okay - changed the front v-cover gasket yesterday, and was very meticulous when putting hoses back on, etc. i crank the car, it idles fine, then starts smoking near the exhaust manifold.

drove it (just around the block) & though it idles fine, it accelerates poorly (it ran fine before i changed the gasket, not running fine now). i was careful to mark the distributor and rotor, making sure these lined back up when they were put in - so i don't believe this is the case.

only thing i can think of is that i may have busted (or caused them to come unseated somehow) the exhaust manifold from the their gaskets while removing the EGR connection to the intake manifold. I did not try to loosen the two larger bolts surrounding the EGR pipe, but rather, the 4 - 10mm nuts on the right side of the aluminum intake thing.

any ideas / suggestions. thanks in advance !!

 

I would recheck the timing again....

 

Since MyGreenMax94 is quite knowledgable, I will not dispute him, but I also wanted to add:

-Pull your ECU to see if it is throwing any codes
-Triple check all your vacuum hoses,making sure every hose that you remove are put back, if they are brittle, replace them.
-check your injectors connectors, you might have bumped into them while removing the intake manifold.
-check your EGR valve and its bolting connections
-make sure that the electrical connector for the distributor is properly seated
-make sure that your intake manifold is properly installed and torque, if there is any gap in there, your car will run like crap
-check the MAF connector

 

he seems like an A-hole to me just kidding

 

 

I'm positive that my distributor lined up - i used a sharpee & marked the rotor alignment, and used the sharpee on the tightening bolt/washer as well (posted a 'help' thread before i started because this was my biggest hesitation)

torqued the intake plume from center to outsides - criss crossing as i went. too tight maybe ?

disconnected & re-connected the distributor connector & ground wire (several times).

replaced brittle vacuum hoses, then put the old ones back on after it started smoking. no difference.

replaced the gaskets to the EGR vavle housing pieces that connect to the R-side of the intake plume.

3 questions - 1) where can i find a 'nissan' service manual (not chiltons or harvey's, etc. 2) how do i pull the ECU codes, and 3) what is the MAF connector?

[thanks in advance]

 

What kind of smoke was it?? [oil/electrical,burning wire smell??]

You also may have pinched a wire or something..[may explain the smoke]

 

the smoke is definitely coming from the 3 mounting areas (under the front valvle cover, but below it) where the Y-pipe meets the block.

the smell is similar that of a burnt cleaning agent (like when the lube shops spray cleaner on the leaked oil when they change the oil filter).

i did use a degreaser (purple stuff) during the process, to clean off all the crud (burnt oil / road grime) but this would normally burn off rather guickly.

i mentioned in my first post that i had to apply a good amount of pressure to the EGR connector piece when i removed it from the intake, thus my question about possible messing up the exhaust piece (since this large diameter tube does go down to attach to the base of the y-pipe from the manifold).

sorry - i know my description isn't helping much. i'll try to get a picture this evening so better point to the area.

thanks again,

 

please do post some pictures

 

1) www.phatg20.net
2) there is a how to in the stickies (if you can't find it, then I will be happy to help)
3) MAF = Mass Air Flow sensor, its that round thing with an electrical connector going to it, just to the left of the air filter box

edit: when you put the aluminum tube that runs from the EGR to the exhaust port, did you cross thread it or something? sounds like you are being very careful with what you do, so there should be no reason for something to go wrong, besides, valve cover gasket is a pretty much straight forward job.

 

problem solved - sort of. dealer (yes i took it there, as they have all records since birth) said i had an air pocket in the cooling system (thus the heating up too quickly), timing was fine, so not an issue. new idle / acceleration problem apparently due to 'bad injector seals' ?? ($1800 to replace all 6 injectors)

now - correct me if I'm wrong, but if the car was running fine when i did the rear V-cover gasket, and the i didn't spray any degreaser down the center of the engine (i limited the degreaser to the grungy front part of the engine) - then i am guessing the injectors may have been 'bumped' when i removed/re-installed the intake plume; but to say the seals are 'completely bad'.

any thoughts ?

 

Sounds like the dealer is needing some beer monies from you..

 

The dealer is trying to screw you.

If you can pull the manifold off, then you can remove the injectors yourslef. it's only 4 screws after that to remove the whole fuel rail. injector o-ring seals are about $2 eachand you have 6 of them.
If you do it quickly, you shoudln't even have to replace your intake manifold gaskets again since they won't have stuck to the mating surfaces yet.

get your car back from the dealer and NEVER go there again. they're crooks.

 

More like strippers and hard liquor for the entire service dept.

 

Do these mechanics all have boats? Fuel's expensive.

 

Yes we do have a few large lakes in the area, so you never know

Sounds like he was pretty meticulous with his repairs. What got me puzzled is that a simple valve cover gasket turned into 6 injectors. Weird, but I guess it's possible. Injectors can go out at the oddest times and if one or two injectors go out, any dealer or shop (including myself) would reccomend the replacement off all injectors just to avoid any complications with those other older injectors in the near future.

Where in the Charlotte area are you, I'm in south Charlotte in the Steele Creek area. Sounds like you got your wrenching under control, but if you ever need help my fee can be low and I got a FSM