[The_Rocketeer]

So I got my car ('96 VSpec GTR) in 2018, always had some minor issues with leaky seals and such, but last summer I gave her the beans, engine quit, and when I fired it back up it sounded like someone threw some gravel into the engine. After an oil change (it had some heavy duty race spec bullshit that a tuning shop in Japan set me up with after very pointedly not fixing the problems I asked them to and giving me a host of new ones) the sounds went back to very slightly than normal lifter ticking, but the car still misfires and makes 0 boost. I just swapped out the intake and ITB gaskets, and even though it runs better and definitely fixed some of my problems, it still runs like ass, and still won't make boost. There is also some white smoke coming out of the exhaust, but it's driven all of a quarter mile since last august, and that was all within the last few weeks. It sat for a while, but I was hoping to get it moving again before spring break was over.

I'm in the Denver area now, if anyone has any shop recommendations.

 

[xtremetofu]

Hey man you don’t seem like the diy type if I was you I’d look up who ever sales skylines close to you ring them up and ask if they have a shop they recommend to you. If I’m wrong and you are capable first thing I’d do is pull your spark plugs see what kind of condition they are in is there coolant on them oil? White smoke normally indicates blown head gasket. Is there oil in the anti freeze this also will indicate blown head gasket. When you gave it the “beans” were you over boosting? Do you have a boost controller what’s it set to you could have blown your turbos. If you did this check and find out what turbos you have ceramic turbos cannot be boosted over oem. Steal turbo internals are required for higher boost. Check your turbos. List can go on and on for things to check when you changed your oil any metal in the pan?

 

[Mike Rotchburns]

I have all sorts of concerns with this car now.

the misfire can be found through a power balance test and then inspection after the non contributing cylinder is identified

The gravel sound is very concerning because that could indicate knock or some destroyed lifters. or you could have jumped teeth on your timing belt and youre smacking valves. youre going to have to have shop look at it determine where that sound is coming from

the white smoke is concerning because thats symtom of water or coolant getting in to the combustion chamber. that can be from a blown headgasket, cracked block, cracked head, blown turbo. but something a shop can look at, pulling the boost pipe, intake pipe, intercooler piping and looking for the presence of coolant. you can also use a block tester to see if you can exhaust gas in the coolant system. you can also use a coolant pressure tester and a bore scope down the spark plug hole to look for coolant intrusion.

the 0 boost tells me you have a huge leak or blown turbos. a boost leak test can be done and if no boost leak is found then that directs you to the turbos itselves. youll have to check the hot and cold side of turbos. first check to see if you have play up down side to side and then end to end. also look for damage on the compressor and impeller.

to me it sounds like all these problems could be connected but its going to take a some diag work. any competent technician should be able to perform these tests. but most shops wont touch these cars because there is no service data availble through conventional sources. if you were in washington i could point you to shop but saddly idk many colorado based shops

 

[The_Rocketeer]

Hey man you don’t seem like the diy type if I was you I’d look up who ever sales skylines close to you ring them up and ask if they have a shop they recommend to you. If I’m wrong and you are capable first thing I’d do is pull your spark plugs see what kind of condition they are in is there coolant on them oil? White smoke normally indicates blown head gasket. Is there oil in the anti freeze this also will indicate blown head gasket. When you gave it the “beans” were you over boosting? Do you have a boost controller what’s it set to you could have blown your turbos. If you did this check and find out what turbos you have ceramic turbos cannot be boosted over oem. Steal turbo internals are required for higher boost. Check your turbos. List can go on and on for things to check when you changed your oil any metal in the pan?

Hey man you don’t seem like the diy type if I was you I’d look up who ever sales skylines close to you ring them up and ask if they have a shop they recommend to you. If I’m wrong and you are capable first thing I’d do is pull your spark plugs see what kind of condition they are in is there coolant on them oil? White smoke normally indicates blown head gasket. Is there oil in the anti freeze this also will indicate blown head gasket. When you gave it the “beans” were you over boosting? Do you have a boost controller what’s it set to you could have blown your turbos. If you did this check and find out what turbos you have ceramic turbos cannot be boosted over oem. Steal turbo internals are required for higher boost. Check your turbos. List can go on and on for things to check when you changed your oil any metal in the pan?

You may be right about me not being the type, the car was my entry into being a car guy, but from necessity I've done enough to the car to have an alright idea about what I'm doing. Initially after the car came back from the shop in Japan, it had a vacuum leak that was bad enough to hear in the cabin over the engine whenever you pressed on the brakes, coming from the intake side of the engine. I was hoping that the leak blew out a gasket on that side, which would **** my vacuum and allow any boost to bleed off. Right now my focus is on school, and being stateside not having the parts, shops, or my group of mechanically minded friends around, the car sat.

Just to check your suggeestions, the spark plugs are pretty black, but not alarmingly so other than how much buildup is on them for how new they are. If you want pics of them, I made sure to take some. Changed the oil back in august, the day after the car decided to commit seppukku, but didn't see any chunks in the oil, and there wasn't coolant in it then. The dipstick still has regular looking oil on it. "Gave it the beans" in this instance means second gear sliding through an intersection to showboat. Didn't hit the limiter if memory shows, but it was still the moment everything went wrong. The boost controller is an HKS one that the shop ****ed with and is falling apart. I honestly dont know **** about how it works, but the lines running off it were changed, and the body of the thing is falling out the housing. Right now I'm digging out the turbos, but progress is slow as it's a first time job for me. I'm trying to dig out the O2 sensors (bonus points if anyone can tell me how to test 3 pin O2 sensors) but I'll be able to check the turbos for ****ed blades and shaft play.

Other notable things; New plugs and MAFs in 2020, as well as some Splitfire coil packs from Up Garage. The car seeps oil from ****in everything from the plug to the valve covers. I don't have the equipment or patience to pull the engine for an overhaul myself, budgeting for it in about five years. It's an R34 engine in an 33 chassis/transmission with an R32 ECU controlling the whole thing. It's possible my tune is bad, but I don't know where I can find a Consult cable for less than a kidney that will be here in less than two months.

 

[The_Rocketeer]

I have all sorts of concerns with this car now.

the misfire can be found through a power balance test and then inspection after the non contributing cylinder is identified

The gravel sound is very concerning because that could indicate knock or some destroyed lifters. or you could have jumped teeth on your timing belt and youre smacking valves. youre going to have to have shop look at it determine where that sound is coming from

the white smoke is concerning because thats symtom of water or coolant getting in to the combustion chamber. that can be from a blown headgasket, cracked block, cracked head, blown turbo. but something a shop can look at, pulling the boost pipe, intake pipe, intercooler piping and looking for the presence of coolant. you can also use a block tester to see if you can exhaust gas in the coolant system. you can also use a coolant pressure tester and a bore scope down the spark plug hole to look for coolant intrusion.

the 0 boost tells me you have a huge leak or blown turbos. a boost leak test can be done and if no boost leak is found then that directs you to the turbos itselves. youll have to check the hot and cold side of turbos. first check to see if you have play up down side to side and then end to end. also look for damage on the compressor and impeller.

to me it sounds like all these problems could be connected but its going to take a some diag work. any competent technician should be able to perform these tests. but most shops wont touch these cars because there is no service data availble through conventional sources. if you were in washington i could point you to shop but saddly idk many colorado based shops

I don't have the electronics to do a power balance test, but the misfire is intermittent and goes away when you rev if that matters.

The gravel sound made my heart stop when it happened, but I've chocked it up to a sticky piston from improper oiling. The sound went away with new oil, with a small change to the ticking that I've heard in every RB I've been around. I don't love it, but it's not the priority.

The white smoke indicating a head gasket is about my biggest fear right now, as that's absolutely not sometihng that I want to do.

I've been looking into making a boost leak tester, but fabrication really isn't my strong suit. It was suggested that I check the O2 sensors, so I'm digging out the front and getting to the turbos. I'll check for play and damage when I get there, but they're fairly low mileage r34 steel turbos, so they shouldn't be the problem.

Thanks for the reply, I'll keep digging and let yall know what I find.

 

[xtremetofu]

Well burnt spark plugs could indicate that you’re running rich and cause misfire. Skylines in America are not entry level cars because of the over hype they are expensive to find parts and as you can tell parts are frustrating to get here. But take what I said with a grain of salt from your initial post. Ok so on your free time I also recommend learning how to use your boost controller if they set bar to high and you give it the beans bye bye turbos at the very best. Your valve cover gasket issue isn’t a problem you can get those from raw brokerage. Plug is leaking you should have the drain washer replaced Nissan sells the new copper ones next time you change your oil. The plug might be stripped could also cause leak if it is I’d replace or you can rethread it. If it is a head gasket again as long as you stopped driving it and it didn’t over heat on you the head could be salvageable. And swapping it for a metal head gasket is preferred in rbs. Head gaskets aren’t expensive and you will need to find a machine shop that will service the head make sure it’s not warped. Also while you’re at it clean Mass Air Flow Sensor wouldn’t be a bad idea if the cars studdering on you. For the boost leak I would run through your intercooler pipping to make sure a coupler didn’t blow off or need to be replaced. The rock noise definitely is concerning without hearing it or seeing where it’s coming from we can only speculate here. Check YouTube on how to test o2 sensors plenty of vids.