Hey guys. As much as i know about these cars, there are still things that stump me. I installed a little short ram intake on my LD9 (00 z24 vert) a few months ago, and at first I just put a small breather filter on the air/oil seperator hose going to the intake tube, and blocked the hole on the intake tube. But then I noticed it was smoking out of there, so instead of sitting at redlights, and smoke coming from my engine bay, I installed it to the intake. Now, Im having this really weird putt-putt sound coming from my intake with the car running, and it will go away when i pinch off the line coming from the seperator, it goes away. Now my question is, should I take off the seperator over the weekend and try and clean it out or even replace it. I can hear it while outside the car, and it kinda worries me. I also have noticed a burning oil smell (like the smell you get when you spill oil on the engine) but when I look i cant find any leaks at all and while sitting at redlights (sometimes) I notice a little smoke coming from the engine bay and when i pop my hood there is no obvious signs of oil leaks. So im wondering if that seperator is just causing issues. I just did the oil change about 300 miles ago, so I know the engine is good on oil, and I didnt spill since I used a funnel, so i know thats not the issue, Its just become more noticible lately since its been really cold and I have been letting the car warm up for 15 mins while I finish work to head home. Any help would be great guys. Thanks again, Im really at a loss here. Oh, and any ideas, this car is getting really crappy gas mileage, maybe 135 miles from full tank, and Im below 1/2, does that too sound normal??? Thanks again!
Edit: I also forgot to mention, I have recently done a tune up on her, cleaned the throttle body, and IAC. and I still have noticed that when the car is cold, and I hop into it start it up, give it about 30 seconds and take off, it will stay at 1000 rpms for some time. Again, not sure if thats normal or what.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Thursday, December 30, 2010 6:48 PM
Check the oil press sensor it sometimes starts sweating oil, beats me the sound could it be a small misfire?
Were/are there any sensors on the intake that were reinstalled to the aftermarket in a different place that would change the reading of the air? like if the exhaust gas from the breather hose goes into the intake at a different spot?.. I know my intake goes all the way back to the stock airbox location and the sensor is only a few inches from the filter, and i dont think I have any breather tube. As for Mileage, when i fill up a full tank I will put about 300 miles on, thats about 12 gallons of fuel, 26-28mpg now depending on warm up time and how easy i'm taking it, road conditions and such.
Air / temp sensor not functioning or not seated properly in the intake tube?.
well the IAT is in roughly the same spot. and i put a little bit of make a gasket arkund the rubber grommet to seal it up so i know its not leaking. the oil sensor is dry so its not that. all the hoses and such are in roughly the same spot so i dont think its that. i do know its to do with the seperator. because when i pinch off the tube going to the intake it stops the putt putt putt in the air filter. as for the rest im really at a loss. i know it runs good, but it does consume a littke bit of oil. i knkw when i run the car to let it warm up and i leave the heater on, i get into the car and you can really smell the burnt oil smell and that drives me nuts. thanks for all the help so far guys.
Could it be positive pressure in the crank case since the tube to the intake isn't providing a vacuum anymore? I know the design of that tube from the timing chain housing to the oil seperator to the intake serves the same as a PCV system, and without a vacuum on it, the crank case releases pressure through that tube producing a putt putt sound that should change tempo with a change in engine RPM. As far as the idle thing, I guess it could be related see as how without the vacuum, you may have a minute amount of blow-by on the rings or the valve guides which could appear as a small vacuum leak and produce the burnt oil smell without the appearance of any blue smoke coming frome the tail pipe.
Try putting a breather filter on the nipple where the tube to the seperator comes off the top of the timing chain housing and another one on the intake snorkle where the tube from the seperator goes and just plug off the seperator nipples inder the intake manifold with giant vacuum caps. See if that doesn't change the sound or any of the other conditions you're experiencing.
Just some thoughts. Let me know what you find.
Some people have brain storms, others light drizzles. And then there are those that have droughts.
Before I had the tube connected to the intake, I had a little breather filter on the end of the hose from the air/oil seperator. And after a little bit of driving, it would smoke from there and make it look like my car was overheating a little bit lol. So I connected it. Im wondering if the hoses are blocked off or something. The burnt oil smell is real noticible in forst start up, and kinda goes away the longer you drive. But when you start it up for the first time, you can really smell it. Idk its more of a headache then anything else. But thanks for the idea JCZ.
To me, the burnt oil smell seems classic with worn valve guides. I know that is a bad thought, but like I said, it's a classic symptom. But I don't know why it would be more prevalent now after messing with the hose you speak of. It's really odd. Do you get the smell with the hoses properly connected? I know on my 99 Z, I kept the hose from the timing chain housing to the seperator and plugged off the nipple at the seperator with a cap. I removed the hose from the seperator to the intake snorkle all together. I didn't have any issues like the ones your are experiencing either. I'll kick this one around for a bit and see if I can't come up with something else.
In the mean time, pull the oil filler cap while the car is running and see if you don't get that same sound. You'll get some oil splatter coming out, but nothing you can't wipe off with the quick swipe of a rag. If so, it could mean one of two things. The first would be that you are getting blow-by from the rings. Based on you post though, I find it hard to believe you would even let something like that come close to happening. The second would be normal positive crank case pressure that is shifting around in the block due to the rise and fall of the pistons, and the rotation of the crank shaft counterweights chopping the air in the crank case. I know that when I plugged off the seperator on my 99 that when the oil cap was off, I had a little bit of pressure pulsing out, creating a putt putt sound as well.
Some people have brain storms, others light drizzles. And then there are those that have droughts.
Well, I haven't had this car for very long, so anything is possible. Ill have to try that test. I really hope its not the valve guides. But the weird thing is she doesn't burn any oil. At least that I can see. Today driving her to work, she was smoking from the engine for about 5 mins, then it went away. I really need to get a vid of that. I had the other breather filter on the hose that goes right to the intake. I never pulled it off the chain housing. Left that all connected, and just put a breather into the opening where it was suppose to go into the stock air hose. When I did that, the breather would produce smoke from it. And not a little bit. It would look like I was slowly spilling something onto the engine and resulting in smoke. So that when i took the filter off, and put a adapter onto the stock hose, and ran more hose to the intake tube. Thats when the weird putt putt sound started. But if I pinch that line from the PCV/Air oil separator off, it goes away. The smoking and smell of oil "burning off a manifold" is still there when I first start up the car. But it too goes away after a little while. I have also noticed that while sitting at stop lights, the heat starts to cool off just a little but if ur hand is next to the vent its noticeable but when you take off from the stop it heats right back up. So im thinking that could be either bc im low on coolant or my heater core is getting clogged. Ahh well, time to take a weekend and look over this car as much as possible. Lol
