KA24E Drama, Thick chunky oil

[uber240times2]

Here's the story of my drama. Yesterday, mid afternoon, I went to take my valve cover off just to check out what it looked like underneath because I could hear some valve tick and chatter and it wasn't making me to happy to hear it. I wasn't going to do anything, just seeing if there was something seriously F'ed up in side. It was dirty but no sludge or anything so I decided it couldn't be a HUGE deal, and seeing as how I had to go back to school that night I decided I shouldn't touch anything especially since it's about a 2 and a half hour drive. So when I start the drive everything is going fine and dandy until about a half hour left of the drive I start to notice the engine is slightly overheating, so I back off it a little bit and let it cool off. After that I was a bit sketchy so I started noticing that the engine was a little slow and was loosing a bit of power. I go easier on it, I let off the gas and it's backfiring like crazy, usually there's slight back fire from 45-35mph but this was about 65-55 mph and it was loud. The rest of the way back to school I'm doing about 50 in a 65 just to be cautious. I get to my exit and I notice it's ticking a bit more obnoxiously than usual and when I accelerate to about 2.5k rpms it's making a weird bogging noise. I park it in my school's parking lot and I pop the hood, The engines smoking and I can't tell where's it's coming from seeing as it as about 12:30am. I figure I'd let it air off a little to cool down. Once the smoke stops I leave very depressed and tired.

That takes me to this morning on my way to class I go to check it out, My 3rd plug is very loose, not the actual plug, the wire to the block. I take the oil filler cap off and there's thick and chunky oil in the valve cover, I check the dipstick and it's also a little bit funky, with the same type of residue. I'm not sure of how extensive of a fix this is, but I need my car to get to and from school. So please, any help is appreciated!

[OutToWinPAHC]

Residue in oil, thick oil, smoke, overheating....

I'd be willing to bet that residue is intermix, your coolant is low, and there is oil in the coolant. You should testing the cooling system (pressure tested), I'm 99% sure it will fail with an an internal leak. At that point, pull the head, have it checked and milled because it is probably warped, and order an appropriate head gasket, bolts/studs, and other needed gasket.

ie overheated, warped head, failed head gasket

[uber240times2]

Before I pulled the valve cover everything was in working condition though. Would pulling the Valve cover really create this much of a problem?

Thank you for the quick reply by the way.

[moso]

maybe its just a coincidence that you removed your valve cover the day it overheated. there is a good chance you were hearing your valve train chatter because it was getting hot, or low on oil, or both. unfortunately OTW is probably correct and you most likely have coolant in your oil. ka series motors are very intolerant to overheating and will usually blow the head gasket when they get hot, especially older ones. when you drain your oil look for milky gray residue or curd like oil, its a dead give away. the only other thing you would find in an oil pan is gasoline and thats pretty easy to spot, thin gas smelling oil.

[uber240times2]

Thank you guys for the replies, I don't know what I'm going to do now since I have NO money to do anything about this and I need a car to get to and from school.

[uber240times2]

alright, so I know it's been a while, but I only have about 3 hours to work on the car every weekend, and the fact I have minimal experience taking apart engines dragged out the whole getting the head off part. Well we finally did this past weekend. I was expecting to find at least one spotless cylinder and a nasty head gasket, well we found none of that. It was all equally carbonized. Does this mean that it's a cracked block? That would have been visible from the outside I'd imagine. I have one picture of the actual block surface, but it's not the best but I will put it up if wanted. I'd really like my car back, I miss it Please help

[moso]

unless there is a visible crack in the block you wont be able to tell with out having the block magnafluxed. its not usual to crack a block tho. i still put my money on a bad head gasket, blown from the water jacket to the oil passage. alternatively i have heard that the timing chain can eat a hole in the front cover and create a leak there. so check the inside of your front cover for signs of wear.

[uber240times2]

Yeah, we had talked about it been the water jacket, we haven't really thoroughly inspected the head yet. We were guessing that since none of the cylinders seemed steam cleaned. That might also be because I ran it the least amount possible after it happend. Thank you for your reply though

[uber240times2]

Alright, we put water in the radiator last night to see if it would end up in the oil pan. It did, and now we have no idea what it could have been. I'm at a complete loss of what it could be. Any ideas?

[OutToWinPAHC]

Test the cooling system... Its a tool you buy and return at autozone or advanced. Test at 1.5 bar.... its easy.

[moso]

flip over your timing chain cover and inspect the inside, look for signs of the timing chain eating a hole into the rear of the water pump cavity. when the guides go bad this can happen.

[Woods Crasher]

flip over your timing chain cover and inspect the inside, look for signs of the timing chain eating a hole into the rear of the water pump cavity. when the guides go bad this can happen.

Times a million. The SOHC KA24 has a known issue with this. Nissan was warrantying like all the older 240's for this issue when the car was new. Some cars didn't show the issue until much later (20 years even) when the plastic guides wore down and the chain ate through the cover.

[uber240times2]

Ehhh, I've thought about it and I don't know if I'm going to do any more work on this engine. I've started doing research pretty seriously for an engine swap. I won't be starting that until I know I'm ready to handle the task though. I do appreciate all the help, and I more than likely will be back with more questions if I can't find an answer.

[liquid_cool]

OTW as allways is correct...this does sound like a head gasket issue...as for the head being milled (reserfaced)..there is one thing to consider...no matter what engine you decide to go with ..your probly going to want a fresh build......heads tend to warp in the center..or bow upwards....alott of folks think its just an easy fix to mill it flat again...the one thing they dont think about , is the cam journals...if the head is warped..then so are the cam journals too...to correct this without added strain to the cams there are a few options....one option is to ask your machine shop to heat treat the head to its ideal state or make as strait as possible...to do this..the machine shop..would bolt the head to a verry thick plate of hardend steel, then they would bake that sucker at around 450 to 500 degrees..this allows the metal to relax and come close to it's original form.....the next option is used when the bakeing option will not work..this option is costly...this is the line honeing option...the way this works..is the machine shop will line hone only the head side of the cam journals at first..getting the line on the head side is critical..once that is done..they then do ample meshuring of the cam caps..they then will remove metal untill the cam caps are slightly tighter tolorance then the projected meshurement needed to fix the issue...after this stage..they then will torque the caps in place...and re-line hone the head again...anyways..hope this helped a bit..or at least informed you a little more about some finite prosesses used in re-building motors...good luck and keep us posted.

[uber240times2]

That really helped a lot, the new motor I plan on I was debating a rebuild. I knew I was going to replace some typical parts. I plan on taking my time and there is no rush to finish it. I want to do it right. Thank you tough, that really was helpful

[liquid_cool]

That really helped a lot, the new motor I plan on I was debating a rebuild. I knew I was going to replace some typical parts. I plan on taking my time and there is no rush to finish it. I want to do it right. Thank you tough, that really was helpful

glad we can all help bro, taking your time to do it right will mean that the engine will last a long time...here is my last bit of advice for ya man...at least for this post..lol...if your planning to have a build (motor) with say 300whp...then build that block to handle 500 to 600hp....with this philosiphy...haveing a block built for X but only running it at 300 will let you mash all day long on it without fear of failure...and belive it or not...it cost the same for a ka24de if you chose internals for 300 or internals for 600..its verry close...good luck.

[uber240times2]

I had thought about that, I wasn't sure if my theory was true though haha. That was my goal too, 300-350. Nothing much, just some power to move me around. Thanks again!

[OutToWinPAHC]

Most of that is true, I don't know about center warping the most, if anything it's going to be on the exhaust valve side. The good is you can probably buy a good used head with cams and buckets. Have it milled if needed, replace valve stem seals, shim the lifters and move one.