Nissan Skyline Engine Problems

THERE is a lot of information about the effect of ethanol blend fuels on engines, but don't expect carmakers to come out and say their engines will run on it. Think about it. Your car is 20 years old and never developed for ethanol, so Nissan has no info on what might happen. As a result they will never tell you it can run on ethanol because that leaves them open to litigation if it turns out there is a problem. Ultimately it comes down to the concentration of ethanol in the blend, and most blends on sale now are 10 per cent, which won't cause any problems. The higher the percentage, the greater the chance of having problems with fuel system hoses, seals, pumps et cetera.

THE R31 Skyline is robust and generally reliable once you've become used to the howling diff. I'd suggest you test for leaks from cylinder to cylinder and from each cylinder to the water jacket. It could be a head gasket leak.

There are two ways of setting your car up to run on e85. One, the cheaper one, sees it tuned to run on e85 exclusively, in which case I don't believe it would actually run on 98-octane. The other, more expensive one is to fit a flex-fuel system, which is able to detect what fuel is being used and adjust the tuning accordingly to run on either fuel. The latter system requires the use of a sensor, the same used by GM in its flex-fuel cars, and an ECM to control it. That your car will run on 98-octane fuel leads me to believe that it could be fitted with a flex-fuel system. If it is there  is no danger in running your car on either fuel. To check take it to a mechanic with experience in Skylines and they should be able to tell you what has been fitted to your car.
 

You need to be strategic with problems like this one, and not just throw new parts at the car which may or may not fix it.

That means the first thing to do is electronically scan the car to see if the on-board computer knows what’s wrong. Hopefully this information will lead you to either the ignition or fuel system and, from there, you can home in on the fault.

Ignition-wise, you may have a computer, wiring, spark plug issue or about a thousand other things on a modern, electronically-controlled car like this one. If the fuel system's at fault, you need to check things like the filter and fuel pump delivery pressure and volume and even the age of the fuel. Modern fuel doesn’t like to sit around for any length of time, and many’s the car that has been sidelined through petrol that has lost its mojo.

While the G35 Skyline is not a common car on Australian roads, its driveline is pretty well understood. Even so, finding a workshop that specialises in this make and model would be a good idea.

They can be converted successfully using a vapour-injection system, or better still, a more up-to-date liquid injection system. Both will deliver top performance, but the liquid-injection system will deliver the best performance. Finding a kit is a little difficult, the demand for them isn't high, so no one to my knowledge has taken the trouble to develop one, but the guys at the Australian LPG Warehouse (03 9770 2287) can develop a kit for you and it won't cost you any extra.