cd17 help please! im dying

CD-powered vehicles, specifically the Sentra, but also retrofits and swaps.

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whiteghost
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Joined: 9 years ago

cd17 help please! im dying

#1

Post by whiteghost »

Sooo. I see there are a few people with some Sentras on here. Hoping to get a little input if possible. I got a 83 sentra and man have I been scratching my head on this one. She started running a bit funny a while ago. Like a sporadic misfire. Then it's starting to just loose power altogether. Acting like it's starving for fuel or having air sucked into system. I've checked entire fuel line including tube in tank and new filter. I'm heading towards a possible pump problem or even a simple tps sensor. Not sure how much coolant temp could make them act up either. Anyways if anyone has ideas I would love to hear them. Thanks
plenzen
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Location: Cochrane Alberta Canada

Re: cd17 help please! im dying

#2

Post by plenzen »

Al might be able to answer some of your questions but he does not come on here all that much. He does however respond to PM's when he gets a chance.

maybe reach out to him in a pm for some ideas.

Hes our main admin/site guru as well

Hes at the top of the list on the link below.

http://nissandiesel.dyndns.org/memberlist.php

P
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Problem with being retired is that you never get a day off.
1987 D21-J SD25 KC
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asavage
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Re: cd17 help please! im dying

#3

Post by asavage »

TPS will not do a thing to affect running on this vehicle, it's only for the EGR controller, and EGR has very little effect on the CD17, working or not.

The VE-style IPs do wear out, but they typically manifest problems in a couple of ways for a long time, before giving noticeable driveability issues: black smoke, reduced mileage, and fuel leaks.

The internal lift pump wears out. The affects more than just getting fuel from the tank, it's a vital component of the injection advancing mechanism. So, as it wears it continues to pull fuel from the tank and through the filter, but fails to provide housing pressurization sufficient to advance the timing: black smoke.

Some amusing fuel system tales.

Good reading on this topic (read to the end of the thread, too).

If you have surging, I'd say it's a good bet that you are pulling air. Clear tubing spliced into the feed and return lines for visual indication of air bubbles. If no bubbles found, plumb a vacuum gauge to a tee on the line between the filter and the IP, and duct-tape it to the windshield, go drive. You should never see any significant vacuum on that line (ie less than 2").
Regards,
Al S.

1982 Maxima diesel wagon, 2nd & 4th owner, 165k miles, rusty & burgundy/grey. Purchased 1996, SOLD 16Feb10
1983 Maxima diesel wagon, 199k miles, rusty, light yellow/light brown. SOLD 14Jul07
1981 720 SD22 (scrapped 04Sep07)
1983 Sentra CD17, 255k, bought 06Jul08, gave it away 22Jun10.
whiteghost
Posts: 3
Joined: 9 years ago

Re: cd17 help please! im dying

#4

Post by whiteghost »

Ok I'll check all that asap. I can tell you though it is at its worst going up a steady long incline.
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asavage
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Re: cd17 help please! im dying

#5

Post by asavage »

The vacuum gauge, teed in between the fuel filter and the IP, will be an important diagnostic. If it idles well (esp in the first couple of minutes after starting) but loses power under load, it's probably not a lift pump issue. The vacuum gauge might show that it's pulling hard through a plugged filter, kinked line, plugged fuel tank pickup, or my favorite: plugged tank vent.

The clear tubing is to check for a small hole in a fuel line letting air in. There's a tale on that topic in one of those links I provided (ie it happened to me).
Regards,
Al S.

1982 Maxima diesel wagon, 2nd & 4th owner, 165k miles, rusty & burgundy/grey. Purchased 1996, SOLD 16Feb10
1983 Maxima diesel wagon, 199k miles, rusty, light yellow/light brown. SOLD 14Jul07
1981 720 SD22 (scrapped 04Sep07)
1983 Sentra CD17, 255k, bought 06Jul08, gave it away 22Jun10.
whiteghost
Posts: 3
Joined: 9 years ago

Re: cd17 help please! im dying

#6

Post by whiteghost »

Ok! Well I got it all hooked up! Started great. Just like normal. I noticed the primer pump was not working as I remembered, I did replace that recently. Anyways, watching the vacuum gauge slowly drop all the way to 9" .still seemed to run just fine but I figured that's the issue. Shut it off, swapped the setup straight to the supply line and bingo! Only about 1.5" . Immediately I noticed some rust slowly working through the line. Shut it off and took off the entire fuel filter housing. I check the outlet port was clear. Inlet however, seems pretty difficult to blow through. Looking in there it looks like the primer cup has a bunch of rust stuck in it and may be blocking the inlet to filter. I will go blow it out really good with air tomorrow and recheck. Thinking back, this entire situation started when I ran it very scary low on fuel. So I way have to clean out the tank too. Hopefully I'll have her back on the pavement in no time!
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