n00b with a lot of problems (1989 240sx)

[Frank_Jaeger]

And I mean a helluva lot of problems. In the meantime I will search the board for answers, although given the number of questions I have, I think I'd be better off sticking them in a new thread (as opposed to the sticky.)

BackgroundMy car is a 1989 240sx SE that my mother's boyfriend has lent me. It's automatic... uh... it has an engine and lights and stuff. It has 160k+ miles on it. And that's about all I know. My knowledge on cars is very very minimal. I've had it about a year or two, and I intend on buying it from him.

Wiring / Electronics / Mechanical Problems1. My driver's side window doesn't work. I do believe the motor's fine, as I can here it operating when I press the button to roll it up / down. The window itself does not hold itself up well, and I'm currently using a pen wedged between it and the door to keep it from falling. If I try to roll the window down, sometimes it will catch, and the window will fall down. No go on trying to roll it up, though.

2. My gas gauge doesn't work. It hasn't ever since Delaware switched to gasohol, or so I've been told. Perhaps it's the wiring, though. Or a bad component.

3. My trip counter (which is what I rely on since my gas gauge doesn't work) sometimes "sticks", in that it won't count up on some trips. It recently stopped at 66.6 miles (I hadn't been watching it), and when my car wouldn't start after work, I thought the devil was going to come after me. When I try to reset it, it never resets back to 0, but rather to 9, 6, and more recently 5.

4. My brake light on the dash is always on*.* Except when I accelerate for a while, in which it will flicker off, and then something behind the dash starts buzzing. If I let off the accelerator, the buzzing stops, and the light comes back on. I'm assuming the light is supposed to engage when the ebrake is pulled.

Note that the temp gauge, odometer, speedometer and tachometer all work fine.

Exterior Problems1. The paint has worn off the very front of the car (just one piece, I don't know what to call it.) The primer (yellow) is visible, and against the car's red, looks pretty bad.

2. The rear of the car is rusting, underneath the spoiler. I'm worried it will fall off.

Is it plausible that I could remove the offending parts, sand them, find a matching color to repaint them, and refinish them? I will have a spray gun / compressor soon. Has anyone here refinished their entire car themselves? I'm all about DIY. Don't recommend a professional, I won't listen .EDIT: I found this: http://www.nicoclub.com/articles.php?id=159905

3. The headlights give off a very murky looking beam. Should the covers be replaced, or can they be cleaned out?

General Concerns1. My engine has a high wine to it, when I approach higher RPM's. It's only done this since I ran the car dry (don't chastise me please, I know I f***ed up). Is this permanent?

2. The car accelerates rather poorly. The accelerator isn't very responsive at all. ~90% of its' range of motion accelerates the car at a very slow speed. The last ~8% is somewhat decent, and the last ~2% (in which case I have to stomp hard on the accelerator) is too big of a jump from the previous rate. Is there a way to make it more linear?

3. Overdrive seems entirely pointless. When it's not engaged the car doesn't perform reasonably at all. It doesn't shift past 3rd (I think it's 3rd anyway, I never counted), and when it's in 1st and 2nd it takes 4k RPM's to shift, as opposed to 3k RPM's to shift when overdrive is on. (I realize the car doesn't actually shift AT these locations linearly, however they're locations that I'm ABLE to shift at, granted I sustain them long enough.)

I'm sure there are other questions about the car that I have, but this is all for now. Thanks in advance for any help.

EDIT: Does anyone have a suggested price that they think this car should go for? The tires are pretty horrid (balder than Hunter S Thompson running for Sheriff), although the brake pads and radiator have been replaced. The AC doesn't work well, and the radio / sound system sucks. The dashboard is cracked, the cloth over the seats is tattered, etc. etc. Aside from all of that, it's a decent car. I would just buy a newer car, but I've come to love this one. I'd like to make it respectable.

Modified by Frank_Jaeger at 8:33 PM 7/28/2009

Modified by Frank_Jaeger at 8:43 PM 7/28/2009
Modified by Frank_Jaeger at 9:23 AM 7/30/2009

[zenkistic]

what a first post... for your formatting and writing style. welcome to nico.

[Frank_Jaeger]

Thank you very much. I doubt I'd get much help if I lumped everything into one run-on paragraph. That's not my style .

[sebazztard]

And I mean a helluva lot of problems. In the meantime I will search the board for answers, although given the number of questions I have, I think I'd be better off sticking them in a new thread (as opposed to the sticky.)

BackgroundMy car is a 1989 240sx SE that my mother's boyfriend has lent me. It's automatic... uh... it has an engine and lights and stuff. It has 160k+ miles on it. And that's about all I know. My knowledge on cars is very very minimal. I've had it about a year or two, and I intend on buying it from him.

Wiring / Electronics / Mechanical Problems1. My driver's side window doesn't work. I do believe the motor's fine, as I can here it operating when I press the button to roll it up / down. The window itself does not hold itself up well, and I'm currently using a pen wedged between it and the door to keep it from falling. If I try to roll the window down, sometimes it will catch, and the window will fall down. No go on trying to roll it up, though.

seems to be off track... take off your door panel and have a look at whats going on, use your controls to see if the motor moves.

2. My gas gauge doesn't work. It hasn't ever since Delaware switched to gasohol, or so I've been told. Perhaps it's the wiring, though. Or a bad component.

i highly doubt gas had anything to do with this, its the sensor on the sending unit, wireing, or the gauge cluster...grab an fsm and a multimeter.

3. My trip counter (which is what I rely on since my gas gauge doesn't work) sometimes "sticks", in that it won't count up on some trips. It recently stopped at 66.6 miles (I hadn't been watching it), and when my car wouldn't start after work, I thought the devil was going to come after me. When I try to reset it, it never resets back to 0, but rather to 9, 6, and more recently 5.

need a new trip counter, prob better off looking for another cluster as no one really parts these clusters out unless they are really damaged.

4. My brake light on the dash is always on*.* Except when I accelerate for a while, in which it will flicker off, and then something behind the dash starts buzzing. If I let off the accelerator, the buzzing stops, and the light comes back on. I'm assuming the light is supposed to engage when the ebrake is pulled.

Note that the temp gauge, odometer, speedometer and tachometer all work fine.

brake light generally indicates that the brake fluid is low, or that the ebrake handle is engaged, even slightly it will trigger this light. check fluid, and check wiring, again fsm.

Exterior Problems

1. The paint has worn off the very front of the car (just one piece, I don't know what to call it.) The primer (yellow) is visible, and against the car's red, looks pretty bad.

100% normal for factory paint, respray only.

2. The rear of the car is rusting, underneath the spoiler. I'm worried it will fall off.

it will rust completely around everything that holds the damn spoiler on. remove it now and fix the holes or find a hatch from a spoilerless car.

again, 100% normal with the factory spoiler

Is it plausible that I could remove the offending parts, sand them, find a matching color to repaint them, and refinish them? I will have a spray gun / compressor soon. Has anyone here refinished their entire car themselves? I'm all about DIY. Don't recommend a professional, I won't listen .EDIT: I found this: http://www.nicoclub.com/articles.php?id=159905[/I]

several writeups on the board on this one, from ghetto to pro.

3. The headlights give off a very murky looking beam. Should the covers be replaced, or can they be cleaned out?

get new bulbs, they are 10 bux a pop at the auto store.

General Concerns1. My engine has a high wine to it, when I approach higher RPM's. It's only done this since I ran the car dry (don't chastise me please, I know I f***ed up). Is this permanent?

dont matter, this engine isnt worth a s*** anyway , start looking for a dohc.

2. The car accelerates rather poorly. The accelerator isn't very responsive at all. ~90% of its' range of motion accelerates the car at a very slow speed. The last ~8% is somewhat decent, and the last ~2% (in which case I have to stomp hard on the accelerator) is too big of a jump from the previous rate. Is there a way to make it more linear?

accel probs, again with the crappy sohc + losing power mated to an auto transmission... prob the worst combo for a fun car.

3. Overdrive seems entirely pointless. When it's not engaged the car doesn't perform reasonably at all. It doesn't shift past 3rd (I think it's 3rd anyway, I never counted), and when it's in 1st and 2nd it takes 4k RPM's to shift, as opposed to 3k RPM's to shift when overdrive is on. (I realize the car doesn't actually shift AT these locations linearly, however they're locations that I'm ABLE to shift at, granted I sustain them long enough.)

find a dohc with 5 speed transmission.

I'm sure there are other questions about the car that I have, but this is all for now. Thanks in advance for any help.

np.

EDIT: Does anyone have a suggested price that they think this car should go for? The tires are pretty horrid (balder than Hunter S Thompson running for Sheriff), although the brake pads and radiator have been replaced. The AC doesn't work well, and the radio / sound system sucks. The dashboard is cracked, the cloth over the seats is tattered, etc. etc. Aside from all of that, it's a decent car. I would just buy a newer car, but I've come to love this one. I'd like to make it respectable.

by the sounds of your vehicle with crappy tires, and engine problem automatic, non working ac cracked dashboard, torn seats, 700 bux?

this car can become respectable, just have to put a lot of money and time into it and stick to your plans. good luck, she needs your money and time.

take it as a blessing... i wouldnt buy this car from him, i would look for a 91+ in good condition if you are looking to spend money on buying one.

Modified by Frank_Jaeger at 8:33 PM 7/28/2009

Modified by Frank_Jaeger at 8:43 PM 7/28/2009

[i240sx]

i call for a $15641648946161 dollars restore.....ahhaa dam!! i can't image my car having that much problems...

[Frank_Jaeger]

I forgot to mention that the key is broken off in the ignition, the left seat belt isn't responsive when you open / close the door, the right seat belt is missing the internal spring / clip, blah blah blah....

I'm not looking to "soup" the car up in any respect. I just figured I could fix many of the problems if I invested some time / work into it.

Thank you very much, sebazztard, for your extensive help. Alot of the acronyms I don't know, but I do remember a tutorial somewhere on them, so I'll reference that. Thanks again!

[AZ89two4Tsx]

Dude. Get rid of that thing asap.

[Frank_Jaeger]

Dude. Get rid of that thing asap.

Whatever happened to salvation?

[FadedDrifter123]

hey just want to let u know that the 240's are becoming more and more rare, because how ppl trash them, either it be by rust and weather damage or racing damage and so on. U have to work with what u got and if u cant, get rid of it and try to look for the one that u can work with. ive seen some guy on here that had huge rust problems and he had to pretty much rebuild the whole chassis. so if ur good with cars and repairing them then go fix it, if not then sorry cause im not gonna fix ur car for u over the internet. either way good luck man.

[bumblebee85]

Whatever happened to salvation?

lol well sometimes salvation isnt worth the $$$

my first 240 was a 90 with an sr20det swap that i let go on the first idiot that would take it...the frame was shot, it had body damage from 2 owners before me drifting into something...and rust holes in the floorboards that i lost my debit card through while doing driftos in a parking lot..the clutch was toasted and the rear diff was on its way out too..

i didnt have the time or money to fix it...and it wasnt worth being fixed...i pawned it off for an even up trade for a solid running integra and then waited to get the 240 i have now which i traded the integra stright up for.

[MisteenoMike]

It recently stopped at 66.6 miles (I hadn't been watching it), and when my car wouldn't start after work, I thought the devil was going to come after me.

Dude, I was laughing SO HARD when I read this! This needs to be made into a T-Shirt or something.

Your whole (colorful) description perfectly embodies the "angst" of most 240 owners. How much should you pay? Your Mom's boyfriend should pay YOU (handsomely, I might add).

Honestly, in it's current state (still chuckling) it would cost an arm and a leg to fix everything. Oh, it CAN be done, just when it finally gets added all up you'll wonder why you bothered.

Although.....how SICK would it be if you did a full-on, high HP, RB swap and left everything else in it's deplorable state!!! You would make SICK money hussling fools at the dragstrip!

[gnvarnadore]

dude i say buy the car from your moms boyfriend as cheap as you can and then turn around and sell the car to one of them honda boys that want on the 240 band wagon because those dudes will pay a retarded price for a 240. like buy it for 800 and sell it for 2000, then take the 2000 and get a better 240.

[Frank_Jaeger]

I've become attached to the car, as it's my first. I would sell it in hopes of getting a better one, but that's not exactly what I'm after. More than anything I'm trying to learn about the car. And cars in general.

Right now I want the car to be dependable, fix annoying nuances, and make it aesthetically pleasing. The two latter of those don't require that much money, and if nothing craps out on me for now , neither will the former. Assume money isn't an issue (at least to the extent of necessities.)

[quote=""MisteenoMike""]Dude, I was laughing SO HARD when I read this! This needs to be made into a T-Shirt or something.[/quote]I actually checked my backseat to make sure there wasn't an ax murderer ready to kill me. I was on a dark backstreet at 1 in the morning... not fun. Had to walk to a gas station, buy a gas can, fill it, and carry it back.

Right now I'm trying to fix the window. I took off the inside door panel on the drivers side. The motor (or at least gears + wire) turns only a fraction before stopping, either direction. I'm going to take apart the opposite door to figure out what the difference is between the two.

Some things I found at the bottom of my door:1 Rusted pair of pliers.1 Pen2 Wood shims1 Old screw1 Garage Door Opener Clip1 Elvis Presley

[Ilvemynissan]

I'm the same way. My 240 was the first car I purchased. It was pretty much mint when i got it, no dents, good strong motor, 5spd, only bad thing was the blue interior lol had to switch it all out for black. But now, about 3.5 years later, it needs two fenders, a hood, bumper needs paint, need a new door and quarterpanel also there is two dents on the roof that need to be taken care of. I have an SR in there now and everyone is telling me, "just get rid of the shell and swap the motor into something different". But I love my car I cant sell it.

[Frank_Jaeger]

I took apart the door, and the motor and bracket all seemed fine by itself. It's only when it's carrying the weight of the window that it doesn't work / collapses. I think something's stripped on one of the gears, they turn too freely, so when it's carrying weight it just freespins. The motor itself is fine. Any ideas? What could be wrong?

Also, in regard to engine whine, the engine only whines after I hit 4k RPM's. The sound reminds me of when you start up a lawn mower, but keep the starter cord pulled. What could it be? The engine itself seems fine otherwise, which surprises me, all things considered.

[Kalypso]

Ok honestly I havent sat down and read your wall of text but already I know what you need.

my suggestion:

strip down the car and recontrsut it section by section. take out the motor replace seals and sensors check for oil leaks. clean the block and put it back in.

(after cleaning the engine bay)

clean, prep, and strip your interior. check and recheck everything. and you can do the same with suspension, and the undercarriage.

any 240 in 2009 will require this treatment to be a drivable and enjoyable street car

[Frank_Jaeger]

Ok honestly I havent sat down and read your wall of text but already I know what you need.

my suggestion:

strip down the car and recontrsut it section by section. take out the motor replace seals and sensors check for oil leaks. clean the block and put it back in.All in time. I'm taking baby steps right now. Starting off with minor problems and aesthetics.

(after cleaning the engine bay)

clean, prep, and strip your interior. check and recheck everything. and you can do the same with suspension, and the undercarriage.

any 240 in 2009 will require this treatment to be a drivable and enjoyable street car I don't intend on doing any racing. I just like having fun. I like fixing things. And I'd like to make this car respectable, for now. Thanks though!

[Frank_Jaeger]

I took apart the door, and the motor and bracket all seemed fine by itself. It's only when it's carrying the weight of the window that it doesn't work / collapses. I think something's stripped on one of the gears, they turn too freely, so when it's carrying weight it just freespins. The motor itself is fine. Any ideas? What could be wrong?

Also, in regard to engine whine, the engine only whines after I hit 4k RPM's. The sound reminds me of when you start up a lawn mower, but keep the starter cord pulled. What could it be? The engine itself seems fine otherwise, which surprises me, all things considered.

Any idea on these two?