The "I'm New Here And I have A Simple Question Thread" v2.0

[mechanicalmoron]

So I pulled off my valve cover (with the silly idea that I'd put it squarely down on the gasket, and thus not need rtv.... I THINK it worked, we'll see when the JB weld on my air duct dries and I can start it, I suppose)

The top timing chain guide is flat out gone. Not like removed, but like ripped off, there's just a little piece of it left between the bolts. The other guide feels like it's in okay shape, but I couldn't really tell.

I noticed on the intake side, my valve cover looks okay, but on the exhaust side it looks cracked and fatigued on the inside. Something to worry about? I did get pictures.

All in all, that was a lot of stress to accomplish nothing and maybe break my motor-wooo

If I twist the throttle body by hand, I get a sort of "put" noise, which sounds like it's from the intake manifold, before revs increase. It's quick though, and I hadn't noticed a drivability problem, if it even happens from the cabin, can't hear.

Sorry I'm a hypocondriac and flood this thread with my silly worries....

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Post the pics man!
I have no idea what you're talking about with a "put" sound. What type of intake do you have on there? With aftermarket intakes or open filters, you often hear a noise when opening the throttle rapidly.

[mechanicalmoron]

Post the pics man!
I have no idea what you're talking about with a "put" sound. What type of intake do you have on there? With aftermarket intakes or open filters, you often hear a noise when opening the throttle rapidly.

The put is basically like my intake manifold is farting.... Might mildly shudder, or that might be me remembering the noise and what it brings to mind... The intake, airbox, etc, is stock, although I've removed the resonator bottle on the duct. I had duct tape over it at the time, can take a video tomorrow if it could be a big deal, waiting for JB weld to dry to patch up the resonator hole. It happens when I open the throttle as gently as I can, and every time, so far as I can tell.

here's the timing guide, or where it was



heres the exhaust side of the valve cover





....doing crank case seafoam again, and seafoam in the brake booster, right before my next oil change.... for sure. Lots of nice varnish and grime.

[PANDAemic]

Sorry to interupt, (I hope this doesn't get ignored) but I have a very simple question. I searched the forums/google but to no avail...

I'm contimplating on buying a new 2-din stereo (JVC KW-XR810) for my S13 Hatch and I'm fairly certain it'll fit. But thats not my question. This stereo has a rear USB port and I was wondering how hard is it to wire my iPod cord to the glovebox? If somebody can guide me to a tutorial of some sort demonstrating on how to do this, I'd be much greatfull.
I plan on ordering the stereo off the internet (cheaper) and doing this at home and I'm not sure if everything I need is included so to add on to my other question, what items would I need to install the stereo?

[PapaSmurf2k3]

If you order from Crutchfield, they should give you everything you need to install it (any trim pieces, as well as wiring harness, etc).

I can't remember the exact steps to remove the glovebox off the top of my head, but I don't remember it being very difficult. From there, the USB cable can be routed down through the side of the center stack, popping out in the passenger side footwell (just so you get the other end of the cable). Once you have that end of the cable, just tuck it back up into the centerstack, and drill the hole in the glove box as needed.

Or you could just buy a head unit with the USB port on the front.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Post the pics man!
I have no idea what you're talking about with a "put" sound. What type of intake do you have on there? With aftermarket intakes or open filters, you often hear a noise when opening the throttle rapidly.

The put is basically like my intake manifold is farting.... Might mildly shudder, or that might be me remembering the noise and what it brings to mind... The intake, airbox, etc, is stock, although I've removed the resonator bottle on the duct. I had duct tape over it at the time, can take a video tomorrow if it could be a big deal, waiting for JB weld to dry to patch up the resonator hole. It happens when I open the throttle as gently as I can, and every time, so far as I can tell.

Sounds like you have a vacuum leak somewhere. Check any areas that you messed with, especially the hole that you covered with duct tape.

Also, your guide is probably floating around in your crank case somewhere. I wouldn't worry too much about that crack. Does it protrude into the bolt hole?

[PANDAemic]

If you order from Crutchfield, they should give you everything you need to install it (any trim pieces, as well as wiring harness, etc).

I can't remember the exact steps to remove the glovebox off the top of my head, but I don't remember it being very difficult. From there, the USB cable can be routed down through the side of the center stack, popping out in the passenger side footwell (just so you get the other end of the cable). Once you have that end of the cable, just tuck it back up into the centerstack, and drill the hole in the glove box as needed.

Or you could just buy a head unit with the USB port on the front.

The deck I'm planning on getting does have a USB jack on the front but I don't know where I can rest my iPod without it getting in the way. Also I think having cords come out of the front looks a little distasteful IMO.

On to the next question. I have the non-digital odometer and clock and those died on me. I was planning on putting in LED's for the back light and while I have it opened up I was wondering how I'd go about fixing that? My odometer is permenantly stuck saying 16X,XXX and my clock won't even start.

[mechanicalmoron]

Sounds like you have a vacuum leak somewhere. Check any areas that you messed with, especially the hole that you covered with duct tape.

Also, your guide is probably floating around in your crank case somewhere. I wouldn't worry too much about that crack. Does it protrude into the bolt hole?

No, it's on the inside only, and at this time doesn't seem to be about to cause an kind of failure. It just struck me that the intake side looked mostly unworn, and the exhaust side looks baked to a crisp.

I got the JB welded intake back in the car, and re-seated and tightened some hoses that had never been so tight. Still doing the putting noise. What does a misfire sound like? I'll try to get a video later today I suppose.

(no VISIBLE oil leaks so far.... I guess I did get the gasket in right, the wrong way)

Also, did my head look particularly dirty to you? car's at 200k, has never had the cover off, so far as I know, or not in a very long time. the amount of grime bothered me, wiped out what I could. (at least there where spots where it looked like my seafoam and/or high milage oil dissolved off the varnish)

Could a water pump sort of chatter? that's the general area it seems to be coming from. (or maybe it's that broken guide, against the lower timing chain?)

Poster above, you might have bad/dirty contacts on your clock/odo. My clock comes on when I close my door, from the shaking, and has only showed digits on it's own when I started the car once or twice. At some point I mean to pull it apart and clean everything out....

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Tough call man. Squeaks/rattles are pretty notorious to diagnose, even when the vehicle is immediately in front of you.

I guess try and get a video and I'll see what I can do. That varnish doesn't look too bad. Its about what my Prelude looks like.

...and the exhaust side WOULD get cooked more than intake, seeing as how exhaust is WAY hotter than intake.

[Eion]

Okay I got a really dumb question that I'm just plain confused on. I threw a rod and I could just replace the block and call it a day or would it be wiser to replace the whole engine?

[mechanicalmoron]

Screw all my other questions, I'm really scared now.

Smoke. Lots of it, while driving too, but if I race the motor, LOTS of it, like baby seafoam status.

It's blue-ish white, and Im not sure if my oil is going down a corrosponding amount, I'll check here in a while when my motor cools and it drains.

I just changed my coolant, and wasn't so careful about cold water with a hot motor, because I couldn't get the motor drain out anyway and figured the block still had warm water in it..... did I crack my block?

Wow, I'm an idiot. So who wants to sell a KA with no issues in texas?

*edit* only things I've done are coolant and remove those resonator chambers. Honestly not sure if it still pulls as hard as it did, I tried and it seemed okay. But I have a hard time telling since I've gotten used to the car, now it always seems sluggish, at first it seemed to jump because of what I drove before.

*edit2* also it still starts right up.... and coolant in my reservoir has gone down a little bit, but I was expecting that, for any bubbles in the motor. But according to google... I have a cracked cylinder. God I hate myself.

*edit3* it's not constant, I have to wait for it to build up or something, like if I race the motor a few times, it will stop by like the third, but if I wait 30 seconds and race it again, I'll get a huge plume again.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Sounds like you overfilled it with oil or something.

Check your oil and your coolant. Make sure they didn't mix and look like chocolate milk.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Okay I got a really dumb question that I'm just plain confused on. I threw a rod and I could just replace the block and call it a day or would it be wiser to replace the whole engine?

It would be wiser/easier/cheaper to get an entire engine. Complete KAs go for $300-$500.

You don't know if that rod/piston came loose and smacked your valves.

[mechanicalmoron]

Sounds like you overfilled it with oil or something.

Check your oil and your coolant. Make sure they didn't mix and look like chocolate milk.

Oil's been burning down since I asked a while ago, when it was a bit above the full. drove fine before, haven't added any since. *edit* about a third to a quarter of a quart down in 200-ish miles, which is dramatically faster than before. Coolant hasn't dropped any alarming amount, or any amount that's not accounted for by air bubbles coming out of the motor. Any chance I broke something that's NOT my block? Anything I could have messed up having the valve cover off? seals look good still, no dramatic leaks at plugs or around the sides.

It's posible the smoking came on over the course of a few hundred miles and i didn't see it, but I'm pretty sure it happened when I did coolant.

I didn't see any evidence of mixed antifreeze on the dipstick, or evidence of oil in the radiator or reservoir. Only gone about 100 miles since the coolant change (and cold coolant on hot block incident) though. I'll get a video of THIS for sure, but it might be a few days until I get it up, until I know what's up I'm saving the car as much as I can, I need it to get me to college, will take videos when I drive there.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

it might be a few days until I get it up

Its pretty rare that you would lose that much oil through a valve cover gasket. Its not like its holding back pressurized oil or anything. You don't have any puddles under the car after its been sitting and/or idling in the same spot?

Obviously its getting out of there somehow. Its either leaking out, or burning out.

[mechanicalmoron]

no new leaks, just a james bond smokescreen when I give it gas.

*edit* throwing a cheap, probably voodoo radiator/block sealant in it, I don't expect improvement, but hey, if it does, I'll drain it and do one of the "perminant" metal/glue/whatever sealant flushes.

Then I can forget anything's wrong, and take off all cool like and have my motor fall out in front of a bunch of giggling girls or something.

[imbored205]

The left blinker and side light are not working on my car. It isnt the bulb as I have tested that. Why does it not work? The right side works just fine.
The blinker indicator flashes really fast when I turn the signal so it knows there is a problem.

These are for the front blinkers and side markers.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Did a mouse or something chew through your wires? Is there any corrosion on the connector?

[240sxcl50]

How many quarts of oil does the ka24de take?
And how easy is it to spin a rod in an sr i have heard thats a realy common problem with them it wouldent be a build just stock.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

The KA takes about 4 quarts.

Its pretty difficult to throw a rod in an SR. You have to either really over-rev the piss out of it, or boost it with a really bad tune.

[240sxcl50]

Realy?!? i have had so many people say you spin rod bearings like its no ones buisness? Good to know though thanks.

[idreamofs13's]

Realy?!? i have had so many people say you spin rod bearings like its no ones buisness? Good to know though thanks.

we call those people bad drivers.

[ATony]

i have been reading a lot of KA24DE block so i have the confidence to work on it my self on the block.To make the long story short i buy this car and it trows a lot smoke, i put the EGR delete block off plate with new hoses, AICV, TPS setting, problem solved. Four months later im installing fullgasket, old pistons with new rings, valve steam seals due to suddenly smoke problems in first gear and the last thing what leave me no choice was rough engine shake.

I am at the step of cross hatch cylinder.
PROBLEM:
I Thinked that mark in the piston (picture below) wasnt deep enough and after ball hone the cylinders (for deglaze)1 to 3 cylinder was ok with 7 or 8 strokes but the 4th is a pain is the only one that have those strange marks, i stroked the 4th cylinder like 16 times but they dont go. I used the 400 grit.

My question is: it could have significant low compression at that cylinder at that state?

I can keep using the ball hone but im AFRAID if it goes to 90mm and i dont want that. The really bad thing is that i dont have those measure tools. im not mechanic and buy this expensive measure tools for using just for a minutes, no thanks

NOTES:
The car smokes white i think, first gear a bit other gears no smoke. In reverse it smokes heavy
The compression test tool was from a friend the hose wasnt in good condition it brokes but last time i used, C.test was 152/151 in all not much difference (158k millage)
New sparks
Suddenly one week after C.test i turned on, the car didnt have power i took spark cables 1 and 2 and notable change on the engine but 3 and 4 they make the click,click sound but no change at all.
*It never crossed my mind to try other spark cables XD.Way too late now. i will be pissed off if was a faulty cables
I took of the head
Head gasket ---- it was ok
Head, valves status ----- i send it to repair( new valve steam seals and all those stuff) wating for news this week
No coolant oil mix
ALL rings was ok too!! but lot of carbon on them, common for that millage i think
2nd hand car
My english is really bad

[240man91]

Realy?!? i have had so many people say you spin rod bearings like its no ones buisness? Good to know though thanks.

we call those people bad drivers.

the head on a sr is the only problem i have seen mess up like warp an head gesket going ont on the sr i have herd good things about the block you must be thinkn of honda.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

i have been reading a lot of KA24DE block so i have the confidence to work on it my self on the block.To make the long story short i buy this car and it trows a lot smoke, i put the EGR delete block off plate with new hoses, AICV, TPS setting, problem solved. Four months later im installing fullgasket, old pistons with new rings, valve steam seals due to suddenly smoke problems in first gear and the last thing what leave me no choice was rough engine shake.

I am at the step of cross hatch cylinder.
PROBLEM:
I Thinked that mark in the piston (picture below) wasnt deep enough and after ball hone the cylinders (for deglaze)1 to 3 cylinder was ok with 7 or 8 strokes but the 4th is a pain is the only one that have those strange marks, i stroked the 4th cylinder like 16 times but they dont go. I used the 400 grit.

My question is: it could have significant low compression at that cylinder at that state?

I can keep using the ball hone but im AFRAID if it goes to 90mm and i dont want that. The really bad thing is that i dont have those measure tools. im not mechanic and buy this expensive measure tools for using just for a minutes, no thanks

NOTES:
The car smokes white i think, first gear a bit other gears no smoke. In reverse it smokes heavy
The compression test tool was from a friend the hose wasnt in good condition it brokes but last time i used, C.test was 152/151 in all not much difference (158k millage)
New sparks
Suddenly one week after C.test i turned on, the car didnt have power i took spark cables 1 and 2 and notable change on the engine but 3 and 4 they make the click,click sound but no change at all.
*It never crossed my mind to try other spark cables XD.Way too late now. i will be pissed off if was a faulty cables
I took of the head
Head gasket ---- it was ok
Head, valves status ----- i send it to repair( new valve steam seals and all those stuff) wating for news this week
No coolant oil mix
ALL rings was ok too!! but lot of carbon on them, common for that millage i think
2nd hand car
My english is really bad

I had that same problem on my KA. I ended up boring the cylinders out .5mm and buying new oversized pistons to match.

If everything is very smooth, it might work fine with regular pistons and rings.

[mechanicalmoron]

So why did you say it sounded like I overfilled my oil? Because as we discussesd, I had, but not much. What would you forsee having broken?

Doesn't seem to be mixing oil/coolant, lots of oil seems to be burning, so.... What's your opinion of my diagnosis of a cracked block? Coolant may be dropping, but not a huge huge amount, and I tried a cheap coolant sealing additive. Not even really worth a video, just smokes a lot when it gets VERY warm, about twice as long as it takes for the gauge to stop moving up. Any chance getting timing/valves/etc checked out and adjusted could fix it?

Switching my crap to valvoline and will see what happens, topped it off with a half quart today.

And sort of unrelated, but if someone pulled up and told me enough to show he was familliar with 240's, and his buddy needs to part out/trailer out a nice 240 with a title problem, it's very very very hot, right? it's got "rims" and various other things he didn't know much about, didn't know if it had the stock motor, etc, supposed to be in good shape tho. Is there any legit reason a nice car wouldn't have a title?

Incidentally meeting him pushed me into finially installing my fuel pump relay killswitch..... He saw my car and it's a little town, I wanna make it as hard for him as I can...

[ATony]

@ Papasmurf2k3
thanks for the reply,

@ Everyone
i will post more updates here while i work with it. Or i should create a new thread?

[PapaSmurf2k3]

@ Papasmurf2k3
thanks for the reply,

@ Everyone
i will post more updates here while i work with it. Or i should create a new thread?

Everyone would probably benefit if you made a new thread. Someone else might get the same problem as you and read your situation.

[240sxcl50]

How much hp can a stock kade trans hold and whats a good replacement for it?

[PapaSmurf2k3]

The clutch will slip around 190hp, but the gears and everything else are good for over 500. Just run good fluid.