problem.

tracked down any vacuum leaks?

how does it die? does it stumble to death and tries to hang on? or does it just randomly shut off? do the dash lights stay on (as in, does the ecu still have power) when it dies?

Have you changed the coolant temp sensor? that can cause hard starts and running rich (or even lean) if it goes bad.

Been able to check fuel pressure? how old is the pump?

When was the last tune up? What did that include?

Have you tested the throttle position sensor?

How do all of the grounds look?

When it shuts off, does it start right back up or does it give you a hard time? Does it try to start up, or does it just turn and turn and turn until it finally fires?

[Ashy-Larry]

Empire asks great stuff yeayea
i'll try to help a lil here...
I swapped this ka in b/c the one in it knocked BAD! It came from nizm0 Matt's car,test drove it b4 i bought it,he will vouch for it as it was auto and he used to drive his bone stock s14 just as a dd to work+home. It was swapped out for an sr not b/c it had probs.

It ran/idled great so it may be the bad gas or bad luck of one of the following you guys mentioned:
-headgasket
-o2(i advised it be changed)
-temp sensor(I advised to be changed)
-cap+rotor dont know mileage of them,etc...
-tps
-injector o rings
-It didnt have any vacuum leaks but anything is possible

it does smoke when you let it idle a while and then press the gas which obviously points to valve stem seals(Which i told,advised,even bought and gave to him)

It should have antifreeze/water mixture
Has brand new BKR5E's
Has brand new Felpro valve cover gaskets that leaked on the outside when i showed him the car. Has anyone ever had that happen? I torqued in sequence accordingly etc...wierd, never happened to me before ever.

I drove it around for like a week and a half and when i got back i would let it sit there and idle for 5-20 minute intervals to look around for any other leaks,noises,problems,etc...especially after I changed the front main. So no probs, no leaks whatsoever and it would sit there and idle perfectly,no temp issues,never ever died/stalled. It did miss a couple times but not bad and was not a problem. Sure hope you figure out the problem Richie, its a good car+motor.Let us know what you do and how it works/affects things.

I still need to come get that wing,lol,ill call you soon.

btw this should be in tech not lounge but tis fine

[bigdiesel13]

okay time to answer...
-i have coolant mixed with some water
-it doesn't break up at high rpms
-haven't pulled codes yet if the problem continues i will have to do that
-no i use regular gas
-i found 2 leaks which i bought new hoses for and they are fixed so no more leaks
-when it dies at idle the rpms go from 900-0 real quick not much of a stumble and idiot lights come on
-yes brand new coolant temp sensor
-i have not yet checked fuel pressure
-i have changed oil, coolant, oil filter, air filter, o2 sensor and dizzy cap+rotor went on just now so i haven't driven it since then so the problem may be fixed.
-grounds look good
-no i havent checked TPS yet

Julien yeah man it ran fine for the 1st week and a half, and i've changed everything little by little
i found that oil leak, it was coming from the connector on the top of the cover that runs a hose to the intake, idk what its called.
and i've never worked on the inside of an engine so i was a little sketched out by the valve stem seals.
But i'll have to bite the bullet and jump into it this weekend if she still has problems.
I'm not complaining about the car i just want to get her running nice again. So i hope its not the head gasket
yeah man come get it asap my parents want it out, they want me to sell it lol

[bigdiesel13]

okay just to keep anyone updated who cares...
With the new cap and rotor it starts better but it still dies
i took off the hose that runs from the top of the cover to the intake (off the intake side) and when the motor runs it blows white smoke out the hose, is this normal?

[Empire]

no, that's not normal.

maybe the PCV valve is just totally shot and that's causing the problem?

It happens in Z's. If the PCV isn't functioning, it will smoke like a bitch when you get it started.

But that doesn't really explain the random dieing.

either i'm missing something, or you're not getting any crankcase vacuum and that's causing problems... or, your valve seams are bad.

[bigdiesel13]

ohhh thats what its called pcv.
When i got the car it was leaking oil from the PCV valve and the pcv valve was barely sitting in there so i sealed it with a gasket so it would stay in there and not leak oil everywhere. But what's causing smoke to come from there and also i took the oil filler cap off to see what the oil looked like with the engine running and it was smoking and spitting oil, things are looking worse and worse everyday D:
i guess i gotta go get the codes read and get a compression test, i have NO idea whats causing this

[Empire]

the PCV valve is actually down lower.
that tube, forget what it is "officially" called, but it helps pull the blow by gasses out and back into the intake to be burned again.
The honda kids will put little breather filters on there because they think it makes them awesome.

the spitting oil part is normal.
the blowing air out is normal.
even a little bit of smokey steam looking stuff is normal (depends on the kind of oil you use)
but if it is like smoking smoking, then you have a problem

here's a little write up on the pcv valve.
1991-1993 240sx: PCV Removal Tutorial : Nissan Online Mechanic
can't remember if it is any good or not, I just scanned through it real quick.

without seeing it, i would say that beyond that, the valve seals need to be done.

actually, this one seems a little bit better as far as write ups go.
PCV Valve Replacement