Bozz

Dunno mate, all I know is the oil's are not compatible. From reading level323's post's in the other thread linked above, it seems like its just an oil change but I really dont know. I'd shoot him a PM and see if he replies

Another note - since I had the leak in my system, I had trouble keeping it running right and it took me ages to find out why - because I had both propane and butane in there, propane boils at about -42 degrees and butane about -0.2 celcius. This means at different times, more of one gas leaks out than the other, since I kept topping up similar ratios, AC performance went down the pooper. I eventually ended up giving it a topup of propane and every second time a tiny bit of butane iwth the propane to keep it running. I never had exact levels correct, I was playing the close enough is good enough game....

A previous car had an air con leak so after paying $100 to have it recharged, filled with dye and tested, it'd fail again within a month. They never found the leak so I got pissed off and googled how car AC works, found the LPG method. After you know the theory, if you have the correct gauges (i bought a set similar to this) and estimated the amount of propane and butane going in from a BBQ bottle and portable propane can. I had to tip both upside down when I opened the taps to ensure the liquid entered the refrigeration system instead of vapour and I got the AC working quite well. For a while I just kept topping it up. The disclaimer - it's very dangerous to overfill because if liquid returns to the compressor, it can destroy it. I'll try a quick explanation but you're better off googling it because I could be wrong - I haven't had to use it for years. The compressor compresses the refrigerant, this converts it from a gas into a liquid which makes it get hot. The refrigerant goes through the condensor at the front of the car, the air passing through the fins removes the heat in the same way the radiator works, then it goes into the cabin of the car and passes through a tiny orifice called the TX valve. The TX valve only allows a tiny bit of refrigerant through which means there's a very low pressure in the evaporator. The low pressure causes the refrigerant to boil and become a gas. This makes it get very cold, the blower fan blows air through the evaporators fins and it cools the air. The outlet of the evaporator returns to the compressor to repeat the whole cycle. I've left out the low/high pressure switch, thermostat, ECU control of AC, filter/dryer and other bits here, we're not that worried about them right now. The danger is if you overfill the system with too much refrigerant, it wont completely evaporate by the time it returns to the compressor. Compressors dont like compressing liquid so they self destruct. Without knowing the pressure, temperature and condensation/evaporation points of the particular refrigerant in the system, you can't get it right and its dangerous to get it wrong. On that note, everyone warned me against it and I got it right so who knows.... If you're adding refrigerant to the low side while the AC is running, do it bloodly slowly or you will get droplets of liquid into the compressor. I took my time and it worked. I dont really want to write a DIY because it is so easy to destroy it by getting it wrong however there's heaps of info on the net if you could be bothered researching it, thats how I learned. Cheers

Wow, what a thread, excellent advice in there! Good on him for promoting his products, its rare someone from a company that does sell a genuinely better product than the larger multinationals comes and explains how things really work.

I bought it from Bursons (I think) a while back. Its pretty much 33% butane 67% propane (so its flammable) to match the weight, boiling and condensation points/pressures of R12. Unlike the non combustible CFC and HCFC based R12/R22 and R134a/R410, the hydrocarbon based HyChill gasses aren't regulated and you can buy them with the same legality as buying LPG. People even use LPG for refrigerants (google it) however LPG may contain moisture and any moisture in the refrigeration system will react with leftover R12 in the oil of the compressor and form acids, destroying the compressor. If you're DIYing, always install a new receiver/dryer. LPG is also an unknown mix of propane and/or butane so if the quantities are different, air con performance will suffer. It makes some sense to not go playing bumper cars afterwards Bought the fittings and gauges on egay from the US and did it myself.

Aftermarket injectors - legal if the same size? My problem is they're black and factory injectors are yellow. Any potential issues? Cheers

Are we forgetting that SM wont show us a photo of the fines he allegedly has received? Where's that BS-meter GIF

You keep saying you got fined blah blah blah. Scan/photograph all the fines or they didn't happen. Edit out the bits like infringement number, your personal details etc. So, odds are over 90% you are unable to do so for whatever reason; - Your mum has the fines - Your lawyer has the fines - Your dog ate the fines - The fines got stolen - The fines are fictional Provide some backing for the endless tirade of police abuse you keep posting about.

Your engine doesn't give a stuff about radiant heat from the bonnet. Keep the cooling system performing as well as possible and it will take care of itself. Make sure the radiator is good, the coolant is under 2 years of age, the water pump is good, all rubber hoses are in good condition and the viscous clutch fan roars when revving the engine if the outside temperature is above 30 degrees. Make sure the stone tray is mounted in the correct place - this helps cool the front diff as well as push the hot air from the radiator as far away from it as possible to prevent hot air recycling through the radiator intake. I've seen things that make me laugh though - I've seen people mount the bonnet up a few CM at the rear to help hot air exit, I always wonder if the bonnet will go through the windscreen and decapitate the front driver/passenger in a frontal accident......

Smell it - is it engine or gearbox oil? Could be the rear main seal.

Pin 43 on the ECU doesn't get 12v while cranking because it isn't wired up to the ignition 'start' position.

I call a reasonable degree of BS of the claims posted. For around $700 or so, you can get two high definition video cameras to continously record hours of footage onto SSD. Small price to pay if you're getting stung $300 or so per day/week/month. If what you say is true about your innocence and can prove it beyond reasonable doubt, it wouldn't just be a select few perceived internet hoons backing you but it would find its way into mainstream media. All of us are selective of which truths to share.

Dont know if it's just me that gets frustrated with people quoting american garbage but VicPol's slogan is Uphold the Right

Were you using the air conditioning? If you were, my bet is the condensation drain pipe is blocked up and the water overflowing into the cabin. To clean it, the drain pipe is under the car next to the chassis rail. You can give it a quick squirt of water from a hose and it'll dislodge anything that's blocked up into it. Should fix it for a short while or permenantly depending on how its blocked. Cheers

I've solved it. This morning I did some measurements, ambient temp was 15 degrees, clutch fan came on when the water temp in the return hose rose to 23 degrees. This obviously isn't right so I removed the fan (after removing the radiator and shroud) and started mucking around with it on a bench with a drill and butane torch. Once the bimetallic strip got barely warm (maybe 25-30 degrees), the fan locked on until I cooled the bimetallic strip with some freeze spray. I dont recommend anyone try this unless you really know what you're doing and understand the damage that can result from an overheated cooling system if you get it wrong. I'll get some photos later on, I'm now waiting for the car to cool so I can put the shroud back in. If you put the outside tab of the bimetallic strip at 9'oclock, when the centre valve is facing north-south (12 o'clock from now on), as the bimetallic strip warms, it turns the valve anticlockwise, towards 11 o'clock. This engages the viscous clutch. The solution was to bend the bimetallic strip a poofteenth of a bees dick to have the valve resting two tenths of bugger all further clockwise. It really is *that* touchy - with my experimenting today, I went too far on and off many times resulting in a fan that would never turn on or never turn off. Eventually I worked out what I was doing wrong - after bending the bimetallic strip, when I reinserted the tab at the 9 o'clock position, I was putting an axial load on the centre valve preventing it from spinning freely due to the way I bent the strip. After I figured out what I was doing wrong, a few more fine tuning sessions and I think its right - fan comes on when return temp of water is approx 45 degrees and goes off when it falls to about 30 degrees. Cheers

o2 sensor 0v = lean, 1v = rich. You have a narrowband sensor, for all intents, there is no 'inbetween'. The ECU responds only to swings from side to side and finetunes mixtures that way. The quicker it swings, the more responsive your o2 sensor is. IIRC, the ECU considers anything under 0.3v as 0v, anything above 0.7v as 1v. The other thread someone mentioned to check the ignitor pack. You dont have one, its a series 2 rb25det the o2 sensor sounds like its working. At idle it should swing once every second or two, under load and revs, it should swing many times per second. If it does, it's probably OK Your symptoms sound like the variable cam timing solenoid is broken or there's no power to it. It gets the same power feed as the o2 sensor heater wire. With the ignition on but engine off, check you have 12v on one of the three wires at the o2 sensor and the same color wire at the VCT solenoid. Start the cold engine and let it idle. Verify you have 0v (or close to 0) on the other non signal wire at the o2 sensor. This should go to 12v after 2-10 minutes when the ECU switches off the o2 sensor heater. Dont look at the throttle as a percentage, go back to voltage and get used to it that way. 0.45v should be closed, just under 5v should be WOT. The VCT solenoid should make a distinct 'tick' as you crack the throttle just off idle and back again. If it does, it's most likely OK. Could be the knock sensor giving faulty readings. I dont recall the value (it was something like 22k or 220k) but remove the plug off the knock sensors and fit a resistor in place and try driving again but only for a short period of time. If the symptoms go away, it may need the base timing set by someone with a timing light, or a faulty knock sensor (or two) replaced. On injector shutoff, the fuel consumption should be zero. You can easily tell injector shutoff by holding a low gear while moving, closing the throttle while revs are above 2000rpm or so. If you have an aftermarket exhaust, you'll hear it pop/fart etc for a second then the exhast sound will be smooth down to about 1200rpm when fuel comes back on. You can also feel a very gentle tug like you've just touched the accelerator or your GF has released the handbrake after driving 15km.

i dnt thnk it wnt cse ny prblms by hldn dwn the acclrtr whle strtng the engne if ur mchnc cn tne the engn prprly u wnt hv any prblms strtng it cld, plnty of ppl runng microtechs fne bt it csts lts to hv it dne rght. fark... sms speak on a forum is tough to type and a prick to read... that was a serious reply though.

Thats what you should have. All should be good. 13.5v means the alternator is charging.

Do not do this. Easily possible to destroy all electronics on your car and cost you a lot of money in repairs. That was an old trick before cars had electronics, to test if the alternator was working. The battery acts as a large capacitor and supresses voltage surges through the electrical system. Most EFI cars have enough of an idle current draw to keep a regulated alternator from spiking sharply but do you really want to chance it? Have you ever tried to switch on cruise control while your driven wheels were in the air? The reg in the alternator behaves very similar. Massive over and undershoots without the battery attached. Nissan alternators needs 2 things to properly charge a battery. A voltage reference input and an excite wire. The VRef wire should be attached to the battery positive to measure how much voltage drop there is in the charge wire, to keep the battery fully charged. The excite wire provides a tiny amount of current though the charge light to energize the alternator as it contains no magnets. The excite wire is clearly working (white / red stripe) so check you have 12v on the other wire (i forget the color) on the 2 pin connector. edit - the white/red wire should be close to zero volts with the engine off, then up to 12v with it running. The other wire on thta connector should have 12v on it all the time. If the white/red wire still has close to zero volts with the engine running and the other wire has 12v, you have a faulty alternator.

Engines require more fuel when cold, and even more again while cranking. If the problem appeared after installing the microtech, take it back to the installer/tuner and get them to fix it. Or go back the the standard ECU and all problems will be fixed.

Yep, thats exactly what locks the VC When babying it around, especially in heavy traffic, what outside temperatures do you notice it engages? Cheers

Consider the water pump pulley the 'input shaft' and the fan blade assembly the 'output shaft'. I refer to the fans operation as 'disengaged' when its freespinning and delivering less than 1:1 input to output rotational speed through the silicone fluid. I'm fully aware it still has a small amount of torque applied to it. It is 'engaged' or 'on' when the bimetallic strip in the VC deforms a certain amount, locking the input to the output, delivering exactly 1:1 input to output shaft speed. Think of its principles being similar to a torque converter with a lockup clutch. The ambient temperature plays a very important role in the operation of the VC. When the fan is disengaged, lets assume it pulls (hypothetically) 300-600cfm of air at idle and up to 5,000rpm, due to the VC design. Lets also assume that when the VC is locked, the fan pulls 1,000cfm at idle and 5,000cfm at 5,000rpm (I know there are many other factors in the dynamics of airflow and non linearities in the examples I use below, I'm ignoring them for the purpose of the example) Put a beer in the fridge and put another one in the freezer. Which one cools down quicker and why? To remove a given amount of heat from the coolant, an amount of air must pass over the radiator's fins. If the air entering the radiator is cooler, less air is required through the radiator to remove a given amount of heat. If the air temp entering the radiator is warmer, more air is required through the radiator to remove the same amount of heat. If the coolant in the radiator is 80 degrees and the air entering is 10 degrees, very little air is needed to drop the temperature of the coolant. The coolant coming out of the radiator will be pretty much at ambient temperature because the thermostat is barely cracked open, causing the coolant to flow through the radiator very slowly. If the coolant in the radiator is 80 degrees and the air entering is 40 degrees, a LOT more air is needed to drop the temperature of the coolant. The coolant coming out of the radiator may be well above ambient temperature because the thermostat is significantly more open, causing coolant to flow through the radiator far more rapidly. If the air going through the radiator is constant, temperature differential between the ambient air and coolant exiting the radiator will be significantly higher than the previous example. At low ambient temperatures (lets say 10 degrees) and mild driving with the VC disengaged, the fan pulls more air than needed through the radiator. The air through the top few CM of the radiator may be 80 degrees however by the time it's reached about half way down the radiator, it might be down to 20 degrees. Remember the thermostat will reduce the water flow through the radiator so very little air is needed to cool the slow flowing coolant. Therefore, the average air temp passing the VC may be only 30 degrees. At high ambient temperatures, the water may be 80 degrees at the top, however only cooled to 75 degrees by half way, and down to 72-ish degrees at the base of the radiator due to the thermostat being wide open and a large amount of coolant flow. So the average air temp passing the VC is approximately 75 degrees. Therefore the VC will lock when the air passing over the VC's fins exceeds a given temperature. If the VC were to always remain locked, fuel economy and performance suffers due to the engine having to drive the fan at high speed. The purpose of the bimetallic strip in the VC assembly is to lock the input to the output, providing large amounts of air through the radiator. So on a 40 degree day, you expect the VC to be engaged but I did not expect it to be engaged on a 20 degree day. I'm asking R32 GTR owners to share at what approximate outdoor temp the VC in their cars engages. I want to know if I need to fix a problem or if it's by design. If it's by design, I will modify it to improve cooling and reduce the amount of time the VC remains locked. So in stop-start driving, without use of AC, what temp do owners of R32 GTRs notice the VC come on? Thanks

Thanks for that, I should have been explained better in my original post. I've just rebuild the engine and I put a new water pump on, along with a new radiator. My old RB20DET R32 would only engage the viscous fan clutch in 30+ degree days, with the air con on and while travelling slowly or stop-start. On a 25 degree day, it would always be disengaged/free spinning. The GTR engages the fan clutch on an 18-20 degree day, without air con in stop-start driving. My understanding is it could be: 1) Faulty viscous clutch, engaging too early 2) Poor airflow. Perhaps after going through the intercooler, some air passes under the car instead of going through the radiator. I have the stone tray in there to push hot air far away from the radiator intake but wonder if I should extend the tray from the radiator to the front bar, enhancing how much cool air gets into the radiator. 3) By design - all GTR's do it. That's why I posted the thread, to find out in various situations, when the viscous fan engages on other people's R32 GTR's, to figure out if I should fix something thats broken or if it's meant to be like that. Thanks