so I installed the stillen engine dampner last night. but the first few times that I started the car afterward it would die immediately after starting. I would try it a second time and it would work fine.

well now every time I start out in first gear I can feel a very very very noticable vibration in the pedal (clutch and gas) and even at idle the car vibrates more that it did pre install.

I think that for some reason the dampner might be to tight. or something and it is not allowing the engine to vibrate at idle the way it naturally does.

I am gonna mess with it a bit today and see if I can fix it and if not I will probably just take the whole unit out.

any suggestions, anyone else have a similar problem. is there a possible fix?

 

If you read thru the threads on this mod, you will see that vibration is a normal symptom. Logically, you are connecting the engine to the frame.
The stalling of your vehicle is not normal, check to make sure your grounds are on tight.

 

Don't have a dampner, but your engine dying is def. not normal. Did you have to remove anything (hoses, bolts, lines,etc) to install it? Make sure those are tight...even if there's a leak somewhere, your engine shouldn't die like that.

 

+1

The vibration is normal as the engine is connected to your frame with this mod.

The stalling is not normal and should be investigated further.

 

even the vibration in the pedals. I've read the other threads and from the sounds of it most people have had some small vibrations but I've not heard anyone that has vibrations like this. perhalps the ground wire needs to be tightened.

what happens when I start the engine is very odd. sometimes when I start the motor it will try to start and then stall down to 0 rpms, but then it will like come back to life and start going again. it's quite strange. maybe someone can elighten me as of what to check for?

 

Def sounds like a vacume leak.

 

It does doesn't it, but it would be hard to create one installing the dampener. I would look at the ground that had to be moved to install.

edit to add: this doesn't explain the excessive vibe either, I wonder if one of the motor mounts is bad too.

 

i installed mine yesterday actually (stillen) i did not have to remove the ground wire like it said. if it sputters and dies, it definately sounds like a vacuum leak of some sort. check all the hosing, etc.

other than that, just make sure that you put the power steering and coolant tanks back after. other than that it was relatively simple. just make sure that you put the damper into the bracketand all hex bolts in before you go to bolt it down ther otherwise it'll be a pain in the ***

 

I've had minor problems with it ever since I installed my pop charger. but they have never been so bad that the car would actually die. it would always loose rpms on start up and then it would go right back up.

is there any technique I can use to investigate this further?

 

Check you MAF sensor. Your popcharger oil might have got all over it. Take it out and clean it. Search for how to clean it. I can't remember what the cleaning stuff to use was.

 

check all the hoses and see if they are brittle and could have some cracks that it is leaking

 

Was there anything that you had to unplug when you installed this? Perhaps just try taking out the negative terminal on the battery and resetting the ecu.

 

not exactly sure what to look for. which lines are the vacume lines? if I knew that then I would know what to check for.

 

bump

 

did you try resetting the ecu?

 

If it were a vacuum leak, I believe that the idle would be high and erratic. Did you relocate the ground wires like the instructions say?? I still think you are not getting a good ground. There are no vacuum lines to disconnect, or hoses to move during this install.
The vibration is definitely normal. Even in the pedals...excessive is relative (imho) as you are going from no vibration to having it, thus you are going to notice it more (make sense?).
Maybe go over the install again, and make sure that all your wires are tight, and hoses are re-connected (although I dont remember disconnecting any hoses when I did it).
GL

 

When I installed mine there were no vacuum hoses that I removed, I did move the ground from the block to the front of the alternator, make sure you tightened all hardware, including the ground. Check the battery connection on the negative cable, lastly make sure the battery has juice.
As for the new vibrations yes the dampner is working, I adjusted mine just as tight as I could get, you will notice the vibrations for just a couple of days. Good luck

 

hey guys, sorry it's been a while since have been on. just to give you guys an update.

the vibrations seem to be slowly becoming more tame and tolerable. I'm not sure whether I am just becoming more used to it or that the engine dampner is breaking in slightly and there for not transmiting as many vibrations to the frame.

as for the engine dying. I had reset the ECU a few times. and it would only seem to hurt the problem. it seems as the ECU would learn more the problem would go away slightly but not completely. it would still die about 30 percent of the time.

it seems as if the engine would work better on the very first start of the day and when the engine was colder.

after thinkin about it for a while and checking every hose that I could get to I finally thought to check the intake plenum spacer and see if it was sealed properly. I went to check the bolts on and most of them seemed very lose. I could easily break the bolts free with minimal effort, and they seemed as if they had alot of room to tighten. after I tightened bolts I started the car and it seemed to start normal (but like I said it usually does during the first start of the day). well I again checked the plenum spacer bolts and they still seemed a little loose plus I heard a slight hissing sound around one of them. when I tightened the bolt the hissing sound went away.

I haven't had a chance to drive it since but I will be shortly. I'm just wondering could this be a possible vacume loss that would cause the car to behave this way?

+ I just wanna thank you guys for all the help and advice you guys have given me.

my350z.com FTW