Ran Q out of gas, after refilling runs rough, stalls, runs through a tank 1hr

[pclausen]

My friend ran her Q out of gas and called me stranded on the beltway. Tow truck took her to a service station where they filled up the car. It now runs real rough, smokes and goes through a tank of gas in like 1 hour. It also smells of gas inside the car real bad.

I told her to have the fuel filter replaced and add a can of injector cleaner to a full tank. She did that and things were fine for about 30 minutes. Now it runs real rough again, same gas smell, and stalls.

She has the car towed again to a service station. They took a quick look, but said they needed to tear into the car to find out what was really wrong with it and that it would cost at least $800 just for them to inspect it with no gaurantee that they could fix it. Some mom & pop service center off the 495 beltway.

So I'm going up to pick up her and the car up and tow it back on my flatbed trailer.

My guess is that a fuel injector is intermittently stuck open and that there is likely quite a bit of fuel in the engine oil at this point.

Car has 160k on the odo and the timing belt has never been changed. (it used to be my car until I sold it to her with 60k on the odo many years ago.)

Anyway, what are my options at this point and should I tell her to just sell the car at this point? It still looks real nice and is the Q45t variant with black interior and silver paint job.

What to do...

[maxnix]

Well, first, there is no timing belt.

If you haven't done the under plenum hose replacement, I bet it is time and the fuel hoses have failed. Should be relatively simple to trace a fuel leak without a match.

Welcom to NICO.

[Jesda]

Sounds like she got to the debris at the bottom of the tank, which got sucked up and polluted the fuel system.

It could clear up, but I doubt it.

Wes has an excellent writeup on testing the injectors:http://q45.org/ohminjectors.html

[Skibane]

With a leaking injector, seems like most of the raw gas odor would be coming from the exhaust - and a strong raw gas odor coming from the engine compartment would be more likely to be a leaking fuel hose.

So, which end is stinkin'?

[pclausen]

Thanks guys. I will check for fuel leaks under the plenum first and replace any suspect hoses. I take it the plenum has to come off in order to do this?

So the valvetrain is maintenance free on a '94? I have always been accustomed to changing the belt/chain every 60-100k on engines, be it OHV or not.

So ohming the injectors will tell me if one is stuck open or not?

When I picked up the car last night around 8, it started right up and I drove it onto the trailer. Didn't get back home until 11, so I just left it on the trailer. I'll tear into it tonight.

The poor car has gotten very little maintenance in the last 5 years since I sold it to her. It has a Stillen computer, K&N intake, strut brace, 18" wheels, etc. I'm sure the K&N needs a clean and re-oil for sure. I'll inspect the TB as well and clean as necessary.

Wow, there sure is a lot of cool stuff over at q45.org. Wish I had known about that site before.

[maxnix]

Ditch the K&N and return to the stock CAI if you can.

[96Qowner]

I'm sure the K&N needs a clean and re-oil for sure.

The K&N filter has been shown to adversely affect the MAF. Before you do anything difficult, give the MAF a cleaning according to instructions on Q45.org.

[pclausen]

I'll see if I can find the stock CIA. It has been about 10 years since I switched to the K&N. Yikes!

I originally purchased the car when it came off a 3 year lease. It was in like new condition with 28k on the odo back then in 1997.

I talked to my friend and got the rundown on the issues it has had over the last few years, and the knucklehead shops that have worked on it (none of them Nissan, let alone Infinity dealers.)

I'm seeing coolant and what smells like fuel under the plenum for starters (which I also smelled just pulling the car off the trailer and into the garage.)

Just got off the phone w/ Jeff@everythinginfinity and ordered up their Ultimate Engine Hose Kit, which should get me all the stuff recommended on q45.org for "The Plenum Job" which this car sorely needs from the looks of things.

I'll be sure to clean the MAF, TB, etc. Basically all the preventive maintenance listed on q45.org. I sure hope my friend appreciates all this work. After I'm done, I'll likely go have the BG flush done to the transmission, power steering and brakes since I'm pretty sure none of those fluids have been changed since I sold her the car over 5 years ago. The engine oil has probably only been changed every 20k or so as well.

Anything else I should consider doing on this poorly maintained q45 to make it go for hopefully another 100k?