James92SE

iTrader: (31)

I'm looking for ideas/input here on my black VE30DE. This will be long but I'll try to give all the backstory I can here (and a lot of it is also found here: https://maxima.org/forums/3rd-genera...ransistor.html)

A few years back I parked my totally perfectly running black VE to overhaul it (new steering rack, all new suspension and bushings, all new engine gaskets/seals, brand new coil packs, brand new injectors, brand new knock sensor, brand new knock sensor harness, brand new coolant temp sensor, etc). Unfortunately due to time/money this took me about two years before I actually started driving it again.

I finally finished it up late last summer, and when I first started driving it, it would start to slightly buck as it was being driven. It also stranded me once, which I discovered was because of total cloudly/muddy river water looking gas/gas tank due to sitting for a few years and a clogged fuel filter sock. The gas went bad from sitting for 2 years. I put a brand new fuel pump/sock AND a brand new gas tank in it and a new fuel filter in it.

That said, I still have issues with this car, but I *think* it's separate/different from the bad gas issue. This has absolutely turned into the most frustrating car problem I've dealt with in 15 years of messing with these cars, or any car for that matter:

Despite the new fuel tank/pump/etc, the slight bucking persisted. I can't figure out why, but once the car has been driving for about 15-20 minutes it starts to get a general sense of bucking and stalling. About every other stop light I take off from it gives me bucking/loss of power. Sometimes I'll get a very harsh buck, the type to throw me forward in the seat - when accelerating away from a stop light. Sometimes it's totally fine. When at a steady cruise going 45+ I can feel a very subtle bucking occasionally. When this starts happening, the idle is often very stumbly. If you sit and watch the tach, it'll frequently seem as if the idle is very quickly drug down real low. The needle will instantly drop a few hundred RPM, as if it's being punched downward, then raise back up as the car raises the idle speed. Sometimes, it'll do this over and over until it can just stall itself out if I let it sit there and do it.

It will also stall on me frequently while driving. Sometimes over and over. It will stall on me accelerating from a stop light. It will stall on me cruising down the highway. Sometimes it just turns off, sometimes it's accompanied by bucking. When it stalls on me, it almost always starts right back up. I just put it into neutral and start it back up (even cruising down the highway). About 70% of the time it comes back on 1st try. The rest of the time it takes multiple tries to get it to fire back up, as it doesn't want to "catch" and run the first try. This is especially annoying when it happens to me taking off from an intersection with pissed off people behind me.

An interesting quirk is that it's much more frequent/consistent when I have the AC on. However, even with the AC off it still happens - it just happens MORE when the compressor is engaged. And again, this typically only starts to happen once the car has been driven for 15-20 minutes. My commute to work is only 10 minutes, so 90% of the time, it drives FLAWLESSLY on my way to work. But it has bucked/stalled on me a few times even when the engine is cool/not up to operating temp. When I go out for lunch, or if I do an errand after work and end up driving 15-20 minutes continuously, that's when it almost without fail starts doing its crap.

Having said all that, here is everything I've done to try to figure this out/fix it (as stated above it has a new fuel pump, fuel pump sock, and fuel filter):

- NO ECU fault codes
- Bypassed knock sensor with resistor
- Swapped ECU's
- Installed Factory basemap on my Nistune ECU, could tell no discernible issues watching the CONSULT readouts on Nistune even when the engine was stumbly
- Replaced fuel pressure regulator with brand new unit
- Swapped ENG CONT relay from my other VE
- Swapped IGN COIL relay from my other VE
- Replaced TPS with brand new unit
- Replaced CPS with brand new unit
- Swapped my OLD coil packs back in to replace the brand new coil packs
- Replaced power transistor unit with brand new unit
- Swapped MAF with known good unit
- Swapped coolant temp sensor from my other VE
- Swapped the OLD injectors back in (thought maybe the bad gas clogged them)
- Swapped the EGR with from my other VE
- Swapped the oxygen sensor from my other VE
- Rechecked/replaced all vacuum hoses
- Pinched blow-by hose, did not raise idle speed (indicates no IM leak per FSM)
- Plugged vacuum/vent hoses as test - no change
- Tested fuel pressure - idle pressure is exactly 35 PSI. Generally between 32-40 PSI driving around the neighborhood (residential streets, so not much more than about 30 mph). Fuel pressure definitely never cuts out or bounces around. It's all very smooth. Even taped the fuel pressure gauge to my windshield and drove it around - pressure was nearly 40 PSI literally the moment it stalled on me
- Swapped ENTIRE ENGINE HARNESS with my turbo VE
- Added grounding kit
- Inspected intake manifold gasket for leaks/problems during injector swap
- Inspected new fuel pump/sock for indications of muddy gas/clogged sock (no indication)
- Even did the old remove-the-gas-cap in case of fuel vapor lock trick

I'll swap in a different IACV this weekend but I really don't anticipate it having any impact either. These aren't really IACV type symptoms, but I'm trying everything at this point.

None of the above fixed the problems or had any impact at all on the issue. There's probably more things I tried that I can't think of right now. I spent all my free time last weekend screwing with it (injectors and engine harness).

I'm about at my wit's end, this has been going on for a year. At this point I want to burn this thing to the ground or push it off a cliff. Everybody keeps telling me to just sell it but I would lose so much money on this at this point it's not even funny. Who has any ideas? Nothing too dumb to suggest at this point.

CMax03

iTrader: (3)

Sounds like a burned exhaust valve or a valve timing issue....I would sugesst you connect a test light to each coil pack or datalog it during running to find your fault.

James92SE

iTrader: (31)

Well, I never opened up the engine or took the heads off or anything during the overhaul. Besides, if it had a bad valve or a timing issue - it would never run properly. For brief stretches (like usually my 10 minute morning commute), it will run magnificently.

I will try to drive it to lunch tomorrow and datalog with Nistune while it's acting up, but I doubt it will show me anything useful.

How would I go about doing a test light on each coil pack that I could monitor while driving?

ac max 92

iTrader: (13)

I just recently the past 2 days have been having an issue with random stalling too James but mines a vg. Ive also put alot of money into mine as well but you've been suffering with this issue for about a year now so i can definately understand your frustration. It's gotta be something ignition or fuel related and if you swapped out all those parts im wondering if its somewhere in the main harness. As for your bucking that sounds like a timing issue. I had a problem with the bucking and some misfiring but after giving a little throttle under the hood while adjusting the distributor i was able to smooth things out and eliminate the buckingand misfires but yours being a ve you can't adjust your timing from a distributor. I swapped my ecu and the misfires sounded worse until i adjusted the timing at the distributor and got it just right. Could it be possible the timing is off and throwing off something from when your car was tuned? the reason i changed my ecu was because adjusting the distributor after the ecu was tuned threw things off and even if the distributor was retarded or advanced 5-10 deg or lets say even at factory setting it wouldnt be truely the factory setting because of the tune that was done. try slowly raising your throttle under the hood to see if you get a nice curve without any stumbling if not i'd maybe see if the tuner can check it over to see if he could cure the stumbling or misfire but as for the random stalling well im hoping to figure that out aswell. A friend of mine is a pretty good mechanic with descent trouble shooting skills. He once fixed an issue i had with the car not starting and when it would the engine control fuse under the hood would pop. He searched the harness knowing there had to be a short or wire grounding out somewhere and came to the conclution my swirl valve solonoid had the short. When asking my local dealership for the part he saiod he did'nt think it was the problem because he's never or rarely ever sold one but sure enough it was the issue. I may be taking it to him to check over in the next couple weeks and if he finds anything that may relate to your issue aswell i'll let you know.

James92SE

iTrader: (31)

This car was never tuned. It's bone stock, naturally aspirated. I took the Nistune ECU from my turbo car, loaded a stock/naturally aspirated map onto my Nistune ECU solely for the purpose of viewing CONSULT and trying to check anything goofy on the logs/readouts/maps/etc. available in Nistune.

And regarding the timing, I let it warm up today, and played with my CPS (how you adjust the timing on the VE), and basically any position I set it in, it still had the same goofyness at idle. Severely retarded or severely advanced, same sort of stumbling.

I let the car get up to temp today and let it run at idle while it was acting mildly goofy. I made a Nistune log (after I set the timing back to stock). Here's the one minute video of what it was doing. You can see via the tach what it was doing. It never stalled here, but this is a sort of mild version of the annoyingness I'm dealing with. I didn't drive it during this log, but I guarantee if I had driven it, it would have stalled on me numerous times.



Here's a link to the Nistune log, in case anybody out there has Nistune and can find anything goofy/meaningful in the log. You can actually "read" the log without Nistune, but if you have Nistune you can load this log and "watch" it real time with all the gauges/tools/maps in Nistune. I started my video and the log at the same time, but I can't say they're EXACTLY timed together. They should be nearly identical though, not that it matters. All I can see meaningful from the log is that when the idle drops down into the 600's, the timing shoots up to mid 20's, which seems like a normal response to try to kick the engine back up:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_C...ew?usp=sharing

ac max 92

iTrader: (13)

Not sure where it's located on the ve but the swirl valve solonoid that controls the vacume at idle and when accelerating to open and close the vacume may be another possibilty? It's something not on the list. In the vg there is a green one and a brown one which i think is for the egr. Next time your at a yard you could probably just put a couple in your box to take home and try?

James92SE

iTrader: (31)

I've never heard of a swirl valve but the VE does have those two solenoids on the intake manifold, a brown one and a green one. One is for the EGR and one is for the VE 5 speed power valve.

I guess I could swap those from my other VE

ac max 92

iTrader: (13)

Just a thought. Kind of drawing at straws. Looks like you covered pretty much all the diagnostic procedures from the fsm. I had the green one go bad causing a short that kept popping my engine control fuse. I had it swapped and it took care of that issue. Im thinking my random stalling is fuel related but hopefully I'll find out sometime soon.

Hectic

iTrader: (20)

Since you have two VE's, and have done all of that with no results, you should swap the complete injector rails and plenum assemblies, between cars. That will narrow down your problem in a day, at no cost, with minimal labor. I would also check that the surge tank and rest of the vacuum lines are routed properly.

James92SE

iTrader: (31)

I already swapped the complete injector rails. When I said I swapped the injectors I didn't mean I removed and replaced each one, I pulled the whole rails including FPR and swapped back in the complete other rails and FPR. I didn't want to swap just the injectors as I wanted to rule out perhaps some sort of goofy clog in the rail or something.

What do you mean by plenum, do you mean the whole intake manifold?

James92SE

iTrader: (31)

Well this morning I messed with it some more. Rather than hassle with trying to remove the EGR and power valve solenoids while they're still on the car I just decided to unplug both solenoids and see if it behaved any differently.

With both solenoids unplugged at idle it behaved no better (i.e., it was still exactly as stumbly as it was with them plugged in).

My takeaway here is that I think this means I can rule out either of those solenoids as the culprit, no?

I also verified the vacuum hoses for the millionth time. I swapped the check valve for the surge tank with my turbo car with zero change as well.

Hectic

iTrader: (20)

Then no need to bother with the injectors then if you've already swapped complete rails. But that's only one of several possible causes that could be eliminated. The plenum assembly is the upper that bolts to the manifold, with the EGR, throttle body, power valve, ect bolted up. Instead of going part by part, swap the whole thing, verify your vacuum routing at the same time, even swap surge tanks while you have easy access. You've also got the BPT and all of that around there that you could swap as well.

CMax03

iTrader: (3)

Place the pickup around the coilpack harness (same as the dyno guys do) and it will trigger the timing light! I do it all the time to find missing coilpack issues! Tape the timing light too your hood with the light facing you and you'll be able to tell if it's ignition related... Be sure to wiggle and shake the engine harness as well. I'm starting to believe it's either harness related or a Nistune hiccup!

James92SE

iTrader: (31)

I see what you're saying. What is the BPT?

I gotcha. I'll have to try that.

Keep in mind, I've already swapped the entire harness, and the Nistune ECU was swapped in only for test purposes. This issue has persisted through TWO entirely different harnesses and TWO different ECU's (one being the Nistune enabled ECU - again, only swapped in for testing/datalogging).

CMax03

iTrader: (3)

What's your datalogging showing? Any ignition spikes?

James92SE

iTrader: (31)

Do you mean my Nistune datalogging? I posted a datalog above. I don't really know what I'd be looking for which is why I was hoping somebody else with Nistune would take a look. But I'm not really sure Nistune logs would show ignition spikes anyway.

If you meant with the test light stuff I haven't messed with that yet. I don't really feel like messing with my POS car(s) after work during the week unless I absolutely have to. So I probably won't do that until this weekend.

Although reading your reply again above, you're saying tape to do it with an actual timing gun. How would I keep the timing gun "trigger" pulled - with a zip tie or something?

It's POSSIBLE this all might be moot. I swapped in a THIRD set of random used/old coil packs from my attic Sunday evening, and it has not stalled on me yet. I had it running/driving about 2 continuous hours Sunday evening and it drove fine. Drove it to work yesterday, out on a lunch run about 1 PM to pick up food (drive-through), 93 degrees outside and AC on full blast. Almost without fail that situation would have typically stalled on me multiple times during the lunch run and it didn't yesterday. Drove it home too, zero issues. I drove it again to work today and we'll see how it acts on lunch.

I'm probably jinxing myself by even suggesting it might be cured. Maybe we'll pretend I didn't write that above. I can't believe two sets of coil packs, one being brand new, the other swapped in from my other VE, would be bad though.

cardana24

iTrader: (81)

I don't know the answer to the problem for sure but after watching your video I think it is ignition coil related. I have not had my ve in years but when I did I had some coil problems and that was the only thing that caused the sudden loss of power like you are experiencing (injector issues made it stumble but never made the tach drop like that). If you are sure the coils are good then I would check the ground for the ignition coils (not a clue where that is), and if that is fine then I would trace the wiring from the coils back to the ecu to find a spot where it may be rubbing and grounding out. I probably already sent you this all in PM from before but I just wanted to throw out my .02 again.

*edit*
random thought, are all of your spark plugs tight? I know that's stilly but just something I thought of. And have you checked for good strong spark at each plug?

TonyJr

Nice keep us up to date

James92SE

iTrader: (31)

Well, I drove it around a lot on lunch today, went and picked up a buddy for lunch, mid-90's temperature outside, AC on full blast, etc. Car drove perfect all during lunch, drove perfect again on the way home. Three days now of no stalling (well, 2.5 - Sunday mid/late afternoon after putting in another set of coil packs) . Again, this is with a third set of random old used coil packs I've had in my attic

CMax03

iTrader: (3)

Something I like to do is use dielectric grease in all my ccoilpack boots....Used colipacks that you might wanna see which are intermittent and which are not...

Hectic

iTrader: (20)

It's right next to the EGR, and looks the part as well. Not sure exactly what it does, which can be said for most emissions related parts..

Hopefully you fixed the issue with the coil packs, but it seems a little unlikely. If you're replaced them several times already, especially with new ones, don't get your hopes too high. I've had VE's that ran on 4 and 3 cylinders, busted coil packs in the front, a couple dead injectors here and there, but they never stalled. I did have one that was stalling, but it was because the surge tank was disconnected, which is why I suggested you check that. It will cause the car to stall, if it's disconnected, leaking or routed incorrectly. It's an easy mistake for a mechanic to make, considering the FSM routing info and diagrams is terrible.

Maximan190

iTrader: (8)

remember back in that turbo thread when I spoke of the temperamental nature of these cars? This is what i mean

Some time ago, I had this exact behavior that you speak of, the random stalling and jerk-you-in-the-seat bucking while accelerating from a stop. It was either the new front coil packs and/or the new cam pos sensor that 95% cured my problem. I replaced those 3 coils and CPS probably within the last year (cant remember exactly - I'll have to look at my mileage/maintenance/notes log at home) And I say 95% cured because the frequency of the stalling & bucking dramatically decreased, although it has acted up only maybe a total of 3 times since then. I don't want to jinx it either by saying that, but i felt that it's worth noting

Maybe you could have a compound problem? Usually I am a fan of diagnosing and trying one thing at a time to single something out, but could it be possible that a certain part is not playing well with another? Say if you replace part A but not part B (and vice versa) and the problem persists, but if you replace BOTH, the problem goes away

James92SE

iTrader: (31)

That's a good idea with the dielectric grease in the coil pack boots. I'll have to do that

The VE doesn't have anything else next to the EGR. I wonder if maybe that BPT thing is VG only?

And it does seem unlikely to me too about these coil packs.

Years ago when I first got this car and was messing on something in the engine bay for some reason, I had the car at a friend's place about 20 miles away. I think I was OHM testing the rear injector bank, I forgot to plug back in the harness for the rear injectors. I drove it all the way home on three cylinders. I mean, it ran crappy and had no power but it never stalled.

I agree the vacuum diagram in the FSM is terrible. They should have drawn it from multiple angles because their single angle diagram, at least on the VE, is difficult to follow. Though I'm 100% certain I have all the vacuum hoses routed correctly, and all the hose is brand new too.

Yep, I remember you mentioning that. And that's exactly why I said I would NOT turbo my black VE (the one this thread is about). My blue turbo VE does not have these issues at all.

Heck it may be some sort of compound problem as you say. The second set of coil packs I tried in this car came directly from my turbo VE, which did not have these issues. I mean that car was a known good running/driving car (albeit sitting for a couple of months last year when I swapped the coil packs). This stupid car was still stalling on me like crazy with the known-good coils from my turbo VE. That's why I effectively ruled out coil packs as the culprit and moved onto much more annoying things like swapping the injectors and all that sort of crap.

Now mysteriously I swap in a THIRD set of used/random coils from my attic and the car is seemingly cured? It's mind-boggling. Heck, for all I know, the coil packs I swapped in now may just be some of the originals I pulled out of this car a few years ago. I just have a big box of coil packs in the attic with no way of differentiating where they came from or whatever.

I suppose it's technically possible, although seems illogical, that the coil packs I swapped in from my turbo VE somehow went "bad" in the couple of months between when I parked the turbo VE and when I tested them in this current car. That's the only thing I can think of.

Regardless, I'm going on day 4 now of zero problems. I'd say if I make it through Saturday with no stalling that I'm going to call this cured. At the absolute minimum it has always bucked and stalled on me during my mid-day lunch breaks when it's nice and hot outside, usually right in the middle of intersections, which is most annoying of all. But no issues at all so far this week. My gas mileage seems markedly improved as well. Prior to these past 4 days, I wouldn't have even ever made it more than 30-40 minutes at a time without it stalling and bucking on me. And now I'm 4 full days and several hours of drive time in with no issues. I almost can't/don't want to believe it. If this really is fixed then now I can go on to the business of painting the car and finishing the overhaul!

Only thing that sucks now is that I bought all these new parts to make this car long-term reliable, and in my effort to track down the issues have now swapped back on a bunch of used parts. And I certainly don't feel like doing the injectors again to put the new ones back in. Besides, if this thing will stay properly running, I probably don't want to risk changing up any combo of parts and causing myself problems again.

Here's a picture of the offender from this weekend when it suddenly started raining on me while doing a compression test as a last resort. The sudden inconvenient rain was very fitting for my troubles with this POS. Although the rain makes the paint look nicer than it is

James92SE

iTrader: (31)

Well, take back everything potentially positive and optimistic I said above.

It promptly stalled on me twice at lunch today. Once in the middle of trying to make it across three very busy lanes of traffic to turn left.

ac max 92

iTrader: (13)

Might sound silly James but try unplugging the maf and plugging it back in. It didn't do anything for me but i was told that a loose connection can cause the random stalling too.

TonyJr

just curious but if a vehicle had a full standalone would it be easier to find a problem like what james is having? just because you would have to directly wire to standalone

VerzOphion

I had a similar problem and it was faulty wiring in the fuel sending unit coupled with some debris in the unit itself after sitting for six or so months. Also, the fuel pump itself seemed to be an issue, so much so that I had to order a new one from Nissan (might've been another solution, but don't have enough mechanical know-how to experiment) since the stock engine didn't like the other one.

CMax03

iTrader: (3)

I think you fixed it while changing the coilpacks it's a possibility it was a connector issues which made it intermittent...checkout your coilpack connections that you removed...

ac max 92

iTrader: (13)

Hi James, When your car stalls does it crank for a couple seconds longer than usual before it starts or does it start right away? Im not 100% yet but i think my fuse terminals where the 15amp fuel pump fuse was spread slightly too wide not allowing a solid connection. When it stalled on me today the fuel line was hard (no fuel pressure) also i found out the ignition transistor has a one way diode and if after it stalls it won't start back up from the acc or on position and if you have to turn the key back to the off position before cranking it over to start could mean the transistor is no good though if you don't have fuel pressure in the line the same goes for not being able to start back up from the on position. Im hoping the fuse terminals were my problem which may make sense being the guy who put some led strips and fog lights on it at one point connected the wire to the fuel pump fuse prong probably allowing the terminals to spread a little but after noticing it i put the wire on a 15 amp fuse into the fog light circuit which had power even though it didnt come stock with fogs being an option i guess the circuit was there for it. Also have you tried swapping the fuel pump relay? Noticed on your list you swapped engine cont and ignition coil relay but didn't see fuel pump relay on your list unless im blind and skimmed over it lol.

Hectic

iTrader: (20)

It's actually a Cali part, so disregard that. Point is, anything you swap over at the time you can either eliminate or diagnose at the problem, so you should swap whatever you can while you have the intake off. It really sounds like an air issue, and is the only thing you haven't tackled that is likely to be the problem. If the car stalls when you hit the clutch, it's definitely an air issue.

CandiMan

iTrader: (1)

Ohm out ALL your current coils and injectors. I realize they all have been changed once or twice, but I'm curious to know what are they ohming out now.

Hectic

iTrader: (20)

"Ohm out" is what Georg used to say when he left the house for work.

James92SE

iTrader: (31)

Highly doubt it. Unless you had some sort of "reader" on literally every part of the system that could report faults/out-of-spec aspects, then a stand-alone wouldn't be beneficial for tracking down issues like this. For example, let's take the classic knock sensor problem. The ECU theoretically tells you when it's out of spec and reports a fault code. But then you still don't know if it's the sensor itself, a faulty knock sensor sub-harness, or even faulty wiring between the sub-harness and the ECU itself (which actually does happen, especially on 240's fairly commonly). And if you DID have some sort of "reader" on every part of the system, then the system would be insanely complicated and complex.

Heck, look at even OBD2 stuff. It's so advanced it'll give you an exact code/part, but even then it can be problematic to truly diagnose an issue. Look at all the 5th gen issues with cam/crank sensors and no-start issues etc. Lots of guys will fix or replace the cam/crank sensors and still won't start.

I have swapped complete fuel pump assemblies (including hanger and fuel sending unit). Although I HAVE been having a sometimes wonky fuel gauge (intermittently drops all the way to the bottom far below "E"). It's persisted through two separate gauge clusters so I figure it must be at the fuel pump hanger side. Maybe I'll swap in another complete unit. I've kept my backseat out this whole time to make it easy to mess with the fuel pump if need be.

You're saying check the coilpack connections on the entire engine harness that I removed?

Yes I swapped my fuel pump relay. I forgot to list that but that was one of the first things I tried last year.

The car usually starts right back up after it stalls. Sometimes it takes 2 or 3 tries, but the majority of the time it starts right back up.

No stall when I hit the clutch, it actually always stalls with clutch NOT engaged, during in-gear acceleration. The only thing I could swap now would be that EGR and power valve solenoid. Although even with the EGR stuff totally bypassed it still behaved poorly. I'll have to dig around and see if I have any extra solenoids to swap in. I'm putting my turbo engine back together so I hesitate to keep robbing it to throw parts at the this VE. I think it'd be nearly impossible for the whole intake manifold to suddenly be "bad"?

I ohm'd all the old injectors before I put them back in that last weekend or two whenever I first posted this thread. Every single one was 11.2 or 11.3. I'll ohm them again now that they're in the car and also ohm out the coil packs this week too.

viking89

burn it to the ****** ground!!!

VerzOphion

That's funny, because mine goes too far above the "F" then drops really rapidly when i get to 3/4 tank.

I was just wondering, does your ECM still say that nothing's wrong with the car too? I'm having the same problems with the swapped VE30 i got and if the culprit in this is found, I might be able to solve mine too. It seems that these engines have this problem after sitting, for some reason.

James92SE

iTrader: (31)

Yes, my ECU shows no fault codes at all. Not that I would expect it to, as these ECU's really don't like to throw codes. Except maybe knock sensor codes.

What's the deal with your "swapped" VE? What do you mean swapped, did you put in a JDM or something, or what? And I thought you indicated earlier that you solved your issues.

ac max 92

iTrader: (13)

After inspecting my fuel pump fuse terminals in the fuse panel on my vg i found one side was spread open and had a larger gap than the other side probably not allowing the fuse to make good contact. I squeezed the terminals closer together and the fuse went back in snug. So far day 4 and no random stall. Might not hurt just to check that too James.

VerzOphion

I have 2 maximas, one is a 1990 with the vg, but that died at 300k miles. The only engine I could get my hands on was a ve, so I'm trying to swap the stuff rn. And that one has a problem even though I swapped the stuff and tested it. It ran for a week before it stalled on the freeway. And now it bucks and surges quite badly.

The other is a 1993 with a factory ve that had the same issue, but it was fuel related and that one came from a dying pump with sending unit. That was the one I was referring to originally.

madmax123

I had your same issue it was a bad ground for the coil packs harness ... and by any chance do you have any extra cams lying around.

James92SE

iTrader: (31)

The fuse panel under the dash?

I've been driving the car again for the past 3 days and zero issues. Just stalled on me that one day twice. Nothing before or since then.

What all did you swap, I assume you swapped in the full VE engine harness? If I recall correctly, the body harnesses had some slight differences. Did you splice into the body harness or swap in the VE body/fuse panel harness too?

I want to say the guy below, madmax123 himself swapped a VG to VE a few years ago. He might be able to help you out. Augustus Maximus did as well.

Is that the ground on the front head that bolts right near the CPS? That was one of the first things I checked.

And cams, from the actual heads? I have a spare engine that I could pull the cams from for the right price Why are you needing extra cams? Something wrong with yours? Having them re-ground?