Looking for opinions on new engine issue

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Originally Posted by clinebarger
You have solid Bucket style Tappets, They are not hydraulic. Checking the valve lash is not labor intensive.

Yeah you're right. I just looked up parts, and they are indeed just.. 'buckets'. I have to wonder why they said the engine used hydraulic lifters. I'll see if I can get some time this weekend to pull the cover and check.

Also, for what it's worth, I found a shop here in Phoenix that has quoted me $2595 to do a full engine rebuild. Removal, tear-down, head job, rings, you name it. Seriously considering taking them up on this. Also kicking myself for not checking on this kind of thing when I had the engine serviced for the bad valve on Cyl 1.. to the tune of nearly $1600.

Lastly, one other observation I just noticed. Idling, the vacuum only reads about 5.3 psi. Should be 21.. so clearly something is up. I remember someone on here posting about doing a few tests with a vacuum gauge, although I can't remember who.
 
Well, I went ahead and put a bottle of Restore engine restorer into the oil, while doing an oil change last weekend. After about 300 miles driven, it definitely appears to have helped some, but I'm still getting rough running and misfires.

I bounced around the idea of getting the engine rebuilt locally, but eventually decided that spending $3000 (including tax and incidental costs) to rebuild the engine was not practical, especially considering it would be going back into a car with 274,000 miles on everything else, including the trans. Overall, the trans is good, and everything works well, but I couldn't justify it. So I'm selling the Fusion as a 'mechanic special'. Before I sell, I think I'm most likely going to pull out the compression tester and see what Cyl 2 is up to.

On the upside, I've purchased a used 2013 Nissan Altima with 111,000 miles, so I'm getting something newer with only about 40% of the miles, which also gets roughly 35% better mileage. The color is nice, too - Pearl white. I'll post pictures later.

I really waffled a lot over this, and came VERY close to pulling the trigger on the rebuild. Part of me even thought about just continuing to drive it for a bit longer to see if the Restore continued to improve things. Probably the hardest decision I've made, car-wise in my life. I think if the right mechanic buys it, they'll be getting a terrific project car.
 
Originally Posted by SirTanon
Originally Posted by clinebarger
You have solid Bucket style Tappets, They are not hydraulic. Checking the valve lash is not labor intensive.

Yeah you're right. I just looked up parts, and they are indeed just.. 'buckets'. I have to wonder why they said the engine used hydraulic lifters. I'll see if I can get some time this weekend to pull the cover and check.

Also, for what it's worth, I found a shop here in Phoenix that has quoted me $2595 to do a full engine rebuild. Removal, tear-down, head job, rings, you name it. Seriously considering taking them up on this. Also kicking myself for not checking on this kind of thing when I had the engine serviced for the bad valve on Cyl 1.. to the tune of nearly $1600.

Lastly, one other observation I just noticed. Idling, the vacuum only reads about 5.3 psi. Should be 21.. so clearly something is up. I remember someone on here posting about doing a few tests with a vacuum gauge, although I can't remember who.


Wow only 5 inches of vacuum is not okay and 1 cylinder 20% lower is not going to do that. It has to be drawing air in from somewhere other than than the intake. Time for a real looks see and do some checking. For now lay off the snake oils and potions and look at a mechanical issue for the root cause. Check the valve clearance overnight cold.
 
Originally Posted by SirTanon
Well, I went ahead and put a bottle of Restore engine restorer into the oil, while doing an oil change last weekend. After about 300 miles driven, it definitely appears to have helped some, but I'm still getting rough running and misfires.

I bounced around the idea of getting the engine rebuilt locally, but eventually decided that spending $3000 (including tax and incidental costs) to rebuild the engine was not practical, especially considering it would be going back into a car with 274,000 miles on everything else, including the trans. Overall, the trans is good, and everything works well, but I couldn't justify it. So I'm selling the Fusion as a 'mechanic special'. Before I sell, I think I'm most likely going to pull out the compression tester and see what Cyl 2 is up to.

On the upside, I've purchased a used 2013 Nissan Altima with 111,000 miles, so I'm getting something newer with only about 40% of the miles, which also gets roughly 35% better mileage. The color is nice, too - Pearl white. I'll post pictures later.

I really waffled a lot over this, and came VERY close to pulling the trigger on the rebuild. Part of me even thought about just continuing to drive it for a bit longer to see if the Restore continued to improve things. Probably the hardest decision I've made, car-wise in my life. I think if the right mechanic buys it, they'll be getting a terrific project car.



What motor in the Altima???

I've got 267k miles on my 3.5 L VQ... So you are in good shape with only 111k miles
smile.gif
 
Are you using a Vacuum Gauge?
If your using Scan Data.....That's a Absolute Pressure reading. When converted to Differential Vacuum.....5.3 psi is roughly 21 inches of Vacuum.

I find it easier to teach MAP values in Voltages......1-BAR map sensors will generally read....
*4.0 to 4.9 vdc KOEO or substained WOT....Atmospheric Pressure.
*.90 to 1.5 vdc with the engine at Idle.....1.1 vdc being normal at my elevation which would equal 20.7 inches of vacuum.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by bbhero
Originally Posted by SirTanon
Well, I went ahead and put a bottle of Restore engine restorer into the oil, while doing an oil change last weekend. After about 300 miles driven, it definitely appears to have helped some, but I'm still getting rough running and misfires.

I bounced around the idea of getting the engine rebuilt locally, but eventually decided that spending $3000 (including tax and incidental costs) to rebuild the engine was not practical, especially considering it would be going back into a car with 274,000 miles on everything else, including the trans. Overall, the trans is good, and everything works well, but I couldn't justify it. So I'm selling the Fusion as a 'mechanic special'. Before I sell, I think I'm most likely going to pull out the compression tester and see what Cyl 2 is up to.

On the upside, I've purchased a used 2013 Nissan Altima with 111,000 miles, so I'm getting something newer with only about 40% of the miles, which also gets roughly 35% better mileage. The color is nice, too - Pearl white. I'll post pictures later.

I really waffled a lot over this, and came VERY close to pulling the trigger on the rebuild. Part of me even thought about just continuing to drive it for a bit longer to see if the Restore continued to improve things. Probably the hardest decision I've made, car-wise in my life. I think if the right mechanic buys it, they'll be getting a terrific project car.


What motor in the Altima???

I've got 267k miles on my 3.5 L VQ... So you are in good shape with only 111k miles
smile.gif


Right now, the oil in there is what the dealer put in, and from what I can tell, they put Mobil-1 in, although I don't know the grade. I know the Nissan dealer we take our 2014 to puts in a semi-syn 5w-30, and although the manual specs 0w-20 full syn, they showed me a notice from Nissan that says that in warmer climates, a 5w-30 semi syn is perfectly acceptable, so whatever. The car seems fine with it. The dealer is putting it in, so it's on them if they screw things up. We're under warranty through 100,000 miles.

Based on this, I'll be using up the stash I have on hand that I was using in my Fusion's 2.5 - some is 5w-20, some is 5w-30 and some is 10w-30, although the 10w-30 is only going to go in during the hotter summer months.

Yeah, I figure I've got lots of life left in the 2.5 that's in my Altima. Plenty of pep left, that's for sure.

Originally Posted by clinebarger
Are you using a Vacuum Gauge?
If your using Scan Data.....That's a Absolute Pressure reading. When converted to Differential Vacuum.....5.3 psi is roughly 21 inches of Vacuum.

I'm getting these figures from Torque Pro. Up until recently, at idle, the vacuum/boost gauge read between 18 and 21.. I thought it was PSI, but maybe it is inches. I'd have to look again with it connected to the OBD-II dongle. I don't know where it gets its data from.

Originally Posted by Trav
Wow only 5 inches of vacuum is not okay and 1 cylinder 20% lower is not going to do that. It has to be drawing air in from somewhere other than than the intake. Time for a real looks see and do some checking. For now lay off the snake oils and potions and look at a mechanical issue for the root cause. Check the valve clearance overnight cold.


I'll have to pick up some feeler gauges, as I just realized I don't have any. Assuming that one of the valves is way off in terms of clearance, it seems to me that this would require cam removal, as I can't think of any way to adjust this without swapping out the bucket(s) to one or more with less thickness, or even head removal to redo the seats/valves. Are you aware of any?
 
I am not familiar with this particular engine, some engines you need to change the bucket which means cam removal, same with shim under bucket types, shim on bucket can sometimes be changed without removing the cam. Follow the FSM, get the measurements first so you know what you are dealing with.
Check the reading you had, if it was psi like Clinebarger said its not the same as inches.
 
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