New 240sx owner, with a couple problems.

[bteeuwen240]

Hey, thanks in advance for any advice you can all offer me on my 240sx. I recently attained the car for free from my sister, its a 1990 240sx 5spd. I am basically going to be using the car for a beater for the next 3 months, until i can possibly source another one.

The car has 310,xxx KM on the engine and is blowing a little blue. I am not to worried since i wont be driving it for to long. Now onto the problems.

My sister told me that when it rains she was having problems with it sputtering and cutting out. Any advice on how to fix that?

Also, the engine clicks a little, i believe its the timing chain, i read somewhere that you can remove the plastic tensioner, should i do that? or can i just buy new tensioners?

Also, what would be a good way to diagnose where the oil is getting into the engine? if it is a head gasket that is fairly easy to fix isnt it?

Again, thanks in advance for the help.

[Chukidori]

Um..the timing chain wouldnt click.

it would be more of a persistant rattle .....

When did she last have it serviced, and the time chain replaced? cuz at 300,000 miles ....theres probly enough slack in it that if you took out that plastic guide it would just exacerbate problems.

But if you want to try it its right under the valve cover.

[zerosum6]

Your car sputtering and cutting out when it rains sounds like moisture getting into electical areas like the distributor, make sure it is sealed. Also since it is so old and you prob dont want to spend the money, just change the plugs and check everthing else[wires rotor and cap]

[positron1]

300,000...good grief thats running it! If it's only temporary then just do routine maintenance to patch it up and keep it running. Don't spend too much if you're not gonna keep it.

[180fan]

blue = burning oil. I'd check over the valve stem seals first.

2. You cannot remove the tensioners or the other guides on the KA24E that your 90 should have stock. That applies to the 91+ which have a DOHC configuration.

At 300k, if it were maintained regularly, it'd be in need of some of the seals and such to be serviced. If it were anything else than that, I'd suggest a rebuild at this point if as positronone mentioned, if you're going to keep it.

[bteeuwen240]

basically what im looking for is some advice on how to keep it running for the next 3 months fairly well, i am moving from Alberta to British Columbia, so i am only going to drive it for 3 months because that is the time they allocate to me to transfer my lisence from an albertian one to a british columbian lisence.

But, if i do keep it, i would rather do an engine swap to the 24valve engine or maybe something JDM, once i park it i guess i will decide.

any specail fluids or anything i should run threw the engine?

[zerosum6]

You can use seafoam found here http://www.seafoamsales.com/motorTuneUpTech.htm you should be able to find it at canadian tire.Like the instructions say just pour it in your oil, brake booster vacuum tube, and gas tank.Don't forget to change your o2 sensor[or clean it afterwards]- you should also do this before an oil change.

Past this don't waste your money on additives other than the cheapest bottle of fuel injector cleaner every 3,500 km.

[bteeuwen240]

Thanks for the advice zero, and everyone else

[kevinarich]

ticking is probably from sticky valves. just take it to a shop. its worth having someone not try to learn how to work on a car using yours to do it.

[480sx]

the clicking might be your injectors, they make a clicking sound and it is completely normal. As long as its not too loud dont worry about it. A KA24 with 300K is gona smoke a little bit, its most likely valve seals or rings i have had VERY bad luck with seafoam and know many horror storys about it. It will continue to run for 3 months, if i were you id just change the oil and drive the damn thing not worth bothering to fix it if you are either not gona keep it or swap motors. The cutting out in the rain thing is a electrical problem, there is water or moisture getting into a plug or sensor somewhere. Usually a problem like this is rather hard to diagnose does your check engine light come on when this happens? what you could try is wetting down small portions of the engine bay and run it to see if you can isolate the area where it starts to run bad when you wet it down which will give you some idea of what is going on. then you cand find out what electrical components are in the area with a FSM or something and start to check them one by oneGood luck