Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Hey everyone. In the last few days I acquired a 2003 Stagea NM35 250t RX to keep my '89 Silhouette company ...so i'm a newb to turbo engines and imports ...can't believe how much of a pain the stock Bose system is to repair/replace! ...Anyway, I have noticed rough idle/surging at startup combined with black smoke from exhaust for up to 5 minutes when cold and also after sitting for a few hours ...within 10 minutes the surging subsides ...could it be an oil seal somewhere? It feels like it's going to stall but doesn't. Love my Nissans but in no way a mechanic, though not afraid to give repairs a go. Have already scoured the forums and internet for possible solutions but haven't seen the exact same issue yet ...any ideas anyone? Thanks!!

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/443647-nm35-surging-idle-at-startup/
Share on other sites

Hey Lom, welcome mate.

These are fairly complicated cars to work on, for most maintenance you will need a scanner to diagnose, especially handy with faults like yours. I would start with making sure the revs are correct, it could help with the stalling to clean the throttle, but be aware, don't move the throttle plate when you do.

Have you checked the plugs at all? What mods have been done? Havs the engine light been on at all?

Probably best to get it checked over by someone who is familiar with the M35, there are a few common faults to look over which most have by now. Things like sway bar links, compression rod bushes, passenger side rocker gaskets and others will most likely need replacement if they haven't been done already. Where are you located?

  • Like 1

Hey Scotty, thanks for your welcome and advice! No mods have been done by me, though i think the previous owner had changed the exhaust. No engine lights have been on at all and haven't checked plugs yet though it was serviced a few days before I purchased - haven't had it even for a week ...tbh, compared to the R31, the engine bay is quite overwhelming! The issue only occurs when the engine has cooled. I'm in Melbourne's northern suburbs ...happen to know of anyone who knows their way around the M35? Cheers mate

You are welcome to bring it down here, i'm in Hampton Park.

Is it something you can get fixed under statutory warranty I wonder? I would be pretty pissed buying a car with problems. Was it through a dealer?

Cheers Scotty, i appreciate it mate ...i have a warranty so i'll give the dealer a call ...was hoping it'd be something simple that i'd missed in my extensive searching that i could fix myself ..aside from this issue, drives well as far as i can tell once engine warm ...but you got me worried now haha

Just a quick update for those interested, had the local mechanic hook it up to the scanner and no errors/faults were detected ...this may be because the engine was warm so will be leaving it overnight next week so he can start when cold ...thinks it's most likely the throttle body that needs a clean as Scotty has already mentioned

Edited by lom

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • Update 3: Hi all It's been a while. Quite a lot of things happened in the meantime, among other things the car is (almost) back together and ready to be started again. Things that I fixed or changed: Full turbo removal, fitting back the OEM turbo oil hardlines. Had to do quite a bit of research and parts shopping to get every last piece that I need and make it work with the GT2860 turbos, but it does work and is not hard to do. Proves that the previous owner(s) just did not want to. While I was there I set the preload for the wastegates to 0,9bar to hopefully make it easier for the tuner to hit the 370hp I need for the legal inspections that will follow later on. Boost can always go up if necessary. Fitted a AN10 line from the catch can to the intake hose to make the catchcan and hopefully the cam covers a slight vacuum to have less restrictive oil returns from the head and not have mud build up as harshly in the lines and catch can. Removed the entire front interior just shy of the dashboard itself to clean up some of the absolutely horrendous wiring, (hopefully) fix the bumpy tacho and put in LED bulbs while I was there. Also put in bulbs where there was none before, like the airbag one. I also used that chance to remove the LED rpm gauge on the steering column, which was also wired in absolute horror show fashion. Moved the 4in1 Prosport gauge from sitting in front of the OEM oil pressure gauge to the center console vents, I used a 3D printed vent piece to hold that gauge there. The HKB steering wheel boss was likely on incorrectly as I sometimes noticed the indicator reset being uneven for left vs. right. In the meantime also installed an airbag delete resistor, as one should. Installed Cube Speed premium short shifter. Feels pretty nice, hope it'll work great too when I actually get to drive. Also put on a fancy Dragon Ball shift knob, cause why not. My buddy was kind enough to weld the rust hole in the back, it was basically rusted through in the lowermost corner of the passenger side trunk area where the wheel arch, trunk panel and rear quarter all meet. Obviously there is still a lot of crustiness in various areas but as long as it's not rusted out I'll just treat and isolate the corrosion and pretend it's not there. Also had to put down a new ground wire for the rear subframe as the original one was BARELY there. Probably a bit controversial depending on who you ask about this... but I ended up just covering the crack in the side of the engine block, the one above the oil feed, with JB Weld. I used a generous amount and roughed up the whole area with a Dremel before, so I hope this will hold the coolant where it should be for the foreseeable future. Did a cam cover gasket job as the half moons were a bit leaky, and there too one could see the people who worked on this car before me were absolute tools. The same half moons were probably used like 3 times without even cleaning the old RTV off. Dremeled out the inside of the flange where the turbine housing mates onto the exhaust manifolds so the diameter matches, as the OEM exhaust manifolds are even narrower than the turbine housings as we all know. Even if this doesn't do much, I had them out anyways, so can't harm. Ideally one would port-match both the turbo and the manifold to the gasket size but I really didn't feel up to disassembling the turbine housings. Wrapped turbo outlet dumps in heat wrap band. Will do the frontpipe again as well as now the oil leak which promted me to tear apart half the engine in the first place is hopefully fixed. Fitted an ATI super damper to get rid of the worn old harmonic balancer. Surely one of the easiest and most worth to do mods. But torquing that ARP bolt to spec was a bitch without being able to lock the flywheel. Did some minor adjustments in the ECU tables to change some things I didn't like, like the launch control that was ALWAYS active. Treated rusty spots and surface corrosion on places I could get to and on many spots under the car, not pretty or ideal but good enough for now. Removed the N1 rear spats and the carbon surrounding for the tailpipe to put them back on with new adhesive as the old one was lifting in many spots, not pretty. Took out the passenger rear lamp housing... what do you know. Amateur work screwed me again here as they were glued in hard and removing it took a lot of force, so I broke one of the housing bolts off. And when removing the adhesive from the chassis the paint came right off too. Thankfully all the damaged area won't be visible later, but whoever did the very limited bodywork on this car needs to have their limbs chopped off piece by piece.   Quite a list if I do say so myself, but a lot of time was spent just discovering new shit that is wrong with the car and finding a solution or parts to fix it. My last problem that I now have the headache of dealing with is that the exhaust studs on the turbo outlets are M10x1.25 threaded, but the previous owner already put on regular M10 nuts so the threads are... weird. I only found this out the hard way. So now I will just try if I can in any way fit the front pipe regardless, if not I'll have to redo the studs with the turbos installed. Lesson learned for the future: Redo ALL studs you put your hands on, especially if they are old and the previous owners were inept maniacs. Thanks for reading if you did, will update when the engine runs again. Hope nothing breaks or leaks and I can do a test drive.
    • No those pads are DBA too  but they have colors too. I look at the and imo the green "street" are the best.
    • I’m not sure what happened I told them about sonic tunes free OTS tune and the next the I know .. I was booted..   To funny 
    • Yea - I mean I've seen my fuel pump which is decades old and uh, while I'm not saying this with real knowledge... but I sure get the ick at using anything in the fuel system that produced the state of that pump. Many years ago I went through multiple pumps (and strainers) before I dropped the tank to clean it out with extreme violence. I'm talking the car would do maybe 50km before coming to a halt, which resulted in me cleaning out the filter with some brake cleaner and going on my way. None of my stuff ever looked like what came out of your fuel tank. I don't think I'd be happy with it unless every single component was replaced (or at least checked/cleaned/confirmed to be clean here).
    • I'm not going to recommend an EBC pad. I don't like them. Just about anything else would suit me better. I've been using Intima pads for a while now.
×
×
  • Create New...