Al Savage's 1983 Sentra 2D CD17

#31

Judging from recent experience, I'm going to need much longer afterglow than 15 seconds to elimnate the cold missing.

#32

What about to the "Quick" glow side then? Too long? Too hard on plugs? Or still not long enough

#33

I think 15 secs on the main relay is too long for these GPs (15 secs in addition to the main glow of about 8-10).

I noticed this AM that even with the afterglow working, I had misfire. I've been in the habit of pressing the GP button off-n-on to keep it non-smoking until I can get out of the driveway and on to the two-lane. Cycling the button makes a big difference in the idle, shaking, and smoke.

All this at quite warm starting temps of around 60°F. I can imagine how much worse it will be in three months.

Maybe I can stumble across another CSD thermostatic device. It does not look like fun to replace in the vehicle. Or rig a cable ala early VW Rabbit (Golf). But I figure if I go to that trouble, I may as well fix it right.

Unfortunately, "right" is a slippery slope. I keep expecting this thing to explode every day.

#34

stuck rings.
this is a common fault with low milage cars or cars that have been in storage.the oil control ring groove often fill with gunge causing iregular oil use without loss of compression.

there are lots of products over the years to FIX this.but nothing like filling the engine to the top with diesel/kero for a good soak.
Tooth paste like products that you put into through the plug holes when the engine was hot.

my experience is that you need to rering.I often done it by using a box a used rings and cleaning the piston.chrome-moly rings became popular in the 70's here its was found that the bore gets damaged at the top causing ring problems at different.for used cars you remove the ridge-hone the bore and use cast iron rings,these would then last 50K miles and be replaced over and over again. loads the older mechanics would use cord rings for a once off fix.

lots of the engines ive worked on the rings loose tension probable from an over heat.they give good compression when crank testing but blow smoke at given RPM due to harmonics.often occurs after a cyl head rebuild.

#35

isuzu gemini diesel.

these have an after glow system called smooth idle control.it has a throttle solinoid and dual voltage glow plugs and a manifold glow plug.it uses the speed sencor to turn off the system once you get driving,if the speed pulse is not conected it should continue to work.

father inlaws has problems with his second hot water temp switch.
if the car is driven a short trip and stoped enough heat is present at the top radiator hose switch to indicate that its not the first start of the day and turn off the system.so we got it disconected as well.

#36

It's taken me eleven days, but I finally got through a whole tank of fuel. Mixed rural commuting, and one 80 mi. mostly-highway trip.

426 mi., 8.4 gal (completely brimmed) = 50.7 MPG

I'm happy with that number, it's a bit better than I'd expected. Neither of my Rabbit diesels ever achieved that number; both averaged very close to 44-46 MPG. And this Sentra is much, much quieter inside. The main reason I don't want another Rabbit diesel is the interiour noise was terrible on both of mine, even with new motor mounts etc.

In that same 426 mi., it consumed about 1.25 quarts of $7/qt. synthetic oil. Yes, it smokes.

I'm going to try chlorine beach on the carpets backings today.

#37

How is it for power compared to the SD22 in the pickup? Still have to change out the speedo and replace with a calander, or is this little guy a bit better

I wonder what it would do (milage wise) breathing healthy

Hope the chlorine does not degrade whatever synthetic material(s) the carpets are made out of and you don't end up poking your fingers through them re-installing them, or they break down and fall apart under your feet.

#38

Power: the SD22 is slow, but it's moving a lot more mass than the lightweight Sentra 2D.

The Sentra is missing 500ccs that the SD22 has.

That said, it moves out OK, I guess. I am not pushing it. I ran it hard up one of my three commute hills, the first or second day I drove it, and it nailed when I backed off the fuel at the top -- I'm assuming it was trying to run on crankcase vapours at that point, and succeeding well enough, but of course firing way too early on those. I didn't try that again.

It does not feel strained at 60 MPH (100 KPH). It begins sounding busy at 65+. My off-brand tires are not smooth/balanced enough to comfortably drive that fast. I drove it down to Silverdale a couple days ago (40 mi. one-way) and that has eight mile and five mile stretches at 60, as well as about 10 at 55. Because of following traffic, I was trying to keep the smoke down. The hills at 55 were tough to pull off and not smoke. I usually just let the speed drop off, down to 48 on one hill. Two cars that had to follow me on a two-lane section of this for several miles did quickly overtake me when the road switched to four-lane.

For me, and with the lightest Sentra body style, the power seems plenty. For hilly country, I might like that 5-spd for flexibility, but if you get into a "not in a hurry" mindset, it's fine. Like a 60's VW Transporter.

On that topic, I have noticed a few pissed off people in town in the situation where I am first at a stoplight. When it changes to green, I am not pulling away as fast as the followers would like. I move out, and I see them nearly run into me because they're assuming I'm going to accelerate like 90% of drivers do these days, and I'm just not doing that, the gearing and smoke don't make for graceful fast standing stops (and the clutch may not be all that long for this world: it works flawlessly, but about one out of three times on engagement, I hear a soft squeak that I well remember from a Volvo I had decades ago: rivets). So I am doing my part to encourage stress and fuel savings in other drivers in my town now

I'd have to say that if I wanted to, I could leave a 720 SD in my smog pretty easily. I think it's mostly the weight advantage.

The inside rearview mirror has resonance points (38 in 4th is one of them).

Part of the mileage is that it's also burning some crankcase oil fumes as fuel. It's possible that a tight engine that didn't use a quart in 300 mi. might not get as high mileage!

I left 5L of Clorox on the padding for an hour plus, then ran the garden hose over it. The glue holding the padding to the carpet's plastic backing held up fine. And, surprisingly, all the Clorox I spilled around to the top surface (the carpet itself) didn't seem stained. It will take 3-4 days to dry out (our record high temp of yesterday is followed by thunderstorms today that took out the server here, and more rain is expected), and then I'll give it the sniff test again.

The heavy plastic that both the carpeting and the padding is glued to is very tough stuff.

The only place for speakers is apparently those holes in the door panels. Someone took out the speakers and the wiring

. I"m not looking forward to that fix.

#39

I know what you mean by the stop light thing. Same thing for me in my PU. I short shift from 1 to 2 at about 5-10K and they nearly run into me and then 2 to 3 around 15-20K and same thing. Everyone behind me is bitter and grouchy and stares/glares at you when they "whip" around you shaking their heads, flipping the bird etc etc. TS

I got all the friends I can handle right now anyway! The clutch job on that little beastie does not look like it would be a lot of fun to dig out. What way would you go? Motor out, tranny out, or just say screw it and yank both, or, do you even have a choice?

P

#40

plenzen wrote:Everyone behind me is bitter and grouchy and stares/glares at you when they "whip" around you shaking their heads, flipping the bird etc

I'm trying to grow calluses. It's easier in a small/rural town. One reason I left Portland, Ore. was because of the 45 min. crosstown commute to work, in my Rabbit diesel I would drive the speed limit and was constantly being tailgated, which is not fun in a small car. Then I switched to driving my '83 1T diesel van, and the intimidation factor disappeared, but I went from 45 MPG to 19 MPG and it just seemed silly to drive a 5,750 lb van to drag my ass to work and back every day. So I moved to Bellingham. Traffic was much more sedate there.

Nowadays, it's the headlights that bother me most for much of the year when it's dark to work and dark home. In my Aerostar, it's bad enough. In a compact car, it's much much worse.

I got all the friends I can handle right now anyway!

"A friend in need is a pest, indeed!"

The clutch job on that little beastie does not look like it would be a lot of fun to dig out. What way would you go? Motor out, tranny out, or just say screw it and yank both, or, do you even have a choice?

The FSM recommends, I think, to drop the trans, with the engine on a support, IIRC.

My first strategy is to avoid the issue. I can make a marginal clutch last a good, long time.

If it comes to really needing a clutch, I may scrap the car and take my losses. Unless I can find a better long block.

#41

How much to put pistons and liners in it? Ball park,,,,,,,,,,,, $1800 -$2500.00 complete? Perhaps less. ( that 2500 includes things that you will no doubt find once opened up). Can you buy something for that 2500.00 that will give you the fuel milage you will get with this, and you wont have to put 3 or 500 into anyway

You know what its like buying a car. Really dont matter what kind of shape it is when you get it you always have to add, fix, change, modify, etc. things. Then, just keep it and drive it till

#42

It's not that it can't be fixed, but there is no business case for fixing it.

I already own two other vehicles that don't require $1500 of parts plus a lot of time invested, to drive. The payoff in terms of fuel savings does not add up, unless I were to drive it for years -- something I can't face doing.

The idea of driving this thing is to save money. If I can't do that, I may as well drive the Aero (with all the amenities).

#43

BUT! The long, cold, wet, PNW winter is just around the corner and dont you need another project

. Something to occupy your time

Cant have you sitting around playing your PS3 all night

Got to keep your mind active

Your not getting any younger you know

Besides that you can photo it along the way and post it all here and think of the contribution you will be making

,,,,,,,,,,,, I jest of course

#44

On Friday afternoon I was speaking to the long time Nissan Tech/Service Manager/ (25+ yrs) now working for Jaguar guy. I mentioned about the CD17 and if he knew where one might be lying, perhaps under a tarp or something. He gave me a couple of leads and they did not pan out. I did ask him about the durability and longevity etc. of those little guys and he had all positive things to say about them and that they were in fact less trouble than the SD series. He did say however that there was one small weak spot that he recalled and that was the seal for the vacuum pump would die and fill the alt. up with oil. He recalled changing a number of those. Just an "FYI" in case you had not already run accross it yourself.

P

#45

In my LR160 thread, I mention that that seal must always be replaced when the rotor's been disturbed. I've only seen one with the seal leaking, but I'm told it's a common problem, esp. on high-miles units.

The housing has a weep hole in it. In the event of a seal failure, oil should not make it past the brg into the alternator -- the OEM brg has two rubber-like seals on its OD precisely for this event. The oil should run out the weep hole instead.

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Al Savage's 1983 Sentra 2D CD17

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