Rich260z
07-25-2012, 04:27 PM
So I recently bought this car back in April, as a DD for my GF. Bunch of suspension shit wrong with it, but that was no problem.
When I bought the car the engine was idling at 600rpm and shook the whole car, after a basic tune up (new belts, new spark plugs, new air filter and oil and coolant and shit) it ran perfectly fine. It only has 100k miles on it.
When I did the tune up, the spark plug nearest the firewall (#4 I think) was black as a nigerian. So I assumed that that particular cylinder had blow by or bad rings and it was just gonna foul the plug. No problem as the plugs are cheap. I was using the NGK Copper or V power ( the $2.50 one)
Fast forward to now and the engine has similar problems to when I first picked it up. It has been approximately 3000 miles, or 1 oil change later. First thought was to check the plugs, so I pulled em and they all looked a toasty brown, perfectly normal. cleaned em up for good measure and put them back in and the car is still hard to start, but the bad idle went away.
So I threw in the NGK platinum's thinking bad spark or something. It got a little better and the idle was normal, but I still had to feather the gas to start it.
Problems now are just hard starting for the first time after say a 6 hour cool down. If I start it when its cold, then immediately shut it off, it will start again, even if the engine has not warmed up. Also after driving and warming it up it has no problem starting again.
I know I have cheap spark plug wires, but I'm planning on getting the NGK wires in a bit.
Searching brought me to the idle air control valve at the back of the manifold, near the egr, but I don't have a problem with idle. Although it wouldn't hurt to clean it out.
Second thought is the Air injection valve, or whatever that black piece of shit next to the air box it. I know those are prone to clogging or whatever.
Anyway I'm just gathering thoughts so I don't go around replacing everything in my car for no reason.
tl;dr
hard starting, but idles fine. will start again immediately after it has been started once. plugs are fine, and spark is fine. I think IACV or AIV.
When I bought the car the engine was idling at 600rpm and shook the whole car, after a basic tune up (new belts, new spark plugs, new air filter and oil and coolant and shit) it ran perfectly fine. It only has 100k miles on it.
When I did the tune up, the spark plug nearest the firewall (#4 I think) was black as a nigerian. So I assumed that that particular cylinder had blow by or bad rings and it was just gonna foul the plug. No problem as the plugs are cheap. I was using the NGK Copper or V power ( the $2.50 one)
Fast forward to now and the engine has similar problems to when I first picked it up. It has been approximately 3000 miles, or 1 oil change later. First thought was to check the plugs, so I pulled em and they all looked a toasty brown, perfectly normal. cleaned em up for good measure and put them back in and the car is still hard to start, but the bad idle went away.
So I threw in the NGK platinum's thinking bad spark or something. It got a little better and the idle was normal, but I still had to feather the gas to start it.
Problems now are just hard starting for the first time after say a 6 hour cool down. If I start it when its cold, then immediately shut it off, it will start again, even if the engine has not warmed up. Also after driving and warming it up it has no problem starting again.
I know I have cheap spark plug wires, but I'm planning on getting the NGK wires in a bit.
Searching brought me to the idle air control valve at the back of the manifold, near the egr, but I don't have a problem with idle. Although it wouldn't hurt to clean it out.
Second thought is the Air injection valve, or whatever that black piece of shit next to the air box it. I know those are prone to clogging or whatever.
Anyway I'm just gathering thoughts so I don't go around replacing everything in my car for no reason.
tl;dr
hard starting, but idles fine. will start again immediately after it has been started once. plugs are fine, and spark is fine. I think IACV or AIV.