Car died on my way to school
06-30-2009, 07:08 PM
#1
Car died on my way to school
My car died on the freeway exit, so i tried to start it up, and it mage a bigass "clunk" sound...
I sure hope that it's nothing too major. And a little oil is dripping from the bottom. I left it at the dealership they will call me tomorrow.
Any ideas as to what it could be? Rod? Piston? The starter turns the flywheel a bit, then "CLUNK" and the car shakes violently. Just before she died, I smelt a bad rubber/burnt oil scent.
Anyone?
I sure hope that it's nothing too major. And a little oil is dripping from the bottom. I left it at the dealership they will call me tomorrow.Any ideas as to what it could be? Rod? Piston? The starter turns the flywheel a bit, then "CLUNK" and the car shakes violently. Just before she died, I smelt a bad rubber/burnt oil scent.
Anyone?
06-30-2009, 07:44 PM
#4
Oil Smell could be a sudden oil leak, then the lack of oil causing some type of internal damage.
Or...something could have popped before causing the oil smell...
Or someone could have the left the oil cap off..causing a nice spray of oil..lack of oil and some type of internal motor issue.
Clunking is bad...
Or...something could have popped before causing the oil smell...
Or someone could have the left the oil cap off..causing a nice spray of oil..lack of oil and some type of internal motor issue.
Clunking is bad...
06-30-2009, 07:58 PM
#5
I Checked the oil level and it was just about normal.
I checked the cap first thing and it was indeed on tight.
I've heard that if a rod is thrown it can damage the block or oil pan, often puncturing...I did not notice anything punctured... I guess I'll see tomorrow.
I checked the cap first thing and it was indeed on tight.
I've heard that if a rod is thrown it can damage the block or oil pan, often puncturing...I did not notice anything punctured... I guess I'll see tomorrow.
That doesn't sound good at all.
07-01-2009, 08:01 AM
#7
OK...gotta call from the "mechanic" just a half hour ago. They got it to start, and she's spitting fuel out the tailpipe, lots of it...
Said it's going to cost $150 for diagnosis, and pull some codes once they get it on a lift. (How they got it to start is beyond me.)
He asked me if I have an aftermarket ECM, I said no, and said he'll call me back with an update.
I'm pleased that they were able to start it, not pleased that I wasn't able to...I'm wondering if they really were able to start it, and are just telling me they did so that I place more confidence in their ability to fix her and charge me more..
I'll keep u posted.
Said it's going to cost $150 for diagnosis, and pull some codes once they get it on a lift. (How they got it to start is beyond me.)
He asked me if I have an aftermarket ECM, I said no, and said he'll call me back with an update.
I'm pleased that they were able to start it, not pleased that I wasn't able to...I'm wondering if they really were able to start it, and are just telling me they did so that I place more confidence in their ability to fix her and charge me more..
I'll keep u posted.
$150 for diagnosis!
07-01-2009, 04:39 PM
#11
well the guy told me that my ecm has shorted out, causing my fuel injectors to stay open. He also said that my 02 sensors are bad, I already know i had a bad downstream 02 sensor for a while but never did anything about it. He also said I have a faulty crankshaft position sensor. All in all, he quoted $3300.00 for parts and labor. Ya right am I paying that.
What should I do? The engine seems fine just the electrical system is shot, or so he'd have me believe. I looked at the cps in the haynes manual, and it looks hella easy to replace!! The ecm is easy to replace also!
Oh yeah, he said that because I have an aftermarket y-pipe that the 02 sensors that are on there are not OEM that's BS because they are the same 02's that came off the stock Y pipe...He said the stock 02 sensors would not fit on the aftermarket Y-pipe, and I told him that they were the stock ones from the OEM Y-pipe and he just said "well I don't know"...Should I just have it towed to my house and do work on it there?
Also, I asked him about the oil leak and he said they found no oil leak...is he wired wrong or what lol.
What should I do? The engine seems fine just the electrical system is shot, or so he'd have me believe. I looked at the cps in the haynes manual, and it looks hella easy to replace!! The ecm is easy to replace also!
Oh yeah, he said that because I have an aftermarket y-pipe that the 02 sensors that are on there are not OEM that's BS because they are the same 02's that came off the stock Y pipe...He said the stock 02 sensors would not fit on the aftermarket Y-pipe, and I told him that they were the stock ones from the OEM Y-pipe and he just said "well I don't know"...Should I just have it towed to my house and do work on it there?
Also, I asked him about the oil leak and he said they found no oil leak...is he wired wrong or what lol.
07-01-2009, 04:42 PM
#12
I know 150 just to pull codes...I feel so dumb for havin it towed there, I should have just used my small screwdriver to pull the codes myself...but at the moment I was thinking that if it were something really big then the best place would be the dealership to have it towed.
I dont know if its the POS or REF cps, I'll ask tomorrow.
****ing dealership I tell ya.
I dont know if its the POS or REF cps, I'll ask tomorrow.
****ing dealership I tell ya.
Last edited by Maximeltman; 07-01-2009 at 04:44 PM.
07-01-2009, 07:29 PM
#15
Long time ago, back in 04. The 02 sensors are the ones that came with the car.
So, what u guys think you would do in my position? If all that is wrong with it, I can def do it myself..
Would the ecm being shorted and "holding" the injectors open cause my symptoms? I'm just glad that I didn't throw a rod etc...
07-01-2009, 08:46 PM
#17
Personally, I think he's scamming you somehow.. I'd come clean and tell him YOU did the y pipe yourself and you used the ORIGINAL o2 sensors and there's no way in hell its the non oem stuff he's talking about...just put the mechanic on the spot and let him know you're not ignorant about cars all the way. I'd take my *** elsewhere if I see someone is trying to throw in BS to make some more money. If the car starts like they say, just pay the 150 and drive it to a known good honest shop or your garage which is probably the most honest place it can go to
07-01-2009, 08:54 PM
#19
Personally, I think he's scamming you somehow.. I'd come clean and tell him YOU did the y pipe yourself and you used the ORIGINAL o2 sensors and there's no way in hell its the non oem stuff he's talking about...just put the mechanic on the spot and let him know you're not ignorant about cars all the way. I'd take my *** elsewhere if I see someone is trying to throw in BS to make some more money. If the car starts like they say, just pay the 150 and drive it to a known good honest shop or your garage which is probably the most honest place it can go to
but damm...he saying it spits lots of fuel out the tailpipe and rides very rough, I just dont know if I should risk the 3 mile drive...but that is what I wanna do, without shelling out another $100 for a tow
07-01-2009, 08:58 PM
#20
Fvcking christ yes you should, jesus christ why would you take **** like this to the dealership of all places.
Let's break this down:
He says your ECU is bad. Who knows, but if it is. $100 on the .org or in a junk yard or off car-part.com and half an hour (29 minutes of that is spent just trying to reach the damn screws that hold it in place under the dash). Bam - ECU replaced.
Bad O2 sensors - won't cause any issue with driveability. Don't worry about those right now (only emissions problems can result from these). Cost = free for now until you decide to fix them
CPS - whether its the REF or the POS sensor doesn't matter - cheap as hell off the .org and 10 minutes with a 10mm wrench to replace. Done
You are getting scammed so bad - it blows my mind why anyone with enough knowledge to look up stuff on these forums would ever take their car to a dealership or shady *** mechanic and just let them spew this crap.
Pay the $50 or whatever it costs and get that **** towed out of there and into your driveway and bust out the haynes/FSM/socket set and you'll probably have your car fixed in a day for like $150.
Good luck bro, you can do all of this stuff though. It's no harder than installing your ypipe. Simple wrench turning and page turning to find out where this stuff is located.
edit: btw I'm not swearing at you, I'm swearing at the thought of a mechanic or dealership trying to scam someone for like $3000 on a repair that's probably going to cost a couple hundred bucks and half a day's work at most.
Let's break this down:
He says your ECU is bad. Who knows, but if it is. $100 on the .org or in a junk yard or off car-part.com and half an hour (29 minutes of that is spent just trying to reach the damn screws that hold it in place under the dash). Bam - ECU replaced.
Bad O2 sensors - won't cause any issue with driveability. Don't worry about those right now (only emissions problems can result from these). Cost = free for now until you decide to fix them
CPS - whether its the REF or the POS sensor doesn't matter - cheap as hell off the .org and 10 minutes with a 10mm wrench to replace. Done
You are getting scammed so bad - it blows my mind why anyone with enough knowledge to look up stuff on these forums would ever take their car to a dealership or shady *** mechanic and just let them spew this crap.
Pay the $50 or whatever it costs and get that **** towed out of there and into your driveway and bust out the haynes/FSM/socket set and you'll probably have your car fixed in a day for like $150.
Good luck bro, you can do all of this stuff though. It's no harder than installing your ypipe. Simple wrench turning and page turning to find out where this stuff is located.
edit: btw I'm not swearing at you, I'm swearing at the thought of a mechanic or dealership trying to scam someone for like $3000 on a repair that's probably going to cost a couple hundred bucks and half a day's work at most.
Last edited by Nealoc187; 07-01-2009 at 09:02 PM.
07-01-2009, 09:10 PM
#21
HAHA Thanks man!!...Thing is, I'm just hoping that once I get her back home and do all that **** myself (easy) what if it's still bad? I was going to pull the codes myself but it broke down right by my school along a busy *** 2 lane offramp/intersection and I was blocking lots of traffic and i couldnt get down to turn the *** inside the pcm without blocking the other lane of traffic...**** this is pissing away my healthy attitude. I'm just gonna get it outta there then. **** those guys.
07-01-2009, 09:15 PM
#22
Well I think the first thing you should do is get it home and make a detailed post describing what exactly happens when you start it, or try to start it (if it fails to start). Then go from there. If the car started then your ECU isn't fried like he said it is and your injectors aren't "sticking open" so basically I'd completely disregard every word the mechanic said - it's crap. Make a post on here describing the problems (or better yet, search for your symptoms on here first, then post if you are unsuccessful at finding answers). It's probably something simple. But christ you could buy a new maxima for $3300. You can replace the entire engine for $400 and a day or two of work as a first timer with a the help of a buddy. Nothing's worth $3300 on a 4th gen max anymore lol.
07-01-2009, 09:24 PM
#23
You should start the car while at the shop and have him show you these "symptoms" he's describing about spitting fuel out the exhaust. Hell get a video of it for us while you're at it.
Where do you live by the way?
Where do you live by the way?
07-01-2009, 09:27 PM
#24
okay. BTW the tow truck guy told me that he'd been towing a lot of Nissan's because they were "fuel locked" because of the unusually hot weather we've been getting...I wonder if thats what happened to me and she flooded? would it make that terrible clunking noise if its flooded?
07-01-2009, 09:28 PM
#25
07-01-2009, 09:31 PM
#26
okay. BTW the tow truck guy told me that he'd been towing a lot of Nissan's because they were "fuel locked" because of the unusually hot weather we've been getting...I wonder if thats what happened to me and she flooded? would it make that terrible clunking noise if its flooded?
07-01-2009, 09:33 PM
#28
07-01-2009, 09:49 PM
#29
07-02-2009, 07:59 AM
#30
ok I just got off the phone with a mechanic from CA, and told him about my problem, and he says it sounds as if I flooded my engine. He told me that I probably bent a connecting rod. Does this sound like what happened to me? I'll swap my engine before I pay lots of money for more labor just for diagnosis.
07-02-2009, 10:16 AM
#31
Think I'll just swap engines...While I'm at it, I have a quaife diff that I put in 2 winters ago, will the transmission on a 99 se work with a 2000-2002 engine? or even a 3.5? (Hate to give up that tranny)
07-02-2009, 11:05 AM
#32
'02 is a 3.5. and i don't see why it wouldn't since 5th gen 5MTs are bolt on for 4th gens.
07-02-2009, 12:26 PM
#33
Good lord your jumping all around with ideas. First of all why would the heat only affect Nissan's? Who does this tow truck driver work for the dealership?
Secondly get the car towed home like everyone else says. Pay you 150 dollar diagnostic fee and don't ever let that happen again.
Once home pull the coil packs and plugs, visually inspect and smell each plug...are any of them wet with gas. I'm not talking about carbon, I mean wet. If so shine a light into that piston to see if there is liquid...if so you will need to get that out with a suction device depending on how much it is.
Unbolt the front fuel rail, lift it up high enough to see the tips of the injectors. Do you see any gas leaking? If not have someone turn the key to the ON position (DO NOT CRANK THE CAR!) and see if the rising fuel pressure pushes any gas out. If not reinstall the fuel rail bolts. The intake manifold will need to come off for the rear injector's.
Its possible that an o-ring moved, or finally let loose letting loads of gas into the cyl. Depending on your speed you might be ok on the rod being bent. It would be similar to hydro locking but with gas..
I tried to start my VG with 250k miles and had it running at one point when an injector nearly lifted out of the seat, and poured gas in. It sounded like hell when it stopped...but runs fine now that its fixed.
Stop getting excited about the probability that you motor is shot and you could do a swap etc.
Secondly get the car towed home like everyone else says. Pay you 150 dollar diagnostic fee and don't ever let that happen again.
Once home pull the coil packs and plugs, visually inspect and smell each plug...are any of them wet with gas. I'm not talking about carbon, I mean wet. If so shine a light into that piston to see if there is liquid...if so you will need to get that out with a suction device depending on how much it is.
Unbolt the front fuel rail, lift it up high enough to see the tips of the injectors. Do you see any gas leaking? If not have someone turn the key to the ON position (DO NOT CRANK THE CAR!) and see if the rising fuel pressure pushes any gas out. If not reinstall the fuel rail bolts. The intake manifold will need to come off for the rear injector's.
Its possible that an o-ring moved, or finally let loose letting loads of gas into the cyl. Depending on your speed you might be ok on the rod being bent. It would be similar to hydro locking but with gas..
I tried to start my VG with 250k miles and had it running at one point when an injector nearly lifted out of the seat, and poured gas in. It sounded like hell when it stopped...but runs fine now that its fixed.
Stop getting excited about the probability that you motor is shot and you could do a swap etc.
Last edited by infinitiblast; 07-02-2009 at 12:28 PM.
07-02-2009, 01:00 PM
#34
Good lord your jumping all around with ideas. First of all why would the heat only affect Nissan's? Who does this tow truck driver work for the dealership?
Secondly get the car towed home like everyone else says. Pay you 150 dollar diagnostic fee and don't ever let that happen again.
Once home pull the coil packs and plugs, visually inspect and smell each plug...are any of them wet with gas. I'm not talking about carbon, I mean wet. If so shine a light into that piston to see if there is liquid...if so you will need to get that out with a suction device depending on how much it is.
Unbolt the front fuel rail, lift it up high enough to see the tips of the injectors. Do you see any gas leaking? If not have someone turn the key to the ON position (DO NOT CRANK THE CAR!) and see if the rising fuel pressure pushes any gas out. If not reinstall the fuel rail bolts. The intake manifold will need to come off for the rear injector's.
Its possible that an o-ring moved, or finally let loose letting loads of gas into the cyl. Depending on your speed you might be ok on the rod being bent. It would be similar to hydro locking but with gas..
I tried to start my VG with 250k miles and had it running at one point when an injector nearly lifted out of the seat, and poured gas in. It sounded like hell when it stopped...but runs fine now that its fixed.
Stop getting excited about the probability that you motor is shot and you could do a swap etc.
Secondly get the car towed home like everyone else says. Pay you 150 dollar diagnostic fee and don't ever let that happen again.
Once home pull the coil packs and plugs, visually inspect and smell each plug...are any of them wet with gas. I'm not talking about carbon, I mean wet. If so shine a light into that piston to see if there is liquid...if so you will need to get that out with a suction device depending on how much it is.
Unbolt the front fuel rail, lift it up high enough to see the tips of the injectors. Do you see any gas leaking? If not have someone turn the key to the ON position (DO NOT CRANK THE CAR!) and see if the rising fuel pressure pushes any gas out. If not reinstall the fuel rail bolts. The intake manifold will need to come off for the rear injector's.
Its possible that an o-ring moved, or finally let loose letting loads of gas into the cyl. Depending on your speed you might be ok on the rod being bent. It would be similar to hydro locking but with gas..
I tried to start my VG with 250k miles and had it running at one point when an injector nearly lifted out of the seat, and poured gas in. It sounded like hell when it stopped...but runs fine now that its fixed.
Stop getting excited about the probability that you motor is shot and you could do a swap etc.
LOL OKAY OKAY!! Thanks for the info, I'm stuck at work empty stomach and on 2 red bulls, so I'm very jittery and anxious to move around, but becaue i work at a call center, it's next to impossible. I'll try as you say.
07-02-2009, 02:14 PM
#35
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also i would change the crank sensor, I belive its responsible for spark and if bad might cause the injectors to stay open. A friend of mine having an issue like that after the 3.5 swap
07-02-2009, 03:57 PM
#37
I took the plugs out and disconnected the electrical connection on the injectors, and cranked the engine. It seems to turn over smoothly, but lots of fuel kept geysering from one of the cylinders, shooting as far as 10 ft up. After a few turns on the ignition key, the fuel lessened and finally stopped gushing out, making me believe that the one of the cylinders flooded and I was able to push all the fuel out of there. So I think the engine is alright...If the rod was bent, wouldn't it be a little rough?
Also, the one plug that came out of there was pretty wet, the others seemed damp.
Also, the one plug that came out of there was pretty wet, the others seemed damp.
07-02-2009, 05:06 PM
#38
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if the rod is bent the idle would be pretty rough. If the cylinder is damp with water or gasoline? if its gasoline its probably because you kept cranking and flooded the cylinders. I'm still saying check the crank sensor its the one by the transmission sits right next to the mount where tranny meets the engine you can miss it.
07-02-2009, 05:13 PM
#39
The dealership was able to get it started saying it was idling very rough. If the rod was bent, and I decompressed the engine by removing the spark plugs, and also disconnected the injectors' electrical connections, and cranked the engine while decompressed, would it feel smooth or rough? It felt smooth but it was decompressed so there was no compressive resistance.
07-02-2009, 05:22 PM
#40
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If you have the spark plugs connected probably rough turn over. disconnect the spark plugs and no injectors and see what happens but that doesn't really tell you much. you may want to try to manual crank the engine and you can feel if the pressure is building up. you can do so by i believe 23mm socket goes on the crank pulled and long extension and breaker bar would probably be a good idea. and spin the engine. The dealer can use stating fluid to start the car. I don't really know what they did to start the car.