VVT Camshaft Sprocket Phaser check
 

Short story:
Car had been throwing a P0300 for a week.
Replaced the spark plugs.
Car was apparently low on oil from the last oil change at the service center.
Less than a quart in the pan.
(I didn't think to check based on my service intervals)
3750 miles between oil changes. The car was ready for an oil change.

With low oil, Cold start and on the way to work car made a loud clicking sound for 10secs and then went into bad misfire limp mode. (one block from the house)

Fast forward to today.

I think I have a bad VVT Cam Sprocket phaser.
Is there any way to check one?
Two tests that Torque lists has one at 4deg and the other at 16deg.
I'm assuming these are the cam angles but I don't have a Consult.

MID: $35 TID: $80
Min:-13deg Max 13deg
Current: 16deg
Not OK

MID: $36 TID: $80
Min:-13deg Max 13deg
Current: 4deg
OK

I unplugged both of the VVT solenoids and it stills runs the same with the same codes. P0011, P0300. And it runs like terrible. Limp mode, misfire, stench of gas.

I did an oil change.
Added an oil pressure gauge. (Good oil pressure)
Replaced both Camshaft Sensors.
Took off the 2 Camshaft sprocket covers & Checked Timing. (Good)
No signs of blown Galley gasket.

You said you had less than a quart of oil in the pan. If so, that engine is done. Run a compression test on all cylinders and tell us what you see.

Need to check the operation of the phaser. You can command it to a specific degree with a scan tool. If the phaser doesn't work when being commanded its either the cam phaser solenoid or the phaser. You can check for the pulse width signal from the PCM at solenoid just to make sure they are being commanded.

More the likely the phaser is toasted from the lack of lubricant. They are usually the weakest link in the motor for when the engine is starving.

What scan tool do I need to get that can command the phasers?

So the plot thickens!!!!

Compression check is good. 225psi.

I have been resetting the ECU at the beginning of every test I do.
Still getting P0011 & P0300/P0306 codes and going into limp mode right away if I rev the engine.
So I dive into checking cylinder 6 coil and spark plug. NOTHING. NO SPARK AT ALL. I pull the coil and plug from cylinder 4 and test it on cylinder 4 wire and it sparks. I put the coil and plug on the wire to cylinder 6 and crank. NOTHING.

So now my mind is blown. Apparently my oil wasn't low enough to damage anything. My misfires started a few weeks back and now this. I think I have an electrical problem not a mechanical or sensor problem. Now to check for open circuits.

This all sounds like the same problems many have had in the past that have been unsuccessfully diagnosed or fixed like in this thread: http://www.the370z.com/nissan-370z-w...ng-anyone.html

I dusted off the scope and I'm going to dive in to the wiring.

To Be Continued........

Good deal, sounds like the engine is fine. Wiring is the next place to look. Sounds like you may have broken wire in the harness. It happens.

So all of that unburned gas diluted the engine oil which means a lot could evaporate via engine heat. All of that raw fuel into cylinder six would compromise the seal that the oil rings could give you and further accelerate blow by. You might want to check the no. 6 plug as it may be wet, oil soaked or fouled so replace it to not have trouble later. Hopefully no other damage occurred and maybe check pcv for excess blow by as well.
Lastly no offense but high performance engines should by checked often such as every other fill up to keep oil level as close to full as possible which will add tens of thousands of miles to your engine life.
Good luck on your findings.

So I found some interesting information while researching the dreaded P0011 DTC.
In the FSM EM-107 step 5 of the Inspection of Camshaft Sprocket (INT) Oil Groove, it mentions that there is an oil filter for the CVT grooves.
This is the one and only mention of it that I can find anywhere in the FSM.
Now this really sheds some light on the blown gally gasket issue!!
Think about, if the CVT filter gets clogged and the engine (oil pump) is trying to pump 100+psi oil through the gally, there is only one other place to go.
Blow out the weak gally gasket!!!
Sounds like a poor design to hide an oil filter behind the CVT covers.
The worst part is that you have to remove all of the belt driven accessories and brackets on the side of bank 1 to remove it's cover.
Either way, I think it's an important step in troubleshooting the P0011 DTC that I have not seen anybody do.
Therefor I will be doing this test next along with checking the CVT solenoids signal and Ground wires.

Any updates to your situation?

My 2010 just threw a P0011 code and I limped home. Oil was low just like you. Got an oil change and checked the oil pressure (fine - 18psi @ 175F). Changed the VVT intake solenoids. Problems remains. Going to change out the camshaft and maybe the crankshaft sensors. Tested power to the VVT solenoid sensors and they were fine. I guess I should check power to the camshaft sensors and crankshaft sensors next.

Hopefully its not a plugged oil filter or galley and just the sensors. Electrical or ECM is another possibility.

18 psi at an idle is low. Most are around 35 psi. Your galley gaskets might be leaking.

You're scaring me man. The service manual says idle oil pressure minimum is 98 kpa or about 14 psi and at 2000 rpm it's min. 42 psi at 176F.

Maybe you have your guage at a different spot but I hooked a pressure guage tester to the stock low oil pressure sensor that's tapped to the pan near the oil temp sensor.

The gallery gasket issue is in the back of my mind though. I hope it's not this dreaded issue.

According to my tuner, anything above 15 psi at idle when warmed up is fine

Mine is in the same spot as yours's.

If you don't have extra sensors already or want to check the timing without opening the timing covers, I figured out a way to debug with a cheap scope (~$100 on amazon), see: http://www.the370z.com/3894847-post5.html tldr I did have a bad cam phaser and got it all fixed.

PM me if you need any help

Thanks, I'll look into this. I replaced the cam sensors, same P0011 code. I have a replacement crankshaft sensor, don't know if I should just go ahead and replace that.

I'm not looking forward to all the engine work. I'm probably going to take it into Nissan for them to check it out first. All of this because I didn't check the engine oil for a few weeks.