Project #3...Oh no, not another Nissan Figaro!!!!!!

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Yep I'm officially insane and a glutton for punishment. Finally getting around to making a start on my next project. Yep it is indeed another Nissan Figaro.

We actually bought this as a spares car but in the end we promised the owner that we would restore the car and not just strip it for parts. A promise is a promise in my book.

I may as well put my foot in it straight away and say I don't think this one is as rotten as the last one....there I said it....now up to the Universe I guess.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

While I wait for the garage to become available (still waiting for Project #2 to be finished) I figured I would make a list of bits I need. First thing that needs sorting is oil coming out of the exhaust....and I don't mean just a little either!!!!

Chief suspect is the turbo....the engine has galactic mileage however it's had at least 1 rebuild in it's life. In addition it's had a couple of new turbos too. Of course it's possible that both the turbo is goosed and the engine is goosed too...but have to start somewhere so may as well start with the obvious!

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

So decided to pull the turbo air pipes. For some reason one was wrapped in electrical tape...strange as electrical tape works well for....errr....electrics...I'm not convinced it's a good choice for a turbo air pipe!! I imagine the torn inlet pipe would have really been messing up the running. I guess the loss of pressure might result in rich running...just a guess.

I looked up the turbo end float...it should be 0.1mm. let's just say I didn't need a dial gauge...the shaft has huge play plus the pipes were soaked in oil.

New turbos are £500+ .....I may have paid £1,000 too much for this car!!!

Decided to order a used unit...fingers crossed it works out. I happen to have seen the car it's coming from which was mint until someone crashed it - I met the guy when I was sourcing parts for Project #2....lucky he still had the turbo !!

I'll have to recheck the paperwork...I believe the car has had at least 2 new turbos so I'm thinking I really need to get down to the root cause of the failures otherwise the next one will just end up going the same way. I'll probably start by removing the water and air supplies and go from there....that braided hose is an upgraded turbo oil supply line so I'm thinking someone at least tried to do it properly as the oil supply line is a common failure point.

 

[Dcal]

Yes you are insane, but some of us, myself included, are beyond hope.
At least you will know how to fix it and for sure it you will be quicker with this one.

Oil feed and return pipes would be high on my list for causing turbo failure, but I know very little about Nissans,

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Cheers Dcal...I think your hunch is spot on. Figaro's have a reputation for blocked turbo oil feed pipes....the braided hose is actually an after market upgrade. The paperwork mentions at least 2 replacements...once I get the turbo off I'll have a good look at it to see whats going on. I'm interested to see whether this is in fact a new turbo that has failed.

Plan is to get the turbo sorted and hope that resolves the running problems...

 

[Dcal]

Don't forget the drain pipe, it might be blocked or kinked and no matter how good the feed is if the oil can't get away it will have the same effect.

Good luck with it.

 

[jpmillermatic]

I think oil feed lines on turbos seem to have been common failure points on many cars....even up to 2010....

Another Figaro!....deja vu.....


JP

 

[gaz_moose]

on some nissans with roller bearing turbos its required to have a restrictor in the turbo oil feed or else it pumps to much oil pressure in and past the turbo seals, killing the turbo.

for some reason knackered ringlands like to kill turbos.

if you need any turbos building / servicing then get on to 'Bernies blowers' he is the down south turbo guy.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Cheers gaz I will look him up as these cars have a bit of a reputation for eating turbos....anyone spot the intercooler?....yep that confused me too....there isn't one!!

Yea JP...I must be a bit insane I think. The plan is to get this one running on the drive while the other one is progressing with the paint work...as if I didn't have enough to do already!

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Got half way through removing the turbo (this project is a bit of a slow burner....so it's going to get the odd half an hour here and there on sunny days!)....took the oil return pipe off and blew it out....then realised that was a bad idea and maybe I should have used the air line instead of my mouth! The return oil pipe was clear so wasn't the cause of the turbo failure.

On the other car it took the best part of a few hours to get the heat shield off using a blow lamp on the rusty bolts. This one cam right off so I reckon this turbo has in fact been fitted very recently. The bolts on the turbo itself also look nice and shiny too.

I will check the oil supply pipes next but given the amount of oil coming out of the exhaust I think the supply pipes are probably OK. So the big question is....why did the turbo fail. From the paperwork this is at least the second turbo...also there are receipts for major engine work too. I'm wondering whether there might be an issue with the oil pump or something of that nature.

I may stick the replacement turbo on and then just make a note to drop the sump and have a poke around....could be as simple as a partially blocked oil strainer I guess!

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

In other news...my new silicone intercooler connectors arrive....they look great and at £12 were alot cheaper than buying the genuine replacement at £50!!!!

 

[gaz_moose]

maybe they didn't prime the turbo before running it up. are they just journal bearing turbos?

the old Nissan silvia S12 ran with no intercooler.

 

[Ruffian]

Buy a manual oil pressure gauge and put it in the turbo feed joiner and start it up without a turBo on.

Yes will sound like a race at arena essex starting but will give you a easy answer to oil pressure problem.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Cheers Ruffian....that is an excellent idea. I bet I could even rig up a permanent oil pressure sensor for the turbo feed if I tried hard enough and gave it some thought. Was it the mini that used to actually drive the pressure gauge from an engine oil line or did I just make that up?

I really hate guess work so I'm all for investing in the tools to do the job properly.

I was actually thinking of rebuilding the turbo....then I thought bad idea because it needs balancing....then I started wondering how hard can it actually be to diy a balance machine and feed the turbo with some compressed air .

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Got 3 more coats of high build on the roof....so far all looks good....just hope it stays this way.

So this was 3 light mist coats and then 3 normal coats. The black is a guide coat for wet flatting.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

I am being a little hard on this little car...mileage is pretty high so perhaps 3 turbos in its life isn't unreasonable. I really love these retro dials and switches...really suits the car I think.

It's in km...so guess I should say kilometerage but that sounds wrong!

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Slow burner on the turbo removal...got most of it loosened. In the end decided to take the manifold off..only to find it doesn't clear the Aircon rad...Grrrr.

Tmrw I'll just take an engine mount off and move the engine a little.

Added a set of ignition bits to the parts list...I have no idea how this car ran...every lead just snapped right off in my hand!

Major respect for anyone who works on their drive...this was so hard not being in the garage!!!

 

[slim_boy_fat]

mileage is pretty high

Who was the previous owner....Neil Armstrong?

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

The mileage is pretty impressive for a little 1.0L lump I think....owned since import by 1 lady and she spent a fortune keeping the car maintained.

Doesn't bother me too much....I was planning to give everything a refresh anyway to be honest.

Ask me how long it took to reach the nuts under the manifold....was old skool driveway mechanics with the scraped knuckles too just like the good old days on my parents drive!!!

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Funny...spent hours trying to get this off last night. Took me 5 minutes this morning with fresh eyes and fresh hands.

By the looks of this exhaust gasket I think the person who fitted the turbo also struggled with this. Me thinks I've located the source of the exhaust blow. These things happen to the best of us I guess!!

Reckon those ignition leads are probably the originals! Having looked at the rubbish inside the exhaust I'm thinking there may be more than just a turbo oil seal issue here....or that turbo has been leaking oil for a very very long time!!

Engine has been rebuilt in the past so it's hard to diagnose problems....I think I'll fit the new turbo for now and get it back up and running.

Does seem to be a lot of oil on this engine but doesn't look fresh which is a good sign I guess.