ViRTualTeRRoRisT

Hey guys. Back with some more problems.

My max:
2003 6MT
165000 miles
Oil Burner (hopefully fixed now)

So I took it upon myself to finally get around to replacing my valve covers, gaskets, and spark plugs. After a lotta tugging and pulling, I finally got everything loose off the Intake Manifold. This is what my view was like:



So I pulled the Coils out of the front Valve Cover and eventually got the Cover and Gasket off.



Checked and replaced all the Spark Plugs with NGK Laser Platinum's that I purchased from my local Nissan Dealership. They went in without any issues. I had purchased some ATF Blue OEM Gasket Sealant and after cleaning around where the gasket is supposed to sit, I applied it all around and even took the extra step to spread it out a lil bit so that when the gasket sits on top, the sealant is even throughout. So I went about putting the screws back in and tightening them according to the Nissan manual. I put the coils back in, tightened everything down and moved onto the back cover.

Now here is where my dilemma begins to unfold. I removed all the coils, hoses and screws and when I pulled the cover and gasket, this is what I was faced with:



If you look in the far right corner, you can see the oil around the rim where the gasket sits. And when I checked the gasket, it was wet with oil as well. So I moved on to the spark plugs. The first one on the far left was dry. The second one had a lil spec of oil on it and the third one was drenched with oil. The Coil on the third spark plug (furthest to the right), was also very oily.




I took a paper towel and stuck it in the Spark Plug hole and dried it out as much as I could before putting the new plugs in there. I examined the gasket on Valve Cover where that spark plug hole is and it seemed to be fine, but hell, what do i know bout that ****?

So I repeated the same procedure with this valve cover and gasket as well and sealed everything down. I also replaced the Intake Manifold Gasket with a new one and put everything back together.



And yes, I do realize that in the picture, the wrong hose is connected to the PCV Valve. I realized that right before I put the Intake Manifold back on and followed this guide to both put together and take apart the Intake Manifold:
Now my issues are:
1. Should I be worried about the oil in the spark plug hole after all this?
2. When I started the car for the first time, everything went smooth. The second time, the SES turned on and the engine revved up to idle and died out. Almost like it was being choked. Every time after that was the same situation. Any ideas as to what that may be?

I haven't been able to pull the SES codes because I literally finished right before sunset and Autozone was closed...

Other than that starting problem, it didn't seem to have any other issues. Ran it around the block a bit and it seemed pretty good.

Help?


Just so it's clear, before doing all this, the car started fine and ran powerfully. And I remember seeing a thread on a similar situation a while back, but I can't find it for some reason. Fml

DennisMik

iTrader: (2)

Since you removed the throttle body, I would double check that you have all the connectors and hoses on, especially for the IACV. Otherwise, it's wait and find out what SES code is present.

Nice pics, btw.

ATL

one of the best $30 i ever spent

ViRTualTeRRoRisT

I double and triple checked all the hoses and connections before and after start-up and still had the same results. I'm clueless as to what it could be.

Always forget to get one.

ATL

was there that much oil on the top side of the spark plug? or did u get all that on there messing with it? if the oil was on the topside of the plug, im 99% sure the oil is/was coming in where the valve cover meets the top of the spark plug... sleeve?

ViRTualTeRRoRisT

No, that's how it looked just from me pulling it out. As soon as I did, I got my cam and took a pic. And yeah, I read up on it and it's said that the Gasket for that spark plug hole is prone to going bad on the 03's. I replaced the covers with 6th gen's cause I heard they're better quality. Not to mention they're cheaper.

DjHackStyle

I have the older version of the elm cable and it still works good with proscan 5, trust me spend the few dollars online to get a basic obd cable and use ur laptop to check for codes it will save you so much time and for some ppl who want to take things further fhey can move up to better obd programs like cipher ill be buying that hopefully this year

ATL

this little elmscan 5 tells you ALOT of info. you cant alter anything, and honestly the processing is pretty slow to attempt real time on it. But it graphs out alot and will def point you in right direction. I bought the scanner after washing the engine of my denali. i got something wet and the truck would occassionally go into limp mode. i could plug in my scanner and clear the code faster than i could fight my way to the side of the road

ViRTualTeRRoRisT

Yeah, I'ma get around to buying one when I have a chance. Any ideas on the issue at hand?

Reizy

iTrader: (48)

Tugging and pulling? Never a good sign. Did you yank a hose off or a plug to something that you overlooked?

Oil in plug tubes is common on bank 1.

Did you by chance move the butterfly in the throttle body either by accident or on purpose? Did you perform the throttle valve closed position and idle air volume procedures?

Also you can search for the procedure to pull codes with the accelerator pedal. Print it out and keep it in the glovebox until you buy a code reader.

Report back after you have codes read.

ViRTualTeRRoRisT

Lol, the tugging and pulling was just a figure of speech. I was actually being gentle.

And when I took the Intake Manifold off, I saw that the Butterfly was dirty and just go the urge to move it. Is that what's causing all this?

Oh, and I do know how to do the ECU reset procedure that gives you the codes. The problem is, I don't know how to read the SES blinks.

After work tom, I'll find out what the codes are. I'm gonna do a quick search to find that relearning procedure and if I find it, I'll post it in here for future onlookers.


ETA:
Found the Idle Air Volume Learning Procedure here:
I'll try this tomorrow

MrEous

iTrader: (11)

You used the gasket sealer on the side of the valve cover nearest the timing cover right? As explained in the how tos?
Just making sure you allowed enough time for it to dry before you started it the car.

Oh and moving the butterfly will most definitely cause a high idle...but what you're describing sounds more like an air leak somewhere.

ViRTualTeRRoRisT

Just pulled the code: P0462 - fuel level sensor

ViRTualTeRRoRisT

Don't mean to double post but can't edit my last post cause I'm on the mobile site.

MrEous, I used the sealer all around the entire cover. The drying time was suffice since I was trying to retrace all my steps properly.

In my situation, I'm not getting a high idle. The car starts up normally and dies within 3 secs. Either that or it sputters and then idles normally.

MrEous

iTrader: (11)

http://forums.maxima.org/5th-generat...questions.html

Just strange that sensor would cause the car to not start properly...I still feel like it's something else.

DjHackStyle

i pulled that same code from my friends 02 maxima, it kept coming out and his fuel gauge wasnt working properly, we swapped out the cluster for a low mileage one and his fuel gauge now works and that code never came back. i feel like your starting problem is unrelated to this code.

MrEous

iTrader: (11)

Where are you located? Any members in your area that can help?

If I were you I'd go back over everything, maybe even take the IM back off and ensure I'm getting a good seal on every bolt. Also checking the IM gaskets for possible bends.

MaxinO2

iTrader: (1)

I've had the same problem with oil sitting on the spark plug, I believe cylinder 5, the same one that you had oil in. I had to replace the rear valve cover about 2 years ago and now I have the same problem. I might have over torqued the valve cover and cracked something or it could be that the Spark Plug Tube Seal went bad. Make sure you don't over torque the valve cover or intake manifold.

MaxinO2

iTrader: (1)

I just read in my Haynes Manual and it says to torque the valve covers on 2002 and later models at 9-26 in-lbs.. Seems like a pretty big range, I'm not sure but I would think around 10-15 would be good. Anyone else know what they did it at would be good to know.

It also says for the upper intake manifold to use 13-16 Ft-lbs of torque.

Reizy

iTrader: (48)

It very possible. Search for tons of threads in the 5th gen section about throttle body and whacky idle. Most of them throw an idle code though. Yours may not have the chance to throw that code if it can't even stay running.

Here's one: http://forums.maxima.org/5th-generat...ly-yes-no.html

There's a bunch more. Some have better luck than others.

ViRTualTeRRoRisT

I also forgot to mention that I am having issues with the cluster. I ordered a fuel level sensor from the stealership and put it in, drove it till it was empty and unfortunately, I only found out it was empty after it ran out on the highway. The gauge red half full, but the car was sputtering to death. I was quoted $800 for a new gauge cluster from the stealership. Like wtf? Ever since, I've been on the hunt at junkyards.

I live in Newark, NJ and wouldn't mind traveling a lil bit in order to get some help. And when I get off work tom, I plan on going back over everything.

I'll recheck the torque on the bolts all around. Don't want anymore problems.

And this is what I'll use for reference. Thanks.

I've done my searching. For some reason, it's not sputtering to death anymore. If it was a vacuum line that was causing this, then I'm guessing the more it was turned on and driven, the better it got. Might be because something got in the line?

My current situation is now just the code, which supposedly will go away with a new cluster, according to DJ. And the Y-pipe on there right now has a hole in the flex portion. I ordered a Warpspeed one and have it in hand with all gaskets and bolts. My problem with that is the fact that I can't get the two bolts/screws off the Cat in order to get the Y-Pipe off... Fml. I'm gonna see if PB blaster will help my situation and if not, then I'll just have to get someone else to take em out...

ViRTualTeRRoRisT

Just a lil update: after driving it around for a couple days, the starting idling problem has seemed to gone away. Starts right up now how it used to. Now I'm just working on finding a manual gauge and replacing my Y-pipe and everything else should be good

DjHackStyle

problems dont just go away..........

ViRTualTeRRoRisT

Yeah, I'm just preparing for the worst... Smfh.

budhunter420

kinda sounds like an idle air control valve to me

Child_uv_KoRn

iTrader: (7)

Remove and throw away the IM bracket to the firewall. It's dumb and so is nissan.

Do not use IM gasket. Throw it away and put on a thin bead of rtv and slap it on.

RTV top and bottom of ALL gaskets to prevent future leaks forever (do it very thin for anything intake related so you don't squish it into the airway, wipe out excess). I recommend not using any gaskets for everything intake related. RTV all day long. In fact, I will reseal a whole engine without those stupid thin gaskets.

Make sure you didn't screw up any of the vaccuum connections.

You messed something up. This is a very simple, straight-forward procedure. It sounds like there's a massive leak (perhaps driving settled the surfaces closer together).

Nice try noobie, there is no IACV.

02pearlmax

iTrader: (8)

Edit: I realize that this is a 2 year old thread resurrection, but this may be helpful to someone who stumbles upon it while searching the forums.

I had a similar problem when I changed the VC's and gaskets on my 2002, and it also went away on it's own. When I pulled the old VC's off, I noticed that the rear bank (firewall side) VC was caked in sludge on the inside, so much so that the opening for the PCV breather hose (the one that runs from the front VC to the rear VC) looked like it was partially clogged.

I followed the same procedure as the OP; 6th gen VC's and gaskets, following the greghome write up for IM removal. The only things I did differently were reusing the IM gasket (this had been replaced a few months prior when I replaced just the spark plugs), and I did not touch the throttle body (I left it bolted to the IM and the green harness connector plugged in, and I did not touch the butterfly even though it was dirty.)

I put everything back together and started the car, and the car would turn over, come down to idle and then sputter and die. It would not idle unless I gave it gas. I drove it around a little and everything else was fine, just would not idle.

I figured I had either put the vacuum hoses back together wrong, or one of the hoses cracked during the process and was causing a vacuum leak. However, by the time I had finished it was too dark for me to take anything apart again, so I took the car out to run some errands around town and decided I would take it apart again another day.

I noticed that the more I drove, the better the idle problem seemed to get. Eventually the engine stopped stalling out, and would just idle rough and at low RPM (550-600ish). At this point, I figured that the ECM needed to readjust due to all that sludge build up being removed, so I planned to do an idle air relearn that weekend when I would have the time.

I continued to drive the car to work and school for the rest of that week, and by the time the weekend came, the idle was completely back to normal. I drove the car for another 6 months before I sold it and had no more idle problems whatsoever. I guess the ECU managed to adjust without the need for an idle air relearn.

Sorry for the long post. TL;DR, keep driving the car and see if it gets better or worse, and try an idle air relearn if necessary.