Hey all! New 2003 350Z owner here! 200k miles.

After hours of research and tests, I suspect I may have an oil galley gasket failure, but definitely don't want to tear in there on a wild goose chase if I'm missing something...

The oil light on the dash recently started flashing on when idling, and I got the code P0011. Before I could check into it, the car started dying at stoplights whenever I would put the clutch in so as to shift into first gear. It dies as soon as the clutch is put in, still in neutral... not even touching the shifter. Notably, it starts/runs/shifts fine when cold, and only acts up when at full operating temp. There is plenty of oil in there... running 10w40 at the moment.

A Harbor Freight mechanical oil pressure gauge reads 6-8psi at warm idle, and 35psi at 2,000rpm (didn't test 6,000rpm because of my neighbors enjoying a quiet Saturday evening). I bench-tested both VVT solenoids and they look and sound good (nice quick click, screens look clean). Also tested the wiring to the VVT solenoids, wiring to the camshaft position sensors, and the internal resistance of the camshaft position sensors... all checked out fine, though I noted high resistance in the VVT solenoid grounds on both sides (53ohms).

FWIW I've also cleaned the throttle body and MAF, reset the ECU, and run an idle relearn procedure.

Anything I'm missing here? Thanks for the help!!

 

Feel free to point me in the right direction if there's something wrong with my post... 189 views but no responses strikes me as a little funny. Or maybe it's so obvious that no one wants to address galley gaskets yet again?

Anyway, I'm going to move ahead with the galley gasket switch, and might or might not update this thread.

 

No need to take a defensive stance at no action. This forum is ancient and this issue would require those actual knowlegeable folks to be active and bump into this thread. This is not social media so be patient.

I too have a P0011 on a VHR however I have 14-15 psi at idle. I did my gallery gaskets 30k miles ago and I suspect I have an actual VTC gear issue.

I would suggest prior to it all that you pull the oil filter and open it and inspect the membrane for metal shavings and debris.

6-8 psi is dangerously low and if it triggers the light it means it sees 5 or less psi. A healthy engine will run with these codes however the only way it's stalling once you press the clutch is NO OIL PRESSURE.
I suspect that upon operating temps you might be locking the crank. Opening the filter might show if you started eating main or rod bearings and depending how long this has been happening for you might have hurt the motor.

Your gasket has a huge crack and it's bleeding quite a bit of oil internally, enough to trigger a light and stall it due to no oil pressure at that rpm whatsoever.

Good luck.

 

Point taken... and admonishment deserved Guess I let this project go to my head.

Thanks for your help! I hadn't thought of that... Sounds pretty scary so I'll have to hope for the best. I'll see if I can look at the oil filter and pan tonight, then will be gone for the weekend so will have to shelve the project till next week. Will update with my findings.

Thanks again!

 

Cut open your filter and strain the oil that come out of your pan through a rag to check for sparkles before taking the engine apart. If you drove with low oil pressure, you may have already damaged it. If that's the case, used engines are cheaper than rebuilding.

 

I wish I needed to strain the oil as you mentioned... on dropping the pan I observed a rather horrifying metal soup. Interestingly there were also a few plastic pieces of what appeared to be broken timing chain guide, and one curved piece of metal 4 inches long and 1/4 inch wide. Going to take a more in depth look at the engine next week when I return home, but I'm guessing it's time to start searching for a used engine...

 

If you want a built motor, you could rebuild it, but for stock applications, used is always cheaper. Just make sure you get a VQ out of a Z and not out of a FWD Maxima or Altima. My shop has been sent the wrong engine before.

 

Alright, time for an update... I pulled the engine and tore it apart just in case there was a 1% chance of rebuilding it. Turns out all 4 thrust washers somehow fell out, resulting in the crankshaft grinding about 1/8th inch forwards into the block. Even ignoring the other potential issues caused by this, it would be impossible to affix new thrust washers, since their grooves were ground off.

I then looked at the flywheel and found significant discoloration, appearing that it has been overheated. The throwout bearing spins fine, but the clutch fingers are significantly grooved. Moreover, the transmission case front piece on which the throwout bearing housing slides is extremely ground/grooved.

So I'm replacing the transmission case front cover, throwout bearing and housing, clutch and flywheel, and engine. My best guess is that a previous owner abused the clutch, ultimately causing repeated excess forward pressure on the crankshaft and then thrust washer failure, then resulting in bearing wear and low oil pressure. Additionally, the 1/8th inch of forward crankwalk motion might have caused difficulty in the crankshaft position sensor reading the flywheel. A combination of this and the forced forward grinding when putting in the clutch could then have caused the car to stall when putting in the clutch from idle in neutral.

Curious if anyone else has ideas on how this all happened!

P.S. I also pulled the transmission partially apart and so far it looks to be in good condition. I'm aware the rest of the car may have been abused, but I've already replaced so much of it that I'm willing to take that risk.

 

Does the clutch look stock? Is it possible it has an aftermarket clutch with way too heavy of a pressure plate. Not common, but I've seen this happen on race engines with very heavily sprung pressure plates.

 

Need some help from anyone please. My car has codes P0011 and P0014 camshaft sensor bank 1. I’ve had the crankshaft position sensors, camshaft position sensors, timing chains, sprockets, tensioners, seals, and vvt solenoids all swapped to new OEM parts and the damn codes pop right back up. I’m in 2500$ at a mechanic shop and I take it home 15 miles later check engine comes back on 4th time taking it back. Now I’m being told it might need to be reflashed which will surely get me to 3k and I’m not sure that’s even the solution. Anyone deal with this issue before? SOS!!!

 

quit hijacking threads... start your own.... fookin noob

 

suck a fat dick ****in *****

 

i bet your parents are proud