pretty lousy powerband,

[ka24dave]

i have noticed since i got my s13 it has a pretty boggy powerband until about 4k rpms, then it kinda puts ya back a bit, then stays strong thru 6k. is this normal for a ka24de?

[DjPantsSpecR]

no, it sounds liek you ahve a bad coolant temp sensor.

its like 56 bucks max from nissan, and its the red connector on the upper intake manifold.

[ka24dave]

coolant temp sensor on the upper intake manifold? i understand what your saying tho, if it is telling the ecu that it is running hot, thus it could tell the ecu to burn rich to lower cylinder temps, but my take on that is that is VERY unlikely that a 91 ecu would use that stategy to lower temps. but anyone else got any more realistic ideas? (as of right now im leaning twards it may have sum sorta cams in it, as i dunno what all it had internally when i bought it)

[dark_munchkin]

timing maybe? its a freakin' 4 banger, its not gonna do much down low imo.

[Jiggyfry]

coolant temp sensor. +2.

[ka24dave]

timing maybe? its a freakin' 4 banger, its not gonna do much down low imo.

yeah no ****, its just unusually peaky for a n/a 4

[neverlift]

man listen to the wise. if you dont want to buy a new sensor then check yours. That is the first and only thing I thought of when I first read this. It is more likely to be a bad cts that is actually making you lose power across the board as high as 30hp. This has been dyno tested IIRC, the cts plays vital role in fueling and timing which would kill your power band and make it feel peaky as you described, while a cam would gain power.

[ka24dave]

well im damn sure know i am not slower than a normal s13 w a ka24de. and i am almost positive it isnt the cts. i didnt say that i wont listen to your opinions its just hard for you to see and feel what i am with my vehicle. as of today i am leaning more into cams, which i plan on opening her up this weekend to find out for sure.

**i know it isnt slower that a typical s13 cuz i handled an is300 the other day and nearly hung with him.

[rsmithdrift]

You'd be surpised dude.

Bad CTS feels like a your KA has a V-Tech in it and it's a simple and inexpensive fix and it goes out alot.

Also your 02 maybe if it's never been replaced is likely bad and making your car run rich at low rpm/partial throttle and KILLING your MPG if that's the case.

Or your timing is advanced......

My car runs random right now, but when everything was PERFECT on it a few months ago it pulled hard from 3.5k and gained power all the way to 6k and fell on it's face at 6.5k

I also run 25* timing advance and run 93 octane

Right now there's no telling one pull to the next where my powerband will be because I have a bad ground somewhere.....

[ka24dave]

yeah, well i tried replacing the cts and that didnt work. so trial and error i guess. helped a bit, but not at what it was when i first got it. i figure i just need one good day at a lift (for a more thorough examination) and a night full of wrenching to make her all better

anyone else have crappy lower ball joints / tie rod ends like me?? approximate cost of new parts?

[dark_munchkin]

I have crappy suspension in general. 200k stock suspension ftw! 4 blown shocks, crappy bushings, etc. I need to do a compression test and replace a bunch of ****, going thru 2.5 qts every 1.5-2k miles probably isnt good .

What all does your car have done to it? I doubt its cammed though, unless someone did a 248/248 swap. But ya never know. Mine doesnt really pull (if you can call no power pulling lol) until 3.5k and falls on its face after 6k (could be the extreme richness as well), but seeing as I don't really drive a whole lot under 3.5k it doesn't bother me. Have you checked timing?

[ka24dave]

i have only had the car for a few weeks, it has a drag clutch ( what kind, i have no idea.) lsd, cone air filter, some wierd kinda exhaust (looks like a magnaflow or summin one would buy out of a jegs mag lol) it pulls from 3200rpm farily well, i havent the balls to go past 6100rpm. it also is totally gutted out. when i bought it it didnt even have the radio. (nor the wiring for it) i want to get it weighed badly but cant find the time to do it

**and i must add, with 191k on the clock and given the significant weight reduction, she goes quick, hoping to give it the 1/4 mile run at the bradenton drag strip here in fl on the 24th
Modified by ka24dave at 6:19 PM 11/9/2006

[dark_munchkin]

I had a friend attempt to drift it while it was raining in a parking lot. He couldn't seem to realize that open-dif + WOT does not necessarily mean mad dorifto lol. He bounced it off the limiter for atleast a minute. Good thing the SOB surrived. I'd gut my running one but my FC looked like **** on the inside bc it was gutted, ~250whp + ~2500lbs (both estimates, it was untuned and spiking up to 20psi on a small *** turbo) was fun as **** though. Sounds like the stock powerband though imo, like I said, 4cyl lol.

[ka24dave]

ouch. well i plan on not messing with my motor now (as it is my daily driver too) until i get enough for a swap. but yeah, she runs hard when i punch it. although i try not too often. i am trying to find CF parts but i cant seem to find any s13 hoods other than O.E. style garbage. i also cant find the 300zx style headlights ( sleepy eyes are too played out IMO, and i dont wanna do the silvia front conv.) have you run across any of the stuff im lookin for? (mine's a coupe also, which i havent even heard of a CF trunk for a coupe s13 being made at all)

[dark_munchkin]

look at some of the big sites, ie phase2, enjuku, etc. for CF pieces. I'm pretty sure Seibon makes CF trunks.

I've abused the piss out of this car, these things take a beating lol.

[ka24dave]

can you give me some actual links plz? and also one for a headlight conversion ( like the 300zx lights)

[dark_munchkin]

see the banners off to the right? click those, or go to marketplace i think. ive never seen a Z32 conversion before, i think it'd look hideous imo, but then again nissan did make the kouki and those things are fugly.

[ka24dave]

LOL. very true. damn those cf parts i want are expensive as ****.

[lbrowne]

Are there obvious signs of the CTS being bad? Or an easy way to test it? I'm starting to search this right away...

[DjPantsSpecR]

yes, there are obvious signs.

at first, you wont really notice anything, you mihgt just lose a little mileage.

eventually it'll get so bad that you're mileage will be down to about 20mpg, i think i even got less once stage three hits.

stage three indicates a total failure of te cts. this is really the only time you'll notice a problem has occured. the power will be down really bad. you may not even notice how slow your 240 has gotten, because it occurs so gradually.

what happens is, once it warms up, the computer starts to read from the cts as one of its main sensors. however, the cts will be so out of spec that the ecu knows to run in a safe mode. you'll lose up to 28 horsepower down low, but at around 5300 rpm, the motor will seem to pick up a lot more. dynos show a Huge peak in power at this point, and its only down 8 horse over stock.

so really thats it, it has to have gotten so bad that its entirely out of spec for you to really notice it. look for a huge power spike at 5300 rpms.

but, if you dont want to wait for that, warm your car up really, really well. then test the resistance across the two terminals and compare it. your warmed up car should 190 F, so the resistance should be close to that value.

the second test is to unplug the cts. then drive it. once it warms up, you should notice the 5300 rpms spike. if you dont notice a difference, chances are you have a bad cts, and have been slow for a while.

but the best option is to check the resistance against the value in the fsm

[lbrowne]

how do you test the resistance? I have a good volt/ohm meter and if someone can tell me what to set my device at and where to connect the leads, I'll go check it right now.

[DjPantsSpecR]

okay.

pull off the red connector on the upper intake manifold. you'll be testing this sensor.

put the multimeter to Kohms

when the car is at 176 degrees the resistance should be about .3 to .33 ohms.

however, ive noticed that the car tends to run at around 190 instead after its been driven and warmed up, even with the fan on. so your resistance should be closer to about .28 Kohms

.28 k ohms is 280 ohms.

[Zion8561]

I just had to replace my CTS.

I was about to leave work for an appointment and it didn't start. I could smell that it was flooded, and I remembered reading about the coolant temp sensor causing this type of failure to start (due to flooding when the motor is hot). I just unplugged it and it started right up. I am grateful for all the info I read here on NICO or I would have been stranded. I strongly suggest that everyone have their CTS checked or replaced before you have problems starting your car up. You never know where you will be when it happens.

I got a new one for $18 at Advance Auto. I also cleaned all the corrosion out of the wire harness and put it back in with dielectric grease. My car runs much, much better now and I get more MPG.

Hands down the best $18 I have spent on my car.

[lbrowne]

I'm trying to nail down all the mpg items with my car, so far I have the exhaust done, new t-stat, new air filter, plus and wires...this would be next. I currently get about 310 ish miles to a tank if I go till the gas light is starting to blink on and off with a couple of turns (city driving, with some spirited merges into traffic)

Maybe this is the missing link to a few more mpg. My car from what I can tell runs well though.

[rsmithdrift]

I'm trying to nail down all the mpg items with my car, so far I have the exhaust done, new t-stat, new air filter, plus and wires...this would be next. I currently get about 310 ish miles to a tank if I go till the gas light is starting to blink on and off with a couple of turns (city driving, with some spirited merges into traffic)

Maybe this is the missing link to a few more mpg. My car from what I can tell runs well though.

You ought to think about wiring your A/C fan to run all the time and take out that fan clutch. That'll give you a few mpg and a pony or two.

also, o2 sensor is the main culprit for bad mpg. CTS only gave me 2-3 more mpg......O2 sensor gave me back 10mpg!!

I was getting 17mpg average when I got this car. 21 all highway.

After tune up, elect fan, intake, new 02 sensor, new cts sensor and a new fuel injector (#4 was bad) I now get 32mpg highway, (cruise at 75, it's only 30mpg with cruise at 85) 28mpg city........and that's HARD city and occasional drifting.

[neverlift]

if you care about mpg then keep the car under 68~72mph nissan has the rom setup to run rich over the said speed

[ka24dave]

lol, ive noticed that one pretty quick. running at 100+ for 5 mins makes s13's gas go bye bye

[lbrowne]

You ought to think about wiring your A/C fan to run all the time and take out that fan clutch. That'll give you a few mpg and a pony or two.

also, o2 sensor is the main culprit for bad mpg. CTS only gave me 2-3 more mpg......O2 sensor gave me back 10mpg!!

Ok, few questions. I don't have an AC fan (no AC) however I will do an electric fan conversion down the road. I already know about that one.

I asked a local shop about an O2 sensor and he "those are single lead sensors, changing them won't affect your mpg" Whatever that means, I don't know. But this is a shop that does SR swaps and tons of other 240sx work and he basically bent up the 2.25 piping for my 240 with his eyes closed - it was was crazy to watch and very obvious he's done it countless times before. Maybe he doesn't know much about the O2 sensor in particular....

So to gauge what kinda mpg I'm getting, the 240 has a 15.8 gallon tank? Or basically a 16 gallon? (I thought it was 15.8 or 15.9)

[ka24dave]

i dunno abt the o2 sensor theory of his, i just bought a new one today ($18 anyways, what the hell.) and i plan on testing this out. **I've learned pretty quick that most nissan ppl dont have a F-ing clue what they are talking about.

** by saying that i mean as a generalization (and meant at noone in particular). Some people try to speak from experince, but can be way off, or pretty inaccurate.

my first few probs i had with my s13 alot people misdiagnosed, i've learned that the best way is trial and error. DIY stuff. the best (certainly not easiest) way to do it. unless your dealing with expensive issues then its on to one of those "pros" and hope they get it right on

[lbrowne]

Thats cool, I normally take advice from shops with a grain of salt but where they do so much work on our types of cars - and lead me down the road of spending less at his shop when I was more than willing to dump more cash towards my exhaust - he's respectable in my books. But I agree, sometimes old experience doesn't always hold true.

So just any old no name O2 sensor? How many are there? one or 2?