Good morning everyone!

Over this passed weekend I worked in my 2003 350z and replaced my alternator . Both tensioners. 1 for power steering and alternator side. 1 for the ac side. I also did the idler delete on the power steering/alternator side. In addition I switched out my valve cover gaskets and valve covers. Also I spray painted my plenum on top of the engine. (Got a little on the black plastic piece near the throttle body but not on or in the sensor or throttle body itself. After putting everything back together and starting my car here is the results after the 1st through 4th attempt. Anyone have any ideas? I will be taking everything apart next weekend and double checking my work. But advice would be appreciated before doing so! Some extra notes to think of is the pulleys I bought from autozone said they fit my car but the inside looked different. But the diameter and width was the same. The new belt came with the idler delete because it is shorter length bought through z1 motorsports. Also my brakes were much harder to press in and work after I did all of this.
also I had a friend help who was extremely reckless and slightly cracked some of my pcv lines and somehow managed to get a good little bit of coolant into my cylinders through the intake holes. I would say it was maybe 2 ounces but tbh I’m not sure it looked like a good bit. Thanks in advance! Video here

 

The first advice I can give you is don't let that friend near your car again. It sounds like you have a belt squealing but something sounds strange with your engine. You say the PVC hoses were cracked. Did you replace them? I suspect you may have a vacuum leak somewhere.

 

I've never heard an engine scream for help before. Thank you!

So, at what point did you change the head gasket?

Dont let your friend around your car ever again, even to look at it. He has no business working on a bicycle, let alone a car.

 

Wow! That sounds horrendous.

First thing I would do, remove all the belts to isolate that ear piercing noise. Sounds like....a belt has been way over tightened, a belt is not properly aligned with a pulley, a bad pulley/tensioner, or a bad alternator....or just a combination of these. Again remove all the accessory belts and try running the engine at idle, see if it runs better with that being done. Nothing will get hurt if you do this for a short period of time. A good rule of thumb when tightening accessory belts up is to have around 1/2 inch of play in the belt when pushing/pulling on it using moderate pressure. If the belt has been over-tightened, you can very quickly destroy bearings on your accessories (alternator, AC compressor, power steering pump, & idler pulleys).

If the engine is still running terrible and misfiring, it's possible you made a common mistake and got some coil pack plugs mixed up (The plugs should have white labels numbered 1 through 6 for cylinder 1 through 6). Fingers crossed you didn't bend any valves or rods when coolant found it's way into your intake manifold. Really confused as to how that happened. The only thing "coolant" oriented around the intake are the small lines feeding the throttle body. These should be disconnected and capped before the valve covers are removed and not touched again until after your valve covers and plenum are bolted back in.

In terms of the PCV system, more information is needed. Which portion or fittings were cracked? The nipple off the intake tube? The PCV valve itself? The nipple on the intake plenum (which is metal)? Or the cross-over tube nipples?

The brake pedal feel change is an indicator of a vacuum leak. Double check all the hoses that connect up with your intake plenum, there's some on the back, near the throttle body that can be easily missed and can sometimes be a PITA to hook back up. Make sure all the spring hose clamps fit back over the lines in as close to the original position as possible. Line up the witness marks in the rubber. I'm guessing this issue is directly related to the cracked PCV fitting(s).

Fingers crossed no serious damage was done. As others have said, keep your friend away from the car. I have some buddies who are like this, more brawn than brain and no patience. Work like this is no place for guys like that.
-Icer

 

Thanks for the advice guys! I will be purchasing new pcv hoses. The one that cracked was the actually rubber hosing connecting the nipples on the valve covers together. (Crossover I guess) . Also I will be purchasing new tensioner bolts because I worked on my car at a “hobby shop” since I’m in the military and there are guys that work there whom help you and are apparent mechanics. One took an impact gun to my tensioner. Yes an impact gun before I realized what he did so yes safe to say no more attempt starts until I get this together. Also my friend disconnected the coolant line to the throttle body when the plenum was off which caused this problem and froze like a deer in headlights and kept letting it run into my intake. Anyways thanks guys! I’ll begin purchasing new lines now! Also i bought new coil packs forgot to add that! Is here specific holes for those or just the connectors to the specific cylinder?

 

LMAO! An impact gun? My God!

Specific holes to what?

 

Never mind I was gonna say specific spark plug holes but I don’t believe there is specific holes. As long as the connector is plugged into the corresponding hole. And yes. An impact gun *facepalm*. It’s like ppl were trying to break my car! I’m a noob I just wanted help lmao

 

It's all good.

Just remove one coil pack at a time. Unplug the pack, remove it, fully insert the new pack, and reconnect it. Then move on to the next one. No reason to pull multiples at one time. You run the risk of getting connectors swapped and your engine won't run properly.

Don't forget to disconnect your battery before you do this. JIC.