200SX problem

Author
Discussion

littlegearl

Original Poster:

3,139 posts

264 months

Monday 19th July 2004
quotequote all
a mate has a '92 S13 Nissan 200SX and when he started it up earlier the gearstick violently shook from side to side... he opened the bonnet and the engine was shaking more than usualy too...

although it has died down considerably they both do shake slightly more than normal at idle.

any idea what this could be?
someone has suggested a misfire but i'm not really sure, i can't hear any missing but then i don't really know his car!

thoughts please! cheers.

(a bit light on symptoms, i will add more if i find out more!)

Fatboy

8,084 posts

279 months

Monday 19th July 2004
quotequote all
Broken Engine mount(s)?

annodomini2

6,912 posts

258 months

Monday 19th July 2004
quotequote all
was he starting it in gear with the clutch depressed?

If so could be release bearing as the clutch is catching on turnover.

otherwise I'd recommend checking engine mountings?

steve_D

13,795 posts

265 months

Tuesday 20th July 2004
quotequote all
Sounds more like a misfire.
Check that all the plug leads are on.
Steve

Matt_T16

3,402 posts

256 months

Tuesday 20th July 2004
quotequote all
Seen the same thing before. Turned out to be damaged exhaust valves/seats from pretty dire tuning attempt.

Matt

deltaf

6,806 posts

260 months

Tuesday 20th July 2004
quotequote all
Dont these also have individual ignition coils?
Seen problems with em before.

Mr2Mike

20,143 posts

262 months

Friday 23rd July 2004
quotequote all
deltaf said:
Dont these also have individual ignition coils?
Seen problems with em before.


I've also seen problems with the igntion amplifier causing misfiring. Many £££'s for a new one as well.

LaurenceFrost

691 posts

259 months

Thursday 29th July 2004
quotequote all
My mum has this car and the plugs didn't last half as long as they should do (it even says the plug duration at the front of the engine under the bonnet and it was way out).

The plugs are a bit of a sod to get at, but it is very likely that this is the cause. A loose engine/gearbox mount is usually accompanied by some king of knocking noise whilst driving.

The plugs are platinum tipped, and so could be a bit costly. If you need a set (have a look at the condition of them) and have trouble finding them, I can get you a good price for them.

dern

14,055 posts

286 months

Thursday 29th July 2004
quotequote all
LaurenceFrost said:
The plugs are platinum tipped, and so could be a bit costly. If you need a set (have a look at the condition of them) and have trouble finding them, I can get you a good price for them.
When I had mine Simon at Norris Designs gave me the appropriate normal NGK plug number to use. They do the same thing but need to be replaced more often. I can't recall the number but you could call him if you didn't want to shell out for the platinum plugs.

Mark

paolow

3,246 posts

265 months

Thursday 29th July 2004
quotequote all
im surprised no-ones brought this up. does it SOUND like its running smoothly? if its purring like a kitten but shaking like a washing machine then its probably the engine or gbox mounts. if on the other hand it sounds sick and also shakes then its a misfire.
next q is - does it shake all the time or only at tickover or only at revs? also - as above see if things change when out of gear/clutch depressed to eliminate that from the equation. also - switch off the air con etc to try to localise the fault.

lg - even if you dont know the car - im sure you do know what a misfiring engine sounds like. in this case, in good nick it should sound very smooth with a very slight high speed ticking noise from the top end. anything serious will deviate fairly obviously from this norm
oh yeah - was the car driven at all hard immediately prior to this problem?



>> Edited by paolow on Thursday 29th July 19:16

littlegearl

Original Poster:

3,139 posts

264 months

Friday 30th July 2004
quotequote all
curiously the problem has appeared to rectify itself... don't know what it was but it doesn't appear to be doing it anymore!

i'm sure the engine wasn't misfiring, it did "stutter" but this was basically irradicated with a new fuel pump... a common prob apparantly!

plugs are approximately 1.5months old so i doubt they're the problem!

think its basically fine at the moment, though the stutter may be reappearing!!! maybe the replacement fuel pump is a dud (2nd hand) or maybe they're related???

accident

582 posts

263 months

Monday 2nd August 2004
quotequote all
dont age your plugs by time but by milage.
is the s13 tuned in any way? more boost,cams,exhaust or a decat.yes the standard fuel pumps are crap(prone to failure)if the plugs have been chosen to run with higher boost and the car has done 5k pottering round then the plugs will be trashed,by the same measure if they are standard plugs running on a higher boost engine thats been used a bit then they will also be trashed(and quite possibly the pistons will be chewed on the crowns due to detonation)