Engine Failure?

[KA13]

Ok, problem started last week. I was driving home from work and noticed that my car was making a really bad sound. I had heard this sound before but it was very faint and never lasted long (usually once the car warmed up). This time it didn't, at first it sounded like marbles in a coffe can coming from my catalytic converter but then it migrated into the lower half of the engine. Let me tell you...its loud. On top of that it's been overheating alot lately, but its iffy as to when it will do it. Somedays I could drive 5 miles and it will peg the temp gauge, others i could drive 200 miles and it would be fine. To ice the cake, she won't stay running. Won't idle at all, starts bucking and sputtering until she dies.

I rebuilt the top half of the engine MAYBE 2000 miles ago. Just haven't had any luck with this car from the beginning.

Any help guys? I just started my new job and this is the last thing I need going on right now.

[Crautz240]

Well it could be the very common issue that most plp have with the timing guide breakin.. if it broke up small enough it may have fallen into your oil pan throught the screen and that could clog your injectors... only thing i could think of from what you say it sounds like, so maybe check your oil pan and injectors

[KA13]

It's not acting like it's the injectors. Already been through that before. I've already removed the timing chain guide as well.

How would it get from my oil pan to injectors???

[spindrift187]

Hmmm, compression test?

[KA13]

That would be the next logical thing to check, I don't however have a way to check compression. My firnds a mechanic and he's going to come by sometime this week and I'm pretty sure he has one so I can get him to bring his.

[carmo]

No offense, but what the hell does a timing chain guide have to do with what screen and how does that have anything to do with clogging the injectors? Starve the motor for oil if the pieces blocked the oil pick-up screen maybe. Check the water level. Maybe that head gasket didn't seal. You said you did a bunch of work on the top of the motor. Did you remove the head? If so, did you check the head to see if it was warped. Or did a machine shop mill the head. Also, those head bolts only stretch but so far. Did you reuse the old ones or get new ones. is oil leaking into the coolant? Coolant doesn't lube bearings like oil does. Keep us posted, my curiosity is pegged.

[KA13]

Valves are new, cylinder head is brand new, gaskets are new, all put together with ARP head bolts. Coolant is nice and green.

[-RJ-]

with the overheating issue, have you tried new hoses, thermostat and rad cap? And i dont know if it might help but i would get a magnetic oil drain plug

[KA13]

Thermostat is new, hoses are new even the radiator is new (koyo)

[the technican]

Hey i dont want to chime in on something stupid but sometimes its the stupid stuff you miss, did you try bleeding the cooling system with a spill proof funnel that attaches to radiator and the bleeder bolt located right above the thermostat housing. the head temp sensor could be going bad or have a crappy connection and could cause the engine to run rich as crap at times...maybe just throwing it out there,unplug and check for green build up inside connector....air flow meter is a possible cause for stalling or an intake air leak all these I have seen at one time or another....good luck i know that can be a real b****. oh yeah the ka motor will make noise if the timing chain idler spocket goes bad, dont know if that is what your hearing its kinda like a groining noise and usually goes away if you rev motor off of idle.Again good luck with repairs

[KA13]

Replaced the temp sensor and bled the system trying to fix the overheating issues. No luck.

Yeah, the noise gets quiter if I rev up but it's still there. Revs quicker too for some reason (up and down). Though if I rev up to maybe 4 grand and let off it will noise dive to zero and die like always.

[liquid_cool]

this really seems to me to be a sensor issue..or electrical ..im thinkin a sensor is shorting out or has a malfunction...this would make the ECU try to compensate for this miss readings...im hoping your mechanic friend brings some electronic equipment to test your wiring...im not 100% this is the issue..but its strongly pointed that direction none the less...good luck..keep us posted.

[KA13]

I will keep you all updated. I plan to tinker with it some in the morning. Play with timing and check sensors. Nothing special needs to be done with the car before messing with the distributor does it?

[carmo]

Make sure you unplug it. If it's plugged in an you turn the cam side, you could shock yourself a little. Oh, take the cap off and mark where the rotor button is pointed. When you go back in with it you need to put it exactly the way it was. That is unless you turned the engine while it was out. Then you need the motor on #1 TDC of compression stroke and set the rotor on the #1 plug wire. Its easy....Good luck.

[KA13]

I can't just turn the distributor to change it?

[carmo]

I'm confused. Change what? If the dizzy is out and you rotate the motor, your not gonna know which cylinder to set the rotor button to. Thats why I say reset to cyl. 1 as the FSM describes.

[KA13]

I never said I was going to turn the engine. I was going to leave the engine where it was and turn the distributor to adjust the timing.

[anumeric]

I can't just turn the distributor to change it?

Carmo is right, if you marked the distributor or rotor button for reference before removing it, and then turned the motor after the distributor is already out then your ignition timing will be off. Thats why he mentioned resetting your #1 cylinder to TDC compression and your dizzy/rotor button to #1 plug wire. Basically resetting your ignition timing. IIRC there's also alignment marks on the shaft of your distributor for this as well.

Wei

[carmo]

Oh! You can loosen the distributer and advance or retard your ignition timing. Yes thats good. But too much advance and you'll get a knock or ping. You could try running a higher octane to stop the ping or just retard it a bit. Advancing the timing to its max is something you would do once it runs right. Anywho, i doubt ignition timing is your problem but i've been wrong many time before.....

[KA13]

Right, its just a start. Its already advanced so I was going to back it off some. For some reason after it was rebuilt it wouldn't idle correctly until the timing was advanced si I ran 93 octane to be safe and went on my merry way.

It probably isn't the problem but it's a start to finding what is.

So do I need to unplug anything or do anything special just to turn the distributor withought messing something up?

[carmo]

No sir. With the car off, loosen the dist. bolts a little so you can adjust it. Start the car and at idle you will turn the dist. to advance or retard. You should have a timing light on the thing but it's not absolutely critical. Just be careful! If that dist. cap has a hairline crack in it or those plug wires leak and your all over them and the cap, you will find that electrical leak in the form of electric shock....goodluck

[240sxbuffy]

who put the head gasket in and why? if it as been overheated your head could be warped why did you do the top end what were the reasons behind that? where is the noise coming from if its the lower end you have spun a bearing. I would really like to know how a timing chain guide could get sucked into an injector. did you put it in the fuel tank? can you verify weather the car is in fact overheating or if its the gauge don't keep running the car if it is overheating you will wreck it more. are you sure the head gasket went on the right way? I would find out about the noise first sounds like you wiped out the lower end!

[KA13]

Sorry for the lag in updates. The head isn't warped, it's brand new. As for the car overheating or if it's just the gauge, I'm not sure I wondered the same thing today. Wondering if maybe the thermostat is going out.

However I did fix the main problem... Vacuum leak. I adjusted the timing and the engine loped so bad it pulled the Valve cover / intake hose free. I put the hose back on and it would not get a good seal, it kept falling off because it had formed due to the heat and when the engine was torqing it would pull on the hose making a leak. The sound I believe, now that I can properly hear it over the engine idling so rough, is in fact stemming from the cat. Either the cat or the heat shield. It sounds alot like the heat shield as its already broken once and was spot welded when I still ran with an HKS exhaust.

[powerline]

so, is it still overheating??

[KA13]

It is still overheating. I'm at a loss on why. I have coolant, waterpump and thermostat are only a year old. I think I'm going to just remove my thermostat all together and see if it still overheats. Could always be a faulty unit.

Also, the day after I fixed my problem I woke up to find that she wouldn't start, so after getting off work I played with the timing and she was fine again. It's like she can't make up her mind on her settings she wants.

[carmo]

Theres only a few things in the cooling sys. Water pump, t-stat, rad. cap, cooling fan and flow. Maybe the clutch on the fan is no good. I don't know how to test that. Maybe your not getting flow through the radiator or block. Unfortunately cooling sys. issues are so hard to diagnose. You more or less have to start with the cheapest part.....

[-RJ-]

you may have a clogged heater core, id take it out and take a looksy

[KA13]

I didn't think about the heater core. Might also explain why my heating has always been so crappy in the winter. I just chalked it up to old parts, didnt even think of it being clogged.

[carmo]

Aaahhhhaaa! The plot thickens. Sounds like your onto something. Good thought RJ.

[KA13]

Wow, it's been awhile. Sorry for the long span between updates, had completely forgotten about this thread until I was thinking of making a new one about some questions.

Update: Well, turns out my problem was a faulty thermostat. It was new but wasn't any good apparently. Removed it completely and the car ran ice cold all the time. Heater wouldn't work at all. Went and picked up a new one for 10 deg. cooler and now it doesn't even show it getting warm on the gauge, though it is. Only heating problem I can complain about now is my heater taking so long to warm up. As if 240's heaters aren't finicky to begin with.

Still having odd gremlins with my rpm's though. Think it's still an issue with my timing. Spent a day messing with it, finding good idle points then test driving and repeating the process. About to go fix the heat shield rattle I have and try driving it some. I've been adjusting my shifting to try to get the heat shield to not rattle as it only does it at certain rpm's. Talk about an annoyance.