Hello all, it's been quite a while since I've been on this forum but I recently purchased another 4th gen SE for a second car. When I traded my first 97 SE for the RX7 I currently have, it seemed to be bulletproof and I've always wanted another Maxima to DD. After nearly 2 years I have finally gotten another one, but sadly it's been going downhill in the 2 day's I've owned it...

Saturday morning I drive to Chattanooga to look at a dark green 97 SE 5 speed with 170K miles. At that time, it needed new valve cover gaskets, had a slight random misfire (coils?), had some timing chain noise, and an exhaust leak at the flange behind the muffler. It didn't smoke at all. For $1600 this seemed like a good deal, so I bought it and started the 100 mile trip home. A little ways into the trip, as I 'spiritedly' pulled away from a stop light, the car let out a cloud of blue smoke. Downshifting to pass resulted in blue smoke as well. It seemed to want to puff blue smoke over 3000 RPMs. I drove like an old woman for the rest of the trip home. Then after about an hour I started the car and it smoked for about a minute. Once it's driven, the smoke goes away, but returns if you go above 3K RPM's. And if you shut the car off for 15 mins or so and restart it, there is no smoke upon starting.

My question is, should I attempt to fix the problems it has or swap in another engine? I figure that smoking is due to a value seal/ piston ring, but could it be somehow related to the other problems the car has? I really don't want to tear too deep into the motor.

Also, would anyone in a surrounding Atlanta area know where I could get an inexpensive but good quality engine? I've swapped RWD engines before, but are FWD ones that much more of a hassle?

Here's the car:

 

Looked for a junked 02+ max and swap the vq35

 

I'd really just be interested in another stock, original motor if that's the route I go. I actually bought the Maxima so that I could get more done to the RX7

 

Rotarys are amazing power plants. But IMO require too much maintenance :/

 

Could be the orings in the vc that are leaking into the chamber. Have you pulled the plugs?

 

Agreed.

These engines are so reliable, I would attempt to fix it before replacing, especially if its only a misfire.

Need to do some troubleshooting then report back. Blue plume leads me to think worn VC spark plug seals.

 

If you stay away from forced induction, they're quite reliable and easy to maintain .

Thanks. After work I plan on pulling the intake and checking everything out. Would oil be able to get into the combustion chamber through there, though?

Thank you, I'll hopefully have some better info this evening/ tomorrow morning.

 

Wouldn't leak into the combustion chamber and smoke. Would cause a misfire.

Smoking at start up is valve guide seals, smoking on acceleration is rings.

 

I've read this same thing recently. I'm stuck thinking that the smoke is valve or piston ring related and that even if I fixed the misfire and VC leak then the car would still smoke significantly. Which is why I thought why not go ahead and just replace the whole motor.

 

What's the fun in that? My buddy has a '94 about to get a cosmo.

 

Alright, update. Cylinder 1 is not completing it's combustion cycle (not sure if that's the best way to word the problem). Cylinders 2-6 are receiving proper fuel/spark. Removing the coil wiring connector on these cylinders makes the motor cut out at idle, but doing it on cylinder 1 has no effect on the engine idling. I swapped around a good coil and plug with the ones on cylinder 1 and it did not change anything (so all 6 coils and plugs are good). I also checking the coil wiring connector on cylinder 1 and it's receiving power.

So I believe that the injector on cylinder 1 is dead. Is this a good conclusion or could it be something else?

Also, cylinder 1 had a good bit of oil on the coil and the spark plug was all gummed up, so that valve cover o-ring is leaking. The other 5 are dry. Since this spark plug was in such bad shape, I'm thinking that the valve seal/ piston ring on that cylinder is leaky. Would that be correct?

So from what I found, I'm thinking that a motor swap will be the cheapest/ easiest/ fastest route to go. Please let me know what you guys would suggest, though. I appreciate all of your help.

 

So was the plug damaged in any way besides the oil? For a temp fix or to test to see if all the oil is coming from the vc oring or not. I use teflon tape on threads of a new plug. At least you will be able to verify were the oil is coming from.

 

You need to test the compression on.cyl 1 aswell, actually check them all and compare to.factory specs if that checks out do a leak down test. That way we can tell if its your valves seals or piston ring.

 

A leaking sparkplug tube seal will cause the coil boot to deteriorate and leak spark. This will kill a cylinder.
However, with that much oil burning in the cylinder the rings/piston are likely toast any way. Which end of the plug was really ugly?

Btw, the oil burning in the combustion chamber, and the oil in the spark plug tube will not be related.

 

THIS.

 

Im just saying eliminate a simple problem first and move on.

 

Wow, thank you all for the quick repsonses.

The firing end of the plug on cyl 1 had significant deposits on it. Where else might the oil be coming from besides the VC O-ring?

Kill a cylinder as in fry the seals/ rings or damage the coil/ plug?

The firing end was the ugly one.

Thank you, having someone else mention this reassures me.

I understand that it would help as far as troubleshooting, but from what I've researched and been told, even after fixing the misfire, the car will still puff out oil smoke. I'd rather save my funds for a new engine rather than fix the problems on this one only to still have a significant internal oil leak. That is, unless the oil smoke could somehow be fixed without messing with the valves/ tearing into the heads (since I don't have enough experience to do that much). If not, I would rather swap in a known good engine to be on the safe side.

I'll look into getting a compression test done, but if it's a pain/ expensive I'd really rather just save time/ stress and get another motor.

 

You just get a compression tester and you have it forever.... There like 25-40 bucks

 

Thanks, I was just actually researching that. I'll try to get one sometime this week and post my results.

 

If you do go the route of a new engine take your old one apart you will learn so much and next time if anything goes wrong you will have that experience from disassembling your own and you could even just rebuild it so you have an engine for down the road.

 

I've actually got a spare rotary engine that I've been meaning to tear down and play with, too, but it would be nice to know more about the inner workings of piston engines as well. I also like the idea of having a complete spare VQ for parts. We'll see, I'm going to pick up a compression tester soon just to be sure before I go on the hunt for another engine.

 

I have an obsession with rotary engines but there simple there are rotors and an ecentric crank where as the piston engine has a rediculous amount of moving parts working in a synchronized order, you should drop that rotary in themaxima.... That would be nasty....

 

The electrodes (firing end of the plug) will be fouled with oil from worn/broken rings, or a broken piston. Oil will not leak past the threads and sealing washer of the sparkplug.

No, just shut it down. If the spark leaks at the boot, the sparkplug gap has no spark.

 

Would it make sense to say the whole problem rose from a single broken thing? Like the injector died, resulting in the cylinder running lean, somehow screwing up the piston ring/ valve seal? Or the oil leaking through the VC O-ring caused no spark, leaning out the cylinder, ruining the piston ring/ seal?

Just trying to wrap my head around everything and see if it all stemmed from a single problem or if it was somehow a coincidence the VC O-ring leak plus the leaky piston ring/ valve seal were both on cylinder 1.

 

Not likely. Its rare that a VQ DOESN'T have at least one tube seal leaking.
The plug not firing COULD cause the cylinder wall to get washed down and wear the rings but I highly doubt it. I would suggest a compression and leak down test before trying to fix it by replacing parts.

 

From my view, I think the easiest way to have the car running again would be just to pull the motor and replace it with a known good one. I've never messed with valves before, plus I'd rather do everything myself and save money, so that's why I see the motor swap route as the best method to go. Does this sound logical or am I missing something?

 

Replacing the engine would be easier, cheaper, and faster than tearing it down and fixing it.

 

Thank you.

The search begins...

 

Hardly a search I was at the junkyard today saw around 7 of them plus of you pull one from a junkyard you will save a few hundy and get the experience to drop it in from removing two of them. Just if you do pull the front valve cover to see if it has been sitting for a few years usually if the car was in a side or rear accident the engine is top notch.

 

PAP in North Atlanta has 12 4th gens, many which were brought in the last month or so. With a 30 day warranty they go for $185 pre tax, so I may give that a shot (I was previously only thinking about getting a known good engine, but for that price plus the warranty I'll take my chances...).

Is there any helpful way to check the condition of a non running engine besides looking under the VC and checking the maintenance/plugs/ oil?

Also, I can't remember if it was early model Accords or Maximas from the late 90's, but I remember reading that one was prone to HG failure on the early models. I'm thinking it was the Accord and I should be fine with any 95-99 VQ, though. Can anyone confirm or give any insight?

 

Hook up a good battery and compression check. Replace the valve cover gaskets, rear/front main seal.
Pick a well maintained car if you can (good tires, nice condition, that was rear ended). better chances of a good motor in that one.

 

These cars that smoke are having valve stem seals leakage not the rings.....after all the start ups and heat cycles the valve stem seals cystalize and start leaking little by little....I would have the heads rebuilt personally myself!

 

that would be the case if he had smoke on start up. His car only smokes when running therefore eliminating valve stems as the main problem.

What the OP is describing is the piston ring failure.

Get a used motor and be done with it.

 

Oil is only pulled past valve guide seals by vacuum during starting, idling and deceleration. Oil burning under acceration is due to worn rings.

At any rate, head work would still be more expensive, difficult, time consuming than a swap.