VQ35 Madness Solved

[BlackBeautyPathy]

Those of you who read my other posts might remember my ongoing crazy engine problems that i posted called "Strange VQ35DE" . Well I am happy to say it is finally over. After much money, time, testing, and trials I now have mint running engine.

 

The issue was that I had crazy intermittent power problems. The engine was up to par, no codes, etc and my mechanics couldn't figure out why. The dealership replaced many sensors (02's, crank and the MAF) Still no luck, they said it would have to be my ECM and that costs $1000 plus install. Thanks to help on this site I followed some reply leads and found a used ECM for $250 in Ottawa. The dealership put it in for $200. Guess what, no fix. Finally they scanned the truck in "bad mode" and in "good mode" and sent the readings to the technicians at head office. They suggested check the manifold valves.

 

They checked them and the lower manifolds butterfly valves would cease and randomly work with my engine warm up procedures.

 

So finally we replaced the whole lower manifold and I also got them to loktite the upper manifold screws thanks to the help from the pinned post on here. Oh and they were aware of that happening before. ( It should be a recall or something....#&!@ )

 

Anyways, so in short, If your engine is crazy like mine, check the lower manifold, so you don't have to spend $2700 being a guinea pig for Nissan trying repairs, cause a few days after my repair the shop had one come in with the same problem, and a quick $900 total (parts, labour, and discount for the manifold) it was fixed.

 

on an unrelated topic, check my cheesy snow drifting video I finished a few weeks ago if you like.

[02silverpathy]

WoW! That is a crazy set of events...I remember clearly what you went through. Did you get to see the old parts? I am curious to know if this lower manifold swirl-valve problem is due to an oil build up..as our PCV valves suck bad!!

 

I installed a cheap fuel filter (clear plastic with filter media) in line with my PCV and have already in 2900 miles caught about 1-2 ounces of oil---this would have gone straight in probably in the form of vapor, but over time made quite a sticky residue!!

 

So the lower manifold has the swirl valves...does everyone need to loc-tite those also or just the top set?

[BowTied]

So the lower manifold has the swirl valves...does everyone need to loc-tite those also or just the top set?

 

Good question!!!

 

I wasn't prepared to find those little darlings when I added the threadlocker to my power valves (see post in this forum for How to with pics.) I'd like to know if the only the power valves are a problem or if it is both?