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Looking at buying an 87 2 door Saturday and have a few questions


RCWD21
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Ok I have some technical questions. With this being an 87 and having the oil pressure gauge in the cluster where would the wires for it be? Someone had run an auxiliary gauge and there's wires going to the battery and sending unit on the block through the fire wall. Halfway it t's off and goes done to the sending unit but there are some other wires that go to the battery as well. If it doesn't rain more tomorrow I'm going to look into this and try and sort it out. Is there a way to test the oil pressure switch? Can I hook it up to a pop off pressure gauge (used for testing the needle and seat spring resistance in carburetors) and apply pressure and have it hooked to the gauge or an ohm meter and see if it works? Is it possible that the gauge in the dash is bad? If so how likely would that be?

 

Also the engine turns over slow and seems fairly stiff when I turn into over by hand with a 2ft breaker bar. I'm leaning towards a bad or weak starter as it's covered in oil... but when turning it over by hand I assume I'm also fighting the resistance from the transmission correct?

 

I'm sorry if these questions seem stupid. I'm a bit stressed and trying to find everything I need to get this thing going again. I can't find the pics I'm looking for and with this thing being 28 years old there's not a lot in the junkyards around here.

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Oil pressure sending unit is on the RH side of the block above the starter. There should be an orange plug on or near it.

 

As far as turning over by hand, if the transmission is in neutral there isn't much resistance from it. On a fully assembled and good working engine you should feel it be light and smooth and then a turn or so of resistance as a piston comes up on compression stroke. It'll be a pattern.

 

In your case you are probably feeling the bent valves hit the pistons repeatedly since the timing belt isn't on and the cams are amuck. I have no clue why you're even attempting such a thing at this point in time...

 

Now, when you pull the heads off and the bottom end is still hard to turn over then it's toast.

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Well I wanted to make sure the engine wasn't locked up or anything like that and to also test everything out. I'm hoping its just the valves as you said and nothing major but I'll be able to tell more when I pull the heads.

 

As for why I'm doing this, I rotated the engine over with the timing belt on but I guess with 10 bent valves it would be pretty tight. I've never been into a vg30 engine so I have no idea how much room is between the head and piston at TDC. Its currently cheaper for me to redo this engine instead of getting another engine.. Plus I don't trust the junkyards here for a "running engine that's ready to be bolted in", plus I like having the satisfaction of going through an engine after a major problem and redoing everything and seeing it come to life again. I would go ahead and pull the heads but its been raining and I don't want the cylinders or rings to rust and cause even more damage. The engine itself didn't feel like it had seized from rust or was dragging from rust. It was sort of an even stiffness all the way around.

 

I plan on getting everything ready inside and pulling the engine this weekend. That way I can pull the heads and keep everything oiled up nicely. I'm 90% sure the the bottom end is ok but if not I'll have to source another engine and save up even more money for parts :(

 

As for my question about the oil pressure switch, I was asking for tips on how to test it to see if its good and also how to test the gauge. I'm familiar with the lay out of these engines. Just not how to test certain things.

 

I'll post more tomorrow and get my dads inspection camera and check out the cylinders and pistons out of curiosity.

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Pulled the passenger side head off today. Every single valve in the head was bent. But the top of the Pistons seem ok. Luckily the carbon on the crowns acted as a bit of a cushion. Either way they will be cleaned and inspected.

 

I'll post pics of the head once I get back there here in a few. Hopefully the rain holds off for a little while longer. I can handle a light sprinkle but anything more and it's just not fun to work lol

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Here's some pics of the damage. And some other things that were bad too. The passenger side cam seal was toast (looked dried out and pulled away from the cam surface slightly) and the driver side cam seal was showing signs of letting a little bit of oil past.

 

As for the bottom end, with the heads removed the engine is smooth and free with no stiff spots or dragging.

20151224_143915_zps72kksdyo.jpg20151224_161319_zpsuyqyd2xs.jpg20151224_161319_zpsuyqyd2xs.jpg20151224_161342_zpsqz1bbecm.jpg20151224_161351_zpsulm1rmsp.jpg20151224_161402_zpsemhjaqhc.jpg

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I've been searching more and more and still can't find an answer. Could someone that's viewing this thread help me with the wiring for the factory oil pressure gauge and tell me how I could test the gauge to make sure it works? There was an aftermarket gauge installed and hooked up to the factory pressure sending unit on the block.

 

I'm not sure if what I'm looking at is the factory wiring or not but I could be as it's a very neat wiring job (very surprised by that honestly). Where I get confused at is that 2 wires run down to the unit on the block and then another to ground and another to the positive terminal for the battery forming a big T that runs through to inside. Those wires are hanging down in the foot well now since I removed the aftermarket gauge. Is that how the wiring is from the factory? This is my first TBI engine so the wiring layout is a lot different compared to the mpfi engines. Especially with the extra gauges in the cluster (which I really like and want to work correctly).

 

I'm going to pull the cluster tomorrow and look for cut wires and see if anyone has been back there that shouldn't have been..

Edited by RCWD21
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I found the wires for the oil gauge. They were covered in a very thick layer of oil sludge and power steering fluid along with a ton of dirt.. apparently the stock gauge either has an issue or works perfectly fine. How could I test the gauge? Short the wires and watch the gauge move like with the temp gauge?

 

Unfortunately I can't find any information about how to test this gauge and with the engine apart and a ton of wiring disconnected I don't want to chance hooking a battery up and cause a problem although I don't think it would do anything bad.

 

Also the stock electronic shock on the front right is rubbing the upper control arm.. would bad bushings cause this? I noticed that the lower arms seem pretty far forward and the upper arms look like they're angled back horizontaly.

 

Either way I should have the engine out tomorrow hopefully.

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Is the AC idler pulley bracket and the lower metal radiator hose that's behind the power steering belt the same between vg30i's and e's? I believe it is but I'm unsure as I cant find a clear pic of a vg30i engine bay...

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Pulled the block today, it was nasty!

 

There was old RTV on the pump strainer and a good bit of sludge in the pan. I pulled the crank and pistons and discovered that the oil scraper rings were stuck from carbon build up on the rings. If this thing ran I wouldn't be surprised if it smoked and burnt oil..

 

I found out that the RMS and input shaft seal for the transmission were leaking and the fluid in the transmission was almost as dark as the old motor oil...

 

I inspected the bearings and they looked almost brand new. No scuffs or wear marks except a very tiny and I mean tiny amount on the outer main bearings.

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I pulled the pressure regulator out of the oil pump today and after I removed the spring from under the bolt and drained the little bit of oil I heard a small metal clank on the floor only to look Doan and see something small and shiny bounce under the bench to be lost forever... then when I went to remove the screws (even took a hammer and tapped the bit into the head of the screws) with an impact gun on low every single screw was stuck and the head got rounded out. So since I found a mysterious piece of metal in the pump (no idea where it could be from) I'm going to be slapping a new pump on the parts list. So far I'm at $300 for new parts and another $200 (leaving room for a few other things) from the junkyard.. so I'll be in this monster about $1k which isn't too bad I guess but if I had know about these issues I wouldn't have gotten this one.. oh well... too late now! This has become my "dream build" for a pathfinder so it's all out at this point to get it "perfect".

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Today I cleaned the water pump area, smoothed out some very blunt edges as far inside the block as I could get. I cleaned up the "snail shell curve" on the block and opened up the hole where the thermostat housing bolts to. Probably going to have the block, heads, crank, and cams hot tanked to get ever spec of oil and scale out of the engine and have the cylinders honed in preparation for the new rings. If it gets dirty it's going to be from me!

20151228_163606_zpsjzzyfbiy.jpg20151228_163639_zpsyjkajzmf.jpg

 

Also drilled a hole for water to be able to drain out of the valley.20151228_163626_zps8gx135oa.jpg

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Now I have a little problem and can't seem to find any other instances of this happening. I can hook up a battery (lawn mower battery just for a 12v source for gauges and lights) all the lights and gauges work perfectly (also found out that the oil pressure gauge works when the wires are grounded out. Not sure if it's grounded through the sensor or not but I'll yest that tomorrow) when I cut the key off the A/T Temp light, battery light and one other light refuse to cut off. I messed with it a bit and the relay labeled "check relay" sated to make a buzzing noise like it had a lack of power. Does the check relay suply power to the gauges and stuff? In my 90 the same lights stay on and you hear a relay click and then the lights go off. I know this 87 "should" do the same thing. I guess I'll be switching relays and checking wiring tomorrow as well as checking on the price for having everything hot tanked.

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I found out what was under that big wad of electrical tape! It was a half melted jumper/ fusible link? And if I disconnect it the dash lights cut off (I have the problem of constant dash lights even with the key removed) when I hook it back up there's a little relay in between the cruise control vacuum assembly and the long relay box on the passenger side fender well. I can't find where it goes so I guess I'll have to do some investigating with a test light to see if I have a short somewhere. I hope not.. I've even considered hooking up a toggle switch in place of this link to cut all power to the dash. With it unhooked I still get power to the clock and windows. I don't have headlights or blinkers or flashers until that link is hooked up. But again with it hooked up the dash lights refuse to cut off even after 10 minutes.. I'm lost on this but will keep trying to find the problem...

IMG_20151229_115637_zps8p8mb0ed.jpg

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Sounds like who ever tried fixing the electricals didn't really know what the f they were doing. Sounds like a nightmare. If I can give some advice, if you have a burnt out fusible link, you shouldn't have ANY power to the electrics at all.

The fusible link is there in case of a massive power spike and it's purpose is to burn out to cut all power to the battery, eliminating the chance of a fire. So if you have constant dash lights even with the key removed, I'm thinking it's a switch that has been left on, there's a switch on the centre console (not all of em have it but mine does anyway) that is for park lamps. This turns on rear brakes, front corner lamps and dash lights. I'm thinking that switch or wires are on and could simply just need switching off. Either that or you do have a bad relay, whether it's original equipment or something someone stuck in there because they didn't know what they were doing remains to be seen.

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I see it didn't post or something happened but I found out that it's part of my ecu that's causing the problem... I can plug in a different ecu (not sure if it's an auto or manual trans) so I just plugged in one plug and all my problems stopped. Everything works correctly. So I'm assuming that a battery at some point in time was hooked up backwards or that the circuits got wet or age just took over. I guess it's time to put the dash back together lol

 

Here's the plug I'm talking about:20151230_133817_zpsb92bxaae.jpg

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