# 200sx turbo problem - any helpers?



## Plew (Jul 29, 2004)

Hi guys, I'm a :newbie: here, so please bear with me...

Here's the deal: I've just been, very kindly, insured on my brother 200SX. I think it's the tourer, if that makes any difference. However, he's totally lazy and the car has a problem. So, in thanks for letting me loose on his motor, I thought I'd try and solve it.

However, I'm a complete :loser: when it comes to mechanics! But I'm hoping my powers of description will promt a solution!

The car runs smoothly under the (completely standard) turbo, which kicks in just under 4K revs. If you drive it just on the edge of the the turbo (about 85mph in 5th), the car begins to splutter a bit and jerk around. The only way to stop this is to ease off and let the revs drop. However, this mild when compared to the fully engaged turbo. When floored through the rev range, after the turbo has kicked in, there will be an almighty kind of cough where the turbo seems to cut out (as your head is thrown towards the steering wheel!), but it seems to re-engage immeditately afterwards but only until the next cough. Rather an uncomfortable ride, I'm sure you can imagine! It is totally unpredictable and tends not to happen in 1st gear, but more often than not it will happen in all the other gears.

The more I have driven it, the more I've played with the problem. I'm not sure if it's just me, or if there is anything in this, but if you warm it up under the turbo, it seems not to splutter on the motorway if I either have the accelerator completely on or completely off. But the moment I try to start 'cruising' and keeping a constant speed, if the turbo is engaged, so the splutter comes back. Far to complicated for this :dumbass: lol

Now, clearly our first port of call was the 'trusty' Nissan dealer. They sold the car, clearly they'd know the problem. Right?! Wrong. They plugged in their diagnostics machine and then charged my bro £60 to tell him there was nothing wrong. So he drove the mechanic down the road in it and, what d'ya know?! there WAS nothing wrong!

Don't you just hate the intermittent problems?! 

Anyway, we took it to a turbo 'specialist' who spent a few hours on it, doing various tests (such as overboosting, checking the wastegate and a few others I can't remember - I'll try to get details posted soon if that will help?) only to conclude they had no idea what the problem was - a kind of 'service not really included' on the £200ish bill. Nice. 

Now, the car is under warranty, so any repairs will be covered.... however finding the problem is not. So my bro is a little out of pocket at the moment and reluctant to just hand over the car to another £40p/h cowboy to get nowhere fast.

So I was hoping you guys might be able to throw a few ideas around that I could suggest to whoever we go to next.

Of course a post of 'I had this problem on my car, here's the solution and mi' mate dave can sort if for you for 100 squid' would be ideal, but I won't hold my breath!!

Anyway, my thanks in advance... I just hope you can help!

Regards

Plew


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## bessell (Feb 16, 2005)

Plew said:


> Hi guys, I'm a :newbie: here, so please bear with me...
> 
> Here's the deal: I've just been, very kindly, insured on my brother 200SX. I think it's the tourer, if that makes any difference. However, he's totally lazy and the car has a problem. So, in thanks for letting me loose on his motor, I thought I'd try and solve it.
> 
> ...





i seem to have exactly the same problem as you but i cant work out what is going on either :dumbass: i have a new ECU and will be fitting it as soon as i get a moment also i will be fitting a boost gauge to keep an eye on things i will let you know if this cures it if not back to the drawing board  .


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## chimmike (Oct 17, 2002)

now when you say 200sx I'm assuming it's a rwd car with the SR20DET........could be a leak in the intercooler piping, could be a fuel issue, dirty MAF, compressor surge?


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## bessell (Feb 16, 2005)

chimmike said:


> now when you say 200sx I'm assuming it's a rwd car with the SR20DET........could be a leak in the intercooler piping, could be a fuel issue, dirty MAF, compressor surge?



No it is a CA18DET model engine although it seems to stop this in extremly hot weather i hope this helps


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## AznVirus (May 8, 2002)

Sounds like your engine has problems keeping the boost in at high pressures. There might be a leak through a gasket which is only apparent through more boost. Have you done any work on the car recently that required taking parts off with gaskets?


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## Zen31ZR (Mar 24, 2004)

Some sort of leak between the MAF and the turbo, or the turbo and the throttle body. Could also be other things, such as maxxing out the spark plug wires or the coil. Plug gap is too wide, maybe causing the spark to cut off as boost builds. If they say nothing is wrong according to the ECU, then it's possible that it's something very simple, as mentioned above. Make sure the coil wire is properly installed. Make sure the plug wires are tight. Remove the plugs and regap them. Check the intake piping for looseness and make sure it is tight and connected properly, from the MAF to the throttlebody. As a last resort, you may wish to remove the MAF and clean the inside of it with electrical parts cleaner.


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## spdracerUT (Jun 11, 2002)

I'd check for a boost leak and the ignition system (coils, plugs, wires, etc.). Could just be that your spark plugs are too old or fouled. I wouldn't be surprised if they were covered in soot if you pull them out.


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## bessell (Feb 16, 2005)

spdracerUT said:


> I'd check for a boost leak and the ignition system (coils, plugs, wires, etc.). Could just be that your spark plugs are too old or fouled. I wouldn't be surprised if they were covered in soot if you pull them out.



i have changed the plugs and they are gapped to size stated in the handbook also the CA18DET has coil packs hope this helps


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## spdracerUT (Jun 11, 2002)

how did the old plugs look? Also, just thought of the possibility your BOV is not working correctly.


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## bessell (Feb 16, 2005)

spdracerUT said:


> how did the old plugs look? Also, just thought of the possibility your BOV is not working correctly.



the plugs looked dirty but not especially oily or anything the BOV is the orginal so i dont know how good it is :cheers:


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## sunsetsandturbos (Mar 14, 2005)

dude, have you gotten this car fixed yet? I just now found your thread.

Your problem could be a number of things, many suggestions here.

Do you know anyone else witht he same car? This is what a lot of my friends do. Take a car thats running good, park it beside the one thats having problems, an swap parts until you find the problem. Its a big trial and error troubleshooting technique, but isnt that what we do anyway? The books only print it.

I would personally start witht he MAF if i had one to swap out. It would be too pricey to buy all of the parts simply for trouble shooting. Read a lot to find out how these things work and then your troubleshooting becomes easier. For instance, the turbo is nothing more than two dumb wheels. One turns the other to compress air. It either works or it doesnt.

Now lets rule out a few things. The bov comes into play when you let off the accellerator. If it is not working, your compressor may surge between gears. Your wastegate works by relieving too much pressure from the compressor under a load, preventing compressor surge. This may be a more probable cause to the problem, but i think if your compressor was surging, you wouldnt be driving the car very long (turbo would be shot by now). And if the wastegate didnt work you would have blown a head gasket. It sounds like something is causing air or fuel to be shut off to the engine at certain rpms. Perhaps a fuel cut in the ecu. Or a boost cut in the ecu. Or possibly the MAF is sending an erroneus signal to the ecu.

Anyway, I know i havent helped in telling you what the problem IS, but maybe have helped in FINDING what the problem is. Im sure there is another CA18DET around somewhere that you can swp around parts with until you find the problem. When you do, post it! :thumbup: 

Hope this helps.


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## bessell (Feb 16, 2005)

sunsetsandturbos said:


> dude, have you gotten this car fixed yet? I just now found your thread.
> 
> Your problem could be a number of things, many suggestions here.
> 
> ...



no i have not sorted this out yet i recently changed all of the exhaust gaskets and found the car was running alot better then i fitted a boost gauge to see if anything funny was happening with the turbo i found that boost was all over the place anyway i have to replace the turbo now as the bearings have self destructed i shall see if that was the problem or not when the new one is installed :cheers:


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## MEGALODON (Mar 27, 2005)

bessell said:


> no i have not sorted this out yet i recently changed all of the exhaust gaskets and found the car was running alot better then i fitted a boost gauge to see if anything funny was happening with the turbo i found that boost was all over the place anyway i have to replace the turbo now as the bearings have self destructed i shall see if that was the problem or not when the new one is installed :cheers:


I don't own a Nissan sport compact, but I do own a Mitsubishi Eclipse turbo and it sounds like you are hitting fuel cut. In cold weather the density of the air (oxygen saturation) is higher which means that you motor requires more fuel to compsensate for this extra oxygen (warm weather is the opposite), so it sounds like you are either getting too much air and not enough fuel (boost too high, oxgen sensor is not working properly, clogged intercooler-flush intercooler out with gasoline/degreaser and let dry). Furthermore, check for any intake leaks where unmetered air is entering the motor (broken hose, intercooler piping, hole in intercooler). When the mass air flow sensor sees too much air coming in and not enough fuel to compensate for a perfect mixture, the ECU will shut off the injectors and ignition temporarily (feels like you hit a huge pot hole) and then resumes normal operation unless it senses the condition again. In addition, you may lose power/performance for a while. Clean the intercooler, purchase a new oxygen sensor, check for intake leaks, seizing turbo, boost creap, etc.


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## g4uonly69 (Apr 22, 2007)

I have Mitsubishi eclipse too and I recently put on a turbo and I drove it off the lift and the power started sputtering until it died. The cause: MAF was not connected. So while I'm sure after two years of posting this you've probably found the problem, I believe the problem to also be a bad MAF with intermittent problems. Solution: replace MAF


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## racing rex (Jul 15, 2010)

been a long time but what was the result of the problem??


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