KA24DE-T blew up / Need help

[truth211]

I have one more question I need to find out about. The turbo oil pressure line is a narrow one. Not enought to really make a huge difference but do I really need to use an oil restrictor? If so does it have to go after the turbo (on the oil return line) or can I place a restrictor before the turbo like at the connector right before the turbo; or can I run it just the was I had it before? (which is run from the T splitter at the oil pressure switch directly to the turbo). Thanks

[480sx]

You need to do a lot more research this time before you boost. You'v already blown one motor, and you still dont know some of the absolute basics.

zerothread/99647

To answer your Q about the oil restrictor. If you are running a cheap turbo, run a .63 oil restrictor placed in the feed line to the turbo. The only other times you want to run one is when oil is seeping past your seals, or, your running a BB turbo.

[truth211]

Ok Got my car started today. It's having some idle issues but I am not really that concerned about that quite yet. My biggest problem right now is the timing again. I have lined everything up on TDC on the compression stroke of the engine. I have made sure the distributor lines up on the #1 pin on the cap. I have made sure the crank marks are on TDC on the compression stroke. All looks well. Then I start the engine. Can not see the marks. I move the gun to the right of the crank pulley and see the marks at "4 o-clock". I have checked my timing light just to make sure it was working properly and it is. I have checked through some of the NICO threads and still come up with nothing. When I give it a little bit of throttle it sounds like the engine is straining. I will not give it alot b/c if it's detonating again I do not want to blow up the engine. Now I have retried it all again. Set the timing marks at TDC on the compression stroke and all. Start it up and same thing. The marks are to the far right. Right now this is how I have everything. The FPR is connected to the intake. Throttle vac. capped. Brk Bostr conn. to intake. IACV conn. to port in front of the MAF sensor but capped for now to keep idle below 2200 RPMS. Nipple off the cold pipe capped (for now) and the 4 hoses coming off the bottom of the intake are still connected. They are conn. as they were stock...right to the block the leads to the oil pump housing. I have used the S14 upper intake and the S13 lower intake. All EGR equipment has been removed as well as the 2 solenoids behind the motor. I will have pictures up in the next day or two to show you my set up if that will help. I am so frustrated I am about to just sell the car. Please someone help?

I also need to add that when I bought this engine it was running well. It was all timed correctly and ran fine. #1 CYL = 185 PSI / #2 CYL = 180 psi / #3 CYL = 185 psi and #4 CYL = 190 PSI. The compression is great in this car. It only has about 72K on it. The timing issues were the same way on the other engine. The timing only changed after the turbo set up. Lastly the SS headers I had never glowed red before. Is that normal? I mean they were RED and glowing. Now they are a blue color. Sweet though. Any idea?
Modified by truth211 at 9:31 AM 4/15/2008

[rogoman]

Here's how I time the distributor on the KA:

First you need to find Top Dead Center (TDC) for the compression stroke in order to time the ignition distributor. To find TDC, remove #1 spark plug and disconnect the ignition coil wire. Have someone tap the ignition switch start position to slowly crank the motor while you put you hand over the spark plug hole. When you feel the compression, stop. Now look down at the timing pointer at the front pulley. It should be pointing to ZERO. If not, manually turn the motor clockwise or counter-clockwise by hand until it's pointing to ZERO. Now determine the #1 plug wire location on the distributor cap. Mark that location on the distributor body. Now insert the distributor into the block, meshing the gears so that the rotor ends up pointing to the mark you put on the side of the distributor body. You now are timed close to correct; you should be able to start the motor. Before starting the motor, set up a timing light so that you can set the timing to spec. Disconnect the TPS harness connector. It's located on the passenger's side of the engine just above the throttle assembly. Start engine and set timing to 20 degrees BTDC. Check the idle speed. It should read 650 RPM; If not, adjust the idle screw until you get 650 RPM. The idle screw is located on the passenger's side of the engine near the firewall below the intake manifold. Stop the engine. Reconnect the TPS harness connector. Start engine. The idle speed should now be 700 RPM.

The KA motor firing order is: 1-3-4-2. This is at the distributor cap in a counter clockwise direction.

If your timing light has an adjustable advance knob, make sure it's set to zero.

The IACV hose should be connected just in front of the throttle body, not in front of the MAF.

If the header is glowing red, that indicates a very lean mixture. Not good for the motor.

[truth211]

Well I still did all the timing stuff and still can not get the timing marks to come up. All the timing is correct but I can not find it with the light. I am going to buy another gun and see if that helps if not I have no idea what could cause this. Now are you saying I should connect the IACV to the cold pipe? I thought b/c the cold pipe will have both vacuum and boost this was a bad idea? Now comes the big problem. It seems there is always a problem with this car and I am getting pissed off with it. I started the car and it ran. No idea what the timing is b/c the marks have disappeared. However I have run into a new kink.

I have replaced the radiator and it has a new thermostat in it. When I run the car after about 2 minutes of running the coolant overflow is boiling. And I mean boiling. I let it cool down and tried switching the turbo coolant lines thinking they might be reversing the flow but still NO luck. Did the same thing. However the temperature gauge will read normal while the radiator is cooking. I do not understand what the hell is going on. Why is it boiling and getting so hot. The upper radiator hose has an extreme amount of pressure in it too after it runs foor a few minutes. Need help. Also please answer the question about the AICV hose too. Thanks.

[Mattism78]

I don't think you should turbo your car. You really should consider spending the money and having someone else take care of it.

The header glowing red sounds like a lot of detonation is already occurring within the engine. Boosting an engine is not like installing an air filter. There are many contributing factors that can make your engine go boom really fast when you're shoving air into it.

[truth211]

I agree. I have had several techs tell me the ECU is wrong. So I am taking the car down to Absolute Pro Performance in Finksburg, MD and having them fix it. I have exhausted my brain on some of the issues. I am done. I will get the car back in working condition. I just hope it will not cost me an arm and a leg. I will let you guys know for sure what it is and what axactly they find. It's going to them tomorrow morning. I am having it towed there and boy is that tow bill expensive. Although it's cheeper then replacing the engine again.

[truth211]

Well I just got the car back today and as you guessed, it's still not a 100%. It starts up and runs. Runs rather well actually. Part of the problem was timing and the other issue was the sensors. Now as predicted there is a new problem. I go through 1st gear and when I get to 2nd gear...I floor it and the car bucks like a mule. If I gently give her some gas she's fine. I am going to check the voltage on the TPS and see if it's between .4 and .5 volts. If thats fine what could cause the car to buck so hard at WOT? I would think it would have to be the TPS wouldn't it? Also I clocked the WG back somemore and she is still hitting 15 psi in second gear? Whats the deal with that? Any way possible the WG is not working properly? I really only want it to hit a top of 10 psi but she clears a max of 15. Any suggestions? I have the WG vacuum hose connected to the hot pipe. Why is it not working right? The Wg should only be seeing about 7 psi. So how in the world am I hitting 15? Any clue to that and the bucking at WOT?

[sunnys14]

Did you change the fuel pump yet? If not then you should just end your KA-T career right now for being a cheap ***.

Is the wastegate adjustable? Check to see if the wastegate arm is preloaded.

Check to see if the wastegate signal is kinked or anything.

The bucking can be caused by fuel injector o-rings being ripped causing you to run real rich.

Don't try and smash on the car if its not running right. The KA's ring lands are super weak and they will blow on you without notice if you're not tuned right.

[truth211]

No I have not changed the fuel pump. The fuel pump is ok and relatively new. I am going to check the fuel pressure this weekend before I drive it again. I am also going to buy an adjustable fuel pump regulator just to be on the safe side. As far as the WG is concerned I have adjusted it both ways and where it seems to do a little bit I can still hit close to 14 turned all the way down. Now it's not spiking at all. When I let off the throttle it goes back down immediately. Thats boost creep not spiking. Spiking is when you let off the gas and the boost continues to increase. Thats not whats happening. It just drops immediately. I have heard it will increase when you have a 3" pipe system like I do. However getting up on the throttle a bit pushing it a hair past half throttle and she makes a popping or bucking sound so I let off. If I keep her gentle and watch the boost gauge I can still hit 10-12 psi and she is fine. But if I give her too much gas to get up to speed there is that issue. I can drive the car regularly and she's fine. Drives...no problem. It's when I am a little rough with her is when she quits like a battered wife. I have tested all the sensors and they are all fine and test within their parameters. So I am led to believe it is either running too rich and fouling out the plugs or something to do with the fuel. Up to half throttle she is fine and runs strong. The fuel injector rings are new so I do not think they would be a problem. Take a look at the pictures below. They are old pictures. I have the AAC/AICV hose connected to the cold pipe and the valve cover hose is run under the manifold and is capped off with a chrome breather. The nipple off the MAF adapter is capped. Now as far as the WG is concerned the vacuum hose is about 4" long and is a little bigger then the origional hose. That way it will receive a more accurate pressure reading to the WG. It is connected to the hot pipe and is about 8" from the compressor housing. That should be close enough I believe. I have both ends of the silicon hose fastened with hose clamps. Just look below and le me know what you think.
Modified by truth211 at 11:26 PM 4/25/2008

[sickzofive]

it might actually be a sign of your fuel pump going bad, i had similar symptoms with my car and i checked all my sensors and it checked out fine and did a smoke test for vac leaks and everything was good as well .. car would drive ok under low load situations but as soon as i got up on the gas she'd buck and get all crazy and buck and backfire around 3k rpm..luckily i happened to play around with ym plug wires when the car was running cause of a slight misfire and i pulled the plug wire and car bogged for a min and i plugged the wire back in and motor died , cranked and cranked the motor with no luck , we checked the pump and it had power but no fuel into the fuel rail after we pulled the hose off..so it turns out the fuel pump finally took a crap..

[truth211]

I pulled the plugs today and found the center of the plugs clean but the outter part of the plug is black and carbon has formed. So I think it's running very rich. I think thats why it's fouling the plugs but I am not sure. I am taking the car to the local shop and have them hook up the scanner and check it out. I will let you all know whats up in the next day or two.

[topnotchg]

sorry to hear that. KA-T's always blow.

[krazydriver]

^ topnotch, your an idiot. Tell Ivan that Ka-t's always blow.

Truth, glad you're making progress. You definately need to change the fuel pump though. Contact injectedperformance they'll get you a good deal on a walbro.

[truth211]

Yeah. I will give them a call on Monday and have one ordered. I am guessing I should go with a 255 with the set up I have. I do not really need a big pump. I am only pushing around 270 HP max. Maybe more if I can get it tuned right and max the injectors and the MAF out but I really do not want to do that. 270 is good enough for me and what I am looking for. I still need to know whats going on with the missing issue. I really think it's b/c the plugs are getting fouled out from it running rich. I missed my appointment with the car. It will go in the shop next week. I'll keep you updated. Thanks for the info on the fuel pump. I get that taken care of.