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Engine troubles


Guest Anonymous

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Guest Anonymous

Well, for a few weeks now my car hasn't been able to start and I just run the battery dead when trying. It turns over and seems to have compression (although very bad compression) and the spark plugs are at the correct gap and they all spark. I also found oil in the radiator and more. So anyway, I finally decided to tear the motor down and replace the head gaskets(which turned out to be a huge chore in a 72 240z which has an untouched factory motor with 200K miles on it). After a few hours over 2 days(after classes when there was light), I was able to get the carbs, intake & exhaust manifold, chain and head bolts off/out. The head is still attached however on the end farthest from the cockpit, so I'll see if there are some mystery bolts tomorrow when it's lighter out. Anyway, I'd load pics if I had them, but basically I'm just tearing it all apart from the knowledge I have of chevy 350's and my v6 in my grand am, so the inline design is a little new to me, but fairly self explanatory. Ok, well here's the question and the "more" I claimed above. When I got the valve cover off, I find water on the head, and a lot of it. I'd be very pissed if the head has a pinhole in it, cause that would make it a large aluminum paperweight, but anyway, the question is, what's wrong? Yeah, I know it was a lengthy post to simply ask what's wrong, but the car was running fine after I bought it and when I test drove it, etc.., but it was very very low on oil when I checked after it wouldn't start, like I said, compression is there, but sucks and I haven't had a chance to get my roomies compression tester yet, so that's as clear as I can be for now. I figured I blew a head gasket (since it happened to my car, my mom's car, 2 of my roomies car's and my friends civic all within 2 weeks of each other; I figured it was karma or something). I dunno, if the problem is worse than just the gasket I dunno if it's worth it for me to screw with that motor since I plan on going 350 whenever I find some money. Anybody got any ideas? BTW, trying to take the exhaust manifold off this damn motor took 2 crowbars and a half hour of labor. There was a lot of rusted bolts that simply broke when I turned them (especially in the exhaust manifold) and a few parts had been fused together due to the heat and lack of maintanence over time. I could put the engine back together if I can fix the problem easily, but I already took off the entire exhaust sytem from the manifold back and am about to toss it, so if I planned on using this motor in the near future I'd be running manifold to straight pipe...very loud. Ok, sorry for all the detail, but I wanted there to be as few questions as possible. Thanx for your help.

 

-Matt-

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Matt, since you mentioned oil in the radiator, and water on the head, I would suspect a blowen head gasket too. What did the oil in the oil pan look like? was it white looking? A propane tourch would help to get those rusted nuts, and bolts out. You said the head is still attached at the front, I'm not an L6 expert, but the timing chain and gears are up there, did you take those off yet?

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Guest Anonymous

I agree with Mike, either a head gasket or a cracked head/block, and I suspect the former rather than the later since it seems like I see the head gasket on the L6's mentioned alot.

 

Regards,

 

Lone

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If all the bolts are out (head) and the cam chain is off, and it is just the gasket holding the head in place, try feeding some rope into the bores, thru the spark plug holes, Loosen off the cam so that all the valves are closed and then crank the motor. That will pop off the head when the piston pushes the rope into the head. I've used this technique several time with success each time. Just make sure that all the bolts are out (leave a few in loosely so the head doesn't fall). Also, check the freeze plug on the front of the block (behind the timing chain). I have replaced the Head gasket twice on a L28 before learning that it wasn't the head gasket at all, but the timing chain was so loose it wore through the freeze plug.

Hope this helps.

Tim

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Guest Anonymous

Well, I couldn't sleep last night so at 6am when it got light enough to see I went outside and found two tiny (8mm) bolts holding the front of the head in place. After taking those out and removing the hose connected to the head near the firewall I removed the head and found a completely intact head gasket. So, I'll check the freeze plug although the chain seemed very taught before I removed it. If that's not it, I fear Lone may be right. My roomate thought it might have been a cracked block too, and if that's the case then I have no choice but to wait til I get the 350. I doubt it's the head because I thoroughly looked it over and it seems fine and unless there is a pinhole somewhere that I can't see, I'll assume the problem is elsewhere. Thanx for all your help. If you have any further advice, go ahead and post, I'd greatly appreciate that as well.

 

-Matt-

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Guest Anonymous

I'm not sure, but I think I mentioned above that I want to get a 350, but if the motor you're selling works for sure and is cheap enough then I might consider it just so I can drive my car around. How much were you thinking in terms of $$ and what condition is the motor in?

 

 

Also, Mike Kz, I haven't had the chance to take the oil pan off yet, so I don't know what color the oil is, but I know there is very little of it left.

A guy who posts here by the name Nic happened to be driving by today and we talked for a while and he mentioned that this problem in FI cars has to due with a mechanism in the distributor sometimes, but I'm not sure if that applies to my car. I dunno, I'd like to replace the motor altogether. I believe the 2.4 block is the same as the 2.6 and 2.8, right? So if I found a cheap 240/260/280 motor, wouldn't it slip right in with the stock 4-spd?

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