nobange

I have a Primera P11.144, year 1999 with SR20DE and since I bought it, engine vibrates, doesn't matter idle or while driving. Vibrations are felt on steering wheel, gear shifter and acc. pedal. They can be heard too, because whole chassis vibrates and there is resonance inside. Initially I thought it will be enough to replace engine mounts, but they were innocent. I replaced 3 of them, the last one is 100% OK and I felt absolutely _no_ difference. Plugs changed to NGK, no difference. Wires are OK. Then I suspected flywheel to be out of balance, or the clutch. I changed complete clutch, by the way the flywheel was checked and it's OK too. Again no difference. Many mechanics have checked everything, connected to the computer, but all seems to be OK. Intake has no wholes. Looks like something unusual in the motor...

Last suspect is the timing chain, it's stretched and I can hear it during driving with certain gear and rpm. But there are many threads about stretched chain BUT nothing about vibrations. I don't want to spend more $$$ to replace the chain and still have a vibrator.

It accelerates very good though and fuel consumption is OK too. If there weren't vibrations, I'd love that car. In desperation I start thinking about selling it.

I'm out of ideas, what more can cause this. Please help.

kajencik

I know about the chain problems with the QG18DE engine which was also fitted to your primera - the chain does get stretched and makes bad noise and causes issues while driving. But to my knowledge most of the SR20DE problems related to the timing chain can be cured by replacing only the chain tensioner. If you don't have some crappy aftermarket chain or your car doesn't have like 400.000 miles on the clock, I would replace the tensioner and see if it helps, it can be obtained at about $60 here from forum supplier (www.gspec.com) so not a big deal. How is the cold start of your engine? I have worn out tensioner (at least, but I think the chain is ok) and it makes a terrible noises at a cold start, also there is sometimes little noise heard at idle, as the chain slaps to the upper guide a bit and I have little problems between 2-3000 rpm, so I did quite a research on this, and just today I ordered my new tensioner But I have no vibration... Maybe you should make a video and post it here. Does it make a difference when the cluth is engaged or not?

nobange

Engaging clutch makes no difference. Cold start seems to be OK, chain makes noise only while engine is under heavy load. I doubt if only changing tensioner can help, I was told, that my tensioner already works on it's maximal distance. Video can't show vibrations . Main question is: what can vibrate in the engine so much... For sure not the chain, even stretched over limits.

I suppose, that my SR20DE could be overheated a bit in the past, because I had to replace piston rings about 10 months ago (oil consumption, compression 1,5 MPa on all cylinders). Now oil consumption is about 0, didn't have to add oil for these months. But the worst thing remained...

From outside it sounds normal, but when you sit down on driver's place and close the door, is much worse. Like in a tracktor.

I start to give up, entire year full of investigating... Will sell that crap as soon as I buy some decent car... maybe next owner discovers the cause of vibrations.

kajencik

Ok and what about selling it to me? :-) I kinda look for a P11, but my budget is quite small :-( or maybe I can try and help you a bit more, I'm from Czech Republic, but it is like 3 km's to Poland here and I know some decent nissan guys around here.... Is the sound persistent, like there is a real vibrator connected to the crankshaft like constant brrrrrr Or is the sound really like a diesel engine? I believe the diesel sound may be related to bad lifters too.

nobange

Some of guys in the forum have solid engine mounts. I can imagine, they feel the same as I. Sound is not like diesel, vibrations resonate in my ears, entire car body shakes. So sound is not the real problem, it's arised by vibrations IMO. Amplitude of vibrations depend on rpm: more rpm, smaller amplitude. During driving at 1500 rpm with any gear is near perfect. Under and over this value it's worse. You hit the spot: just like a vibrator connected to the crankshaft, a big and strong vibrator, even new engine mounts cannot suppress it.

Bad lifters... I doubt it. During change of piston rings, head was taken off, inspected, polished and valve sealants (don't know exact name in english but you know what I mean) were changed too, so I believe everything should be OK in that area.

Of couse I can sell it to you if you want. Maybe your nissan experts are able to fix the problem. I must admit, that I'm tired of this car.

kajencik

so what about another accesories, I had a bad A/C compressor and it made terrible noise, I would try to remove the belts that runs A/C compressor, alternator, power steering and water pump, the car can run like this for a brief moment - not too long as it would start to overheat, but you could check if it is not the accesories. I know about the mounts - when I purchased my car it had two of the four mounts from prothane, and at idle, whole dashborad was vibrating, but above 1500 rpm it went quite silent. My another idea is if the car wasn't crashed or someting bent in the engine compartment, so that now some part of the engine is in contact with chassis all the time?

I'm puzzled, because even when I had a rod knock, the engine was running really like an old diesel, terrible noises and vibrations, still not much vibrations was trasnsfered inside because of the motor mounts. I would definitely look for a direct contact between the engine block or transmission with the chassis. Lastly, there is also the ABS pump, but that runs only when the car is going like 15km/h or more.

Also, I would check the exhaust, especially around the metal parts covering the catalytic converter and also the heatshield, they can make really annoying noises too....

nobange

Guys from a workshop told me, that they tried to run the engine without all belts, no difference.

I'll check the exhaust later today.

Contact between engine and chassis was one of first things I checked. Engine moves freely on mounts, no contact. It just vibrates from itself much more than it should. Doesn't look like the car was crashed. Believe me, I'm puzzled too for long time already Maybe the crank is bend...

kajencik

hmm, the exhaust seems to me as the only reasonable explanation now. I doubt the cranshaft is bent. I had that too ;-) And I think you can't have bent crankshaft without a rod knock.

nobange

Exhaust OK, no visible damage. Someone had to disassemble this motor to pieces IMO and maybe then will be able to find out what is wrong. I don't have time and knowledge to do this and I need a car for everyday use. So I started to look for a new one. This P11 is from now officially for sale

kajencik

So what are you selling it for? And where are you from anyway? I'm really curious about this and I would like at least to come and see it in person, if it is some reasonable distance.

nobange

I sent to you a private message.