Broken Cam Shaft - Help!!!!!

[mobinakhtar]

Hi all,

I am new to this forum. Picked a 240SX convertible 1992 from paper yesterday. body in great shape but car is not running. Previous owner told me his buddy mechanic did a head job and could not start the car after the head job.

I popped the head today and found a bolt that he left (fell through oil filler cap) in the cam chamber. The driver side camshaft broke at the sprocket becuse it could not move.

Please help. I owned a 1990 240SX hatch in 1994 and loved it for three years when I traded it for a Maxima (got married). Now I saw this car and fell in love again.

What are my options at this time? I will appreciate any and all input. Can I just replace the camshaft?

[Death Wish]

You probably have to take apart the engine to see what really happenedand to make sure nothing else broke. Does it look like the screw got jammed in between the sprockets or cam?

[mobinakhtar]

it was in the the cam, near the first valve.

[hpmachine]

man that's really poopy. you should really tear down the whole engine to make sure that no other forgotten bolts, screws, scrapmetal, gnomes etc are going to f*** up your rotating assembly. dontcha just love cars???

[mobinakhtar]

Well, I think this one fell off when they were topping off oil. The guy I purchased from had his buddies who have a performane corvette shop do something to the engine. I bet they asked him to close the top cover when this one fell inside. Could be accident or someone with bad intentions. I an confident that if I replace the camshaft, everything else be okay. My real question is can i buy another cam shaft and replace this broken one? My backyard mechanic says I still need to sent the head to the machine shop (for what?) and he is quoting kike $1200-1500 for the job. At that price I better put a turbo engine in this thng ($1000 on ebay ). I am very tight on the money and am trying to get back on wheels with minimum $$$.

[8-bit]

they topped off oil. dropped it in.. knew about it.. and then started the engine???

that is insane. great mechanic. send him some homemade cookies and a pinkslip for being fired from life.

[180fan]

1200-1500 is uber cash. Pull the head and have it checked out at the machinist. That shouldn't cost too much. Replacing the cam, you can find guys parting out their blown up KA-T's so you should be able to find one with at least a decent cam on our parts board.

zeroforum/43

Yes, ditch that mechanic and do the job yourself.

[mobinakhtar]

Thanks everyone, I am glad to hear form you all. As soon as I get a hold of a cam-shaft (driver side), I will replace it and see if engine starts up.