I think everyone who has grounded out their VTC through Craig Brace's instructions should show Craig more than just board love and appreciation. Remember, this is a repair that could have cost you an arm and a leg. Thanks to his instructions, it only cost about $5.00. I don't know Craig, never met him at all and he said he insisted that I not send him anything. But I just think for something like this, Craig should be rewarded for his knowledge. I grounded mine in Nov 2000 and have not had any problems since then. This fix has saved me so much embarassment !! Yes, I sent Criag something for his knowledge. It may have taken me over a year, but I am finally financially set to send him something, so I did !! Email him, craigbrace@hotmail.com, get his address and send him a little something, something to show your appreciation.

Sidney
94 Maxima SE

 

I heard that some people have made a switch to ground and unground vtc's when they wanted, like at a stop light or somthing. Any expierience with this, or problems turning vtc's on and off all the time?

 

I had grounded my VTC's, but the fix seemingly didn't change anything. I recently took the car to the Nissan dealership to have an estimate on replacing them, and the mechanic told me that I should unground the VTC's if I'm going to continue to drive the car while they're malfunctioning. He said that when they're grounded, there's a chance that they can "freeze" and parts of them can travel into the engine, causing it to seize up. Normally, I'd be a little skeptical because I know many people have grounded their VTC's with no problems, but another mechanic at a private shop also told me this. He even went so far as to take me around back and show me a VE engine laying on the ground that had this very thing happen to it. Just for everyone's information, the dealer wanted $2300 to fix them, so I think I'll look elsewhere for a repair.

 

What can happen if the VTC problem isn't taken care of? The signs of this are a ticking sound correct? I believe that the 93 I'm looking at has this issue... (see my thread)

How long have people gone without doing anything about it?

 

Let's see, I think I got mine fixed by the nissan dealer in Jan 1996, it came back in about 4 months. I had gone 12,500 miles since it was fixed and it came back. The warrenty was only good for 12,000 miles, **** Smith Nissan here in Columbia WOULD NOT fix it for free just because of 500 miles. Somehow, I think they knew it would be back. Anyway, I didn't do anything until Nov. 2000. So I went 4 years with that embarassing sound. Getting it fixed after 4 years and having it fixed for a year and 2 months is the reason I say THANK YOU to Craig. Go ahead and fix it. It's a simple fix, costs less than $5.00 and only takes about 5 mins.

Sidney

 

You probably had the VTC assemblies rebuilt, which has a pretty poor track record for lasting a while. When I finally fix mine in a few weeks, I'll be replacing the assemblies with the ones that are supposedly less prone to failure. Along with regular oil changes and the correct oil filter, this should be a fairly permenant fix.