valve problem is gettin to me. guys help?

[91KA]

so i was getting a tuneup at a local shop today and it turns out one of my valve is lacking fuel consumption. (what the mechanic told me) specifically he told me that the lubrication pump is not lubricating enough oil to the valves in which the valves doesnt open enough at times.

its doing this due to lack of oil to the valve because the oil pumps old and it cant pump up power as it used to. i asked about the price to fix this and his replied $400 for labor and part.

the motor, makes a click click (like spinning click click as if somethings loose - also gurggling sound) noise right where the motor oil cap is. the noise starts to happen when you turn the engine on or after a hard run.

my question is, is the mechanic right about the gurggling sound? if he is, is he being fair about the price?

can i fix this myself? is it hard to fix? i'm asking all this if when it is the valve problem. (some of the things that the mechanic told me didnt make sense which is why i'm talking to you guys.)

this question only reguards to those who has experience.

[DjPantsSpecR]

no, your mechanic is so full of **** its ridiculous

seriously, stupid *** mechanic

"one of my valves is lacking fuel consumption" isnt even a statement, if he told you that its time to run away

are you sure the gurgling isnt timing chain noise? thats the number one most common noise to come out of the oil cap area. Sounds like you may have a bad tensioner, so that thing physically is having a hard time pumping up with oil to keep the chain in tension

[s14_drifter8]

"one of my valves is lacking fuel consumption"

Hahahahaha.... when did the valves consumed fuel?!So it's like my 24v is a 24 cylinder engine! WOW!

Your mechanic is bu</>ll ****</>ing. Screw him. Probably timing chain noise.

[benemorius]

You guys are too quick to call bs on the mechanic. On the contrary, I am impressed by his knowledge on the specifics of the ka.

What your mechanic seems to be trying to tell you is that your oil pump can't keep enough oil pressure to allow your hydraulically adjusted valve lifters to work properly. This results in excessive valve lash, causing tapping noises and reduced valve opening. Of course I can't confirm his diagnosis as I don't have the car here with me, but I can say that if what I just said is the same as what he is saying then the diagnosis does at least hold water.

I couldn't say much about the price. A post in the Nissan Online Mechanic section should get you the answer you need.

[vvaffle]

what benemorius said makes sense, but it wouldn't hurt to check how the timing chain guides are doing, especially if your oil pump is not in the best shape. Though, removing the guides while the chain is not properly tensioned might not be a good idea. benemorius, isn't there a simple way to check oil pressure and therefore if the oil pump is ok? also, if he didn't change his oil/oil filter in time that would decrease oil pressure as well right?

[benemorius]

Yes. We can certainly help diagnose the problem here on the board given some more information. I just wanted to step in and call bs on the bs call before he got too pissy with the mechanic. As I said, amongst many other mechanics who have disappointed me, this one looks to be quite a bit more capable of working on a 240 based on what we've heard so far.

[DjPantsSpecR]

i just gotta call the bs on you calling bs about me callin bs...

as soon as you find the hydraulic lifters in a DE, let me know

you did a good job of trying to make an *** of me though

[vvaffle]

and I could swear he said hrdraulicly ADJUSTED lifters. And it didn't seem to me like he was trying to make an *** out of you. Either way, I don't know who is right, but why so personal?

[DjPantsSpecR]

hydraulic lifters are hydraulicly adjusted lifters, and he was just tryin to sound as intelligent as possible. He may know his E has hydraulics but DE don't they're quite solid.

i'm not too sure he's not a mechanic himself so he doesnt want to hear another mechanic trash-talked. About a KA, I always trust people who have actual experience with KAs over people who have a vague knowledge over everything. In those instances you tend to get ridiculous diagnoses such as the hyrdraulic lifters your car doesnt have are causing a problem, so on and so forth.

this gurgling noise isn't nearly a good enough description, maybe an actual sound clip would help, but from past experience, and from one KA i just got running a few nights ago, its quite easy to have a timing chain tensioner problem.

i'm still guessing the gurgling is the chain hitting the valve cover. However, he says its slop between the cam lobes and the buckets and shims. I can imagine that would be a far more nasty noise, and i have yet to encounter this problem

just get an oil pressure gauge, hook it up to the pressure switch and test, this coulda been said like ten posts up and it woulda easily solved the situation, but instead some people just like to complicate things, quite wrongly too

[All_Motor_KA]

Have you guys even asked if it's a DE or E?

[:: orion ::]

^^^ Like he said, this all hinges on whether it's a SOHC or DOHC...

I'd assume DOHC, by the username (91KA)...but who knows if that's accurate.

- Brian

[benemorius]

I don't understand the personal attacks and I certainly never meant to participate in any.

As I said, I suggest a post in the Nissan Online Mechanic section for help in diagnosing this problem. I never intended to make an *** out of anyone, and if I offended anyone in what I said, I do sincerely apologize. My intent was to point out the possible sense to be made of the mechanic's odd wording, and to help prevent someone from passing up a mechanic who may (or may not) be a great mechanic to return to next time. Asserting that this mechanic is useless based on the little information provided was just too harsh in my opinion. It was only an opinion. I don't intend do push it on anyone.

[eliesito]

not to br rud but in a way all of you are somewhat right and wrong you are all focusing on the valves but the problem isn't the valve it is the oil pump. by the way 400 bucks to fix it is outrageous. yes it is hard if you have no mechanic experience cus you actually have to get the number one poston to (tdc), take the distributor cap off and mark thr rotor in position and remove the dis, then take out the pump and reverce the process (make sure to put the dis. bac in the same position otherwise the timing will be way off). if you need mor info send me a text.

[DjPantsSpecR]

it would actually be possible to remove the lower timing cover without pulling the upper one, adnthus without pulling the distributor, but thats not gonna make anyones life easier.

you still have to pull the oil pan a good amount to remove the front timing cover because the oil pick up extends out quite a bit. this will probably require unbolting a motor mount or two and raising the motor up.

everything has to be removed from in front of the engine like the fan and shroud and so on, so thats time wasted, pulling the crank pulley and such. Its kinda abig job if you havent done anything like this, but 400 for a mechanic seems pretty reasonable

but like i said, before you replace something that might be a good unit, hook an oil pressure gauge up to where the oil pressure sending unit screws in, thats how nissan does it

[eliesito]

well done, i completly forgot about the test. you do have a point it is posible to do it by getting the lower timing cover it's a little more work but i think that for a beginer it would be easier pulling it all if they aren't in a hurry. if you don't then have it done it can be done in one day.in florida nissan sais that it is an 8hr job.