onespiritbrain

I don’t think anyone is interested in the story and you’ll do well to retain it.. they want to see actual irrefutable proof.

Oh come on let him be. He didn’t bring it on this forum, did he?

10w30 might not be a bad idea. I think what’s happening is that the viscosity improvers in the oil are breaking down from heat shearing and also fuel is probably entering the oil causing even further viscosity loss. So when you hit it with a product like Lucas your replenishing a lot more of the viscosity improvers than if you had just added another quart of oil. So if we start out with 10w30 then maybe we can skip the added cost of an “Oil Stabilizer” in hopes that by the time the oil change interval is up we’ll be inside the viscosity range where the lifters aren’t making noise. And even if we start getting a little noise maybe we could use half a bottle of the “Oil Stabilizer”. Interesting. So are you gonna try 10w30?

As far as I know they last a long time making noise. I read somewhere Nissan changed the lifter design for 02 and up but for the rest of us it’s just part of owning a VG or early VQ Nissan engine. I have found that my lifter noise closely follows oil health and oil level. 3000 miles into an oil change and mine become quite noisy. Very recently, since I can actually tell where my oil level is, I’ve started adding a thing of Lucas Oil Stabilizer at 2500-3000 miles (or two weeks into an oil change interval since I loose about half a quart in that time) and it greatly reduces the noise until it’s time to change the oil. Oh and I use the Supertech Walmart equivalent to Lucas Oil Stabilizer

It’s your lifters. Only way to fix it is replace them.

Describe everything you notice about how your transmission shifts and performs. For example, it shifts from 1st to 2nd with a quick bump and a quick bump down in RPM but 2nd to 3rd is slower and the RPMs float down, also it sometimes doesnt want to shift out of 4th gear on the interstate especially after a long incline, and most of the time it takes an abnormally long time to shift into reverse.

Yes someone has relocated it. Its proper place is under the upper intake plenum but its a huge pain in the arse to get to so folks, myself included, will relocate it to an easier to get to location instead of putting back underneath the plenum. Looks like yours is broken and missing the clip that snaps in to hold the connector on. Id just cable tie it on there..

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I’m not sure but isn’t the hallmark symptom of distributor failure that it only does the no start thing after warming up but usually starts fine from cold?

Mine barely have boots on them at all. I just squirt em out with the garden hose and pump em full of grease every once in a while...

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Splitting atoms

It does appear darker than new trans fluid and if its only been 20k miles then it definitely had its butt handed to it. Glad you paid close attention. I have my radiator trans cooler bypassed and im running this Hayden trans cooler in front of my A/C condenser. This summer Ive not measured temps higher than 170degF even after towing, however im measuring temps with an IR gun so 170 might be 190-210 deep inside the transmission. I shot my transmission after a spirited drive before installing a dedicated cooler and the pan was 235degF! There is no telling how hot it would get climbing a mountain. My right leg used to stay uncomfortably hot while driving and it was because the transmission was so hot all the time. Nissan did a bad job sizing the integrated trans cooler inside the radiator. I bet if you swap that fluid and get a cooler on there you'll be fine. If you're not already experiencing issues then this little occurrence may end up greatly prolonging the life of your transmission.

I cleared mine by taking the evaporator out and then I used a garden hose to spray inside the compartment where the water exits. I cant really remember how much room you have inside the compartment while the evaporator is still in there but you could rig something up to snake in there and blow air or water to clear the clog. Or perhaps there is crap actually inside that compartment blocking the area where the water exits, like leaves or something. The non-recirculated air intake is not filtered..

i can vouch for superwinch's tigershark line which is their economy units. i havent been let down yet even when i was buried in mud up to my axles and the winch was submerged in water. https://tinyurl.com/y6ku3vq5

trans oil from the vent after a long hill climb usually means the trans got extremely hot. if i was you id swap the fluid and install a cooler ASAP

no experience but ive heard that raxles makes high quality replacements. supposedly on another level that whats available from the parts stores.

wow that makes me sad i went with bluedriver... wish i had known that.

if you are just wanting to monitor the running condition of the engine then all you need is a decent obdii dongle. i use bluedriver and my phone and havent needed anything further. now i would love to have a permanent dash mounted tablet with the info obdii provides split screened with spotify but its too much trouble for what little data is available. my wife's vehicle shows all kinds of stuff and would def be worth it. heres what bluedriver can live monitor: Fuel System Status (open loop / closed loop) Calculated Engine Load Engine Coolant Temperature Short Term Fuel Trim Bank 1 Long Term Fuel Trim Bank 1 Short Term Fuel Trim Bank 2 Long Term Fuel Trim Bank 2 O2 Bank 1-1 Sensor Voltage O2 Bank 1-2 Sensor Voltage O2 Bank 2-1 Sensor Voltage O2 Bank 2-2 Sensor Voltage Intake Manifold Absolute Pressure Engine RPM Vehicle Speed Timing Advance for #1 Cylinder Intake Air Temperature Mass Air Flow Rate Absolute Throttle Position It looks like a lot after typing all that but its missing a lot like fuel rail pressure, oil pressure, torque calcs, etc. i will say though that what is available goes a long long way when troubleshooting issues. and bluedriver lets you save logs of all the data you collected point by point which you can plug into an excel sheet to make a super detailed graph and as long as you were paying attention to the duration of the recording when an issue was present you can go back and see exactly what was being effected. unless of course you have strange spikes in your data that cannot be explained..

A little while ago I shifted into reverse just as I was reaching full lock and the RPMs dropped below 400. If the defrost had been on it may have come close to stalling. I think I will attempt modifying the FICD plunger. When I do, I will update this thread.

i should have said this is on a VG33. the base idle speed is dead on 750 with no AC. before the electric fan install when the AC was on the IAC system put it on 800 or so but now its dropping into the 600's. this morning with my AC on i turned my defrost on to burn off the dew on my side mirrors and the RPMs dropped even lower but the IAC adjusted itself back up to the high 600's. Its like the ECU cant adjust for the extra strain that has been added or simply doesnt know that its off by 50-75 RPM.

i know i saw someone else asking this same question not too long ago but i could not find the thread. since installing an electric fan i believe i actually have more mechanical resistance when the AC is on and the electric fan is on high because the RPMs dip down a little lower than before the electric fan was installed. its probably 50-75 RPM down from 750, so 675ish at times. my wifes car kicks it up to 1000 RPM when the AC is on and id like to end up in that area. now what i want to do somehow is cause the IACV system to add a little more air when the AC is on. ive gone thru the FSM and it looks like its no dice for making adjustments per any instruction. however i did see some instructions about removing the plunger from inside the FICD valve.. the AAC is a time proportional valve controlled by pulses from the ECU and we dont have any hope of making adjustments to the ECU that i know of. the FICD is just on/off so my thought is to decrease the diameter of the plunger so that when the valve is on more air is allowed to flow. of course i will have to grab a test part from the junk yard. my worry is that with increased air flow and the resulting increased RPM, the ECU will just immediately turn the FICD off when it sees higher than desired RPMs and the result will be surging as the valve turns on and off, on and off.. is there another way to obtain the desired result of higher load RPMs??

The FSM mentions using a consult for some pretty technical stuff in "data monitor mode" that is definitely not possible with OBDII.

I am in search of the same answer if it’s pertains to the VG33 as well