Engine light help

[Ljbyrne98]

Hey guys

Recently bought a consult reader and connected to to my phone. Had 3 errors pop up the other day; 12,21, & 33. I cleared 12 and 33 but 21 won't go. My TCS and SLIP lights are also on but they've been on since I bought the car. These lights so up the moment I start up the car

I changed the cluster over and when starting the car after that was the first I noticed these lights but its all working correctly so don't believe this could contribute to code 21 but is it possible? 

I also noticed that on the boost gauge it used to sit at 14 IN-Hg vacuum (I have no idea what this means, boost noob, don't judge) but now it's sitting at 4.

Once the car warms up it idles rough but only very slightly. Sometimes it's perfect, sometimes it's a tiny bit rough. 

I have attached images of the NSDI readings from both cold and hot idle, in hot one the timing shows 0 but it was actually averaging around 10.

Before anyone says 100% coilpacks I don't believe it is. The throttle response is too good and while under load it runs perfectly. It's only the idle that's a bit rough. I'm thinking possibly I dud tcs system and O2 sensor? I'm running 98 and it's only rated for 91-93 and I know running a higher fuel rating can cause it to run a little rough so this might contribute to things? 

Any help would be absolutely loved

PS, if anywhere knows somewhere around SE Melbourne where I could drive the car around a track or something just to test things without having to worry about getting caught that would be amazing. It's not registered yet and want to be able to drive it around for an hour or so to see if anything goes bang so it doesn't happen when I'm driving on the road. Not so much looking for a competitive track day. 

 

Edit: instantly after posting this I checked my app again and the O2 sensor reading was showing 130, is this abnormally high? 

Edited September 20, 2018 by Ljbyrne98

[GTSBoy]

Firstly, we have to guess that this is an R34.  The only way to make that guess is by your mention of TCS.

Secondly....Say what now (?) about the octane rating of the fuel.  Nissan turbos need 98RON juice, at least.  95 won't do.  There's no such thing as 93RON, and 91 will just lead to engine destruction.  93 octane is an American thing.  It's not RON.  It's broadly equivalent to 96+ RON.  It's the best stuff you can get in most parts of the US.  Anyway - you need 98 and it should not affect the idle.

Next.  Was the car trying just at cold idle in the first screengrab?  Followed by warm idle in the next one?  If so, nothing looks outrageous in any of the values, except the timing at zero in the warm idle.  If that really is 0 degrees, then the ECU is trying to pull the idle down by running really retarded timing, which would suggest that your IACV is not working.  Fluffy idle would then be a symptom of the bad timing.

 

As to the error codes.....why do you not just google the remaining code and see what it is?  You'll probably find out that it is the ECU's version of the fault causing the TCS CU to crap out.  And then, if you want to know why the TCS system is faulting, you will need to take the car to a workshop with a proper scantool so they can interrogate the TCS computer and find out which of the dozen different things that could be wrong with it is in fact wrong.

[DatsunBanana]

I had code 21 on my R34 (non-turbo) and a lumpy idle. It ran fairly well while driving though. I can only speak as I found but changing the coil packs fixed it. 

O2 sensor should be swinging between higher and lower values. Recently I had to change my sensor as it was stuck on a single value and failed the emissions tests we have here in the UK.

[Ljbyrne98]

10 hours ago, GTSBoy said:

Firstly, we have to guess that this is an R34.  The only way to make that guess is by your mention of TCS.

Secondly....Say what now (?) about the octane rating of the fuel.  Nissan turbos need 98RON juice, at least.  95 won't do.  There's no such thing as 93RON, and 91 will just lead to engine destruction.  93 octane is an American thing.  It's not RON.  It's broadly equivalent to 96+ RON.  It's the best stuff you can get in most parts of the US.  Anyway - you need 98 and it should not affect the idle.

Next.  Was the car trying just at cold idle in the first screengrab?  Followed by warm idle in the next one?  If so, nothing looks outrageous in any of the values, except the timing at zero in the warm idle.  If that really is 0 degrees, then the ECU is trying to pull the idle down by running really retarded timing, which would suggest that your IACV is not working.  Fluffy idle would then be a symptom of the bad timing.

 

As to the error codes.....why do you not just google the remaining code and see what it is?  You'll probably find out that it is the ECU's version of the fault causing the TCS CU to crap out.  And then, if you want to know why the TCS system is faulting, you will need to take the car to a workshop with a proper scantool so they can interrogate the TCS computer and find out which of the dozen different things that could be wrong with it is in fact wrong.

Yes it's an r34, sorry about that. 

As for the fuel it says on the car (can't remember where exactly) "RON 91-93". I'm fairly confident that when the r34 was released that 98 wasn't available (or at least readily available) in Japan. There high octane is/was 96. So all this talk about "the skyline needs 98 otherwise inevitable catastrophic destruction" is all bulls dust. 

Secondly with the timing I did state that it blipped down to 0 but that was the only time it did that. Usually it was around 10 which seemed correct. 

As for the codes? If I google them I get told to get a diagnostics tool. If I get a diagnostics tool. I know what the fault is but I didn't bother saying it because if someone needs me to explain what the fault is they aren't going to know exactly what the fault is and how to fix it. Fault 21 seems to be a fairly generalised code. I have suspicions that it could be the TCS actuator but the engine light was never on until last week but the tcs lights have been on for months. 

[Ben C34]

Code 21 is ignition related,, eg coils or coil loom.

 

[GTSBoy]

3 hours ago, Ljbyrne98 said:

Yes it's an r34, sorry about that. 

As for the fuel it says on the car (can't remember where exactly) "RON 91-93". I'm fairly confident that when the r34 was released that 98 wasn't available (or at least readily available) in Japan. There high octane is/was 96. So all this talk about "the skyline needs 98 otherwise inevitable catastrophic destruction" is all bulls dust. 

Secondly with the timing I did state that it blipped down to 0 but that was the only time it did that. Usually it was around 10 which seemed correct. 

As for the codes? If I google them I get told to get a diagnostics tool. If I get a diagnostics tool. I know what the fault is but I didn't bother saying it because if someone needs me to explain what the fault is they aren't going to know exactly what the fault is and how to fix it. Fault 21 seems to be a fairly generalised code. I have suspicions that it could be the TCS actuator but the engine light was never on until last week but the tcs lights have been on for months. 

Bullshit.  100 RON is the good stuff in Japan going back decades.  No RB turbo will run happily on <95. 

Timing should be 15-20 depending on auto manual.  10 is still bad, indicating the ECU is pulling timing to (try to) control idle.  Idle speed should be ~650rpm hot.

Codes are listed on various web pages and in the R34 manual, which can also be googled and downloaded.

[Ljbyrne98]

6 hours ago, GTSBoy said:

Bullshit.  100 RON is the good stuff in Japan going back decades.  No RB turbo will run happily on <95. 

Timing should be 15-20 depending on auto manual.  10 is still bad, indicating the ECU is pulling timing to (try to) control idle.  Idle speed should be ~650rpm hot.

Codes are listed on various web pages and in the R34 manual, which can also be googled and downloaded.

The attached image is a sticker on the inside of my bonnet. Could be reading it wrong because I don't have my glasses on, but then again I don't need glasses. 

I'll look into the timing, not really sure about any of that as I'm new to this side of things, so thanks for that. 

I know what the codes are, i know where to find them. I've read the whole service manual and the best conclusion I can come to is that my code 21 is related to the TCS or ABS actuator (as per the service manual so pls don't rip into my saying that code 21 can only be coilpacks because the manufacturers believe otherwise. The reason I'm not 100% about this is because the TCS and slip lights were on long before the engine light. The only other think I can think of is that when connecting my new cluster I've pulled a wire loose and that wire just happened to be related to the ignition system. I'll pull that out tomorrow and have a look around and swap my old one back in and see what happens but that still leaves me with my TCS and slip lights on.

And before anyone tells me that the TCS has its own code and if it was a busted unit it'd show that code, if it's a purely mechanical (e.g. A sticky sensor) then the unit would only think its off and rather than saying there's an error it could just think its been turned off

 

Edit: before anyone gets their panties in a knot I'm not actually going to fill up with 91 or anything. I know that sticker isn't factory (considering all the factory ones are Japanese). The I'm just arguing for the sake of arguing ???

Edited September 21, 2018 by Ljbyrne98

[GTSBoy]

The importer who put that sticker on the car is a fu(king moron.

[Ljbyrne98]

1 hour ago, GTSBoy said:

The importer who put that sticker on the car is a fu(king moron.

I knew it 100% wasn't meant for 91 but wasn't sure if it was 95 or 98 but I've been filling it with 98. 

But then again we're all morons