I have seen too many people destroy their beloved Sentra's engine, many without even knowing it. Here are a few tips to know "when to say when".
1. If for any reason, you lose power, and hear the engine pinging away, that means it is HOT! Confirm your suspicions with a look at the temp gauge. Turn it off immediately. Find out why it overheated. Or keep going and destroy your engine. The choice is yours.
2. If you notice the car had developed a miss, or even worse, it sounds like it is knocking when accellerating, again pull off to the side and find out why. This happened to me once. I was driving an '87 B12 hatchback [not a sport coupe]. My E16S started doing what I just described. The key is to recognize the knocking. I knew that this meant my headgasket had blown between two cylinders. Coolant temp was fine, so I pulled over, and yanked one spark plug wire at a time, to find out which two cylinders were not firing. It was #3 and #4. This told me that the knocking noise was from combustion in #3 was bridging the gap to #4 and trying to push piston #4 DOWN, while it was trying to come UP. That's what the knocking sound was from. Simply pull the #3 and #4 spark plug leads off, and leave them off. This prevents the engine from further damage while you are limping it home. If you drive it this way, you must realize that you only have 50% of the 70 hp that you should have. But you can get home without 'fireslotting" the head or block. Another engine saved........
3. Fix those leaky front crank seals and oil pressure sending switches. Or if you live in the salt belt [like I do] your oil pan can actually be rusted through [pinholes, usually above ex. pipe]. If you are one of the people who never bothers to check the oil, this will catch up with you one day. If you are really low on oil, you will notice the oil light flashing on and off, as you go around sharp turns. That's the last warning you'll get, before you weld your crankshaft to your rods.
4. If your E-engine has a valve tap that just keeps getting louder, adjust the valves right away. It might only need a routine valve adjustment. Or, it might be the start of something worse. Like rocker shaft bolts that are loosening up! I have replaced many broken rocker shafts because of this. On each end bolt, of the rocker shaft assy, there should be a little metal locking clip, to make sure the bolts don't back out. I have seen too many of these missing on people's engines. Seems some "mechanics" don't bother to put them back when they're in there doing a head gasket job. Later, the shaft bolts loosen and leave you stranded.
In closing, let me leave you with this pearl of wisdom: If you are on a highway somewhere, miles from an exit, and your engine is overheating, or out of oil, you have two choices.
A. You can shut it off and get a tow, for an inexpensive repair.
B. Keep going to try to "make it" to the next exit, and still end up needing a tow, but have gotten maybe 4 miles further, but have a very expensive engine replacement ahead of you!
I hope this helps save some of our bread and butter E16's!
Thanks for the info. I know my engine really needs a rebuild but I'm pretty sure I won't have this car after the spring anyways. I just keep the oil topped up and pray to various automotive gods and deities.
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I had a '93 Sentra Classic (B12)
Mom's got an '03 Altima 2.5S
Dad had a '98 Sentra GXE
Current "rides": 2000 Kona Caldera "Callie", 1996 Specialized Hard Rock "Betty"
NOT A CIVIC!!!!!!!! anyway, blown my b12 has 97,9xx miles on it with regularly scheduled oil changes . what type of maintenance would u suggest i perform at this time. im still having a fuel problem and im awaiting a rebuild kit for "h.c. hitachi" carb. could u suggest anything? oh , and as u mentioned in the thread, i am hearing a tapping.........
Originally posted by AVERAGE NOT A CIVIC!!!!!!!! anyway, blown my b12 has 97,9xx miles on it with regularly scheduled oil changes . what type of maintenance would u suggest i perform at this time. im still having a fuel problem and im awaiting a rebuild kit for "h.c. hitachi" carb. could u suggest anything? oh , and as u mentioned in the thread, i am hearing a tapping.........
***** If you do schedules oil changes, tune-ups [includes a valve adjustment on an E16], T-belts and the like, that's about all you can do. The only point I was trying to make is that if one of the problems I mentioned does come up, don't drive it into the ground. Shut it off and walk. I know it's not convenient, but why destroy the engine, when all you needed was a $10 water hose? That's just what a friend of mine did recently. She smelled coolant, the temp gauge was pegged, she saw steam coming out of the gaps in the hood, but she figured she'd make it home. After all, it was ONLY 10 more minutes away. Guess what happened in that 10 minutes? Yup, another dead E16i. Doesn't make any sense to me. All she would have needed was a heater hose. I don't know about you guys, but finding a low mileage, decent condtion E16 is next to impossible in a junkyard. They all seem to have a ton of miles, or have been band-aided together with used heads [that always seem to be warped]. I always end up rebuilding one, and that is much more expensive and time consuming than dumping in a used engine.
Originally posted by blownb310 ***** Ricebox,
Don't scare me like that! What will you get to replace your B12? Hopefully not an SUV or something like that!
Well I'm most likely going to Germany to work for four months starting in June, and when I return I probably won't have a job, and I don't want the car to sit for that long either. I also won't have a parking pass at school so a car will be basically useless. My dad might give me his '98 GXE but I really hate that car. Hopefully (crosses fingers) after that winter I'll have enough money to buy a nice E30 BMW 325i sedan.
I think I just wet myself!!
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I had a '93 Sentra Classic (B12)
Mom's got an '03 Altima 2.5S
Dad had a '98 Sentra GXE
Current "rides": 2000 Kona Caldera "Callie", 1996 Specialized Hard Rock "Betty"
Originally posted by blownb310 ***** Congratulations, you are officially NOT a typical B11/B12 owner!
If I only have $500 when I come back, I'll definitely buy another B12. Problem is that they are almost impossible to find around here because they rust so badly
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I had a '93 Sentra Classic (B12)
Mom's got an '03 Altima 2.5S
Dad had a '98 Sentra GXE
Current "rides": 2000 Kona Caldera "Callie", 1996 Specialized Hard Rock "Betty"
Originally posted by RiceBox If I only have $500 when I come back, I'll definitely buy another B12. Problem is that they are almost impossible to find around here because they rust so badly
***** I hear that! The B12 wagon I am rebuilding the E16 on for my brother, also needed new brake lines. As much as I hate doing that kind of work, they are the second set of brake lines I have done on a B12 wagon this fall. The other set was my 4WD wagon, which needed brake and fuel lines too. Want to hear something really ridiculous? After all of the resto work I did on my GA16DE converted B12 wagon, I refuse to drive it in the salt! That's right, an AWD car that gets put away for the winter months. Go figure! I will however, trailer it to the ice races this winter. It might get a little salt overspray on the outside of it up on the trailer, but not the salty soup mixture in the wheel wells, and in all of the body seams.
hey blown, what is envolved in adjusting the valves? that sounds a bit more difficult than changing the plugs, and if i were to take it to a shop , what should i expect to pay?
Originally posted by AVERAGE hey blown, what is envolved in adjusting the valves? that sounds a bit more difficult than changing the plugs, and if i were to take it to a shop , what should i expect to pay?
***** Adjusting the valves is much harder than changing the plugs, It is best left to someone who has done it before [and hopefully done it right]. Expect to pay for about 1 to 1.5 hrs. labor, and possibly a valve cover gasket.
hey blown , u wont believe this but i lucked up on another b12 today for nothing! it has about a 150,xxx on it . the body is in better shape than mine but i havent had a chance to tinker with it yet. it was owned by a coworker of mine who gave it to her daughter and well know i have it. if icant get it running ill either take a trip down to japan direct and get another motor or use the xe trim in my 2 door.
Engine survival tips
As much as I hate doing that kind of work, they are the second set of brake lines I have done on a B12 wagon this fall. The other set was my 4WD wagon, which needed brake and fuel lines too. Want to hear something really ridiculous? After all of the resto work I did on my GA16DE converted B12 wagon, I refuse to drive it in the salt! That's right, an AWD car that gets put away for the winter months. Go figure! I will however, trailer it to the ice races this winter. It might get a little salt overspray on the outside of it up on the trailer, but not the salty soup mixture in the wheel wells, and in all of the body seams. 
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