So one-two months ago we pulled up a fuel injector circuit code after a very ruff idle and check engine light, the car was driveable, but without one cylinder the bad injector was the one nearest to the driver, under the manifold. So since it is a spare car and going to be used as a donor, we kind of put it on the back burner when it came to fixing it. So we finally got the injector and gasket, we took the manifold off and replaced the bad injector.

Last night we finished hooking everything up, then here comes the moment of truth, time to start her. We crank it over and the damn thing doesnt really want to run, we get it over and it is running very ruff and wanting to idle down and die out, so we had to pump some gas just to keep an idle, then it starts shooting white smoke out the rear tail (big plumbs) then we notice some smoke around the engine bay. So looking closer we notice some oil on the front exhaust manifold, there was none around the valve covers or nowhere else, just around the front passenger side bank of the exhaust manifold (which was causing the smoke). So we look under the car and there is a nice puddle of oil, so it gets me thinking, the car has had the ever so small front seal leak that all Maxima's get after time. We dont know what to do now, thinking about taking it to a shop. Going to put some more oil in it and do a compression test. It is weird that it would idle and run fine before we took it apart and now not want to, we are about 85% sure everything is hooked up fine. Sorry so long, anyone ever heard of this?

 

Sorry Donanld. I would take the front splash cover off and see how bad the front seal is leaking. Sounds like a HG leak to me but I would have to see it though. Check the oil asap! You remember what happened to mine?

 

Yeah it sucks what happened to yours. I actually found a place on ebay, they have a few auctions going for VQ motors. They also have some VE's, it is a big place. I will try and find out the info for you. If you want you could look them up, go to ebay motors and search for "Nissan Maxima Engine". It is just strange that it was running/starting fine before (except the injector problem) there was a small leak, but why would it just get bigger after sitting there for a month or so? strange..

 

is there any fuel coming out of the exhaust when you gun it, besides the oil leak, the running rough condition could be a fuel leak(cracked O-ring)....take out the injector and check the ring for cracks.

man me you and Jeff are having a terrible week

 

Didnt see any fuel, just white burning oil smoke.

Yes, it is like a disease that has hit. I hope nobody else becomes infected

 

Dealing with the rough idle and all, have you checked the timing?

 

who posted this? i see jeff responding.. but jeff is the first poster

 

 

donald... did you start up the car and run it just before you tore it apart, or was two months ago the last time you started it? If so, then the engine could have seized a bit because of that..

possibly ripped a valve stem seal apart when you cranked it over with no oil in the top end..
see exactly where the oil is coming from, then go from there.

 

come to think of it. when my parents went to taiwan for 2 weeks. it was a pain in the *** trying to start my dads q45 after it sat there for two weeks. i thin kthe same thing was happening it would idle then drop and stall. i just started it and got it to a point where it was able to idle on its own and just let it sit there and idle. it smoothed out after ahile.

 

Matt, thanks, this sounds like the best info so far. Actually we were driving the car the day we tore it apart. Then is sat in our work parking lot, we worked on it off and on, since we work all day and it is dark at night. We tore it apart at our office and stuffed rags in the ports while the manifold was off. Damn thing got towed from sitting in our parking lot at work for 3 weeks, then we had it towed to my friends house and it sat there for about 2 weeks and we finally got it back together last night. It may have seized, if so what kind of problems are we looking at now?