Nightmare diagnosing n54

BMSTATION

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May 9, 2018
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@BMSTATION:

Again, you do realize that condensation will happen on any cold surface when exposed to hot environments? If you put those screwdrivers into a heated oven, it would do the very same thing in the same amount of time. Your logic/reasoning for this test that you devised is not based on verifiable incontrovertible cause and effect. That is to say, condensation on a cold surface will happen regardless of whether or not you place it in the hole or next to the hot engine. And your explanation is incomplete, unsound and illogical.

You asked the person to stick the driver into an open spark plug hole - which means the car is not running. no steam, no exhaust, no spark plugs, no engine running. Finally, leaking oil or coolant has nothing to do with condensation, and what do you think is worse? The leaks on a head gasket or the giant park plug hole that you asked the person to stick the screw driver into?

I don't usually address people negatively initially, but you sir, are wasting people's time who need genuine help. And you will cause catastrophic damage if they follow your incoherent advice. I find your post offensive to any person with a mind and passed high school physics.

Now if you want to properly explain something that I missed in a rational and scientific way...please do so and I will stand corrected. But if you have nothing else besides this "bro-science" and you hunch, then you don't need to go any further.
First of all im very sorry to write this up here to all other members
:) honestly with this attitude Sir I really dont feel like explaining this to you @matreyia..obviously you haven't tried it, this will be my last message on this forum, no F!%#@N appreciation at all, and why is my post offensive to you??
You could just post saying please explain rather than being a jerk, Im trying to help the guy out and your saying i dont make sense and could cause damage to the motor? HOW? I think you need help buddy, people like you sitting on the computer writing up your life story teasing other people's post!
That's fine, have you resolved his car? NO
So shut your F%&$#N mouth and help the guy out rather than being a drama queen, forums are for helping and sharing other people's thoughts not for bitchN

I'm truely sorry @Msport335 for this

For me to crack a 9.7 world record N54 I think i know what im doing


Please report this post, i wanted to be deleted off this forum
 
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matreyia

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Apr 19, 2017
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First of all im very sorry to write this up here to all other members
:) honestly with this attitude Sir I really dont feel like explaining this to you @matreyia..obviously you haven't tried it, this will be my last message on this forum, no F!%#@N appreciation at all, and why is my post offensive to you??
You could just post saying please explain rather than being a jerk, Im trying to help the guy out and your saying i dont make sense and could cause damage to the motor? HOW? I think you need help buddy, people like you sitting on the computer writing up your life story teasing other people's post!
That's fine, have you resolved his car? NO
So shut your F%&$#N mouth and help the guy out rather than being a drama queen, forums are for helping and sharing other people's thoughts not for bitchN

I'm truely sorry @Msport335 for this

For me to crack a 9.7 world record N54 I think i know what im doing


Please report this post, i wanted to be deleted off this forum

So you won't explain how your method is supposed to help him or anyone. OK. I am glad you got your profanity out of your system. Please know that if you don't explain where you got your method or how it is supposed to help, then people will be skeptical, especially those who work on these cars.

Even in my questioning to you, I described reasons that are verifiable via science. You have not explained anything to anyone yet.

Good day sir.
 
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fmorelli

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Have 6x long screw drivers inside your freezer, Warm the car up to normal temps make sure you coolant pipes are hard, take out your spark plugs immediately and get your screw drivers and insert them inside your spark plug holes, count approx 15 seconds and start lifting one by one, if you see condensation on one or more screw drivers that will be head gasket otherwise next step...
Assuming this works for a coolant side gasket failure, what if the gasket is blown between cylinders only? Last head gasket I did failed between two cylinders.

Congrats on the 9.7s quarter.

You are offering a piece of advice I doubt anyone here has ever heard of. And in the face of conventional ways to determine a blown head gasket. Why would it surprise you that people are asking how it works? Why would you surprised that others are miffed by this advice in the face of well-known diagnostic solutions? Or even poke fun - freezing six screwdrivers and shoving them down spark plug shafts doesn't seem to be the slightest bit off the beaten path to you?

I figured you'd reply and explain how it works, since none of us here know or are able to explain it with what we do know.

Unless one has 6 carburetor screwdrivers (I have 4, and I'm pretty sure the number of people here with 4 or more carburetor screwdrivers can be counted on one hand with fingers remaining) I would not be shoving conventional screwdrivers down a ~4" shaft, handle and all. Do we tie a string to them so we can pull them back out?

Filippo
 
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matreyia

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Assuming this works for a coolant side gasket failure, what if the gasket is blown between cylinders only? Last head gasket I did failed between two cylinders.

Congrats on the 9.7s quarter.

You are offering a piece of advice I doubt anyone here has ever heard of. And in the face of conventional ways to determine a blown head gasket. Why would it surprise you that people are asking how it works? Why would you surprised that others are miffed by this advice in the face of well-known diagnostic solutions? Or even poke fun - freezing six screwdrivers and shoving them down spark plug shafts doesn't seem to be the slightest bit off the beaten path to you?

I figured you'd reply and explain how it works, since none of us here know or are able to explain it with what we do know.

Unless one has 6 carburetor screwdrivers (I have 4, and I'm pretty sure the number of people here with 4 or more carburetor screwdrivers can be counted on one hand with fingers remaining) I would not be shoving conventional screwdrivers down a ~4" shaft, handle and all. Do we tie a string to them so we can pull them back out?

Filippo

It was not the strangeness of his advice that offended me, it was the strangeness and the lack of explanation in the face of common scientific laws. I mean, engine off... stick cold screw drivers into gaping holes to test for condensation??? WTF?
 

NoQuarter

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I can see this working. I don't have any conflicts with science here. If one cylinder has more moisture in it than the others it is a clue in the diagnosis process. Maybe it is conclusive, maybe not.

If one does only this in diagnosing a possible blown head gasket then they are already going to screw up whatever they are working on.
 

matreyia

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I can see this working. I don't have any conflicts with science here. If one cylinder has more moisture in it than the others it is a clue in the diagnosis process. Maybe it is conclusive, maybe not.

If one does only this in diagnosing a possible blown head gasket then they are already going to screw up whatever they are working on.

If you start your engine and warm it up, there will be no moisture inside any of the cylinders at all because of high temps. You will however, get false indications because if you stick anything frozen inside the hot hole and it is going to have condensation, especially since the screwdriver won't seal the sparkplug hole completely and the outside air will coalesce around the cold metal of the screwdriver. This will lead the user to all kinds of wrong diagnosis.

If you stick a frozen screwdriver inside a room temperature hole, it will have condensation, let alone a super warm environment. Furthermore, his description, "really quick" means absolutely nothing since that is not a unit of measurement in any way. Really quick like in ten seconds? in a minute??? You see where this is going?

I am waiting for an explanation, one that apparently will not come from the commenter...because he doesn't have time for stupid people like me who need explanations.
 

fmorelli

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I can see this working. I don't have any conflicts with science here. If one cylinder has more moisture in it than the others it is a clue in the diagnosis process. Maybe it is conclusive, maybe not.
I'm probably more miffed by relative humidity's relationship to this test. I deal with that issue a lot, building guitars. I've actually tuned hygrometers. I simply don't understand how the RH (which can be 5% in New Mexico in the winter, 75% on a typical Virginia morning) plays no part in an ambient test which involves condensate and temperature differentiation.
If one does only this in diagnosing a possible blown head gasket then they are already going to screw up whatever they are working on.
Which is why a coolant pressure test also will not tell one conclusively, whether there is a head gasket failure.

Filippo
 
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Msport335

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Jun 7, 2018
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@Msport335 Did you get your car running ok?

think i figured out what the main issue with light throttle stuttering was. the prometh nozzle i had does not have a built in check valve like my aem nozzle does and believe it was sucking in meth under vacuum. swapped my arm nozzle back in for now and she runs fine however still have slight stumbles during cold starts but running much better than before.
 
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kayzrx82

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Apr 4, 2018
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think i figured out what the main issue with light throttle stuttering was. the prometh nozzle i had does not have a built in check valve like my aem nozzle does and believe it was sucking in meth under vacuum. swapped my arm nozzle back in for now and she runs fine however still have slight stumbles during cold starts but running much better than before.

Good to hear it wasn't anything serious.
 

kayzrx82

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Still get the odd cyl 6 misfire at 6500rpm

I would try a compression and leak down test just to be sure that cylinder 6 is healthy. Also the gap your running .018 is on the low side. I would try 0.022. The dual mass flywheel can cause high rpm misfires but they generally don't stick to one cylinder.
 

fmorelli

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I had the same issue with my car . Injectors were fine, new coils with new plugs. Mine turned out to be a loose ground on the harness that screws onto the post that secures the valve cover. Go over the grounds in that area with and ohm meter and make sure they are connected right. Then use an ohm meter and check the grounds to the pins of the injectors and coils. 2 other cars I worked on had similar issues with rough idle and misfires that were due to connection issues.
I need to go check those grounds. Thanks for posting this. I'll probably give them a dab of blue Loc-tite for good measure!

Filippo
 

335iN54

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Sep 4, 2021
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Need everyone's tuning expertise ! Brand new index12s , plugs , coils and 4 new o2's and still getting rough cold starts which feel like small misfires...like wtf

Now getting 2c3d and 2caa codes....everything is new just days old

Help is greatly appreciated
Did you fix this issue?
 

Msport335

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Jun 7, 2018
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haven't had misfires in a while now but just yesterday rain into something new.

The car now idles rough and if I open the oil cap its puffing white smoke. also some white smoke coming out of the BMS catch can output side which I vent to air. The car still pulls hard though and no codes. I did notice after a few hard pulls that some oil came out of the VTA hose off the catch can. Is this likely internal motor damage or something to do with a faulty valve cover / PCV ?
cylinder 3 & 6 plugs are wet as well and I don't think its fuel.
 

Msport335

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If it was a cracked plug wouldn't it throw misfire? The rough idle is also not from a bad injector... it sounds like its got a high lift/duration cam in it now