hardbody sputtering please help....

[wikitim]

Hello, thanks for looking I could really use some good advice. I have a Nissan d21 4x4, z24, 5 speed. About 4 months ago a purchased a full tune up, plugs, wires, gas filter, distributor cap, the whole 9, and shortly followed that up with an oil change and new air filter. Since the tune up it has gradually started to sputter more and more. Now it seems to idle fine and doesn't sputter in neutral but it bogs down as soon as I put it in gear and hit the gas. Sometimes it would stop sputtering and run great when I put water in the coolant res, so i replaced a radiator hose which was dry-rotted anyway and flushed the radiator. Now this is interesting. I flushed a lot of mud out of the radiator and the block and it was definitely mud and not oil mixed with coolant. So i put it all back together and test drove it. The sputtering stopped completely and it started over heating and the heater stopped working, so i flushed it again and now I'm back to square 1, heat works, motor stays cool, but sputters like crazy when driving in gear.
Any advice you can give me will be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Tim

[seang]

Good thing you got the mud out of the cooling system, from what I have seen these little trucks are among the most neglected vehicles in existence. This is probably because, in some cases, proper maintenance exceeds the entry price.

What I am wondering is the thermostatic heat riser staying open after the engine warms up? If you don't know what this is, it is the tube that runs up to the intake that routes warmer air from around the exhaust manifold to help the engine reach operating temperature faster and to help reduce cold-start emissions. There is a vacuum controlled solenoid/flap that, if it stayed open, would have the engine pulling hot air even after warm-up. There is a check procedure in the service manual, which is downloadable in PDF format free to Nico members. The EGR is another thing that is easy to check, as well as all the vacuum lines.

[wikitim]

oh yeah i forgot to include that i replaced the thermostat the second time i flushed it. i have new vacume lines and a pcv valve to put in too just havent gotten around to it yet. I'll check out your suggestions though, thanks a lot. i have a week off of work to get it running straight and i really hope i can.

[Scottnbarbi]

Hey, I'm pretty new here so I don't know my way around. Where would I have to go to download the service manual? My '95 Hardbody runs like S*** and I am tired of paying people to throw parts at the problem.

[Rev_D21]

http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM for Service Manuals.

[Scottnbarbi]

Thanks Reverend D21.

[tiggyr1999]

I have a 97 hardbody xe with a ka24e engine and have had problems with it idling rough when still and its only once it warms up and it doesnt do it all the time It was kicking a downstream oxy sensor code and a intake air temp sensor code replaced both of them cleared the codes and 100 mile later cel on again now its throwing codes p1130 swirl control valve solenoid, p0500 speed sensor( I know what the problem there is) and p0110 intake air temp sensor ( again) I dont want to kep replacing sensors and crap in this truck and am brainstorming for ideas anyone got any?