i know its not a nissan but theres no one in the "other" make section and i need answers quickfastlike from eole i know have brains. so take a look at this ost and lemme know what you think.

https://www.tamparacing.com/forums/o...ml#post8589393

 

Sounds like its got some sort of vacuum leak Or perhaps the throttle position sensor, even a coolant temp sensor issue. Smoke could be a possible rich condition...what does it smell like? A head gasket, is a head gasket, is a head gasket...symptoms for all cars are essentially the same. Have you run a compression test yet?

I'm no pro...but those are a few things that come to mind for me. Next???

-Royce

 

that smells like a blown headgasket all over the place...

not sure why you did all of the other things first if it was smoking white smoke like that...

any particular reason?
If a car is idling like crap, then you need to make sure each cylinder is firing the way it is supposed to before moving on to things like MAF sensors.
There are basics that you have to go through.
air
fuel
spark
compression
timing

The car will tell you where you should start.
Chances are, if it is idling, and generally running like crap, then you are getting smoke.
Sooty, black smoke indicates way too much fuel.
A darker, grayish, blueish smoke says you are burning oil. A note on that, with the way modern oils are, it is possible to be burning oil and not smoking. Mobil 1 for instance doesn't smoke. Most other synthetics barely smoke. (if you get an injector that is stuck open, just dumping fuel, you'll get a gray smoke, but it will smell like a blown up gas station. Its pretty identifiable)
If it is white smoke, then you are burning coolant. Antifreeze will dump smoke like a bitch. However, if you are full of mostly water, you'll barely get any smoke at all. Water just steams, but the steam collects on the exhaust and drips out the tail pipe. This takes a significant amount of time to gather up enough water to get out the tail pipe.

If you have an exhaust that smells a lot like fuel, then start with spark.
If it is oil, then check the common oil things, like spark plug oil seals.
If it is coolant, then it is more than likely a head gasket.

If you can't narrow it down that way, then it is decently safe to assume that you have air. So move on to the other things.
Start with Spark as it is the easiest. You don't need to throw parts at it. The quickest way to tell is if you pull each one out at a time and ground it to the chassis so you can see the spark.
Got spark?
move to fuel.
If it is possible, pull the injectors out so you can see for yourself that they are spraying fuel.
You can ohm test and injector and it tests to be good, but doesn't actually spray. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. Then check fuel pressure. You won't be able to "eye ball" if it is enough fuel. Ohm test to see if they test right.
At this point, you have everything apart and the engine should be getting hot, so you're not too far off from being able to do a good compression test.
get that done. That will help confirm, or rule out things like blown head gasket.
If everything up to this point is good, and it compression tests to be good. (note to that, it needs to be even. Much more than +/- 5 and it won't run well, however, if "spec" says 180, it will still start and run even if they all read 80. It'll be slow, and probably smoke, but it will start and run)
Then go over the timing. Disconnect the appropriate sensors and hit it with a timing light and see what happens. It "should" show you the right timing. Then plug those sensors back in and do it again. That will help you figure out what the ecu is trying to do to "fix" the problem.
If all of that is good, then it has to be a sensor. Too much, or not enough fuel, then that would be coolant temp. if the spark time does weird things, like retard 10 plus degrees, then look to coolant temp and or knock sensor. check the MAF/MAP then check the O2 sensors.


Sorry for the long ass rant, but from your other post, it sounded like you just starts shot gunning parts at it with little to no rhyme or reason. That typically doesn't solve the problem and ends up costing a crap load.
There is a "right way" to diagnose something and a wrong way. Blindly guessing is the wrong way.
Figure out what the problem is. What symptoms do you see. Then figure out what could cause those symptoms. Then start with the most likely and work your way through.
Don't go from spark plug wires to the MAF "just cuz"

 

and you guys should be nice enough to let us know what the issue was too... at least. I know I for one will be curious to find out what it is.

 

thanks alot empire, your a life saver. i just sterted this job and my boss is a tard. he hires me and exects me to be the angel that swoos in and instantly fixes every car that comes in broken. this car has been sitting in his shop for months before i came along and he wanted me to diagnose it. i started with the air, and came to th conclusion that the maf was fine... then my boss walks into the garage with a new maf and tells me to put it on.... so i gave him a O.o face... and put it on then moved on. spark was next, pulled em out and grounded them and they were all fine. boss walks in again with new spark plug cables, i just the owner purchased them and wanted me to put them on, so on they go. then i started walking around vacuume testing shit and my boss walked in and got all pissed telling me "its not a vacuume leak your wasting time, get to work, you take forever." once again O.o face. so i stopped checking for a vacuume leak even though i hadnt finished, and he wanted me to move the car out to do a quick oil change on another car, so i did, started right u and stutterd itself to a parking spot with no smoke. came out after to bring the car back in, startd it up and it would idol for a second and die... then again... and again. so i told my boss.... what does he do? gets in it, floors the gas, starts it and peals ass into the garage and throws the keys at me. O.o face, but when he did that it spewd white smoke, or vapor? since then its been sitting on a car lift and my boss complains about it every morning. By the way we are talking about a boss that continualy started a jaguar over and over when i told him i think the timing chain tensioner broke then i oen the valve cover and its broken as fuuuuh, and my boss also filled a merc's oil with transmission fluid.... -.- so hes not too bright. he just expcts me to be AWESOME! i can tell you where i work though incase it gets back to him but... holy shit. lol.

thanks again guys, ill check it all out again and let my boss know what i find... thus assuming he dosnt run out here while im running a compression test and tell me im doing it all wrong. -.-

 

by the way. sorry for all the spelling errors. they keyboard on that laptop is crapola. ill let you guys know what was wrong when i get around to finishing it off.

 

yeah, he sounds like a real winner.

I take it, it isn't throwing any codes?
It just dawned on me that it is a 97, therefore obd2. when was the last time this thing was on a scanner?
Make that happen and report your findings.

If at all possible, get it to run for a little while so it gets hot before you compression test.

What is the longest you have been able to get it to run?

When you give it gas, does it smooth out, or is it still missing like a bitch?

double check the oil and coolant and see if there is any mixing going on

get one of those little head gasket tester things that you put on your radiator and see what that tells you. Its kind of old school, but it might be easier/faster than doing a compression test if the gasket is blown.

Since it is white smoke, I'm betting money on it being a coolant problem.
I would bet it is a head gasket, but I wouldn't rule out any of the other coolant passages either. Could be leaking coolant into manifold.

Try to narrow it down to see if it is a particular cylinder(s) or if it is random, all over the place. Just simply pulling the spark wire one at a time to see which one doesn't change anything will help narrow it down to where the problem is.

get all that and report back.

 

oh, and you'll probably want to copy all of this and put it into a thread in the lounge just in case the nissan tech nazi's deem this not nissan tech related and delete it.

 

"oh, and you'll probably want to copy all of this and put it into a thread in the lounge just in case the nissan tech nazi's deem this not nissan tech related and delete it." Alright.

The check engine light isnt on, but i can hook it up to the computer regardless.

when it revs it revs smooth but goes back down till it near stalls or just stalls.

a couple of days ago i could have let it idol till it was at op temp but im not sure itl run long enough now after my boss raped it at full chatt across the parking lot to get it into the garage.

Ill test all this out tomorrow at work and roll the laptop up to the car so i can reportback as soon as stuff happens so i don't forget anything.

this damn car has me stumpped but hopefuly you have cracked the code. lol.

And ill get a pay raise!!!!!

Aww yea.

 

Yeah, since it smoking, I keep coming back to blown head gasket.
Wish I was there when it first started doing it.
In 300zx's, if the PCV valve is installed backwards, it will run really bad and smoke. but I doubt that applies to this car.

Add checking the fuel injectors to your list. You ought to be able to ohm test them still in the car, but in a perfect world, you would take each one out so you could see it spray.

This thing's been bothering me all evening and it isn't even my car. lol.