Ah okay, thanks for that. Btw, would you know where the PCV valve is located as well? I should might as well try changing that out too.3Q Jay wrote: ↑Sat Feb 04, 2023 7:03 amnot a drain plug. I believe that is the hex head for a tensioner pulley adjustment, covered in grime.
I see no harm in power washing a lot of this stuff. Just avoid getting electrical connectors wet. I like working on clean cars, but some people like getting greasy.
Looked thru my photos, but I don't see any of the detailed EGR cleaning exercise. the EGR valve comes off the upper plenum with two nuts as you know. on the intake side of that interface, there is a further removable tube (with the upper intake off) that goes inside the plenum and distributes the EGR gasses. That will be ugly as sin when you take it out.
I think I've located them. I'll post pictures when I get chance. Thanks for your replies lately and help. Couple more things I'm trying to figure out; what is this in the picture? It is heavily saturate in what it seems to be oil
Can you update us on the status of your car?ItsBry wrote: ↑Tue Feb 07, 2023 11:31 pmYeah planning to clean the engine bay up this weekend.
The car isn't losing coolant anymore but there is still white smoke on start up.
Especially on start up - rough idling, car jerks, smell of fuel/oil. Leaves a bit of a puddle overnight but I can't tell what it is. Oil level still good for now as well. But after warming up, the car feels fine and the white smoke goes away.
Fuel economy is totally garbage right now though, what is the culprit of that?
Awesome! Thank you for the reply98_Q45 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 16, 2023 12:51 amLate to this but:
I’m most familiar with all you mentioned. At over 300,000 miles: I have gotten my idle down to 625/650 and mpg at around 18-24 depending on traffic, heavy acceleration and a/c usage(could be better driving 65 versus 75-80, but older cars back then only had to be efficient enough for 65 mph and $1.00 gas lol, unlike this f**king foolishness of $3 and $4 and $5 gas today. It really makes your fuel economy look worse) I’ll say there’s a few things to look at that I had to contend with:
As for fuel mileage: the Q isn’t particular “efficient” even with everything I’ve done, but once you do it…it’ll make a big difference. What did so far fuel/idle related:
Spark plugs/boots
Later did coils chasing a hesitation issue
Injectors (not fun: other option is fuel injector cleaner but won’t fix leaking injectors)
Fuel filter
Both Fuel regulators (only because was having hard start issues)
Intake plenum gasket (was giving dancing idling issues and horrible vacuum leak/cold stall issues)
Throttle body cleaning
Once you do those, guaranteed gas mileage improvement. Of course, when the plenum is off, you can access most all of those. In my case, I was moreso chasing down and throwing parts at things, but it paid off because I was fixing and finding things that needed to be fixed anyway (like the intake gasket solved my crappy idle that I or other mechanics couldn’t figure out for years).
As for the valve cover, I would say it’s not “hard” because it’s straight forward, but it’s not easy either. Even after I replaced mine, it was seeping again it seemed. I ended up buying some permeatex spray n seal and put it all around. And high mileage oil/bars stop leak stuff will help rejuvenate the seals on the inside as well. I even noticed my spark plug seals had stopped leaking once I gave it a high mileage oil change AND drove it for awhile.
I wouldn’t worry about the knock sensor: I had that code as well, when in reality it was my bad coils causing it to trigger knock code.
I also regularly give my engine a good medium pressure hose down every oil change at least (at the car wash followed with spot free, don’t use regular garden hose water because it may rust things up and doesn’t give sharp enough stream to power off the grime). I cover up the battery and alternator and air intake, then just go ham lol. But not more than a couple minutes. Start up and drive for a bit to steam everything off. Never hurt anything. My Q engine gets quite dirty if left to its own too long. Last owners never cleaned anything and there was so much gunk couldn’t see anything. Sound of the wet fan clutch belt slipping, is a bit scary for a second though.
Currently tackling these fixes, will report back!PalmerWMD wrote: ↑Sun Apr 16, 2023 8:52 amCan you update us on the status of your car?ItsBry wrote: ↑Tue Feb 07, 2023 11:31 pmYeah planning to clean the engine bay up this weekend.
The car isn't losing coolant anymore but there is still white smoke on start up.
Especially on start up - rough idling, car jerks, smell of fuel/oil. Leaves a bit of a puddle overnight but I can't tell what it is. Oil level still good for now as well. But after warming up, the car feels fine and the white smoke goes away.
Fuel economy is totally garbage right now though, what is the culprit of that?
Oh shoot I did not know there are color coded, I atleast distinguished "driver's" and "passenger's" side lol, where is that marked? This is the ignition coil right?VStar650CL wrote: ↑Tue May 16, 2023 7:25 pmDid you maybe get a pair of coils swapped? The colors on the triggers should be:
1 - Yellow/Red
3 - Gray
5 - Gray/Red
7 - Blue/Red
2 - Red/Blue
4 - White/Red
6 - Purple/White
8 - Green/Red
If you're planning to keep your Q45 you'd better get good at sourcing parts, because most of the factory parts are discontinued in the US through Infiniti dealers, and there isn't a lot of aftermarket available. If you're needing a part with no aftermarket options your best bet is to look up the Nissan part number on any of the online dealer parts websites or https://nissan.epc-data.com then Google the part number to find out where it's available. Amayama.com can still get a lot of the OEM parts for our cars from Japan but they're not cheap.