# X-Trail 2004 Blowing Smoke



## Sixty-Eight (May 17, 2015)

do u think this will need new rings or just a cylinder head rebuild? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1k94K5rwxw


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## quadraria10 (Jul 6, 2010)

Honestly I have no clue. Smoke is not evident on your video and there is no sound. Moreover what model and engine do you have? What led up to this? Did you overheat? Overfilled with oil? I don't think you will get a diagnosis here. Good luck.


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## Sixty-Eight (May 17, 2015)

quadraria10 said:


> Honestly I have no clue. Smoke is not evident on your video and there is no sound. Moreover what model and engine do you have? What led up to this? Did you overheat? Overfilled with oil? I don't think you will get a diagnosis here. Good luck.


thanks for the reply quadraria

i have a T30 engine 2.5 litre, i just bought the car to fix up,i just purchased a leak down tester so ill do that tomorrow or the day after and see the results


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## Sixty-Eight (May 17, 2015)

one other thing try watching the video in HD? maybe u can see the smoke


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## rogoman (Dec 16, 2004)

Sixty-Eight said:


> do u think this will need new rings or just a cylinder head rebuild?
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1k94K5rwxw


No excessive smoke is evident.

A good way to test for oil burning is to first fully warm up the motor. Stand behind the car. Have someone rev the motor to 4,000 RPM and hold at that RPM for about 15 seconds. If you see a lot of blue smoke come out of the tailpipe, the motor is burning excessive oil; probably time for new rings. If it's black smoke, then it may be leaking fuel injectors.


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## Sixty-Eight (May 17, 2015)

rogoman said:


> No excessive smoke is evident.
> 
> A good way to test for oil burning is to first fully warm up the motor. Stand behind the car. Have someone rev the motor to 4,000 RPM and hold at that RPM for about 15 seconds. If you see a lot of blue smoke come out of the tailpipe, the motor is burning excessive oil; probably time for new rings. If it's black smoke, then it may be leaking fuel injectors.


good idea mate thanks for that, i just finished doing the compression test so i must have cleared the oil from each cylinder while cranking the engine than i took the video, i later drove the car and she blew a whole heap of smoke

i have a question, if i re-ring the engine will i need to measure the bores or can i just wack in some new rings and do a quick hone? reason i ask is i dont have the bore measuring tools (quiet expensive here in australia)

and another thing im not quiet sure about is the timing chain tensioner and there is another small drive chain in the lower end how do i reinstall the tensioners and pre load them?


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## rogoman (Dec 16, 2004)

If you plan to replace the rings, you should first determine how much wear there is in the cylinders. If it's excessive, you may have to bore to the next oversize and go with oversize pistons/rings.
The Standard inner diameter for a QR25DE:
89.010 - 89.030 mm (3.5043 - 3.5051 in)
Wear limit:
0.2 mm (0.008 in)

If you're planning on using an oversize piston, use oversize pistons for all cylinders with oversize piston rings.
Oversize pistons are available in 0.2 mm (0.008 in) size.

If the wear limit is OK, just do a hone to correct any taper/out-round condition. Be careful with the honing so that you don't go over the standard diameter.

There is no preloading of the chain tensioners. Prior to removing the chains, push in the chain tensioner plunger. Insert a stopper pin into hole on chain tensioner body to secure chain tensioner plunger and remove chain tensioner. After reinstalling the tensioners, be sure to remove the stopper pins.


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## Sixty-Eight (May 17, 2015)

rogoman said:


> If you plan to replace the rings, you should first determine how much wear there is in the cylinders. If it's excessive, you may have to bore to the next oversize and go with oversize pistons/rings.
> The Standard inner diameter for a QR25DE:
> 89.010 - 89.030 mm (3.5043 - 3.5051 in)
> Wear limit:
> ...


awesome thanks mate


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## Sixty-Eight (May 17, 2015)

i just bought a leak down test and used it on the X-Trail 3 cylinders read "low" leak and one read "medium" leak but close to the low leak marking

compression is all good and within 10% of each other

im thinking now after the testing it i think the valve stem seals are worn what do u guys think?


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## rogoman (Dec 16, 2004)

Worn valve stem seals usually cause smoke on acceleration after idling for a while at, say, traffic lights. The smoke then clears. It also occurs on acceleration after a downhill run with light or no throttle.


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## quadraria10 (Jul 6, 2010)

I stand corrected. I am glad rogoman stepped up to help. Hope you get it sorted out.


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## Sixty-Eight (May 17, 2015)

hey rogoman its blowing smoke while sitting at lights or under heavy throttle than backing off for instance if i just took off at lights and revved to 4-5k than backed off to 2k and cruised along than come to a stop it'll smoke 

taking off at lights and revving no more than 3k there is little smoke that i can see in the mirrors butwhen i stopi see and smell the smoke coming past the car


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## rogoman (Dec 16, 2004)

rogoman said:


> No excessive smoke is evident.
> 
> A good way to test for oil burning is to first fully warm up the motor. Stand behind the car. Have someone rev the motor to 4,000 RPM and hold at that RPM for about 15 seconds. If you see a lot of blue smoke come out of the tailpipe, the motor is burning excessive oil; probably time for new rings. If it's black smoke, then it may be leaking fuel injectors.





Sixty-Eight said:


> hey rogoman its blowing smoke while sitting at lights or under heavy throttle than backing off for instance if i just took off at lights and revved to 4-5k than backed off to 2k and cruised along than come to a stop it'll smoke
> 
> taking off at lights and revving no more than 3k there is little smoke that i can see in the mirrors butwhen i stopi see and smell the smoke coming past the car


I included one of my previous postings for oil burning testing. If this test doesn't show any extreme smoking, then you should be OK with ring wear; back to worn valve stem seals. BTW, what were the actual compression readings on the cylinders?


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## Sixty-Eight (May 17, 2015)

from memory the compression readings were 130,125,125,120 standing at the front of the car looking into the engine bay going from left to right, i was using just a cheap ebay compression tester


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## Sixty-Eight (May 17, 2015)

just took the car for a drive so got it up to running temp than took the video revving and holding at 3500-4000rpm 

blown rings?

got quoted pistons $198, rings $85, rod bearings $100, crank bearings $110, im going to call up my machine shop to see how much boring to oversize and honing cost, from the leak down test my cylinder head is still ok so that saves me a fair wack of dough was quoted $385 to recondition the head alone

and i checked the recall on X-Trails back in 2005 my car was made after the recall on the cat converter 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_45ottXnt4


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## Sixty-Eight (May 17, 2015)

just wondering am i able to remove the balance shaft chain without removing the engine? i would like to drop the crankshaft and inspect it with the engine in the car is this even possible?

i ordered my workshop manual last night so from ebay should be here tomorrow or friday ill have a read thru it and checkout the bolt specs before i undo anything as not to warp anything


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## rogoman (Dec 16, 2004)

Sixty-Eight said:


> from memory the compression readings were 130,125,125,120 standing at the front of the car looking into the engine bay going from left to right, i was using just a cheap ebay compression tester





Sixty-Eight said:


> just took the car for a drive so got it up to running temp than took the video revving and holding at 3500-4000rpm
> 
> blown rings?
> 
> ...





Sixty-Eight said:


> just wondering am i able to remove the balance shaft chain without removing the engine? i would like to drop the crankshaft and inspect it with the engine in the car is this even possible?
> 
> i ordered my workshop manual last night so from ebay should be here tomorrow or friday ill have a read thru it and checkout the bolt specs before i undo anything as not to warp anything


Looking at the video clip and seeing those very low compression readings, I would say the engine is toast; time for a rebuild or replace.

If you want to do a lot of inspection and rebuilding of the engine, it will be easier for you to remove the engine from the vehicle. If you just want to inspect the crankshaft journals, there's no need to remove the crank from the engine.

What may have happened in your situation is the common problem with those engines is the catalytic converter breaks down and bits of catalyst substrate get sucked back into the combustion chamber and score the cylinder walls. The QR25DE uses the variable valve timing for EGR rather than a conventional EGR valve. It opens the exhaust valve slightly during the intake stroke to accomplish this. The catalytic converter, which is part of the exhaust manifold, is so close to the head that the bits of debris get sucked in past the exhaust valve with the exhaust gases. Nissan claimed the reason for this was the ECM programming. A recall for 02-04 QR25DE equipped Sentras and Altimas was initiated years ago to correct this problem. An updated ECM was provided, updated manifold heat shields and several other things and in some cases, replacement of the exhaust manifold assy. and engine short block. At this point, Nissan probably won't do much for you if this is the issue, especially if the vehicle has already had the campaign performed (we still hear about oil burning QR25DE's on vehicle's that have had the campaign performed).

In your case, I would thoroughly inspect the CAT at the exhaust manifold for broken catalyst substrate.


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## Sixty-Eight (May 17, 2015)

i checked out the recall back in 2005 due to the faulty cat converters VIN numbers from 

VIN range:
JN1TBNT30A0 000006 to JN1TBNT30A0 024706.
JN1TBNT30A0 000006 to JN1TBNT30A0 017012.

https://www.recalls.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/954377

my car was built after this recall looking at my VIN so i should be ok but this does raise a concern because all of my cylinders are affected however my compression is low or different to normal compression because each compression testers are different, the main thing is all my cylinders are within 10% of each other this means my compression is ok 

yesterday i noticed i done the leak down test incorrectly than i went and redone the test making sure each piston on each tested cylinder was at TDC and the meter read "LOW LEAK" meaning my valves are ok and compression rings are holding compression 

im just un sure where this oil leak is


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## Sixty-Eight (May 17, 2015)

rogoman u were spot on for the diagnosis i was previously doing the compression test slightly wrong, my manual arrived this afternoon and im currently looking thru it 

i ran the correct compression test removing the fuel pump fuse and holding throttle wide open, test are below

[ << indicates timing chain side

dry test
[ 160,140,150,150psi

wet test (cap of oil)
[ 175,175,150,175psi

ideal compression according to the workshop manual standard 181psi, minimum 154psi, maximum of 14psi between cylinders

while i had the cam cover off yesterday i noticed a few marked valve buckets so they will need replacing 

to buy a second hand engine in australia looking on australian ebay they sell for minimum $1900 second hand so a rebuild is in order of my current engine i just hope and pray i dont have to bore the block


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## Sixty-Eight (May 17, 2015)

i got the cylinder head off today and those pistons are caked with carbon! do u know what the cause would be? trying to find out so i can correct it


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## quadraria10 (Jul 6, 2010)

Yuck. Bad gas or incomplete combustion. The plugs must have been ugly. Its sad that people just let things degrade to the point real damage occurs. Hope you can salvage it.


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