First project car issues

[Iwannakitty]

Hello,I have obtained a 240sx through a local auction where I live, and have been trying to fix it up. This is my first project car and it has been causing me some headaches and I'm looking for some advice for someone who is really new to fixing cars.

All the changes I've done so far are:
Ecu (Car was missing when I got it)
New battery (Again, missing)
New starter
Replaced the oilpan
Soldered on A Maf Pigtail (Was cut from the wiring harness)


I have two issues at this point:

The car after those changes were made was running extremely rich, the spark plugs were black, the tailpipe was coughing out black smoke, and occasionally if given some throttle, it would backfire, the engine was shaking a little more than was comfortable, and the idle was very rough. This was happening 2 weeks ago, and I had to run off for a little while, so I parked it in my garage for the time, Now I come back with some break cleaner to check for leaks, and when I turn the key, the idle is crazy rough, the engine turns over, but it only stays on for like 5-7 seconds, whereas before it would stay on for a minute or so before shutting off. The wheel and the shifter start shaking badly too. I'm not seeing any black smoke come out of the tailpipe, but when I step on the throttle when it's on, there is also a huge delay, sometime it doesn't seem to even respond to it. Checked ECU and am getting 55 for a code, so no help there. I'm kind of stuck as to what this is and what I should do. And before anyone asks, I did add some gas too it too, thinking it might be that.

Secondly I noticed that my Digital cluster doesn't read, Not the speed nor the odometer. The check lights come on, but don't come off at all. I took a multimeter to it, and was able with some fiddling and the right connectors off of the wiring harness that plug into the cluster , to read 12v, but almost all the other ones read nothing. I'm not sure if it's my harness, or my Digital Cluster, or if something else is up.

Any help would be tremendously appreciated. Sorry if I didn't give sufficient information in any part of this, please ask and I will do my best to give you sufficient information. This is my first project car and a huge learning experience for me.

(The engine is a Ka24de)

[Kingtal0n]

Sounds like wrong ecu / maf combo or you have a metered air leak. Get back to us with the maf part number and ecu number, or take pictures of both.

[idlafie]

Congratulations on the purchase of your 240SX and welcome to the club. Zilvia has a lot of information posted that will help you fix all the issues that are currently affecting your car. All you have to do is use the SEARCH function here on Zilvia to find your answer.

Since you mentioned you have a Digital cluster, you probably have one of the earlier S13's, 1989..1990 model year. [EDIT...oops...you mentioned a KA24DE motor...you may have a later model year..1991-1993 - sorry not familiar with S13's as I am S14's] To learn more about your S13 and to figure out how to repair it, use the SEARCH function here on Zilvia and locate a FACTORY SERVICE MANUAL, (FSM), for your model year car. The FSM is a great help in finding & fixing the problems that are troubling your car.

As for repairing your Digital Cluster, check out the following two links:
From Zilvia.net
http://zilvia.net/f/archive-faqs/160257-how-fix-your-hud.html
From Nicoclub.com....another good place for Nissan info
How to:Repair 240sx digital speedometer with HUD. NICO Club (http://www.nicoclub.com/archives/how-torepair-240sx-digital-speedometer-with-hud.html)

Anyhow, hope this helps & welcome to the club....

ID


PS:
Don't be turned off by some of the responses you get to your postings. Sometimes we get a little "snippy" around here....Just ignore those responses. Most people will try to help you out if they can.

[Iwannakitty]

The number on my Ecu is 28, and the Number for my MAF is 1719.

Thank you for the information about the FSM, I have located a free online one to use. The closest thing I can see for issues would be under Unstable Idle, so I will be going through all the steps on that. Also many thanks for those posts about my dash, I will also get onto that and report back when I can.

[Iwannakitty]

So now I've fiddled around with the EGR to see if it was sticking, I did, and it behaved normally, rough idling faster and dying pretty much instantly. But now the car doesn't seem to start for some reason, I pulled out the spark plugs and they are still giving a spark. >.> I played with the EGR, that's all. We jumped the battery to see if it was just losing power from trying to start all the time, the lights come on, fans work, electric sun roof works, so the battery is fine.

Gah. >.>

[idlafie]

What year is your car again?? Check the three basics...Spark..Air..& Fuel. You're getting spark so that's a good sign. How bout fuel?? You hear the fuel pump priming when you turn the ignition key to ON?? You should hear it for a second or two just before you start it. Another way to test to see if you are getting fuel to the injectors/rails is to pull the fuel line coming out of the fuel filter and going to the fuel rail. BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL WHEN DOING THIS THOUGH...you could catch the car & yourself on fire. Run a secondary fuel line from the fuel filter in the car to a gas can. Have someone turn the ignition over and start the car while you monitor the fuel coming out of the secondary fuel line into the gas can. If you see fuel coming out, then you know the fuel pump is working. Also recheck the wires on the MAF pigtail to make sure it's wired correctly. Use the FSM for this...

While you are at it, check to make sure ALL your ground wires are okay. You may have to cut & re-crimp a new one if you suspect any ground issues causing your car not to start.

Anyhow, hope this helps...Good luck!!

[godsmack]

Check your wire connections for the altenator. I had the same problem where the lights would stay lit after I shut off the car and found bad connections after the altenator. It was on the side of the fuse block by the battery. And just check over all connections for the altenator wiring.

The above might also fix the idling problem but if it still persists check your timing per the fsm. Who knows what the person before you did with the car.

Good luck.

[Marcyprojects]

just going to add my 2 cents here. I was a newbie once not too long ago and this site + my local forum saved me from giving up a lot of times. If you indeed have a KA24DE s13 there are a few chronic areas where the motor tends to givetrouble that is tough to track down without any prior experience. I have restored/rebuilt 3 of these so far and I have
had the opportunity to run into almost everything. Heres some things to look into to make sure it will run right, and run for a while. Will also help with your issue

1. faulty MAF - def make sure you have the right MAF/ ECU combo but sometimes a MAF that looks fine from the outside could still be bad. try another from another known working car, and or clean the piss out of yours

2.fuel system - our injectors tend to leak a lot as they go bad, original fuel pumps typically suck, fuel filters are usually clogged on cars with unknown matinence history. all leading to potential idle issues, different colors of smoke out the exhaust

3. Timing - I think this is where you are going wrong if your plugs are constantly rich/black. look at writeups for stock timing and try to set it and work your way up to the correct idle

4. Wiriring- Highly reccomend adding additional grounding points, look up writeups on this too. Another good thing to help steady the idle. also any little tear or loose connection can cause big problems so I would inspect thoroughly.

Checking through these areas, 99% of the time will help you to identify your problem and or fix it in the process. Hope this helps

If you have a SOHC motor, may god be with you.lol