1990 s13 sohc black smoke from exhaust! help!

[drift_nismo240]

hey guys im new to the forums, but if you guys could help that would be awesome! well first off the motor is an sohc with 114,000 miles and whenever i start to get on it a bunch of black smoke starts pouring out of the exhaust. im pretty sure its burning oil. oh yeah and my cam gear felt like spinning its self out so im buying a new head on monday. i used the search button but couldnt find much. please and thank you for the help.

[zachattack_5491]

Usually, black smoke is running rich, blue smoke is oil, white smoke is burning coolant. You are probably burning oil because that makes more sense. If it was running rich it would drive like crap. If you're burning oil your rings are probably toast. Do a compression test and see what you come up with.

Looks like it's time for a swap. Surf the forums for some inspiration. You can swap in a new engine, rebuild your KA, or buy a new one. You can get another KA for around 100-300 bucks. Good luck!

Oh and welcome to Nico!

*Edit: I just re-read that you're buying a new head. Since you've already got engine work to do you can just put some new rings on and most likely solve the problem. You wont be able to do a compression test if the engine isn't running, my bad.

[drift_nismo240]

ok thanks alot man. well arent the piston rings alot farther down then the head?

[zachattack_5491]

Yeah they are. Are you just pulling the head or pulling the whole motor? I figured you were pulling the whole motor. I guess you can either pull the whole motor and do the head and the rings at the same time, or just save the money you're going to spend on the head and drop it on a new motor. Might be less of a headache. People pretty much throw away their KAs so it should be fairly easy to find one.