jwhite

For $hits and giggles, I decided to unground my VTC's last night. Aside from the intermittent type-writer noice, my car has waaaaaayyyyy more power. However, once you drive for an extended period, the infamous "heatsoak" problem seems more evident than if the VTC's are grounded. I plan on changing the knock sensor and harness soon, so hopefully the "heatsoak" problem will go away, but I was wondering how, if any, can I quiet the ticking without grounding the VTC's again. My car kicks a$$ when the VTC's and is way more fun to drive. A few people actually suggested to run kerosene through the motor for about a minute to clean it out of all gunk inside, then use synthetic oil. I have heard of people doing this, but I was always reluctant to try on my own car. But the people who are suggesting this are "Nissan" people either. Thoughts???????

jwhite

Excuse me, I meant that the people suggesting this are NOT "Nissan" people.

DARHAW-MAX

As for the heat soak, use a 470K ohm resistor in the female side of the connector and cover up/stoe the male side. It is a temp fix until you actually get around changing the KS. Big difference. No more sluggish accleration. The only caveat: use premium or better gas.

As for the kerosene, I would try Gunk's Engine Flush first. Give that a try or two.

jwhite

I actually only use premium gas. My car seems to run extremely ****ty on anything less. I will try the resistor, and see what happens. Sounds relatively simple to do. As far as flushing the engine, seeing that the Gunk fuel injector cleaner works well for me, I'll try the engine flush next. The people who suggested the kerosene, are all stuck in the 60's era, where the only cars they ever tried this on were old and simple (no computers, fuel injection, etc.) Do you think after I run the flush, I should switch over to synthetic, and if so, which brand would you suggest. My car has 146k miles. Also, do you think that this will help quiet the VTC's? Thanks for the info.

subs1000w

it might help quiet them but more that likely they need to be rebiult or replaced

jwhite

I was thinking about taking the engine out of the car this winter. How hard or easy is it to replace them if the engine is on a stand? I am planning on putting a heavier duty clutch that'll hold up to my abuse. I am not sure if the clutch in there has ever been replaced, but the throw out bearing is making a lot of noice. I keep expecting it to blow out. I also need to replace the waterpump and front main seal. But that is jumping off of the subject a bit. I wondered how long the VTC's will tap before they stop being functional. The car actually feels like it's turbo-charged when I unground them. It has a nice rush of power at 5000rpm.

DARHAW-MAX

As for the switch to synthetic oil, checkout http://forums.maxima.org/forumdisplay.php?forumid=70. There is more info on oil there than you can handle. I, myself, just run 5W-30 dino oil, but this because I change my oil about twice a month.

Shorting out the KS harness with a 470K resistor is terribly easy!

If you have the skill to pull the engine, then replacing the VTC's are going to be a peice of cake for you--especially if the engine is on a stand. Shoot, while you are there, go ahead and replace the KS properly.

jwhite

I never pulled a Maxima engine before, but I've pulled several out of Mustangs, and some older cars. I was looking at it, and it didn't look like it would be any worse of a pain in the *** as the other vehicles mentioned. I figured I would do the resistor thing for now, but I was planning on changing the knock sensor while the motor was out. I was even thinking of getting a little crazy and porting and polishing the intakes and the heads. I usually shy away from electrical projects, I am not exactly electrically intellectual (I am more so electrically retarded than anything), but general mechanics usually do not scare me. While I am at it, seeing that I'll be changing the front main seal, it would be ashame not to replace the pulley with an underdrive pulley. I'll probably also add a CAI as well. Do you know of anyone who has ported and polished the heads and intake on these cars?

DARHAW-MAX

Wow. I am not too scared of too many things, either mechanical or electrical, but you seem to have a solid handle on things (I have never removed a motor before). As for the polished and ported intakes, I do believe there are a couple of memebers on this forum who have done that procedure before.

Oh yeah, don't forget about your exhaust studs if they are not already done. If the engine is going to be out on a stand, that also will be a piece of cake.

Man, if I could get my engine out on a stand, I would daym near replace everything I could. Good luck.

jwhite

I probably will too. This is still all tentative. I have to buy another vehicle (probably a truck), so I still have something to drive. I put the resistor in last night. I was able to get one from work. You were right about how easy it was, I could have let my 4 year old daughter do it. I have already had the exhaust studs replaced when I had a new Y-pipe put on. But seeing that it was a stock replacement, I'll have to upgrade that also if I actually dig into the motor. Originally, this car was my beater as my '97 Cobra was my garage queen, but due to some unfortunate circumstances last year, I had to let the queen go. Seeing that I have a disease for speed, I must do something to my Max to pasify me. I'd be content if I could get it into the low 14's. My stang was a 12 second car, so everything kind of feels slow that I've driven compared to that. Plus, I like the idea of having a sleeper. Nobody really expects an 11 year old car (especially a 4 door sedan), to be that fast. Time will tell all. Thanks for the info on the resistor.

DARHAW-MAX

Glad to read about the resistor . Your Maxima was your beater, huh? That's funny. Hey, did you get the wheels from your '97 Cobra and put them on the Max? You know they fit, right? See http://www.4dsc.com/articles/suspens...g_wheels.shtml

jwhite

It was my beater, now it's my primary vehicle. I actually did put my Cobra wheels on. It looked pretty cool, but a little odd. My tires rubbed in the front, though. I now have a set of 16" wheels on it (split 5 star), that I lucked into (given to me for free). They look real good, but they all need repaired as they are curb rashed and bent, but I can't bring myself to put the stock wheels back on because the car looks soooooooo much better. I have considered selling it so many times, but am reluctant to, because I know exactly what I got in it and trust it. It's been a great car so far, even with my abuse. How much would it cost to buy the parts if I rebuild the VTC's as opposed to replacing them altogether? Or are there other year motors that I could possible get these from that would not have this infamous problem?

DARHAW-MAX

From what I understand, rebuilt VTC's (approx $60.00) can also go bad after about 20k to 30k miles; however, new VTC's ($$$$) are redesigned to eliminate the failure. There is a TSB also about cleaning the oil gallies that feed the VTC's so that the new ones don't fail. There are others who are way more knowledgeable about this. You may want to try the test side of this forum to do the search and see what you can come up with.

I am with you on the stock wheels. Anything looks better than those POS. I don't know what Nissan was thinking of when they decided on that corny styling. Really, the wheels can make or break the look of the 3rd Gen.

CandiMan

iTrader: (1)

If your VTC's are knocking no flushing of any type is going to help. At the point the spring assy in the VTC is already worn. So kerosene, motor flush, urine, diesel fuel is all a waste of time. I got my car with 28K on the clock and I've exclusively used synthetic since then and my VTC's started knocking about 100K. Drove with the knocking for 13K which at that point I had enough and rebuild them. What's that, why didn't I ground them? IMO grounding them is not a fix but does work for many owners. I had a skills and knowledge to rebuild mine so I did and 18-19K miles later I'm still . During my rebuild process I took the liberty to remove the heads to change the exh studs (no totally needed, but I went that route)

jwhite

I only grounded mine to eliminate the "typewriter" noice for now. I do plan on rebuilding them in the near future. My car has a noticeable amount of powerloss when the VTC's are grounded. Thanks for the info.