Help ! what do I do next ?

[Brelen]

I am hoping someone can give me a bit of direction as to what to do next. I have a late 2002 Gu ZD30 which has nearly 300000 on the clock as has given me no grief on my 100km per day round trip to work. Twice over the last few months I have noticed soot on the drivers side of the engine bay. Thought I may have had an exhaust leak but stupidly have not investigated further. Anyway drove to Melb ( from Wodonga ) on Friday towing a small trailer and no dramas until stopped at a set of traffic lights and it started idling rough and fumes coming out of the bonnet scoop. Drove underpowered and bit smoky from exhaust. Couldn't see where the fumes were coming from and as we had some family do's travelled from place to place with still the same issues. Finally drove 40 minutes for our sleepover and the last part of the trip, car drove fine up and down hilly areas. Still idled rough but never looked like stalling. Next day read the manual and thought it may be EGR issues. Checked resistances on EGR valve and seems to be open circuited. Found no bolt in the top hole of the lower EGR pipe mounting. Found a bolt to do the job but suspected gasket blown out. Put it back together and still the same. Wanted safety of home and proper workshop ( instead of outside in rain and mud ) Drove home(#%@*ing myself ) but apart from idling rough didn't really have any dramas up and down hills or on freeway ( stayed at about 100k's max )with no extra fuel use ( worried it may be over fueling if turbo not getting the right exhaust gases.)Safely home and have taken EGR pipe off but where to go next. New EGR valve $400+ but is this the issue ?Inlet manifold very sooty so will take off and clean and do glow plugs as they need doing.
Sorry for the novel.

[the ferret]

My advice would be to do away with the EGR function all together mate, seeing as you have it off, clean it all up and fit a blanking plate at the top of the EGR pipe where it bolts to the inlet manifold.
There will be a few other small mods to do if you block the EGR.
The soot inside the inlet is due to EGR and PCV, and can lead to early engine failure.
Once you have cleaned the inlet, fit the blanking plate.
There is a heap of info here when you need it.

Next it would be nice if you went to the "introductions" thread and tell us a bit more about yourself and your rig.
Some pics even!
Cheers, the ferret.

[Rumcajs]

TBH I'm somewhat surprised that your ZD30 has passed 300K mark without grenading and what I gather from your post stock standard.:clapping:
If I were you no way I'd fork out $400+ for new EGR valve. If the EGR valve is stuck in the open position than idling would be affected. So I'd see if it is stuck open and than closed it manually (forcefully) than remounting it back but installing blanking shim in front of it and also at the top of the manifold. Easy to do just need a stainless steel plate to make it from yourself or if not that way inclined forum member Ferret sells them ready to go.
Possible issues arising from this mod would be the turbo overboosting which is easily fixed by fitting Dawes boost controller (http://www.3barracing.com/product_8.htm) and than setting it up to max boost of 14 psi. See excellent information howto connect and set it up from Chaz (http://www.chaz.yellowfoot.org/Manual%20Boost%20Controller.htm) you can use just Dawes and leave the engine ECU to do the rest.
Cheers

[Brelen]

Thanks for the quick replies. I suspected that this is what I need to do and it has been on my "should do" list for a while ( have the AKSNISS Ref. Doc. ver 2.1 ). Would anyone know someone in the Albury/Wodonga area that loves to do this stuff ( for cash ). I am a bit past my "working on cars days" although my 16 year old son is keen as and we both will do a project 4x4 for him soon( he can do all the dirty work- hehe). I used to be on here as Raider1 ( I think ) but it expired and I used to lurk around quite a bit and it is a fantastic site. Thanks once again and I will check Ferret's site out later today.

[Bigrig]

Thanks for the quick replies. I suspected that this is what I need to do and it has been on my "should do" list for a while ( have the AKSNISS Ref. Doc. ver 2.1 ). Would anyone know someone in the Albury/Wodonga area that loves to do this stuff ( for cash ). I am a bit past my "working on cars days" although my 16 year old son is keen as and we both will do a project 4x4 for him soon( he can do all the dirty work- hehe). I used to be on here as Raider1 ( I think ) but it expired and I used to lurk around quite a bit and it is a fantastic site. Thanks once again and I will check Ferret's site out later today.

Welcome back then old mate!!!!

[Brelen]

Just realised that I should have put this in the engine section so don't know if someone can move it. Anyway, spent the afternoon taking the inlet manifold off and what a career that was. Should have steam cleaned the motor first as there was black soot everywhere. Everthing is in the way of the mounting bolts, firstly had to remove the injector lines , wiring looms etc just to get access and then couldn't lift clear of the studs (one at each end for locating ) because there was a clamp for a pipe that seems to go from the back of the head to the block. Had removed the bolt but there must have been one further down and there was no play at all. Had to physically bend the clamp clear after calling the Japanese design engineers every name under the sun LoL . Would have left it but needed to get a look at the EGR valve to see if it is working. Will block the EGR at some stage but wont be able to get all the bits before I need to get to work this week. Also really wanted to clean all the crap out of the manifold. If the EGR valve is shagged can I block the EGR and get away with just a boost gauge and VNT screw adjustment until I get the other bits ? Thanks. ( Having a Bourbon at the moment and wondering if this was the worst job I have ever had after 30 years of 4wd's , rally cars and spanner boats.)

[NissanGQ4.2]

Just realised that I should have put this in the engine section so don't know if someone can move it.

All done mate, been moved to Mechanical, Engine and Drivetrain

Cheers

Todd