My car has nonrevup DE engine. it has 271k miles currently. Car has plenum spacer, testpipes, and z tube.


Hi guys, so the car has codes p0011 and p0021 and the car's acceleration is pretty slow, like 11 seconds 0 to 60 slow. For reference, the m35 of the same year should have a zero to 60 of around 6 to 6.5 seconds. Is this simply cause by worsening compression due to engine age and the fact the car has nearly 300k miles, or the p0011 and p0021 codes? Here are some notes to account for:

• A while back I discussed how the Nissan mechanic found plastic timing guide pieces in the oil pan, which looked like they were a part of this guide:
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• Some of y'all recommended me to take a photo of inside the timing cover to see if the timing guide pieces were broken and whether or not the timing chain tensioner was fully extended. Here's what I I found:
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I think its safe to say the timing chain was worked based:

• The guides are black unlike the factory brown guides found in the oil pan.
• There is very little slack on the timing chain which would suggest otherwise.
• Car sounds pretty good, no ticking or knocks pointing to timing chain,

Here are several other things ruled out:

• Camshafts sensors replaced
• Crankshaft sensor replaced
• Oil and filter has been changed

Accounting for all these things, I decided to unplug my VVT solenoids. Come to find out, the p0011 and p0021 codes disappeared and I was left p0075 and p0081 code. Upon reconnecting both the left and right VVT solenoids, the p0011 and p0021 codes reappeared yet again and the p0075 and p0081 codes are now gone. Despite disconnecting and reconnecting the solenoids, the car's acceleration remained slow. Here is a video of the 0 to 60:





The car struggles at high RPMs, the auto transmission actually shifts closer to 6000 to 6100 rpm rather than 6600.

BTW I live in Florida so alleviation is a nonissue in regards to car's performance.

SO back to my question. Could this be caused by faulty VVT solenoids in regards to the codes? Also, in terms of sluggish acceleration, is this from the fact the car has so much miles that its performing half of what it should?

Thanks for reading

 

Your slow acceleration is due to the cams not advancing since you have P0021 and P0011, this means that the ECM has detected a difference in angle between what it SHOULD BE and what it ACTUALLY IS.

Basically how the system works, oil pressure is used to advance the intake cams, it does this through the cam actuator solenoids on the front of the motor, they have a rapidly actuating solenoid and as the duty cycle is increased more volume of oil is allowed into the cam sprocket actuator. The ECM varies this duty cycle depending largely on rpm but also on throttle position, it then monitors the ACTUAL cam position via the cam sensors on the back side of the head, there is a pickup ring at the rear of the cam with notches in it and it sends an oscillating signal (frequency) that is used by the ECM to determine actual cam angle which influences whether it increases or decreases the duty cycle of the solenoids.

When there is a large difference between the angle it EXPECTS to see on the cam sensor and what the actual data is sending back then you get P0011 or P0021 depending on whether the problem is seen on bank 1 or bank 2 of the engine.

Usually when you see BOTH BANKS having IVT problems like that it's due to oil pressure, since you have such high mileage this isn't entirely unexpected however the cam actuator solenoids have moving parts and are definitely subject to wear.

Fortunately they can also be tested, if you unbolt them from the heads and remove the actuator assembly you will see it's got a bunch of screens used to filter large debris, sometimes they get clogged over time by bits of RTV or gasket, or whatever that gets pumped up the valley into it, the more common failure is just accumulation of varnish and sediment on the moving part of the actuator that physically prevents it from opening fully. You can apply battery voltage (just do quick momentary taps, the solenoid rapidly pulses a duty cycle and is not meant to be held open for any duration of time) and watch it actuate and you will usually SEE if there is a problem with any of the multiple sections opening/closing.

There are youtube videos of people testing the cam actuator solenoids, they may not be Nissan specific but they all pretty much work in the exact same fashion. With 270k miles on the engine there's a REALLY good chance that your cam actuators are just shot however.

-Compression test the engine

-Leakdown test the engine

-Oil pressure test the engine

-OBD2 scan realtime data to see what the cam advance is, it should peak at about 40 degrees advanced when the rpm's climb, I suspect you are getting very little cam advance, maybe no advance at all. I know the android app Torque Pro is capable of monitoring cam advance but most full function OBD2 that read realtime data are capable of this as well.

In order to measure oil pressure you will need to add a sandwich adapter and a gauge, typically unless you have a oil pressure light turning on you are generating sufficient oil pressure for the cam actuators, the ECM has quite a bit of leeway to compensate for pressure differences by varying the duty cycle. If it's throwing a P0011/P0021 then something is REALLY out of spec.

Since it's struggling to hit the higher rpm range I'm thinking it's the cam actuator solenoids but you need to test them to verify.

 

After watching the video I'm pretty sure you are getting NO cam advance, you can hear the engine struggling to maintain high rpm.

Double check your oil level to make sure you aren't just low.

 

Hi cleric thanks for the lengthy reply! I will definitely get back with you on some of the stuff you suggested to test. In regards to the cam advance, I found that idle it's 15 degrees while pedal fully down it's Max is at 45 degrees. Is this normal for vq35de? In regards to oil, the car does burn oil quite a bit, I usually refill some oil before an oil change. Our mechanic is also checking if there are leaks next week.

Also bad news, checked the instantenous horsepower of the car with the obdii app, showed little less than 120hp

 

That's... odd... I thought for sure you wouldn't have proper cam advance. Those timing advance numbers are correct, I wonder if it's actually measuring ignition advance and not actual CAMSHAFT advance. I'll have to play around with mine tommorow to see.

 

Based on your first reply should I even get cam timing readings at all if I disconnected both solenoids all together? If it's any help the timing advance displayed by my obdii app from idle to full throttle was exactly the same when I disconnected the vvt solenoid actuators and when I reconnected them.

 

Ok that settles it, you're reading ignition timing advance and not cam timing. I'll check mine tomorrow to see if I can find a way to read actual cam timing.

 

Just to comment on cleric's mention of the solenoids and their wear. You might want to take them off it's three 10MM bolts holding them in and take then take the solenoids out of their housing, which is one more 10MM bolt. There are some screens in there were some debris might have got stuck. I literally did this yesterday when I was working on my replacing my valve covers and camshaft sensors. I found a giant glob of RTV in on of the solenoids and keep in mind I wasn't having any DTC's appearing too. But, they do pass a lot of oil through them and if you want a demonstration how much...forget to tighten one and then start your engine up! Ask how I know....

I don't think you can read the cam timing through OBD2 I think it only shows the ignition timing. I think only Consult or a more expensive scan tool will show that information.

 

About the solenoids, I attempted to clean them a few months ago but no success in clearing the codes or fixing the cam advance/acceleration issue. I guess next logical step is buying new VVT solenoids?

Also, I was looking through my OBDII scanner app and apparently it has something called "Cam Adv b1" and "Cam Adv b2", separate from the "timing advance" I selected. When I attempted to see what this does, the OBDII does not display any data at all. I am guessing our cars require the more expensive tool?

 

Okay just tested the solenoid plug wiring harnesses and both sides are detecting voltage (when ignition turned on with engine off, voltage 11.6 V), so I think its safe to say its something to do with the solenoids. I am going to order Hitachi solenoids from rockauto and see if anything happens. I appreciate the help guys!

 

Ok, the android app NDS II, Nissan DataScan II DOES show intake cam advance as well as solenoid duty cycle. I didn't go for a drive since I started drinking early but I played around with it a little in the shop punching the throttle a few times and watching the data.

I don't think the G35 rev-up has TWIN INDEPENDENT cam timing, I think that the exhaust cam is actuated in direct relation to the intake cam on that bank, basically the solenoids both receive the same actuation signal unlike newer vehicles that have completely separated intake and exhaust timing.

Here's a screenshot of what I saw on my phone. You can definitely see the ignition timing is separate from the bank1 and bank2 cam timing as well as the cam solenoid duty cycle.

 

So if you use that app and track the same data I'm betting that your solenoid duty cycle (Int Cam Sol b1/2) will rise but your actual cam timing (Int Cam b1/2) will not advance properly. A quick stomp on the throttle pulls my cam timing up to 40 degrees advanced and my solenoid duty cycle saw 60% with the engine NOT under load.

If the vehicle was under load on the highway I expect you will get better data, the refresh rate is sort of shitty on that app but the logging is good.

 

I downloaded the app but when I went to data display this was the only data I was able to read, just a sort of generic "timing" reading but no cam timing or what not:
Is it possible the Infiniti m35 has more restriction on what an obdii can read versus the g35?

 

Ohhh crap this whole time I didn't realize you have an M35. In that case they make a plugin for Torque Pro that's EXACTLY for your vehicle and does cam timing, I think it's called "Advanced EX for Infiniti" on the google play store. I tried it one time but the custom PID weren't compatible with my G35 but it was actually for a VQ35DE equipped M35 car.

 

Sorry I probably should have made that more clear, I just know my car has the same engine as a lot of the older g35s.

So I installed the app but for some reason after following the instructions of the app, when I selected the timing advance as well as solenoid monitoring no data was displayed. The only data I got related to timing was again the generic "timing advance". Maybe it has to do with my actual bluetooth obdii?