Oil Solenoid, and P06DA. Anyone have a pic?

[Mugzilla]

So, I disconnected the oil control solenoid. Oil pressure is ALWAYS 55 PSI. (Awesome). However, if make a hard acceleration, I get a check engine light. OBDII code is P06DA .

I can clear it, no problem.

QUESTION: Does anyone have a pic looking IN TO the wire that you unplug from the solenoid? If I had that, I can make a dummy load to plug in. (I'm going to use a generic $6 solenoid).

I would, but mine is off the lift, and already plastic baggied.

 

[Midz10]

A solenoid will have + & - to clos/open it. You can use a resistor in between too fool the ECU.

And can buy a used solenoid and just plug it in.

Cheap site for OEM parts.

https://www.amayama.com/en/part/nissan/15031bv82a

 

[Mugzilla]

Ordered. But it ended up $69 after fees. As long as it actuates, and doesn't throw the code, I'll be happy. Thank you.

 

[Bumflik]

I'll have mine unplugged next week by RT for the Turbo upgrades and power mods install.

 

[FSUZ33]

Does unplugging the solenoid, leaving it installed, and plugging the harness into a dummy solenoid work? …no lights?

I got a used solenoid from eBay. Glitter bomb, clearly from a trashed engine. It ohmed out at around 24.5 I believe. There’s a small plunger in it and when that plunger is pushed in it drops to 0 (basically shorted). I wonder if the ECU looks for that resistance change based on the oil pressure.

it could be as simple as shorting the pins on the harness, but I have no clue. Strangely interested in figuring it out, as I want to machine my own block off plug/plate.

 

[2Cool]

I unbolted the solenoid, installed a blank, and left the solenoid plugged in bagged and zip tied to a nearby bracket. No codes, good pressure.

 

[Drago86]

So, I bought a couple of these to play with and I think discovered something helpful.

I bought one of these:

Which is for a different Nissan but uses the same connector. I initially had the intention of harvesting the connector to wire up a 25 watt 20 ohm resistor I had bought to spoof the oil control solenoid, BUT upon dissasembly:

It turns out the coil is a nice compact, encapsulated package which is smaller and lighter than the soldered up resistor pack I wanted to make would be. It also has a nice hole down the middle for a zip tie. Problem solved! I think you could probably do this with an OEM oil control solenoid, but this cheap Chinese knockoff for an Altima has a very easy to pry open outer shell.


Edit: I forgot to mention it ohms out identical to the oem part.

 

[FSUZ33]

Feel free to respond to this with "Who cares?"...I can understand that response. Maybe there's one other person out there who wants to get to the bottom of this like me.

I haven't torn my ebay solenoid apart yet. I do know that when you push the center plunger it goes from 25 Ohms to 0 Ohms (shorted, not open). What that means?...I have no clue.

I'd really like to know how this thing works. More than "I did X and my oil pressure is always high now...Techa-na-logia!" Because I can't see oil pressure I'm hesitant to fiddle around with it without knowing what's going on mechanically and electrically.

- How do the center plunger and spring affect oil pressure in combination with the holes in the shaft? The plunger moves, and there's holes, so there has to be some function based on pressure on the plunger or electrical contril of the solenoid.
- Does the car have the ablity to open or close that plunger, or is it just monitoring resistance?
- How does just unplugging the solenoid and leaving it installed keep it the pressure high?
- Would an unplugged solenoid and a blockoff plug/plate have the same effect on oil pressure? The plug/plate block the holes, where they would still be there with the solenoid installed and unplugged. If the holes serve some purpose to keep pressure high why block them off?

It's quite the the conundrum.

 

[Drago86]

I haven't torn my ebay solenoid apart yet. I do know that when you push the center plunger it goes from 25 Ohms to 0 Ohms (shorted, not open). What that means?...I have no clue.

I haven't seen this behavior, both of mine (1 used from a Q60 Vr30, and the Altima one above) are always 20 ohms energized or not(I've actually used a test power supply to actuate them and they stay solid at ~8 watts, if they shorted, they would trip the power supply over current) .


I'll try to answer your other questions

Afaik they are just a pressure bypass solenoid controlled by the ECU. When the ECU energizes that coil it pulls the shaft of the solenoid out of the way, uncovering a path from the pressurized oil side of the oil pump back into the oil pan(ignore the second path/set of holes on the Altima one above, the Vr30 one just has one path/holes). The car ecu actively controls this and only sends power to the solenoid at low load and low rpm. My car seems to always disengage the solenoid at 4k rpm and above, or if I apply moderate throttle at any RPM.

Unplugging the solenoid but keeping it installed keep pressure always high because the ECU can no longer energize the solenoid to bypass pressurized oil into the pan. The solenoid defaults to closed so the pressure will always be "high". This is how all cars operated until this bypass system was created to save fuel at low load/rpm. The reason people want to plug something in after unplugging the solenoid that is in the block is that the ECU can sense that there is no longer any connection or load when it tries to energize the solenoid and throws a code/warning. You can stop this by just plugging in a spare solenoid, or even just the coil I show above from a solenoid and letting it dangle outside the engine(zip tie securely recommended). The ECU doesn't actually monitor the oil pressure change from the solenoid activating/deactivating (which is why when this solenoid sticks open, as has happened on many Q50/60's, your engine blows with no warning/code).


Here is a block-off plate: Pride Auto - VR30 Oil block off plate – VR KINGZ Performance
There are no holes in it because you are trying to prevent the oil from flowing into the solenoid and out the holes reducing pressure when activated. This does the same thing as unplugging your solenoid but physically can never open to allow oil to bypass(like if the spring were to break in the solenoid or something else unlikely).



I wouldn't say this is a mod you have to do if you're uncomfortable with it, it's more for peace of mind for those of us that are willing to sacrifice a few cruise MPG. Most of the solenoid failures happen at high mileage from getting clogged/gummed up, so you could also probably just replace it every ~50k miles, change your oil regularly and achieve the same piece of mind.



Except there is one extra thing I worry about but have no proof of. The oil pressure takes time to change from the bypass opening/closing even if it is a split second. It also does not happen simultaneously at every bearing in the motor (further bearings later) is there the chance with mods that we can outspool the oil pressure change and do bearing damage? Again, no proof at all of this, but I sleep better at night with my solenoid unplugged.

 

[Bumflik]

I'm getting mine unplugged. Race box recommended and RT Tuning is doing my build as we speak while the engine is dropped for turbos upgrade and power mods install. The tuner says they can eliminate any codes permanently and it won't affect my emissions and inspection with my State yearly tests. Thanks for sharing this valuable FYI! You Rock!

 

[Bumflik]

Tuned VR30DDTTs should do this! And have 2000 mile oil changes intervals especially if u using Flex fuel to reduce sludge (which can cause the oil Solenoid to become inoperable) and water in fuel.

 

[FSUZ33]

@Drago86
EXACTLY what I was looking for.
Thank You!

Guessing my 0 Ohm reading was the probes touching, not the solenoid.

Started making a blockoff, got the OD turned down to within 0.0005”, and someone removed it from the chuck. Chuck (3 jaw) is solid, but not repeatable, so no way to rechuck and machine the rest concentric within probably 0.0050”. Fortunately I have enough stock to give it another go…or two.

 

[Mugzilla]

Yes, @Drago86 stated some really good stuff. I'll copy/pasta what he said:

The oil pressure takes time to change from the bypass opening/closing even if it is a split second. It also does not happen simultaneously at every bearing in the motor (further bearings later) is there the chance with mods that we can outspool the oil pressure change and do bearing damage? Again, no proof at all of this, but I sleep better at night with my solenoid unplugged.





NOW, I will give this a try this weekend: 2 watt, 24 ohm resistors.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08QRCZNDN?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

NOW, I can't figure out where y'all are pushing on the solenoid to get it to actuate., then measure a resistance of ZERO in its BYPASS position. The end of the solenoid appears to be sealed. A solenoid is only a coil that, when energized, makes a magnetic field. (Remember as a kid wrapping a bare wire around a nail, putting each end of said wire to a 9 V battery, and picking up metal shavings? )

The wire terminals are really small, so these resistors should just push in. I'll give them a go, and report back.

 

[FSUZ33]

FYI for anyone trying this...
If you're going with the "plug the resistors directly into the terminals" thing, test fit and if they're pretty loose, fold the leads over on themselves and/or add a little solder to the leads to make them thicker. Solder's good here, regardless, but not everyone has a solder station in their shop/garage.
Many videos online make it seem like you can jam the leads into the terminals and call it a day, but depending on the terminals and thickness of the leads it's not always that simple.

 

[Drago86]

I just did this with only the brown colored encapsulated coil I extracted from the Altima solenoid posted above and can confirm no code and stable 57 PSI oil pressure at anything over ~2k rpm.

Also, fair warning for anyone doing this the plug is fragile and brittle even new. The tab part you press on to remove it broke off mine when I tried to press it to remove the plug. Getting it off after the tab broke did even more damage. Luckily the weathertight seal was not affected, and it still latches partially. I threw a zip tie around it just in case though.