# Engine/HEad Woes



## Nestersan (Feb 1, 2005)

I live in Jamaica where it is plenty hot, and last year purchased my first car a JDM 1991 U12 Nissan Bluebird/Stanza Automatic. I got it with a used SR18 TBI Engine. However the car was overheating and the previous owners mechanic severely lowered the advance to "fix " issue, Long Story Short blown Head Gasket, which is common in Nissan Engines in Jamaica.
It was fixed, but I broke the Exhaust Camshaft doing a country run. Replaced entire Head, cams, valves, etc. Water hose broke while Gf was driving recently and her dad's mechanic, replaced the head. However, now the engine lurches every 3 seconds when in idle. When I floor the gas, the rev counter climbs to 4500 rpm, and the engine starts missing, it drops back to 3800 and goes to 4500, and repeats till I ease off gas. It almost sounds like it shuts off, or completely loses power. My mechanic which is off the island was the one who did first work had it purring like a kitten, and it shifted at around 6100 rpm at full throttle with instant power and acceleration. I could easily reach past the 180 KPH mark on Speedometer to actually rest on the needle on the reset/trip toggle, and could cruise at 140 KPH at rpm of around 3500. 
I need to find a new mechanic, but I would like to hear some ideas as to what problem/s it could be, so I can filter out the heroes from the zeroes.


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## scafidipro (Jan 26, 2005)

I have a 92 Stanza that did the same thing after i replaced the head. It ended up being a broken intake manifold gasket. I don't really know why but i guess air was getting into the head through the gasket and causing the engine to cut off around 4000 rpm. to see if this is the cause on yours, just get some starting fluid from a parts store and spray it in small amounts around the intake gasket. If you hear an increase in revs then the starting fluid is entering the engine. this means there is a faulty gasket seal and you need to replace the gasket. You might be able to get away with just re-torquing the intake manifold bolts but that would only be a temp. fix. You might also want to check the intake manifold for flatness while you have it off.


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## KA24Tech (Feb 2, 2004)

Sorry to hear about your problems.

Did you change out the fuel filter and check the fuel pressure? Also have the TPS and ignition timing reset. If you think that the head is a problem then do a compression test and if possible a cylinder leakdown test. These two tests can diagnose pretty much any mechanical issue with the engine.

Troy


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