Please help!! Gas in the oil?!?!

[CandaceH326]

Hi guys, I have a 1987 v6 that my father gave me. Told me the ECU has gotten wet and that all I had to do was replace it. Things are never that easy though....the truck had been sitting up the 6 months prior to him giving me the truck. My husband and I replaced the ECU, air filter, main hoses, and made sure the gas tank is clean and the gas coming out is clean. Tried to crank the truck..... It turned over but wouldn't start. We can hear the fuel pump priming prior to cranking so we don't think there is an issue there. We have managed to get the truck to start a couple of times when he pours gas directly into the throttle body. It would start and run just for a few seconds before back firing through the carb and dying. We tried to pull it offand it started that way as well but still didn't run but just fora moment. When it did run there were giant clouds of white smoke, so much that fromadistance I thought the truck was on fire. We went in and changed the spark plugs and wires, the distributor cap , and the rotor. The dist. cap did have a couple of hairline cracks. We also replaced the throttle body position sensor at this time. Still nothing. My husband went back to double check the oil and it smelled like straight gas. Changed oil and oil filter this morning. Now every time we try to crank it still nothing but he can hear the gas damn near getting dumped into the oil!! He also said that when he replaced the distributor cap he noticed that the distributor was very loose so maybe that's part of the problem.

Can someone please advise me as to what the problem may be?? The truck ran perfectly fine prior to the ECU getting wet and ran fine the few times we did get it going. No horrible sounds or anything. .. Please help point us in the right direction.....

[Adverse Effects]

first is it a carb OR a throttle body

nest has he done a compression test

next disconnect the fuel pump and see if you still "hear the gas damn near getting dumped into the oil!!" dont quite know how you could hear that through all that cast iron but anything is posable

[CandaceH326]

Throttle body, no compression test has been done. I don't know what that is, can you explain it?

[Q451990]

How is fuel distributed on your truck... individual injectors? If it's side feed injectors, I would suspect a bad lower injector o-ring. You can check out the FSM at http://www.nissanservicemanual.com to see if yours has the same set-up.

[Desert Rat]

White smoke suggests to me water in the oil, possibly a blown head gasket.

Check the oil....look for water beads in the oil on the dipstick. Also pull some of the plugs. Are they wet? Fouled? If the plugs are wet, that means it's likely getting flooded, and yes, you'll get some gas in the oil. It doesn't take much to get the oil smelling like gasoline.

[CandaceH326]

Top injectors and no water, plugs are good. My husband said that he can hear the injectors turning on when he moved the distributor to work on the timing. Is that normal? Also the distributor was sooo loose he can literally turn it all the way around.

[nalz]

I would also check that the fuel pressure regulator has not ruptured its diaphragm and is gushing gasoline straight into the intake manifold (and engine). It's an easy check, just find the regulator at the rear of the intake manifold and pull of the rubber vacuum hose off of it, crank engine for a second or two and see if fuel squirts out (bad regulator), or if there's no discharge of any kind (diaphragm is intact). The regulators are normally very long-lived, but this one is nearly 30years old, and has endured the stress of a few backfires, so its worth a check.

[Desert Rat]

You said the distributor has issues....that would do it....could be the timing is so far off that it's just dumping fuel and the compression cycle is off and you're not firing.

[CandaceH326]

You said the distributor has issues....that would do it....could be the timing is so far off that it's just dumping fuel and the compression cycle is off and you're not firing.

My husband said he thinks that you are on to something!! Lol The distributor is very loose and when he turns the distributor he can hear the injectors kicking on and off (when the switch is on).


When we turn the truck off after trying to crank it we can hear something still pumping or leaking fuel through to the intake. Ran the diagnostics on the computer and got a code 13 which is the cylinder head/water temperature sensor circuit and also got a code 43, which is the throttle sensor circuit, if I studied up correctly on the VG30i (which I am sure is what's in my truck). I did video the diagnostic test in case maybe my conclusions should be checked. I am not opposed to that since I have never done it before. We did just replace the TPS, is that the same as a throttle sensor circuit?? Is any of this making sense??

[CandaceH326]

I would also check that the fuel pressure regulator has not ruptured its diaphragm and is gushing gasoline straight into the intake manifold (and engine). It's an easy check, just find the regulator at the rear of the intake manifold and pull of the rubber vacuum hose off of it, crank engine for a second or two and see if fuel squirts out (bad regulator), or if there's no discharge of any kind (diaphragm is intact). The regulators are normally very long-lived, but this one is nearly 30years old, and has endured the stress of a few backfires, so its worth a check.

My dad recommended something similar. He told us to take the fuel regulator vacuum hose off and seeing if a had a strong gas smell. That if it did then that was the problem. We tried that but it did not have a very strong gas odor...nothing that would seem out of the ordinary any way.

As of today.... When we turn the truck off after trying to crank it we can hear something still pumping or leaking fuel through to the intake. Ran the diagnostics on the computer and got a code 13 which is the cylinder head/water temperature sensor circuit and also got a code 43, which is the throttle sensor circuit, if I studied up correctly on the VG30i (which I am sure is what's in my truck). I did video the diagnostic test in case anyone thinks maybe my conclusions should be checked. I am not opposed to that since I have never done it before. We did just replace the TPS, is that the same as a throttle sensor circuit?? Is any of this making sense??

[CandaceH326]

How is fuel distributed on your truck... individual injectors? If it's side feed injectors, I would suspect a bad lower injector o-ring. You can check out the FSM at http://www.nissanservicemanual.com to see if yours has the same set-up.

Throttle body, top injectors.