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Don't buy PYTHON fuel injectors! You'll be sorry (I am)


twoeightythreez

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Here's the story. It's not a Z but I do have a Z.

I bought a 95 Q45 a few months back, nice car. Had some minor issues, which got worse. I found out rats were liking the engine wiring.

So, I pull the plenum off, pull the lower runners off, pull the fuel rail and discover leaky fuel injectors.

I decide instead of sending mine out for cleaning, I'll just buy some reman ones. BIG MISTAKE.

I find out that the cheapest ones are from Python, at 80 bucks each.

The parts guy said they are good, so I decide, what the heck, I'll get 8 and have no worries.

I also order intake seals from infiniti (fel-pro only makes VH45 intake gaskets for 90-93) and such. Also new knock sensors, as mine were bad.

I spend the next day fixing the wiring, then wait for my parts, which take 3 days to arrive.

I put her together, after ohming the injectors and verifing that they are the correct high-impedance jobs.

Start her up, she's running on six. Didn't touch the plugs, coils, nothing.

Put a hose up and yup, cyl 3 and 4 are NOT FIRING.

Can't be the injectors, right? Check for voltage on the connectors, all good here. Plus, the MIL didn't light, so the resistance was still in spec.

I pull the plenum again, pull the offending pieces, and put voltage across them. No click. Darn.

Check resistance again. 11ohms, just like the other six. Hmm.

Ok, have to order 2 more. Take the old ones back on Monday (the base auto store is not open sat-sun)

and order 2 more. I have put the injectors from cyl 1 and 2 atop 3 and 4, and put the plenum back on, as it's a major pia and you can (barely) reach the fuel rail on 1 and 2cyl when it's all together.

Wednesday the replacement parts arrive.

I check them, seem good. Install them, hey hey! I'm actually on all 8!

I take her for a test drive....man this VH45 sure pulls around these 4300lb well...imagine this motor in a Z!

I go back , clean up my stall, go home. Park the car at my apt and go to bed.

Next morning, I get into the Q to go to the boat. Start her up, CEL comes on instantly and she's missing...bad.

Drive to work anyway. (maybe it'll go away....puhleeze!)

Go to the hobby shop and check injectors. Damn #3 isn't firing...again.

So, I meter it. 10 ohms. Probably the meter is out.

So, there you have it. Out of 8 injectors, 3 failed.

only a 43.5 or so failure rate, that's not so bad right?

Can't be, right? I check for pulse on the wire. Good pulse.

Plug it on another injector just to be sure, and it clicks.

So it is the freakin' injector. Again.

Damn pythons. should be called "boa constrictors" because they make me want to choke myself.

Geez.

I'm just trying to warn everyone. don't buy python injectors. Absolute crap.

It can't be improper installation. I went according to PYTHON's procedure, provided with the injectors. I might have messed up once but TEN TIMES? I don't think so.

Crap, crap, crap.

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Sounds like you've got pulling the plenum down now though.

 

Anyone know how much it would have been to get the stock ones rebuilt? Like say from RC?

 

A previous owner installed some cheapo injectors into a 280zx turbo harness that I picked up to put into my old orange 240ZT. Those things didn't even try to atomize the fuel, just strait streams, I replaced them with some OEM ones and it made the engine run much better.

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My ZXT came with 1 turbo injector, 2 280zx NA injectors, and 2 280z injectors, and 1 reman.

 

No wonder it ran like sh!t when I got it....

 

Went with factory nissan's off eBay, all of them working perfectly still (they were recalled 300zx early injectors, so relatively low miles).

 

Mario

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I priced factory Q45 injectors -$250 each

Bosch new $140 each

Bosch reman 125-each

Python-80 each

Beck-Arnley 110 each but they sent the wrong ones the first time (top feed) and then didn't list the galley-feed ones.

 

The Bosch were like a month backorder...

so I ordered the pythons.

In retrospect I should have waited the month and let the car sit---that's about how long it's been sitting now. (and I wouldn't have put about 40 manhours into it)

But....I do have the plenum removal down to a science. I can have it off and back on in one hour now.

 

I'm not knocking the car but man the parts for 'em are sooooo expensive :(

The intake gaskets for the lower runners- 35 each.

The rubber plenum gasket- 10.75 EACH. (you need 8)

The air flow meter is 640.00

The fuel pump is 250.00

One knock sensor is $60. The Vh45DE uses two. (and unlike the old L28ET knockers these go bad when the plastic case ages and cracks..guaranteed after 10 years)

So...there you have it...I have a nice 95 Q that I paid $3600 for and subsequently put over 1600 bucks into! In PARTS!

If a shop would have done the work (and the base shop wouldn't even touch it, so I did the work myself) you could add another 1500 for labor.

Ouch.

No wonder these cars that cost 56K new can be had for under 5K now.

Again, not to knock the vehicle. It has 170K miles on it and from what I've seen the inside of the motor (other than the rat's nest and faulty injectors/knock sensors) looks new.

For the one day it was running right, it drove like new and had TONS of power. Imagine this motor in, say, a 2800lb car! (it has a gvwr of nearly 5400lb...5-passengers at 150each and 150lb luggage+ almost 4300lb of car)

So, once these GREMLINS are chased away I should be cruisin in comfort.

Hopefully I'll have her fixed within the week (I have to wait for another backordered python craptor to come in) so I can start on the Z car.

Z is going turbo, finally doing something engine related after owning and driving for over 3 years! NA L28's truly are unbreakable (barring doing stupid stuff like driving without water or oil) Maybe the motor swap will convince it to quit smoking? :)

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More VH45DE notes:

Galley-feed super-expensive fuel injectors (nothing a custom fuel rail won't solve)

Take the "bundle of snakes" upper plenum off and you see.....INDIVIDUAL intake runners (anyone wanna fab a tunnel ram with a roots on top?)

Said intake runners are HUGE (about 2" diameter, I'm not kiddin) and SMOOTH

with very few bends

Injectors fire straight at the valves, and the port goes STRAIGHT down to the bores

On L/H cyl. head there is a block off plate that looks suspiciously like a dizzy block-off (the bolts are bigger but looks like a nissan dizzy would mount there? hmm)

A Cam Position sensor on each head (kinda set up like two I-4's) Two megasquirts maybe?

Huge, 75mm or larger TB with a TPS eeirily similar to the one used on a stock S30 FI car...hmm...

IAC on back of snake plenum has an easily adjustable idle bypass screw

And I've read engine weight is within 10lb of an L28! Sweet!

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  • 4 months later...
Guest anlasak
More VH45DE notes:

.......On L/H cyl. head there is a block off plate that looks suspiciously like a dizzy block-off....

 

Are you referring to the chain tensioner?

 

 

More VH45DE notes:

.......A Cam Position sensor on each head ....

 

No.

CAS and sub-CAS are built into the same housing and there is only 1.

 

I think you might be mistaking the VTC Solenoids for something else.

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I had a 91 Q45, and I was going to put the engine in a Z and was following the threads on the process. I run a Mercedes, Bmw etc, shop and can get all parts for about 60% of what other people pay. I still refused to be hijacked by the parts prices so I gave the car to my 18 year old son and he is playing with it, as you can see by the picture on the link below, until it dies. Fabulous engine, outrageous prices and my 50 year old mechanics hate to work on it because everything is so hard to get to. It was also the best driving, running car I ever had. By the way, the front mud flap moldings (with the actual flap part removed) are painted and back on now. He had a low budget, so he prepped the car himself and had it sprayed at a cheap Econopaint shop, (with his mom and I sanding, cleaning and taping also). Good training. The car runs perfect and as stock except for bypassed heater control valve. The interior is the best part.

 

Purists, be warned !

 

http://album.hybridz.org/showphoto.php?photo=6754&cat=500&ppuser=12852

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Guest anlasak
I had a 91 Q45, and I was going to put the engine in a Z and was following the threads on the process. I run a Mercedes, Bmw etc, shop and can get all parts for about 60% of what other people pay. I still refused to be hijacked by the parts prices so I gave the car to my 18 year old son and he is playing with it, as you can see by the picture on the link below, until it dies. Fabulous engine, outrageous prices and my 50 year old mechanics hate to work on it because everything is so hard to get to. It was also the best driving, running car I ever had. By the way, the front mud flap moldings (with the actual flap part removed) are painted and back on now. He had a low budget, so he prepped the car himself and had it sprayed at a cheap Econopaint shop, (with his mom and I sanding, cleaning and taping also). Good training. The car runs perfect and as stock except for bypassed heater control valve. The interior is the best part.

 

Purists, be warned !

 

http://album.hybridz.org/showphoto.php?photo=6754&cat=500&ppuser=12852

 

 

Nice.

 

I've seen that Q posted over at NICO.

 

(I can't say that I'm a purist since I threw the idea of recessing the front & rear bumpers on the G50 into a thread on NICO a while back)

 

While its not my preferred style, the paintwork isn't in bad taste and its not black & pink with fishbowls in the headrest. :)

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  • 3 weeks later...

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