I have a Greddy TT kit installed to my car since March and few weeks ago while I was tracking the car, at the end of session, I understood that the car was working very rough, like misfiring, and few minutes later the check engine light came on.

I managed to drive the car to the shop where I installed the TT kit and next morning the mechanic discovered that the spark plugs in two of the cylinders, Nr 3 and 5 I think, were totaly destroyed due to detonation and that the tip and pieces of the ceramic!! part of the plug were gone inside the cylinder itself!

The mechanic did compression test in each cylinder and found out that cyl Nr 5 had zero compression meaning that the exhaust valve was open. Passenger side cyl head was removed and thanks God there was no other damage to the engine except one broken exhaust valve, most propably was hitten by the spark plug tip or by the ceramic part of the plug. Pistons and block were in perfect condition.
My mechanic, who is my best friend, only deals with Mercedes cars and his not familiar with Nissans was really impressed by the engine internals construction and durability. He told me that detonation could have kill the pistons and rods in other case.

Now problem is that after my mechanic replaced all the exhaust valves, put new headgasket and order new O rings for the water tubes he could not install the front timing chain and the secondary ones for the variable valve system. He followed the service manual step by step but everytime he tried to put the timing chain back the secondary ones were not in the right position...

I really appreciate any help you can give me regarding the installation of the timing chain, if anyone tried before are there any tips for this? If any photos are available of the motor without the front timing chain case in place would be of a great help.

Thanks

Kostas

Car had 2k miles with the kit and unfortunately the spark plugs were the OEM plugs.

 

I am assuming he had the chain tensioners locked out with a couple of pins? This will allow the slack to put the chain on. When you pull the pins they should tighten the chain and it should move to where it should be.

 

Thanks g356gear,

I will make sure he followed this procedure.

Any other suggestions?

Kostas

 

Cam shaft positioning is critical to lining everything up.....but that is outlined in the service manual. Also the gear assemblies that bolt onto the ends of the cams have special marks that the cam chains must line up with for correct alignment of the whole main timing chain that connects the cams, crankshaft, etc. If those cam chains are not done correctly the main chain will not go on correctly.

 

Exactly,

Cam shaft positioning was the most critical thing to do, putting the main timing chain back was not hard at all.

Today we followed the service manual- EM 53 to 63- steps, and we managed to properly install the main and the two secondary timing chains.
It took us a lot of time to align the mating marks on the secondary timing chain with the ones on the intake and exhaust sprockets on both sides.
Finally after we have done it 3 times, installing and removing the chains, we manage to complete the job succesfully. We checked it twice by rotating the crankshaft sprocket on a clockwise direction and seing the position of the cams and valves.

Thanks again for the help

Kostas

 

Glad to see that you have gotten the results of the detonation resolved but, what are you doing to fix the cause?