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Thread: Sr20det struggle street

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Posts: 1-6 of 6
2020-07-13 00:02:10
#1
Sr20det struggle street
Hey guys, I'm at my ends meet with this thing. My 180sx has both an idling and starting problem. When cold, the engine at times would just keep on cranking, when it cranks it idles like trash. However, when warmed up it goes alright and drives okay. The idle also drops insanely fast and almost stalls the engine when it gets revved, oh and there's like a metal ticking noise in the exhaust as well but I'm not sure if that's an exhaust leak or something greater (but good compression reflect a somewhat healthy engine doesn't it?)

So far I've checked my coils, my compression is good and even across all cylinders. It's getting fuel into it, I've gapped and changed sparkplugs twice now (first went with BKR6E then BKR7E). I've searched in almost all Sr20det related forums and surely I've found similar problems but never the exact (most have it when it's hot, or when they clutch in, or the car will stall when coming to a stop which doesn't reflect my issue) and most of them never really have a follow-up fix to their issue. Oh I've also already cleaned out my IACV, I tried to do the MAF (Z32 MAF) test but my engine cuts off immediately when I pull the plug so I'm not sure if that's damaged either or how else to test it (I also don't really want to spend 200+ dollars buying one just to test it).

I suspect it's either an o2 sensor, TPS sensor or crankshaft position sensor but I'm not even sure if I'm on the right track with that, so any pointers would be much appreciated.

I'm not super techy with engines and what not since I've only had the car for a few months and I'm learning on the go, so I'd like to apologise for the seeminly dumb and long post.

*Edit, new information*
Last edited by Yikes on 2020-07-13 at 00-06-53.
2020-07-14 15:30:43
#2
A friend of mine just replaced the original fuel filter and posted me to my phone a movie shaking it and it rattled. It is far fetched but people usually don't suspect fuel filters can be varying in througput so that is just for the bad running engin. I feel that I don't have to tell you about metal ticking noise can be really bad when driven? How about to attempt to pin point this metal noise with a screwdriver to your ear? Also don't forget the MAF, I have 4 of them and two of them give start and idle issues (worn MAF by it's voltage output) and with warmed engine they are fine.
2020-07-15 03:13:23
#3
Originally Posted by richardwbb
A friend of mine just replaced the original fuel filter and posted me to my phone a movie shaking it and it rattled. It is far fetched but people usually don't suspect fuel filters can be varying in througput so that is just for the bad running engin. I feel that I don't have to tell you about metal ticking noise can be really bad when driven? How about to attempt to pin point this metal noise with a screwdriver to your ear? Also don't forget the MAF, I have 4 of them and two of them give start and idle issues (worn MAF by it's voltage output) and with warmed engine they are fine.


Hey, firstly thank you for helping out. I'm taking the car into a shop to get the ECU read to see how it goes, but if that doesn't come out well I'll definitely change out the fuel filter to see how it goes. The MAF is kind of an issue, since I run a z32 MAF and they cost like 300 bucks in Australia, I don't wanna buy one out only to find out the old one still works (since wallet is a bit tight right now) so I'll leave that for last. The metal ticking is definitely not a good thing, it sounds like it's coming from the hot side of the engine and runs down the exhaust. I feel like I'll have to rip open the hot side to see what's going on :/
2020-07-15 11:16:33
#4
The cold start and idle issues might point to a bad cold idle valve. You likely have something similar to the FWD cars, where there are 4 idle control mechanisms. The main idle control is ECU controlled and does the main idle stuff. The next one is an idle switch that is used t oup the idle if the power steering pump or A/C is working hard. Then there is an idle screw that is tuned for your setup and should never have to be moved. Then there is the cold idle valve, which is a passive device that closes as it heats up with an internal electric heater, using a bi-metal strip or wax component. This last idle control valve could potentially be your problem.
This thread should help you understand the idle system better: The ins and outs of the stock idle control system.

But it could also be a coolant temp sensor that's bad, since the ECU needs to know the car is cold to add extra fuel during cold start.

A few more things for you to look into.
Last edited by BenFenner on 2020-07-15 at 11-19-01.
2020-07-17 20:36:14
#5
Yea, I've cleaned ou the idle valve. It was still having the same issue. But in the end I took it into a shop and turns out it was a dirty injector which solved my problem. Hopefully this'll help someone in the future with similar problems. Thanks for the inputs guys, appreciate it.
2020-07-18 12:58:03
#6
Great news, and thanks for reporting back with the solution!
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