S14 Idle issues and things

[EEVEE]

Hello! So i bought this s14 a few weeks ago and im finally just getting to it. So starting off im having idle issues, It starts up fine but if i blip the throttle and or turn the ac on then back off it will idle poorly and usually smooth itself out. But there has been a few times where it will just jump from 500-750 rpms for a good minute till i blip the throttle again and also driving down the road and coming to a stop it will also idle down to like 400-500 back and forth till i blip the throttle. So ok i decided to clean out the idle air control valve which admittedly was quite filthy inside and also i did remove the idle screw while counting the turns then screwed them back in via count (accurate i know). But alas it is still doing it with barely any difference. So i decided to unplug the tps and 50% of the time i did it it went back to idle normally and smoothly and a few more tries and getting mixed results of the idle being rough while unplugged and replugging then unplugging again and poof perfect again.

Car has 188k miles with a ka24de and its a 95 with a kouki swap, I should mention it was swapped to a manual at some point but seems everything was done correctly at a shop. Previous owner said it did this down the road a few years later and he just turned the ac on to bypass the idle issue. Also while the car is unregistered and cannot drive it on the road yet till i sell my other car i just want it to idle and run decently before it goes on the road. I noticed when i give it a few revs some puffs of black smoke comes out of the tailpipe and despite not driving i blew through a half tank of gas just idling and testing. SO assuming its running quite rich what kind of advice can some give? I been looking at the forums and some mention the tps, vacuum leak and timing issue. but honestly the car runs and drives just fine despite the idle issue and mpg issue.

Here is a video of the idle and what its doing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lO3kfbisgTU&feature=youtu.be

Also the horrid noise under the hood is a suspected noisy water pump lol i have yet to pull the belt to see. Any help would be appreciated, Not the most smartest when it comes to this and thus why i asked for help lol. or atleast some pointers on where to start. I have yet to check the knock sensors as well. i did a half ass spray job with throttlebody cleaner around the vacuum hoses and i didnt hear a change in idle. I have yet to also check the spark plugs but po said the coil and cap is new so ill have to dig a little into that as well and maybe the timing is just off? I hear its supposed to be set at 20 degrees? Maybe thats the whole issue? Otherwise this car imo drives very well despite the older tires that vibrate.... and the fact it needs an alignment but i can do those myself cause i do work at a firestone. again i JUST finally got to look at the car and tinker around with it. Also quick question but arent these supposed to have an electric fan along with a mechanical fan or was there a change? https://scontent.ftpa1-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.15752-9/s2048x2048/90028102_281680492800142_4287178514542624768_n.jpg ?_nc_cat=102&_nc_sid=b96e70&_nc_ohc=xJ_qhoEygCgAX8ccsx6&_nc_ht=scontent.ftpa1-2.fna&_nc_tp=7&oh=6cd9a9c224049b3712518f5fc1986f3e&oe=5ECD8E09

[nismoka]

Was the ECU changed? When they did the swap

[EEVEE]

I would assume they did, Owner said the car ran perfectly fine for a few years then suddenly did this. I didnt ask bout the gas mileage, I ran out of daylight but im gonna pull the spark plugs, source a timing light, try and finagle a smoke machine from someone, pull the o2 sensors and whatnot. Trying not to throw money at the issue as im currently out of work cause the virus till june 1st lol. I will also check the vacuum pressure as well. Even with this issue i love the car honestly.

[EEVEE]

Even then, is there even a way to check if the ecu was changed?

[nismoka]

There?s numbers on the ecu that?s say if it?s a automatic ecu or a manual ecu.

[EEVEE]

I will look tomorrow then thanks!

[EEVEE]

Ok i lied, I looked at it lol. Looked it up and its: a18-b92-g00. Looking up it says its a manual ecu

[nismoka]

This might help.


https://www.nicoclub.com/archives/ka24de-checking-tps-and-adjusting-idle.html

[EEVEE]

Hmm well i do believe i have the idle set correctly, but was still doing it. So i took the whole intake apart and cleaned it and the maf and test fitted it and see how it went and not much change. I hooked up a vacuum gauge to the brake booster and was bouncing quickly back and forth from 21-22 on the gauge. So i then checked everything and tightened everything up. Then i put clamps on the t fitting going from the crankcase, intake and to the iacv. Cause found out the hard way if one of those hoses pops off the car instantly stalls lol. Anyways i hooked and tightened everything and fired it back up and now the vacuum is erratically moving back and forth to 17 and 18 hg. Ill assume thats a vacuum leak? Also while poking around harder i noticed this has the egr valve deleted from it. So i decided to pull some hoses and put them back on and to my surprise most of the hoses thats related to the egr has no vacuum whatsoever being pulled from any of the hoses or ports and even pulled them and sprayed some carb cleaner on them and not even a change in idle.

I stuck the vacuum gauge on them and sure enough nothing is even being remotely pulled from it. But on the other hand one noticeable thing i did was while holding the rpms i pulled the crank case hose and sprayed a full can of throttlebody cleaner through it and took it for a spin around the block and right away i noticed when coming to a stop with the clutch in it gently went back to 700 rpms and did a full lap like that with no fuss. I got back to my driveway and decided to turn the ac on and back off and sure enough it surged again and my idle coming to a stop went back to stumbling. I dont know what is up with this thing. Only thing left atm is try and do a vacuum leak test and do some homework on this egr delete vacuum route cause there is a plug on a nipple but i believe that is ok for one of the ports from what i read. Thing is i dont have a smoke machine lol.

Any suggestions? Im kind of winging what i can between rain and such. Ill get pictures a little later on the vacuum routing that the po did.

Edit: Also i should mention that what i believed to be the egr solenoid i touched it and was quite hot to the touch. That normal?

[nismoka]

Hmm well i do believe i have the idle set correctly, but was still doing it. So i took the whole intake apart and cleaned it and the maf and test fitted it and see how it went and not much change. I hooked up a vacuum gauge to the brake booster and was bouncing quickly back and forth from 21-22 on the gauge. So i then checked everything and tightened everything up. Then i put clamps on the t fitting going from the crankcase, intake and to the iacv. Cause found out the hard way if one of those hoses pops off the car instantly stalls lol. Anyways i hooked and tightened everything and fired it back up and now the vacuum is erratically moving back and forth to 17 and 18 hg. Ill assume thats a vacuum leak? Also while poking around harder i noticed this has the egr valve deleted from it. So i decided to pull some hoses and put them back on and to my surprise most of the hoses thats related to the egr has no vacuum whatsoever being pulled from any of the hoses or ports and even pulled them and sprayed some carb cleaner on them and not even a change in idle.

I stuck the vacuum gauge on them and sure enough nothing is even being remotely pulled from it. But on the other hand one noticeable thing i did was while holding the rpms i pulled the crank case hose and sprayed a full can of throttlebody cleaner through it and took it for a spin around the block and right away i noticed when coming to a stop with the clutch in it gently went back to 700 rpms and did a full lap like that with no fuss. I got back to my driveway and decided to turn the ac on and back off and sure enough it surged again and my idle coming to a stop went back to stumbling. I dont know what is up with this thing. Only thing left atm is try and do a vacuum leak test and do some homework on this egr delete vacuum route cause there is a plug on a nipple but i believe that is ok for one of the ports from what i read. Thing is i dont have a smoke machine lol.

Any suggestions? Im kind of winging what i can between rain and such. Ill get pictures a little later on the vacuum routing that the po did.

Edit: Also i should mention that what i believed to be the egr solenoid i touched it and was quite hot to the touch. That normal?


I found this.
Recheck the vacuum routing hoses.
If one is plugged wrong, it?ll have idling issues.

https://forums.nicoclub.com/egr-delete-high-idle-and-drops-t613561.html

[EEVEE]

I believe this is the link i went by, Issue is in my eyes currently is why is there no vacuum being pulled from any of the ports and hoses? Could that egr solenoid also cause issues?

[EEVEE]

I decided to take a small break from the car to work on the timing belt on my miata, so i hooked up my better obd2 scanner to the car and got some potential codes.

p0325
p0110
p0301
p0300

In terms of the misfire codes i am not feeling it run rough at all and i pulled the spark plugs and they all look great. Put it all back together i took it for a longer drive round the block and it seemed to return to idle pretty good except when i came to a stop one time and it stalled on me. So i dont know i really need to get this car legal to drive on the main roads and take it for a nice drive.

[EEVEE]

I may think the p0300 and 3001 was due to an injector failing a few years ago and was replaced. po replaced it a while back and the cel went away but is unaware of the other codes

[mechanicalmoron]

No, those codes are not from a problem resolved years ago.

Dying at stops tells me all the KA tubes and hoses in and under the intake are full of terrible shit. PCV EGR etc.

IAC of course, but it sort of follows those others.

Especially if it's got oil leaks or smokes.

It's not an exact code=something diagnosis, but once you take that shit apart once and know, you know, and you see the same shit on every nissan with any miles on it, over a very long time and quite a few motors with similar design weaknesses. They tend to need a pull everything apart style tune-up, in the spirit of doing an intake manifold on an old chevy v8 - you don't need to know exactly what's wrong in there to know you'll find plenty.

[EEVEE]

Even if it stalled once out of the 30 times i stopped? It was like the 2nd time i stopped and it died but afterwards it didnt once stall not even stumble for that matter.

[mechanicalmoron]

Even if it stalled once out of the 30 times i stopped? It was like the 2nd time i stopped and it died but afterwards it didnt once stall not even stumble for that matter.

I'd call that an unhappy iacv, but the other cruddy parts don't help - you say you cleaned the manifold, so you got the PCV hose setup that goes into the bottoms of the runners, and the PCV oil separator box, and all that? It's not that they'll make it run badly, it's that they'll cause crud and damage to every other part of the motor and management systems, when they get blocked up. They tend to get entirely crusted shut. There's also the tubes with the allen head plugs, bored into the manifold.

Just saw your post about the fluttering vacuum - that's not-so-great internals, but that's a direct result of crappy PCV systems, and even worn out motors can run pretty good once that's all been manually cleaned out and repaired.

[EEVEE]

I didnt take the entire intake off, only ran some throttle body cleaner through the hoses in hopes it would clean out the iacv even more than i could in some aspects. I meant the intake hose from the filter to throttlebody i cleaned.

[mechanicalmoron]

I didnt take the entire intake off, only ran some throttle body cleaner through the hoses in hopes it would clean out the iacv even more than i could in some aspects. I meant the intake hose from the filter to throttlebody i cleaned.

Nahhh... I never figured out my 240, for years, until I started working on other people's cars, and met some volvos and other cars that did similar things, where I had time and authorization to really tear in.

You can't clean that shit in the car, it's absolutely not possible. The intake manifold has to come off, and unless the brackets are missing it's almost impossible to do it without pulling the motor - and it's surely a waste of fucking time, even if you can technically do it.

I could be wrong and it could be a waste of your time, but I personally suggest pulling the engine, and entirely disassembling the intake manifold side, new gaskets and hoses and clean everything, clean out the PCV oil seperator, etc.

While you're at it, you can do any seal or anything you feel like, since it'll be in front of you.

[EEVEE]

while i would love to pull the engine, that just isnt possible for me atm. I hear its a pain to pull the intake off but pull the engine worthy?

[EEVEE]

Gotta love when rock auto gives you the wrong brakes.....

[mechanicalmoron]

while i would love to pull the engine, that just isnt possible for me atm. I hear its a pain to pull the intake off but pull the engine worthy?
Ain't gonna happen, in a reasonable time, in the car.

Pulling an engine isn't as hard as you think. You need an engine hoist/crane (or any number of overhead things, and a chain hoist), about a hundred dollars worth of hand tools, two parking spaces, some cardboard, an oil pan, and a big plastic toolbox or organizer with a lot of little cubbies, and a sharpie, for organizing and labeling fasteners.

Impact tools sure do make things nice, but you don't NEED any more than that, if you can go at your own pace. This isn't crazy internal work or anything, you don't really even have to drain the oil. (although it'd be a good time to do light internal stuff, like valve seals)

Sorry, KA's are tough but have problems that just absolutely have to be addressed to run right, that happen really predictably. They've got to come out to put them right, IMO. You can take the thing apart in place, but why would you do that?

[EEVEE]

Honestly i dont have an engine hoist, big enough driveway nor any space for anything along with the time as of late. I was hoping this woulda been an iacv issue but turns out to be a deeper issue.

[mechanicalmoron]

Honestly i dont have an engine hoist, big enough driveway nor any space for anything along with the time as of late. I was hoping this woulda been an iacv issue but turns out to be a deeper issue.

Meh, maybe not, that's just my opinion of what needs to be done to every single KA. The design just clogs up long before the engine should be finished. I'm sure things like over-enthusiastic oil filling contribute to it, with the low-mounted oil seperator. My guess is you could drive it forever that way, but especially when it's hot, it'll be an oil burner, and you'll have strange shit like being stuck on high idle and dying at stops, from time to time.

I understand not having the time, my KA block(s) are in the next room, where they've sat a couple years. But if you're into cars like this, you will, no question, need a cherry picker. Lots of jobs just can't be avoided, all the bandaids in the world won't make it the car you want it to be without tearing this stuff apart and seeing and knowing. Sprays or seafoam can absolutely never get in there.

I think this system is sort of why they all got parked and sold to kids with 70-130k on them, for nothing - they start smoking and sucking at everything and mechanics say you need a rebuild, because on many motors, that would be what those symptoms mean.

But like I described above, you can do it in spare time and keep everything in the car, with only a few hundred dollars of stuff (which sounds like a lot, but is nearly free for automotive tools). If it's your first time but you've done enough other work to know which end of a wrench to hit stuff with, it should only take a few hours to pull or install. After all, you said you're not about to be driving this one.

[EEVEE]

Not at the moment, Need some funds at the moment and selling the miata would so that. And im no stranger to getting my hands dirty. just did the clutch, timing belt, seals and front end crap to the miata. Its just i kinda threw myself at the 240sx cause i always wanted one and snatched this one up cause its fairly clean. And trust me there is alot more i want to do with this car and pulling the engine would be one and replace all the vacuum lines and sort it all out and 2 would be to get rid of this god awful 4 puck clutch. I get its a good clutch but im gonna be dailying this car eventually lol.

[mechanicalmoron]

Not at the moment, Need some funds at the moment and selling the miata would so that. And im no stranger to getting my hands dirty. just did the clutch, timing belt, seals and front end crap to the miata. Its just i kinda threw myself at the 240sx cause i always wanted one and snatched this one up cause its fairly clean. And trust me there is alot more i want to do with this car and pulling the engine would be one and replace all the vacuum lines and sort it all out and 2 would be to get rid of this god awful 4 puck clutch. I get its a good clutch but im gonna be dailying this car eventually lol.

Ahh cool, sometimes it's hard to know what someone really can do, when they've read about it. Some have no sense whatsoever, and some can know nothing about cars and just do it.

You'll be surprised how easy it is, is my guess. Probably under 4 hours your first time, if you can do a tranny and that sort of thing.

Can't stress enough, since I'm saying pull your motor out on a general feeling and no real evidence, that I could be wrong... still, it's what I'd do. When you see the stuff I mean, you'll probably feel the same.

[EEVEE]

Hmm, i may actually do a parts cannon. Have someone i know that has a friend who has a partout 240 like mine that is a factory manual so i may swipe the iacv, tps, maf and a few other things if theyre all there still

[mechanicalmoron]

Hmm, i may actually do a parts cannon. Have someone i know that has a friend who has a partout 240 like mine that is a factory manual so i may swipe the iacv, tps, maf and a few other things if theyre all there still

I sure wouldn't.... it entirely destroys any diagnosability a situation may have.

I'm not suggesting you have any broken part, other than a slightly sticky iacv. I'm talking about a design weakness that pervades any parts throwing you could ever do, that requires manual cleaning.

you have a scannable car, so everything's easy, once this one thing the scanner can't touch is fixed.

[EEVEE]

Im gonna get them for insurance and cause they work. also a good price as well. That is if its in a reasonable travel distance lol

[EEVEE]

Yeah no progress whatsoever. Came down with a major sinus and ear infection. And nope the car had nothing worth salvaging and was never mentioned it was on fire before.... oh and i was given one (1) 5 lug hub for the front lol whoopty do.