LA_phantom_240

Well im oficially going to kill my 240, if its not 100% dead already. Listen to this crock of ****. For the past month or so, my 240 has been running fine, cept timing chain rattle. Pulls strong, doesnt overheat and what not. Well 2 days ago me and 4 of my friends pile into my 240 (yeah we just about doubled the weight limit) and take a ride to a car show... well as i park, theres a storm drain that is almost like a dome, about 6 inches tall, and it scrapes the bottom of my 240... no biggie, just messed with my exhaust hanger and made a dent in the gas tank bout 1 inch by 1 inch by about an 1/8in deep. Looked underneath the front of the car to check the oil pan and radiator for leaks/dents and there were none to be found, and so i drove it for another couple days till today. No coolant leaks in the driveway or anything like that. SO this morning i go to check my schedule at pizza hut (where i deliver) and she runs fine, no sputters, misses or overheating. About an hour later i leave to go to where my dad works so i can pick up some parts to be delivered. Well i stop at the light right before the interstate and she dies. Seemed like a typical 240 low idle/decelerating idle problem... which mine has. So, it took a second to start, which seemed odd to me, and headed to the interstate. She pulled fine and dint die between shifts or anything, but when i took the offramp (which is almost cloverleaf style) i stuck it in neutral, and she died... so i clutch kick it back to life, and when i push the clutch in she dies....so at this point im like wtf.. .look at my gas gauge---fine Temp---Fine, no dummy lights, so i figure that again its low idle crap. Well i make it to the shop, about 3 blocks away, and pop the hood to discover chocolate foam spewing from my pcv valve on my valve cover... joy. And no coolant left... also joy! now where the hell did my coolant go? well through the oil and out of my valve cover (which isnt hooked to my intake at the moment thank god, cuz the hose is cracked). I just dont understand why my damn headgasket blew so suddenly or if my head is cracked... which i fear, because as i inspected the projectile exorcist style spewing of the choco-foam motor i noticed what looked like boiling moasses somewhere around the no 1 and 2 intake runners where they meet the head....so **** me in the goat ***. First the timing, then other crap, then this? **** on toast. What should i do? tear apart and find out whats wrong with the KA and repair it? Or try to save for an rb20 or ca18 swap and part out what i can on the KA? Mind you this is MY only car...

Oh yeah and for the rest of my story. So i fill up the radiator (probably a stupid move) once the motor is cool enough to touch, hoping to get it home... when it starts to rain.. not just rain, but storm... like a godly act of spite, soaking me and my interior. So i start er up, the tmp gauge reading on the first line from the bottom, thinking itll be okay till i get home (not far away) and i turn onto the next road from the parking lot, only to make it about 100 feet. Shifted first, second, third all at about 2000 rpm, then at about 35-40 mph, she lost all power. So i downshifted, hoping to get it to move a bit further to the gas station about 400 feet up the road, and she just doesnt want to go. So i steer her toward the side of the road, which has no shoulder, just a ditch, and get the front pass. tire stuck in the mud. Great. So i get my friend david, who was riding with me to help me puch it, and its no use. The rain is coming down like ive never been in before. Im soaked... fresh cigarettes, ruined; Motorola Razr, drenched; wallet, soaked; day, ****ed. SO yeah... **** my 240.. kicked the **** out of it a few times and walked away... hoping someone would hit it by accident and have it blow up into a fireball and get it out of my hair...

MS!3

iTrader: (1)

that sucks. a friend of mine has a similar problem with his 240 and we cant figure out if it a blown head gasket or cracked head. if you take the head out yourself the intake manifold is gonna be a pain to get out, lol. good luck with it tho.

zenkislider

damn that really sucks=((

re037

if i were you id get a used ka but if you dont worry about smog and willing to spend the xtra dough, sr20

LA_phantom_240

bah i dont want an sr... everyone has it and theres a few things about it i cant stand... ca all the way.. or rb

Ill probably end up getting another KA for the time being... sux like hell...

zenkislider

lol i here what your saying...i would go with the CA mrahhhh i just like them for some reason lol.

BigVinnie

iTrader: (2)

Sounds like the timing chain ate through the front cover. Very possible since guides were never replaced. Coolant leaks into the oil pan. Idle dies from hydrostatic locking.

LA_phantom_240

...what? can you explain that in a little more detail? so because i didnt fix the lower timing chain, it ate through part of the motor and killed it? How would that explain oil in the radiator when i filled it back up... and wouldnt i have seen some sort of smoke or something in the exhaust?

MS!3

iTrader: (1)

your supposed to replace the guides?. i thought you just take em out.

LA_phantom_240

youre supposed to replace the lower guides if they are worn out.

BigVinnie

iTrader: (2)

Yes. The chain has to much slack and eats through the cover between were the coolant passage is. Allowing water from the coolant passage to run into the oil pan. I bet you if you drain your oil, there will be a shiat load of water in it. I use to get the problem alot more with the napsz 2.4 engines than the ka engines. The naps z engines only used one tensioner and no guides, and were to be replaced every 100,000 miles. Technically in theory people have felt that the KA timing chains would never need replacement due to being dual rowed timing chains, this is false. Guides, tensioners and chains should still be changed at the recomended 100,000miles. If your guides were never changed I know that the tensioners had never been replaced, just shows that it had all been ignored since entire timing assembly should be replaced.
It could also be possible that the head was warped and leaking, but if that was the case you wouldn't get any power, and you wiould see coolant dripping from the head and gasket.
You could fix your ka by replacing the chain assembly and getting a new front cover, although the wear and tear from water on the piston rings probably dropped your compression.

LA_phantom_240

Yep... sounds like what happened to the rings... though if water were to get into the oil, could that water theoretically cause my head to warp?

LA_phantom_240

Okay, BigVin i have a question for you, being the god of the KA. Do you think it would be a rebuildable motor? Or is it shot to hell. Also, if i were to rebuild it, do you think that i should go with lower comp pistons and your basic rebuild-for-turbo parts, like forged rods (not sure if the kas has em stock) and such? Because i WANT a turbo motor, but im wondering if at this point (being broke and all) if it would be in my best interest to rebuild the motor and turbo it when i have the money, or just borrow the money to drop an rb20 or ca18 in there right now?

BigVinnie

iTrader: (2)

Well with the way prices in gas are heading these days I would just do high compression. My V6 Nissan Murano gets better gas mileage than my 240sx KA24de 4 banger. My murano has a 10.0:1 CR same as the 350z and gets an estimated 27MPG freeway with it's automatic CVT transmission.
You can clover leaf weld the head by taking it into a reputable head shop and reuse all stock internals(just get new rings, and bearings, and of corse a timing chain kit), or you can get arias pistons in 10.5:1 pistons for under $400 I believe. You can keep the rods stock. if you want to spens like $50 more on some great quality pistons i would get some super tech pistons.
Then all you would need to do is upgrade the injection, you can still use the stock tune and I would use 300cc injectors. thats good to go for 200Crank Horse power without bolt on's.
Turbo charging is getting much to expensive and after market parts are getting more expensive as well.
But to make a long story short your block is rebuildable.

LA_phantom_240

...yeah i guess it IS rebuildable, BUT the only problem i have with that is i dont have the necessary equipment at my disposal anymore... My garage is messy as hell and full of stuff, so i cant do it there. THAT and ive been looking at prices for different stuff to rebuild my motor for high CR and its looking to be about as expensive (if not more than) as the cost of a decent CA18.