You may have seen me on the side of the 290, the 90, the 219, or anywhere else. Luckily a cop has not shown up yet since my inspection is a month overdue(Long story involving parts getting lost in the mail but I should be getting a sticker very soon).
1985 Nissan 200sx Turbo - CA18ET engine that I’m sure nobody is familiar with but I would like to hear thoughts.
Starts up and drives fine when cold. After reaching operating temp and traveling a few miles or a few expressway exits, it will stall. It may or may not start up again. If it does start back up it is sure to stall/misfire/backfire/stumble a few more times before it stalls and will not restart.
After waiting 5-10 minutes, it will start up again, then be fine no matter how I drive if I stay off the highway. It seems to be worse on the highway, and I have a feeling that if I were to get back up to cruising speed for a while it would stall again.
This happens every single time I drive it when cold. Every morning on the way to work, every night on the way home. And I drive from Tonawanda to Orchard Park. It’s been happening for a few weeks now, but getting gradually worse and worse, and I’m just now figuring out the pattern. This weekend I drove to Rochester and it didn’t miss a beat until I actually arrived in Rochester. The car was still warm when I left though.
Once in a while it also will not start for a while when cold. But this has only happened a handful of times. Behaves as it does after stalling though.
I’m going to keep my timing light in the car with me for when it won’t start to see if it’s getting spark. I’m pretty sure it’s not.
From recent experience, I would try checking the MAF sensors. Without being a total motorhead, I’m assuming you have them. I had similar issues with my Z and cleaning the MAF’s cleared it up. Small cost, easy place to try. Hope this was helpful.
NO check engine light came on with mine. Most electronic systems only alert you if the system is outside certain parameters. Things could still be functioning but not running right.
I’m going to try to check the ECU self diagnosis right now. It’s got blinky lights on it, only problem is that it’s really tucked up in the dash above the kick panel. According to my FSM, there is a code for ignition circuit malfunction. Instead of normal self-diagnosis functions that I’m used to, the ECU is supposed to output certain codes under normal operating conditions. Just to make things more confusing I’m sure.
So…the FSM is in engrish and talks about some codes being displayed all the time as a malfunction even if they are operating properly…I don’t know if this mean that they won’t be displayed if they are actually malfunctioning or what. I think it’s a really stupid system.
So I erased the memory. Then only got codes 22, 23, and 31 after following the procedure in the FSM. I even drove around hoping to recreate the condition but the car drove great. It hadn’t been sitting long enough. It’s really confusing but I think the codes I have are supposed to be there and are unrelated to my issue. The ECU stores codes, so after if happens again I might have something to go off of. Before I erased the memory there were a bunch of codes.
22 is fuel pump. I think the previous owner messed with the wiring. The fuel gauge does not work. I’m not sure what he did. I don’t think it’s causing my problem unless it’s vapor lock, which I don’t think it is. And even if it was I don’t really think it would be caused by my fuel pump.
23 is idle switch and only shows up when the engine isn’t running. FSM seems to say that it’s supposed to be displayed.
31 means air conditioner malfunction or “items checked in self diagnosis are operating properly”
When it dies on you you should give us an idea of what its not getting. fuel or spark? Fuel as you said could be a failing pump. spark would be a failing sensor… from the sounds Im not sure if its like a VW but crank sensor causes hott shut down issues. and being OBD1 its not going to be throwing a code on the ECU unless its while the problem is taking place. so your poop out of luck until you can get it to happen with all your tools with you
I drove it to work today after letting it warm up for 20 mins. It was idling rough, which it’s been doing lately before it stalls. But it didn’t stall, and once I got to work I checked the codes. If it was my coolant temp sensor, I’m pretty confident that it would have thrown a #13 at some point, but it didn’t.
11 - Crank angle sensor
12 - Air flow meter
21 - Ignition circuit
The manual also says that if the crank angle sensor goes, it can cause other codes(I’m thinking the air flow meter code), so to check that first. I’m not sure how to check it yet, but I believe it’s part of the distributor on this car.
Then after work it followed the usual pattern: Started, warmed up, got about a mile and a half then stalled. Wouldn’t start for 15 mins this time. I had my timing light in the car to check to see if I had spark. No spark. When it eventually started it ran fine and I drove home on the highway this time and it didn’t stall.
So I pulled a distributor at J&J but I think the CAS was bad on that one, because in my car I was getting no spark. So I’m still driving around with the old one. Haven’t stalled since I took it out and put it back in though. It’s probably just because I’ve figured out how to drive and avoid it. I’ll have to look for another one next weekend.
So the issue only got worse so I finally got a reman. distributor with a new crank angle sensor for about $100(closeout). Runs great now, and I haven’t run into the no-spark condition yet. I plan to keep the car for a while, and I’m worried it will happen again. So I need to either stockpile spare distributors or learn how to rebuild if possible!
