Has The Engine Blown

[ryukaza]

Hey Everyone

last night was taking my new 180sx (SR20DET, man 93) for a spin I just bought it a few days ago from a shop wont say which, but as I was driving I started to boost the car a little, as I did so I heard something "dropped" and a sound was made like air escaped, the car immediately lost power and would not rev higher than 2500rpm but averaging at 2000rpm, the exhuast started giving alot of backfire as I drove the car home the car was only able to go 70km max. I called the guy that sold the car and he said he would fix it next week. just wondering has the engine blown??? or the turbo?? will i most likely need a rebuild??

thank you for your time

[R31Nismoid]

Sounds like a blown cooler hose.

Without much more of an accurate description, its really hard to tell

[skybarge]

Yeah definitely sounds like the cooler pipe

Double check all connections, vacuum hoses and the AFM connection

Unplug the + terminal of the battery, then hit the brakes for a few seconds, then plug it back in

it should be back to normal, if it's not, it could be a lot of other things

[deant1]

if there was no smoke then there is no worries!

it's when smoke pours out the back with the same characteristics as what you described becomes a problem.... new turbo gasket then.

[FLY-4DR]

Blown cooler pipe...my mates 180 did the same thing...he had a tear in one of the pipes so when it was on vacume it was fine...but boost expanded the silicone pipes opened at the tear and wouldnt boost up.....and it left a really ritch burning mark all up his rear bar

[DLUD3R]

My car (R32 GTR) has the same problem, every so often it will just lose power and if I take it out of gear the revs will drop and the car will die. When it's having one of it's fits, it does exactly as you described, the rest of the time it just feels like crap to drive.

Havn't had a chance to take it to a mechanic to suss the problem out yet, although it's getting worse and i'm probably doing damage just driving it around. Let me know how you go and what sort of cost you're up for, hopefully i'm in the same boat and not worse

[EVIL TWIN]

DLUD3R, that sounds like something different. When idleing out of gear, you're in vacuum, so a split pipe won't open up so it shouldn't die. Yours sounds like your fuel pump is cactus. Does it splutter a lot under acceleration when it happens? That's what happened to mine. Check your spark plugs also.

[DLUD3R]

Yeah, sparks and coils were my second guess. Had NGK Platinums and Splitfire coils put in, but problem still occured. I did notice that sometimes when turning the car on (before starting engine) you could hear the fuel pumping noise didn't go for as long as usual. Also when restarting the car after it died you couldn't hear the fuel pump at all. Fuel pump was my first guess at the issue, but i know nothing about car mechanics and everyone told me otherwise.

Don't have a chance to take it in anywhere for another week or so, so it's all specualtion at the moment. Thanks for suggesting fuel pump or I wouldn't have even suggested my mech have a look at it!

[DLUD3R]

Purely for the sake of having an answer present for anyone with a similar problem, I have the result.

$2000 later (splitfire coils, ngk platinum sparks, fuel pump) ... the car finally plays up in front of my mechanic. 10 minutes later it's discovered that the problem is with the Air Flow Meters. They're running 2 very different voltages. Yay. What a waste of money, haha.

[EVIL TWIN]

Ah yes, I've replaced one airflow meter for that reason also.

With it all hapening again, I have found out that the now 18 year old wiring is deteriorating to my fuel pump, airflow meters and O2 sensors, so replacing the flakey wires is what's needed. The fuel pump is actually hard-wired now with a new relay.

Sorry to hijack your thread ryukaza - did it end up being a popped cooler hose, or something else?