Nissan 240SX Won't Run

[badrad600]

Greetings, all. I'm stumped and in need of advice. My Brother in Law has a 1990 Nissan 240SX. He was driving home from work last week and it started running like hell and finally stalled. I can't get the thing running and it's buggin' me. It has a good strong spark, and the fuel pump delivers pressure to the injectors. The few times I was able to get it started, I was able to determine that the #2 cyclinder is not firing at all, and #3 is sporadic. I swapped injector #1 with injector #2, and #2 still doesn't fire. The problem didn't follow the injector. I swapped plug #1 with plug #2, and #2 still doesn't fire. The problem didn't follow the plug. So... I have spark, I have fuel, #2 won't fire, #3 is sporadic, and it has new plugs, new plug wires, new distributor cap, new rotor, new throttle position sensor, new fuel pump relay... All that and still no go...

Any ideas?

[rioredstang]

Sounds like a head gasket. Check compression on those cylinders. With the plugs out sometimes if you put air pressure on one cylinder you can hear it from the other. Good Luck.

[badrad600]

Oooh... You know, one of the times it was barely running, I thought I may have heard a rythmic poofing sound, but wasn't sure. I'm not sure if a bad head gasket is something that can be heard when the motor is running, though. I haven't checked for oil in the coolant or coolant in the oil. It didn't have steam coming out of the exhaust, though. If it turns out to be a head gasket, maybe it's time to move on. Cracked heads / head gasket issues have always been pointless to try to fix, in my experience. Thanks for the reply :-)

[rioredstang]

If the gasket blows between the cylinders you may not have oil in the water or vice veras. It will only leak compression from one to the other. We replace head gaskets all the time without problems. You have to have head pressure tested, and head resurfaced.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

yeah, try and do a compression check. You also might want to check the timing... did it jump?

[badrad600]

Thanks for your replies, guys. I wondered if timing might be an issue. About a year ago, he heard a sound and I listened to it. I told him it sounded like the timing chain slapping. He took it to the shop and they confirmed it and replaced the timing chain. It's a possibility that it could have jumped... not sure. I'm starting to lean toward the head gasket... When I pulled the #2 plug when I was working on it, it started right up. It was still sick sounding, but it didn't take a while like it had been doing. That could be an indicator, I guess.