Ok for those who dont know my story, my car has been running hella rich as of late..well not that bad but its got hard starts and its dropped about 40 miles a tank.
The symptoms seem to change daily.

Interestingly enough now when I do get it started it blows a whiteish blue smoke, someone said its just oil and I should look into getting the valve stem seals fixed. I'm not sure what else it could be. Whatever it is my car is truly getting on my nerves.

Oh yeah and sometimes when I am cranking it it suddenly stops and the starter cant turn the motor over anymore if I give it like 15 secs I can turn it over again very odd, its like clunk like a piston locked up or something.

Hopefully I don have a leaking injector as well causing hydro lock, or perhaps the white smoke is antifreeze seeping in. Sigh

Compression check time maybe?

 

thats no good.


Bump

 

Pull the heads off and spin the crank. If there is binding then you need a new short block. I'd just change the whole damn motor.

If there is no binding, turn each camshaft at the sprocket.

You might just have a bad head or a slipped timing chain.

As far as the starting goes, it might just be a bad starter. start with things that are simple.

What i'd do is get a big breaker bar and just turn the motor by hand at the crank. See what binds. If anything.

These motors are built very very well. They dont have the main bearing failures that plagued the VG motors. If I was to bet money, it would be on a leaky valve stem or piston seal and a bad starter. Starters are easy to change. As far as the motor... if it runs fine after it spews smoke i'd just leave it alone.

 

It sounds like you may have coolant seeping into the combustion chamber which would cause the bluish white smoke and cause the car to shut off as the oil lost it's ability to properly lubricate the engine.

Check your engine oil dipstick and see what color it comes out. If it comes out a nice honey color ( or any other normal oil color if it's old oil) then it may something else. But if coolant is seeping in, the dipstick will come out a light creamy brown color like coffee with milk. If this is the case, you need a new head gasket, not too big a deal but needs to get done soon as the problem will only escalate further.

 

yes blue means burning coolant, or is it oil, dam i keep forgetting

 

blue is oil, white is coolant, black is fuel.

Man you delema doesnt sound good, and 40 miles a tank WOW. That cranking sound you describe I think I may have heard that with my car from time to time, but not too often.

I know if it was your starter it would just drag but eventually start, you would get that sound your describe but after its stared, that is shes fine, no 40 mpg or nothing.

hope you get it repaired, let us know what it turns out to be.

 

same problem with my car, need compression test, get rid of it or get a new engine, dont even waste your money on it...

 

:/, sucks your oil ring/compression rings are SHOT. In the morning the car is cold, and the metal or the pistons has not expanded. Your rings have worn, or the groove that holds them has worn bigger (most likely the first one). This allows oil upon start-up to enter the combustion chamber and it then burns creating the smoke. AS the metal expands with heat the worn rings will sit flush, and the oil will not enter the chamber and all is well. I bet when you start it that you are running extremely rich A/F ratio too. They arent hard to change, but uf you dont have any mechanical experience, they will be. You will have to drop the engine out and remove each piston and replace the rings with proper spec measurements. Get a compression check done, hopefully it will only be one cylinder.... it will run you some dough.

 

What I am thinking about doing is just dealing with this issue until she finally does go as some of you mentioned the intial startup smoke doesnt bother me since its gone after I drive for at least 10 mins.
Has anyone heard about this companies rebuild kit??

http://www.importperformanceparts.ne...ek-nissan.html

I was thinking about buying a rebuildable core and doing that with it.

 

A puff of bluish smoke (oil burning) upon startup which goes away after a few minutes is caused by leaking valve guide seals. Have your heads rebuilt and you should be fine. The lockup could just be your starter on it's way out.

 

all valve stem seals let a little oil past...and it will increase with age some. I can bet the amount is almost insignificant if you look at consumption over 3000 miles. I would never worry about piston ring wear in any Japanese engine, period. Too many people panic about small leaks or a puff of blue. Even vehicles in the prime of their life will use a quart in 3-4000 miles. If you need more than 2 quarts to stay in the "full" range on the dip stick over 3000 miles, there is a sign of bigger problems.

Now if you get blue smoke when you stomp on the gas...that is oil going past the rings...again, some is normal. The PCV valve can plug up over time and amplify the oil taking this route out of your engine.

any service shop can pressure test your coolant system and identify if you have a leak or not. basicly they put a hand pump with a gauge on in place of your radiator cap....takes 5 minutes. But I doubt you have a coolant problem....if it were a GM product that woudl be another thing.

the starter issue....check the red connector on the battery. Not the battery post connections, but there is actually a connector that plugs into the batter post clamp. There are gels/sprays to put into corroded electrical connections....i'll bet it clears the starting problem right up.

40 miles per tank you have lost...? You can check tire pressure or alignment, perhaps its time for a tune-up or your area has changed fuel blends recently. A bad EGR valve, O2 sensor or Knock sensor can have a negative impact on fuel economy too.

 

hopefully it sounds alot worse than it really is. Good luck.