Running on 3 Cylinders - distributor?

[thomasjamal]

Well, my timing was already a little off. If the auto ECU makes any difference in timing then it would accentuate the already existing problem. Though, I'm not sure it it does or not.

Either way, it's one more thing I can check and adjust for free.

[DrJuice164]

How long have you had the same gas in your car. I had an injector issue and my car sat for 5 weeks, and when i finally got it running again, gas was bad. Would pop like a ***** when engine breaking, would just stall at idle. Put drygas in and topped off the tank, went away overnight.

[Chezedik]

Do you have a timing light or will you check by vacuum? Be careful when checking by vacuum, make sure to find your highest, and then retard it a little.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Also, pulling all your plugs and seeing if they are still nice and clean can't hurt either. How old are your plug wires? Sounds like you have the problem almost completely licked. Good work.

[thomasjamal]

How long have you had the same gas in your car. I had an injector issue and my car sat for 5 weeks, and when i finally got it running again, gas was bad. Would pop like a ***** when engine breaking, would just stall at idle. Put drygas in and topped off the tank, went away overnight.

Gas is probably a month old now since my car's been in the driveway while I work on it a day or two a week. I just put a bottle of Lucas fuel injector cleaner in it so I'm hoping that would help if that was the problem.

Do you have a timing light or will you check by vacuum? Be careful when checking by vacuum, make sure to find your highest, and then retard it a little.

I'm going to get a timing light and do it the right way.

Also, pulling all your plugs and seeing if they are still nice and clean can't hurt either. How old are your plug wires? Sounds like you have the problem almost completely licked. Good work.

Plug wires are only about 6 months old and the connections all look fine.

I hope you're right. As soon as I can get the timing checked/adjusted I'll update. I don't want to drive the car far until I'm comfortable with how it's running so I can't go to the store until my wife gets home...

Oh and I think I have about 45 pages worth of papers to write in the next week. Hurray for Grad School

[PapaSmurf2k3]

sucks on the papers man.Sometimes after a car has problems like this it needs to be taken up on the highway and just romped on to clean everything out. Check your oil and smell it. Make sure it doesn't smell like gas. If it does, change it.

[Chezedik]

Vacuum is not necessarily the wrong way. But the timing light is the easy.

[cody180sx]

Well i have a chilton manual and all i'm getting on the ecu codes is a code 43 (no code 34) and the code 43 is a throttle sensor circuit probaly the throttle control sensor tap the sensor with a screw driver and see if it makes a difference

[thomasjamal]

Code 43 never came back after I reset the codes. But I'm still getting 34 for the knock sensor and now I'm getting the CEL. I'm also wondering if the fact that I never got a CEL before even though I was pulling a code is a sign that the ECU was bad. I'm not getting any additional codes or any of the codes commonly associated with using an auto ECU, just 34.

And I'm not looking forward to having to replace the knock sensor if it's bad. Everybody says that's a pita!

[cody180sx]

are u sure u are not reading the code backwards and i did not see a code 34 anywere in the manual

[Chezedik]

Code 34= Knock Sensor

[oneline180]

just an fyi,

dont use injector cleaner on any nissan injectors. the little coil inside of them gets corroded, i learned that AFTER i messed mine up two months ago.

I still dont know wtfh is wrong with my car though...but its good to see atleast yours is running better.

[Chezedik]

Yeah, that injector cleaner is very corrosive. Don't believe us? Spray some on your hand and let it sit.

[thomasjamal]

well I wish I had read that before I put it in my car. Hopefully one bottle won't do too much damage. I really don't feel like replacing all my injectors AGAIN!

[Chezedik]

Well it depends on what sort you used. If you used carb/injector cleaner (like STP) it may have been nothing or very strong, depending on your choice. But most of them are not much more than Gasoline themselves. Some are corrosive, particularly those intended for carb'd cars.

But no, one bottle is not likely to do much damage. Also, if you use approved stuff, you will do some good. Best to contact the service department to find out what Nissan recommends.

[oneline180]

i guess this is just in case your car is still messin up, i swapped #2 and 3 injectors, and it fixed the problem... WHY it worked i will never know...i have an idea. but there is no way to test it. W/E im so frak'n happy my car is running properly again.

[thomasjamal]

Time for a long awaited update.

After not touching my car for about 3 weeks because of finals, papers (I wrote 44 pages of papers and took 4 finals in less than a week, I was a little full of myself for about a day) and a week vacation I finally got back to work on it this week.

So, just to recap, I've replaced the fuel injectors and o rings and the ECU. The ECU does seem to have fixed the randomly quiting injector.

Next I adjusted the timing, which was way off, replaced the fuel filter, cleaned the MAF and most of the sensor/harness connectors. I also got new wheels and seats and did some interior work.

Long story short, the ECU seems to have been the primary problem and the timing was the secondary issue. So now it is running almost right. The only problem left now is that my idle is running high, between 1000 and 1300.

Since this wasn't an issue until after I installed the auto ECU I'm thinking this could be the cause, but I'm not sure how to address that. I also cleaned the MAF, which seems to be another common cause of high idle. With the TPS disconnected (to adjust idle) the idle is right on, but when reconnected it runs high.

I'm also still getting code 34 and have ordered a knock sensor.

Any other thoughts on the high idle please let me know.

Modified by thomasjamal at 12:46 PM 6/1/2007
Modified by thomasjamal at 12:46 PM 6/1/2007

[turbo_dreams]

Good thing i read about the injector cleaner, i wanted to clean mine.

[slyedog240sx]

if your idle is high then you need to adjust the idle speed screw on the ecm.i haven't done this since i have'nt had that problem but i know it is there for a reason.

[thomasjamal]

Idle speed screw on the ecm? Where's that?

I adjusted using the normal procedure, disconnecting the TPS and adjusting the idle screw behind the intake manifold but that doesn't fix it.

Didn't know there was an idle adjustment on the ecm. Tell me more...

[slyedog240sx]

dont remember where it's at on the ecm but it looks like an amp gain screw but i don't know the procedure i just know there is one on there. iirc it will adjust the idle up and down.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

I beleive you are mistaken... there is no idle adjustment screw on the ECM, there is a screw to put the ECM in self diagnostics mode, and thats it. (AFAIK). I would wait until after you replace your knock sensor to start hunting down the idle problem. Try to do things 1 at a time.

[slyedog240sx]

on the back of ecm at least on the sohc ecm there is a idle adjust screw on the ecm you have to unbolt the ecm to find it. Me and a friend that rebuilt his sohc got a jwt ecm and right in the middle of it it says" message for ecu idle adjust" but what i think it is like you said a diag. mode control, but that needs adjusted to compensate for the idle adjust at the motor.there is two lights that will blink.It has been a long time ago when we did this so consult the fsm and you will know what i'm saying.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

oh, if we're talking SOHC ECM's, I'm out of my area of knowledge, you could be entirely right.

[thomasjamal]

on the back of ecm at least on the sohc ecm there is a idle adjust screw on the ecm you have to unbolt the ecm to find it. Me and a friend that rebuilt his sohc got a jwt ecm and right in the middle of it it says" message for ecu idle adjust" but what i think it is like you said a diag. mode control, but that needs adjusted to compensate for the idle adjust at the motor.there is two lights that will blink.It has been a long time ago when we did this so consult the fsm and you will know what i'm saying.

Unfortunately (because that would make my life easier) there is nothing like that on the DOHC ECU.

By the way, I'll add to my idle problem that my car dies when I slow down quickly and especially if I put my car in neutral or press the clutch while driving.

Waiting on my knock sensor...

[thomasjamal]

Waiting on my knock sensor...

still...

[slyedog240sx]

QUOTE=thomasjamal]

still...

[/QUOTE]where did you buy it from?

[sstomek]

man i am having almost the exact same problem with my SOHC engine. I haven't really thought about changing the ECU yet but i do have a spare one. I have been told to change the distributor also because of that crank angle sensor. But where can i get the rotor and cap for 15 bucks? auto zone is telling me 300 bucks and Nissan told me 450!

The only difference with my problem is that injectors work, but only the 3rd cylinder is crapping out. I don't get those crazy shifts in each cylinder not working. I have a ZIF socketed ecu with a custom tune so there very well may be something wrong in the tune or the ECU. If i plug in a stock manual sohc ecu into my car that has an n60 maf and 550cc injectors am i asking for trouble?

-Tomek

[sstomek]

check out my build thread (link in my sig) for what was the cause of my 3rd and 4th cylinder problems

-Tomek

[thomasjamal]

still...

where did you buy it from?

I bought it from a member here. He lost my order and to make up for it sent me a brand new knock sensor instead of a used one.