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I know that the crank angle sensor is in the distributor, but I need to know if I can remove the CAS from the distributor and put in a new one. Advance Auto parts sells just a CAS for $165, whereas Nissan sells the whole distributor for $465.
A little background on this problem:
I have misfire that sends out a puff of unburnt fuel every 6-20 seconds. I cannot pinpoint it to one cylinder and all of the plugs look the same and none are soaked in gas. The car runs fine ('cept for the misfire) and the misfire is so slight it took another person to detect it. It is preventing me from passing emissions here and I'm sure it's ruining O2 sensors and my cat as well as negatively affecting gas mileage. If it's not the plug wires (which I have NGK blues now and I'm putting in new OEM ones tomorrow), I'm fairly certain it's the crank angle sensor. The cap and rotor and O2 sensor have been changed and the plugs have less than 700 miles on them.
Thanks!
__________________
-Zack
-'91 SE-R, Aztec Red: JWT Pop-Charger, Fidanza Flywheel, JWT PP w/01 SE disc. AGXs w/GC coilovers (300/279) & C/C plates. NX2K Brakes w/Carbotech pads & Crown SS lines. Progress rear sway bar. Active Tuning RSTB, ES Bushings & motor mounts.
I'm afraid to attempt the sealed cover. If I can't get it back on, it's a waste of time and effort. I'll probably give it a try. Was that diagram from the FSM? I couldn't find that in mine, I found the rotor positions for TDC, etc, but not the detailed one of the crank sensor with the diode.
YEs, but it is a "global" B13 FSM, maybe it is not in the USDM version. It is in the EF&EC section though.
MAybe someone knows about the sealed cover. If you have no choice and can live without the car for a day or two you can at least try it on the probably bad distributor.
That's what I'm going to end up doing. I was really hoping to find someone that's disassembled the distributor to replace the CAS before, but if I'm the first I promise a detailed write up. It's pretty expensive to replace the whole distributor. Thanks for your help!
PM me with email so I can send you relevant FSM pages. Due to its nature, CAS mechanical/optical hardware is very rarely at fault. Most probably some electrical connection or something is at fault.
COde 11 may or may not be shown by a bad CAS though. FSM says basically that there is a major check when for CAS when cranking the engine and then "minor" checks when operating. By minor I mean that from the wording it is not clear what types of "misses" will throw Code11. They simply say "if 1deg or 180deg signals is not registered often enough for the indicated (by prior operation of CAS) RPM then Code 11. Maybe interminent misses do not raise the code.
i don't think it's the cas, as far as i remember if the cas is faulty your coil will not produce spark, it goes ecu sees cas reference-power transistor-coil-spark wires.
have you done an injector balance test?
injector o-rings can cause this, get a vehicle inspection report so i can see what your emissions are like. don't replace the cas just yet.
I haven't done an injector balance test. This just insures that one isn't dumping more fuel than the others, correct?
My 1st test: HC: 521 ppm...limit is 147 ppm
CO: 1.47...limit is .82
My 2nd test: HC: 601 ppm
CO: 1.72
I have an FSM, but is the balance test in there? I'm at school right now, so I won't have a chance to look until later.
I just reinstalled the header, I'm about to eliminate EGR, the a/f ratio from self diagnostic mode (using a voltmeter at the O2 sensor) seems to be within spec. There is definitely a misfire that sends puffs out the exhaust. Is there any way you can try to pinpoint a misfire to one cylinder?
EGR is now eliminated and it didn't fix the misfire. I'm going to disassemble the distributor to test that now based on the FSM. I tested the coil and it seemed ok, the power transistor (aka. ignition control module?) seems to not work. There doesn't seem to be resistance between the the points. If the ignition control module is bad, wouldn't it not give a spark at all instead of intermittent?
The coil checks out fine.
Last edited by gottabfast : 03-04-2005 at 03:47 PM.
EGR is now eliminated and it didn't fix the misfire. I'm going to disassemble the distributor to test that now based on the FSM. I tested the coil and it seemed ok, the power transistor (aka. ignition control module?) seems to not work. There doesn't seem to be resistance between the the points. If the ignition control module is bad, wouldn't it not give a spark at all instead of intermittent?
The coil checks out fine.
the power transistor HAS to work or your car won't start, i've never diagnosed anemissions failure to be related to the coil or transistor, those will cause crank no start conditions. i think you may be barking up the wrong tree.
is there any way I can do it with a voltmeter? The coil and the igniter checked out fine, I checked the harness on the igniter, not the igniter. Like you said, if that was bad it wouldn't fire at all. I was more looking for something that would be intermittent. I bought a MSD 6A, but I'm gonna hold off putting it on until I get the stock ignition working fine. If the injectors are not balanced, one would be dumping fuel and it wouldn't be firing?
no a misfire is different than not firing at all, my guess is that you have an injector acting up,dumping lots of hc. i can't remember if you can bring up the injector cycle with a dvom or not, i always use a snap-on solus,ask toolapcfan he knows more about electronics than i do.
if the injector is dumping fuel, it wouldn't fire or wouldn't compress?
no, it'll do both just not burn all of the gas completely thus the high hydrocarbon, from the looks of the VIR and the symptoms you're describing its not a total misfire. these sr20s like to run rich at idle thats why ca editions have air injection, you may just need a cat, high hc and co% is a sign of a that, for something like this you might want to look into a new cat or getting a set of injectors from someone upgrading, i wouldn't feel comfortable telling you it'll fix your problem without checking the car out firsthand though. smog diagnosis is damn near impossible over the internet. good luck
I appreciate all of this correspondence. I'm gonna throw a new cat on it, which will put me over the spending limit to get a waiver for this yea, then I'll just pray it goes away after this year. I'm going to try to find a way to test duty cycle with a volt meter. Thanks Creagach!
