chelito92105

A shop is out of the question. Im a DIY and have a pretty good idea about how to take things apart. I am broke out of my mind but I have a friend with a garage who would have all of the necessary parts. So the head gasket job takes about 10 hours? Im just trying to get all of the fundamentals before I go tearing into the thing. I still have to check the cylinders and see if there are any fluids. At this point either the cat or head gasket problem sound bad.

RB24SRB24DETT

i see to much of this to let you do all the work for a headgasket. take off the cat and have a look. if it is clogged or if it is broken then that is what you need. if you have a ses light give me the code and i will tell you what it is.

__________________
A HERO GETS REMEMBERED BUT A LEGEND NEVER DIES. (RB26DETT)

chelito92105

Thanks for all the replies. I will be taking the cat off this weekend and checking the cylinders and hopefully running some compression tests to pinpoint the exact problem. I'll update this as soon as I get the inspection done.

NALtech

The time it takes depends on your mechanical skills and your work pace. The first one I done took me 8 hours, now I can do them in about 4.

chelito92105

UPDATE:
While driving to and from work my SES light actually just turned off by itself and the car ran fine. However, I still checked everything.

I looked into the cylinders and did not see any coolant. The cylinders did however look black. Like a charred style but not thick or anything (this worried me a lot!) So I took the cat off and it is still in one piece. No metal pieces in it no nothing etc which makes sense since my oil level is constant.

Did a compression test and got 175 on cylinders 1-3 and 180 on #4. After putting the cat back on the car turned on fine. Left it off for a couple hours. Restarted it then the shuddering started again and this time it didn't go away. The SES light continued to flash (multiple cylinder misfire) and it then gave me an SES code P0302 (cylinder #2 misfire again).

Purchased some new NGK spark plugs, replaced them, and still the shuddering continued.

So in Summary:
Checked butterfly screws-all are still in place
Oil level constant, Pre-cat still in once piece, no coolant in cylinders.
Replaced spark plugs.

P0302 continues! Leading to car shaking like its about to turn off but dosen't.

Are cylinder heads supposed to be shiny? Someone suggested running some C-foam?

Any new ideas? All are welcome!

NALtech

The charred look is normal if it is a light black. Now dark black or wet black is BAD.......I hope you left ALL plugs out during the compression test. If so your getting air in the cylinders. Either way try moving #2 coil to any other cylinders and see if it changes as to where it is, if it does it's your coil. If it don't listen to the #2 injector with a screwdriver for a clicking sound.

chelito92105

New FRUSTRATING update:

After the new plugs the car SES light went off on its own and it ran fine for almost two weeks. Then the shuddering started again this morning and it threw the codes again. (Cylinder 2 misfire) and flashing so "multiple cylinder misfire."
However this time it also gave me a 0420 which is the "Catalyst system efficiency beyond threshold (Bank1)". So I did some researched and this is either a bad O2 sensor or most likely the Pre-cat is toasted.

All signs point to the a toasted pre-cat but like i mentioned, my compression numbers were normal, no oil consumption and no loss of power. Im pretty much fed up to this point and am about to order some catless headers. I was just wondering if I go ahead and put on the header is it already too late so should I not even bother or what? Also, I've looked up headers in these forums but the specv site seems to not be working anymore. Best place to get headers with spacers so that I don't have the SES problem?

I need some headers ASAP and will overnight if i have to. I def. need my car for the turkey dinner and do not want to take the amtrak. Damn you nissan...

chelito92105

Sorry forgot to add that two weeks ago I took off the headers and inspected the pre-cat and there were no large pieces of metal and everything looked normal.

chelito92105

Saw this header on Ebay and Im ready to buy:

OBX Exhaust Header Nissan SENTRA SE-R Spec-V 02-06 2.5L:eBay Motors (item 130345492537 end time Dec-17-09 15:23:52 PST)

Is that a good header?

RB24SRB24DETT

nice looking headers, sorry dont know anything about them. if you want nismo catless headers it is $582.01 plus tax and shipping. if you order today before 3pm i can get it to you on thanksgiving day. please let me know.

__________________
A HERO GETS REMEMBERED BUT A LEGEND NEVER DIES. (RB26DETT)

Savoy

Had very similar problems. Finally took mine in. Turned out to be ignition coils went bad.
Hope you figure yours out

chelito92105

Today I finally installed my header, sounds great, so far no more misfiring cylinders. I'll see how it keeps on working. If it does indeed continue then im sure it will be a coil.

I know about the SES light for the second O2 sensor and I've found many write ups for bypassing with anti-foulers. I was just wondering since my header is a 4-2-1 OBX header, where is the best place to relocate the second sensor? My understanding is that I have to get a bung welded somewhere on the bottom pipe. Anyone know of any good write ups for an 02 SeR? The spec v site is also down now for some reason.

To pass my emissions in about a year, since I live in CA, i plan on reinstalling the stock header just for the visual. However, will I now have an extra bung leaking air if I decide to relocate the 02 sensor? Lol. Is there any damage to the car if I just run without the 02 sensor?

Thanks for everyones support. I love my Nissan once again!

chelito92105

Thanks for the offer man. I assure you if I had the money I would have definitely taken the deal. This economy sucks though lol

chelito92105

So my car is still misfiring. I am now stranded in San Diego. Its now giving me a cylinder 2 misfire. Ignition coils are expensive, anyone know any good ways to test them out one by one?

Savoy

Not sure about how to test them. Mine were randomly misfiring so I had them all replaced and a fuel system clean/service.