nooby questions: stock oil, coolant, belts, etc (s13 240)

[mechanicalmoron]

So I'm going to paste in my most recent post from the 240sx forum, the car in question is a stock 92 240sx with 200k miles on it, and as it related to my reversing question, it's a stick. This seemed a more generic place for such generic questions. So here goes:

This probably won't excite most of you guys, sorry.

At 200 thousand miles, should I be thinking about getting the timing chain replaced/done? Pretty sure it never has been, the car wasn't kept up great before I got it.

How much should it cost to replace the belts? I think they're approaching 100k, if it was done at 100k on the factory service plan that would have come with the car. And as part of that whole thing, the fan vibrates, it doesn't look like it's well balanced. How much should that cost? This particular project would be borrowed tools+google, without buying any labor.

I know these cars don't like reverse that much, I can't tell if this is what other people mention or not: When backing up, as long as I'm accelerating in reverse, it's fine, as soon as I let off the gas and it's coasting in gear, it makes nasty grinding noises, and for some unknown reason SOMETIMES makes a noise very similar to burning out on gravel, but the wheels are not slipping. It just sounds like they're going to fall off. Hurting anything?



For my more immediate question, in the next day or so I'm going to town and will have a hundred bucks to blow on this. What would you recommend as far as high quality products that will make things run smoothly for as long as possible for:

engine oil
oil filter (haven't actually looked at the alternatives, but the manual says "or equivilent", so I assume there are alternatives from the nissan one)
transmission oil
rear differential oil
coolant

&anything else you recommend for this car

Everyone seems to run 10w-40 in older cars, but I've heard nothing but bad things about 10w-40 for ANY car, I topped this one off with some of my familys 5w-30, as it was pretty low when i got it. It says 5w-30, is there any good reason I should use something else, is it actually beneficial to use 10w-40 on a 5w-30 engine after 200k?

Any pointers on oil brands, grades, additives, and benefits?

Sorry for bringing this crap here, but all google's really showing me are a bunch of people who totally have all the secrets to make my car run forever for free... if I just buy their worthless book.

The car runs in ambient between 60-105f right now given the time of year, I don't mind using a summer/winter oil if it's better for my engine,as long as someone can explain it all to me.

[MaximA32]

At that mileage, if you're going to be keeping the car until the end of time, the timing chain guides are something I would look into as they can get noisy after so many miles.

I would check the belts visually, if there are more than 2-3 cracks per inch, replace it. For cost, the belts shouldn't be too expensive, depending on brand of course.

For the reverse noises, keep in mind that that gear is not designed to be driven above a few miles an hour. For starters, I would replace the gear oil in the gear box itself and in the rear differential as the diff is likely the cause of your sound. Make sure you use the correct weights for both as the wrong one can cause more harm than good.

Oil wise, I would definitely recommend a high mileage oil. For everything else, stick to the factory specs and you'll be good.

[mechanicalmoron]

At that mileage, if you're going to be keeping the car until the end of time, the timing chain guides are something I would look into as they can get noisy after so many miles.

I would check the belts visually, if there are more than 2-3 cracks per inch, replace it. For cost, the belts shouldn't be too expensive, depending on brand of course.

For the reverse noises, keep in mind that that gear is not designed to be driven above a few miles an hour. For starters, I would replace the gear oil in the gear box itself and in the rear differential as the diff is likely the cause of your sound. Make sure you use the correct weights for both as the wrong one can cause more harm than good.

Oil wise, I would definitely recommend a high mileage oil. For everything else, stick to the factory specs and you'll be good.

Well hey, thanks for the reply, I thought I was forgotten here.

I sitll plan to change gear and differential oil, but haven't yet. But we're talking about slow speed in reverse, under 10 miles per hour. probably around 5, and not stomping on it and letting off at 5, being very easy on everything.

The car doesn't make any clanking or anything that I'd associate with the timing chain when idling or reving while stopped, though it's MUCH too loud a car to really have much idea what's happening at any reasonable speed, the whole thing makes so much noise. I got the timing chain work appraised at 1k, and I could be wrong, but I think at that point, I could start thinking about a whole new engine.... I said screw the timing chain, for the time being.

I put in full synthetic castroll, because I didn't listen and read carefully enough and the autozone guy made it sound like a full synthetic version of castroll high milage oil. Next time, I plan to get the castrol high milage synthetic blend, or go to valveline. As far as I can tell it's consuming a bit over a quart per thousand miles with this stuff, which I think is considerably more than it was on it's filthy oil that it had before, which I suspect was 10W40 instead of 5W-30, based on a bottle that was in the trunk (it was a grab bag style sale.... it's in it, you can have it) though I'd topped it off with 5w-30 valvoline before, it was down a full quart.

I don't have a finely tuned nose for this sort of thing, I suppose, but to me the oil smells like gas, and from what little I can find online, this is a cause of concern.... I don't even know where to start on that, I was going to change the oil and filter again at 1k miles (its at about 400 on this change) to a high milage oil in the hopes of stopping so much oil consumption, but with the smell of gas in the oil I'm worried it's thinning the oil and will damage things.... is this a valid concern, for another 500 miles?

I read that low oil pressure is a sign of excessive gas in oil, the light's not on, but i'd expect damage long before that, right? That's just the "there's a rock where your oil pan should be" light, I thought?

Was also going to use STP valve cleaner, change the air filter, and if i can figure out how to do it myself, change the gas filter next oil change.... gear oils as soon as I can, but maybe not at that point, I don't, at this time, have a way to safely raise it for work underneath it..... could dig a trench in the yard I guess

Am I wasting my time on this engine thats apparently letting gas into the oil? (not to mention consuming PLENTY, even tho it is full synthetic in an old engine) might the gasket swellers and whatnot in high milage oil help, or is it already a lost cause?

For what it's worth, it was also getting HORRIBLE milage, I think between 15-19, though I got the tires up to spec and hope to see that better after all the things I was going to change in 500 miles.

Also, is there any decent "for dummies" style video or write up on replacing the main (not electric) cooling fan? I also need to get the fan cowling out though so I can get a better look at the little one, because the main one has nasty cracks between nearly every blade, I'm afraid that unattended it will start shedding blades through my wires, hoses, etc.... It also seems to have a lot of play on it's bearings, though I'm not sure how much it should have.

So...... sorry for my long post, AGAIN... I realize this is why I didn't get any answers before, but I gotta learn somewhere.... for what it's worth, I'd like to get to the point of not sucking with cars, and hopefully get this one running smoothly enough I could start worrying about wasting money on getting the differential welded.... instead of worrying about the engine falling out if I rev.. some day

And yes, my goal is still to drive this car to the moon and back, including replacing every part that could ever need it, at some point. it's pretty sexy, has an awesome design with the hatch and all, drives nicely, new cars and their regulations are evil, and I would have bought a GM if I wanted a throwaway car

[mechanicalmoron]

....Now I'm scaring myself about that oil/gas.... Just checked it. Smelled like strait up gas mix mower fuel, but by the time I got inside the gas had evaporated off my hand, which went back to the sort of sweet smell of fresh castrol.....

*edit*

So in my reading of various lies on the internet, I have learned NOTHING for sure about this, people say it means your head gasket's screwed up, and others say you've got a messed up O ring or something, and that you should watch for rough running. If it means much, the car idles at 600-700RPM (bout right, I think?) but only when warmed up, unless it's been in the sun I would generally give it gas to start it, and then it would die strait off and idle reallllly low if I didn't give it gas for a little while to get it going, and while in a higher gear it seems to run rough under about 25-2600RPM..... is this a sign towards a screwed up ANYTHING BUT MY HEAD GASKET?