I can tell you right now what happened, just from your statement above.

The tuner tuned from lean to rich.

One of the basics of tuning an engine with FI is to ALWAYS tune starting rich and then moving it to lean.

I'd put money that the tuner knew your engine had detonated a couple times too many, but figured the car would run ok for a couple weeks, so they couldn't have fingers pointed directly at them.

They pushed you out the door, knowing you weren't very experienced in FI, so they could BS you, saying "Don't worry, trust us, we know what we're doing. That vibration is totally normal"

Bullsh!t, excuse my language, but it really pisses me off when I see good people get taken advantage of. That's what they did to you.

I know this doesn't make your situation any better, but you got screwed my friend. Your engine will be stronger in the long run, but that doesn't mean it's right.

 

I just want to throw in my 2 cents. Ravaz depending on the out come of this thread I am either going FI or NA. I would REALLY like to go FI, but cannot afford this type of catastrophe. I am hoping that you/we find the real truth to what happened to your car. I feel the truth can only be obtained via a second opinion from a reputable tuner. Some of the truly knowledgeable members on this site are speculating your engine problems are due to installation and tuning problems, if this is case I would like to know. Have your heard from ATI and are they at all curious as to what happened? ATI may possibly lose some sales from this thread. I feel for you, and I hope this all works out. Save the rest of us.

Thanks jesseenglish, TheSVTKid, and Gary K for all the awesome information.

 

I am amazed ATI is not checking into this. If it is their design that is faulty or it is tuning, it still reflects on them. Just the idea that they are not concerned reflects on them to me.

It has to be tuning or SC product. After all, has anyone else blown up their motor that is stck like this?

 

There is nothing wrong with the design of the ATI Procharger that I can see or have experienced. Once again, IMHO, the initial installation and tuning is key. If anyone thinks these types of problems are related only to the ATI they are mistaken. If someone gets the upcoming GReddy or Power Enterrpise TT and the installation is shabby they will experience problems. The basic design of the centrifugal Supercharger from ATI has been around on domestics cars for years.

Just know your installer. Be sure your installer knows what he or she is installing and tuning. Be sure your engine has been properly broken in and maintained before any installation of this type. What I have found my self doing is completely warming up my car and cooling down my car just like any turbo setup. I have been running my car hard. Several trips to San Diego and back in 95 degree plus heat plus a few trips to and from work in stop & go traffic on the world famous LA freeway system has not cause one single problem to date. Maybe Ive just been lucky.

I use only synthetic engine oil. We followed the recommendation of ATI and replaced the spark plugs with new NGK units which are slightly cooler. The initial oil change on the SC was a little over 500 milles and my engine oil is changed religiously at 3000k. ATI recommends changing the SC internal oil at 6000k which means I'll change it at 3000k just to be on the safe side. Weekly I completely inspect the engine compartment for signs of trouble like oil leaks. This is just minor additional maintenence you should expect to do with any FI setup. Actually I am pretty **** so I was doing that visual inspection before the ATI was installed anyway.

Believe me I am not a shill of ATI I know they have weaknesses as do most companies. Just my 2 cents.


Jack

 

I remember reading something a while back on a rough idle and multiple engine misfire codes..I my self have experienced a rough idle and misfire,and do recall the the gentleman that posted the thread had his "coils" replaced..Would a faulty coil cause the catostrophic failure of an engine under forced induction?Maybee this could have been a problem?

 

No, a bad coild wouldn't cause this. It would just make the engine run rough.

 

Exactly, it would just prevent firing in a particular cylinder, thus leaving unburnt fuel and running rich. Whatever happened to that piston certainly didn't have anything to do with it running rich, but exactly the opposite. It ran lean and detonated, and it seemed it did it for a while.

--wes

 

Any updates on the status of your Z, Ravaz?

 

I have updates, but I can't/don't want to share them just yet, probably when I get the car back I'll spill the beans, but right now, all I'm going to say is BIG HP and some major motor work.

-Bill

 

Great to hear! We'll be waiting here patiently for the news....

yep

just sitting here....


waiting....



for the news.

-Chrismcagle

 

 

Hey Ravaz, If I were you I would go with the seconary bank of injectors for extra fuel delivery. I am running the same setup on my other car and its great. Check out the EIC at www.034efi.com or the megasquirt at http://www.bgsoflex.com/megasquirt.html. Also here is a good tutorial on how to build one of these setups. http://www.2gnt.com/www/corbin/8inj.html

Its time consuming and a lot of custom work, but it really pays off in the end! I love this setup and would recommend it to anyone with an aftermarket FI setup! Good luck on the car, and if you do go with an extra injector controller let me know if you need any help.

 

It is amazing, not to mention absolutely frustrating, how some of your engines suffered significant damage with the procharger.

I had a mishap after 1500 miles with the procharger a week ago, engine 6000 miles, with the ATI FMU. Every time I reached boost levels the car began stuttering/hesitation/misses, the fuel light on the FMU did not illuminate; indicating no fuel boost. In actuality, the Nissan ECU detected the lean mixture and initiated the fail safe feature. Removed the *** belt and drove 150 miles home with no problems. Took the car to Nissan, compression check, replaced plugs, rescanned ECU, replaced the ATI FMU, and it was good to go.

Or was I just lucky. I trust that for those of you who blew your motors managed to resolve the matter satisfactorily. The installation is so simple and basic, I can’t see how some installers managed a botched job.

G

 

350Zzzz,

why was your FMU not seeing boost?

 

Bill, sorry that you had this problem. Hope it works out and you end up getting what sounds like the fastest Z around. Has your girl friend walked out on you yet?

 

Haha, actually yeah she did. Not because of the car tho. Atleast now I don't have to hear ****, well she never really cared what I did with the car, just the lack of spending on her lol.

 

Gerald did you have your problem coming back from Maine? Did you find out why the FMU was not sensing boost? I've always had concerns about the FMU failing.

 

Hey Jeff, whats up?

I suppose the baby must have been pissed with me because I gave most everyone a ride except you Let me tell you, it was quite the weekend, sorry I was not able to join you guys later for the Saturday cruise, as my better half was MIA in Ogunquit's main shopping drag

Yeah, it was on my way back, after shopping at the outlet stores in Freeport with the G35 group. Fortunately enough it happened at the 495 which was pretty close to where Paul’s mechanic was. I called Jeff, the mechanic, to meet me at exit 51 on the 495 at a Mobil station, because I wanted him to verify the problem before disabling the pro chatger.

In any event, when the RPM reached 3500 to 4000 RPM, the engine would shut down, however, none of the LED lights on the FMU came on before the shut down, which indicates no fuel boost being applied. After noting the problem I eased off the throttle carefully not to exceed 3000 RPM in all gears. When I met with Jeff, we again did a road test and the anomaly reoccurred. We checked that all mechanical and electrical connections were intact, which they were. So we proceeded to disable the compressor.

When I got home, I sent my car in to Nissan service and it so happened that they had a new FMU sitting around, we did a switcheroo and everything worked as expected, the pro-charger.

The Nissan cut off switch kicked in at the right time, according to Nissan, the ECU is programmed to do that; as long as you don’t continue to push the engine after sensing anomalies during boost cycles you’ll be fine. That advice is also directed, especially at the tuner during a dyno run.

ATI FEDEX a new FMU to me, and it’s in.

Not sure, probably a torn diaphragm or something, as continuous blowing into the boost line triggered the first two lights but no pressure detected. According to ATI, when blowing into the boost hole pressure should be felt and not experience a continues free through flow.

G

 

Wow, that sucks man, sorry to hear it! Hope it all works out for the best.

 

Nah it's cool Eric, she's got her own place, I actually spend more time there then at my place. We still "date", you know how it goes, friends with benefits. Still, a cool girl