Power loss after oil change?

[Deimos]

Ok so i just recently changed the oil in my car about 6 days ago. I have a 240sx with an sr20det engine. I put Royal Purple 5w-30 in it. Right after i had finished changing the oil i let it run for about 5 minutes at idle, drove it for the next 3 days with no problems. All of a sudden about 3 days ago the oil light comes on and i notice quite a bit of power loss while accelerating. So i check my dipstick and the oil level had rose from the High mark that i had it at after changing to about a half an inch above that. I put around 3.5 quarts in to begin with an was right at the high line.

Because of the high levels i drained 1 quart of oil out, bringing me to an estimated 2.5 quarts of oil plus whatever was left over inside from when i changed it so maybe a bit more.... that brought me down to just under the high line after i ran it and let it cool off. Thinking all was good i drove it, half way through the drive oil light comes back, still noticable power loss and yet again after waiting for oil to cool and settle for a good hour the levels were above the high mark. Ecu gave me 55 so im lost right now. Oil doesnt look milky so coolant isnt getting in.

I did drive it for 3 good days without any power loss, however i never checked the level until the 4th day when the oil light came on.

If anyone has an ideas or advice as to what could be wrong please let me know.

P.S. sorry for long article, im a noobie and want to make sure i included every single detail i could think of.

Thanks.

[4x4le]

Dang i knew royal purple was junk but i didnt know it could reproduce! Im going to fill my diesel trucks tank with it when i get home and never have to buy fuel again!

[S14Driftn4life]

uhhhhhh WTF mate!?
Drain all oil before something bad happens, take oil filter off, let sit for an hour, fill again.
I think this is A. Your first time changing oil lol. Or B. you have the wrong dip stick in your motor. C. You accidently drained trans fluid and then added 3.5q to what ever was in the motor already.
Oh yeah and put the oil filter back on. lol'

[projectblak]

Oil pump might be going out that's why ur light is coming on that's the only thing I can think of gl

[Croustibat]

oil light is a "too late" light. And you still drove it again and again, while noticing power loss :/

I think your oil pump is gone, but as you insisted you probably have damaged something else.

It is rebuild time ...

If oil level really went up and your coolant does not go down, it can only be gas. which is quite not good at all.

As a side note, why do you use 5w30 on a 20 year old turbo engine ? That is way too thin (except if weather is around -10°C all the time, and even then, the turbo will bash it quite fast).

[4x4le]

And why run a dark colored purple oil with dies in it? They should worry about making decent oil before they worry about coloring it.

If your going to spend royal purple money, dont run royal purple. I personally like rotella 5-40 and if it wasnt for that i would run moutil 0-50. If you want something easier to find then amsoil or redline should work.

[89JDM240sx]

Could be the oil pump... Could be leaking from the oil filter gasket...

Get rid of that Royle purple and use Mobil 1 or Motul 10-30w

[Croustibat]

It really depends on weather and usage, but here i do run 10w50. the car is tracked.
We rarely see negative temps and the car sleeps in a garage, so even cold it does not go under 5-10°C.

Oil viscosity choice is quite simple:
1/ make sure your oil pump works properly
2/ read your car's workshop manual, look for min and max oil pressure when hot
3/ get oil that gives you these pressures when hot, hot being the temp your car is used (which should be 90-100°C for a street driven car, 100-120°C for a track driven car . A lot less for drag cars so these engine can be fed with 0w30 oil)

For a CA18DET, i think nissan states oil pressure should be between 3.2 and 4.2bar at 3000rpm when hot. If you have more pressure, you have less oil flow, so less cooling. It also puts more stress than needed on your oil pump and various gaskets. If you have less, you favor oil flow, but you may kill your journal bearings. Simple as that, and i believe 5w30 fits in that category.

Same goes for an SR20DET. find its pressure needs, adapt your oil to that.

And no cheap mineral or semi shit. Unless you are breaking in the engine.

[Deimos]

uhhhhhh WTF mate!?
Drain all oil before something bad happens, take oil filter off, let sit for an hour, fill again.
I think this is A. Your first time changing oil lol. Or B. you have the wrong dip stick in your motor. C. You accidently drained trans fluid and then added 3.5q to what ever was in the motor already.
Oh yeah and put the oil filter back on. lol'

I changed the oil correctly, i have the right dipstick and i didnt touch transfluid. To my understanding trans fluid is drained from the trans, while the fluid i drained (oil) came out of the oil pan beneeth the engine :P

[Deimos]

oil light is a "too late" light. And you still drove it again and again, while noticing power loss :/

I think your oil pump is gone, but as you insisted you probably have damaged something else.

It is rebuild time ...

If oil level really went up and your coolant does not go down, it can only be gas. which is quite not good at all.

As a side note, why do you use 5w30 on a 20 year old turbo engine ? That is way too thin (except if weather is around -10°C all the time, and even then, the turbo will bash it quite fast).

After the light came on i only drove it to test it after i tried fixing the problem. the previous times i drove it, there was no light and no power loss. i have barely drove it with power loss because i dont want to mess anything up.

btw engine is newly rebuilt and has roughly 6,000 miles on it. Im in chicago land area and it is below freezing quite often, i use 10w-30 in the warmer months.

[blueshark123]

Check to see if your oil pan is dented up.

[Deimos]

Check to see if your oil pan is dented up.

Its not but how would that have to do with the problem im having?

[waste_of_space]

Its not but how would that have to do with the problem im having?

If you oil pan was dented, it could mean your oil pickup is dented/broken.

You should double check to verify that your oil pickup is intact, regardless of dents or not.

I had a hatch once and swapped the oil pan on it for an ARC one.
Pulled the old pan off, and the strainer portion of the pickup wasn't actually attached hahaha. Car ran/drove fine though, but it's just a good idea to double check your pickup to make sure all is well.

[GhostlyCoupe]

Sounds like your oil pump went out. Did you replace it when the engine was rebuilt?

[Deimos]

If you oil pan was dented, it could mean your oil pickup is dented/broken.

You should double check to verify that your oil pickup is intact, regardless of dents or not.

I had a hatch once and swapped the oil pan on it for an ARC one.
Pulled the old pan off, and the strainer portion of the pickup wasn't actually attached hahaha. Car ran/drove fine though, but it's just a good idea to double check your pickup to make sure all is well.

Just checked it, its not dented at all.

[waste_of_space]

Right, I said regardless of dents or not you should check the oil pickup (which requires oil pan removal)
Though I'm sure it's fine.
And as others have stated, was your oil pump changed when your motor was rebuilt?

[Deimos]

Right, I said regardless of dents or not you should check the oil pickup (which requires oil pan removal)
Though I'm sure it's fine.
And as others have stated, was your oil pump changed when your motor was rebuilt?

Im trying to find out, looking for the reciept that has all that information because i dont remember.

I also have a question. Say i had a bad oil pump, why would that make it seem like the levels of oil in the car are so high if they really are not, or maybe the levels are high still and the pump just has to do with power loss? I dont think it would be high being that there is only about 2.5 quarts of oil in the engine.

[GhostlyCoupe]

When you change the oil, quite a bit gets left in the upper parts of the engine, inside the pump, tensioner, etc. Ever notice when you change the oil it will actually keep dripping for 15 minutes if you leave the plug out? When an oil pump fails or if the pickup is damaged, this oil will eventually work it's way down and raise the level because the pump is unable to pump it back up into the engine.

The power loss is likely the result of bearing damage from lack of oil pressure. Either your pickup is damaged or the pump itself has failed.

I hope you have the paperwork as this should be under warranty if you used a reputable builder.

[4x4le]

I dont know of anyone that offers anything other than a startup warrenty on highperformance engines. Even mazworx.

Yea, dents arnt the only way for your pickup to fail. I have an undamaged greddy pan and lost a good engine because of the pickup failing.

[JDMRIDDAZ]

if ur oil increased in level
did u smell it?
if oil is not milky...
check for leaking o ring on injectors

[fliprayzin240sx]

If you're still on the stock pan, I would drop that as soon as possible and bang it out. Inspect the pick up and make sure its not clogged up. This will give you a chance to inspect whats at the bottom of your pan to see if you struck gold. If you find brass/gold looking bits at the bottom of your pan, I'd start saving for another bottom end/rebuild.

Also, this is the reason why we tell people to get oil pressure gauges on their SRs. Oil pressure gauge and water temp are must have gauges on SRs, I'd get those over a damn boost gauge.

[JDMRIDDAZ]

If you're still on the stock pan, I would drop that as soon as possible and bang it out. Inspect the pick up and make sure its not clogged up. This will give you a chance to inspect whats at the bottom of your pan to see if you struck gold. If you find brass/gold looking bits at the bottom of your pan, I'd start saving for another bottom end/rebuild.

Also, this is the reason why we tell people to get oil pressure gauges on their SRs. Oil pressure gauge and water temp are must have gauges on SRs, I'd get those over a damn boost gauge.



this...^^^^^^

[0wn3r]

...What's going on in this thread? What kind of advice is it to tell him to jump right to a rebuild?

1) Look at your FSM, figure out what oil you can run and what capacity with or without a filter change. (For fairly stock, an S14 SR is 5w-30 or 10w-30 with 3.25qt with an oil filter change or 3.125qt without)

2) Recommend putting in an oil pressure gauge / oil temp gauge.

3) Go back to your car and change your oil. Let it drain entirely and take your existing filter off and put a new one on. Replace the filter and do yourself a favor and don't use royal purple. Put in an amount equal to what the FSM says, or if anything a touch more.

4) Don't assume the solution to your power is to remove the lubricant that is there to protect it and don't check your oil level right after you used the car. Pulling out close to 30% of your oil just doesn't sound like a good idea and is a decent chance it's contributing to the pressure light.

5) Watch oil pressure, oil temp, and for any CEL or oil pressure light. Don't run the car with those lights on if you think it's oil related. If you have issues, go from there...check for leaks, look at your oil pump, or consider other issues without jumping to extremes.

6) Use common sense. If the car ran fine before you touched it, then starts acting up right after, there's a damn good chance it's related to what you just did.

[Nicelyphe]

Maybe when changing filters out you hit some wires of some sort? Pressure sender? Alternator wires? Check around in that area for anything loose. Maybe a ground is your power loss issue?

[Deimos]

...What's going on in this thread? What kind of advice is it to tell him to jump right to a rebuild?

1) Look at your FSM, figure out what oil you can run and what capacity with or without a filter change. (For fairly stock, an S14 SR is 5w-30 or 10w-30 with 3.25qt with an oil filter change or 3.125qt without)

2) Recommend putting in an oil pressure gauge / oil temp gauge.

3) Go back to your car and change your oil. Let it drain entirely and take your existing filter off and put a new one on. Replace the filter and do yourself a favor and don't use royal purple. Put in an amount equal to what the FSM says, or if anything a touch more.

4) Don't assume the solution to your power is to remove the lubricant that is there to protect it and don't check your oil level right after you used the car. Pulling out close to 30% of your oil just doesn't sound like a good idea and is a decent chance it's contributing to the pressure light.

5) Watch oil pressure, oil temp, and for any CEL or oil pressure light. Don't run the car with those lights on if you think it's oil related. If you have issues, go from there...check for leaks, look at your oil pump, or consider other issues without jumping to extremes.

6) Use common sense. If the car ran fine before you touched it, then starts acting up right after, there's a damn good chance it's related to what you just did.

i didnt check right after, i gave it time for things to settle, most times i would wait until morning and check it. I understand it has to do with something i did, just dont know what. That is kinda why im here... I pulled out more because i had to much in it. Like someone else mentioned oil must have been trapped in the engine in some place and thats why my levels were so high. I let it drain until it was dripping like 1 drop every 10-15 seconds. This method has worked on all other cars ive changed the oil on.

[0wn3r]

Mine's always above the high mark. I bet if I go home and look it's well above too..but probably because I intentionally put a little more in to begin with.

If you think the fluid itself isn't the problem, then look at the parts that make it flow...but it'd probably be easier to check things with gauges.