Nokeyssan part 2.4
‘Tis the season FOR RUST!
Happy Rainy February Rustlovers!
Here in Southern California the El Niño has brought us record rainfall and sweet relief from 2 years of brown lawns caused by a serious drought. I love it. More water=more rusty cars! We even had so much wind that trees took out power lines in my area so Patient Wife got to play with candles and I got to play with my generator!
After 4 years languishing under a stack of gas cans in the garage I expected to have to clean a gummy carburetor, drain a bunch of nasty old gas and run some fresh flammables through it before it would run. This was not the case. As it turns out “Four years ago Jeff” was a total bro and he turned off the fuel and let the carburetor run dry then filled the tank with fresh 91 octane and fuel stabilizer. What a guy! All I had to do was pull the cord twice and plug in some lamps and the fridge… and the T.V. and Super Nintendo!
This was the first time in my life that I had lost power in a storm and I loved every second of it. I don’t want to downplay the danger and annoyance of frequent power loss in other parts of the country but it was definitely a novelty for us. We lit lanterns and I played Super Metroid by candlelight!
Unfortunately all good times must end; the power came back on after about 3 hours. In honor of my past self I ran out and picked up some fresh gas and fuel stabilizer and packed up the generator with a full tank and an empty carburetor. I’m sure “future me” will be happy when he discovers what I’ve done.
One downside to all the rain was all of the postponed projects outside. I have been spending my Saturdays out in the hills helping a friend overhaul the entire drive train on a ’95 Dakoda 4×4. I have had very little time to actually work on the Nokeyssan or even maintain my regular fleet.
The Nissan has simply been a bucket of problems. What I should have done was pull the motor apart then upon realization of what a nightmare I was confronted with, light it on fire and roll it off of a cliff. But I had already spent money on a windshield and a key. Oops.
What could be so bad as to warrant such extreme measures of disposal? Everything. Everything was broken. Suspension, axles, freeze plugs, water pump, hardware, HARDWARE!
The main motor mount connects to the motor with 3 bolts. One was missing (the hole was stripped out), one was snapped off flush (don’t worry I found the other piece being ground up by the water pump pulley), and the third bolt (the only one holding up that side of the motor) was low-grade steel, 2 inches too long , and was not holding the 2 parts together tightly because it was tightened all the way to the shoulder despite the giant stack of washers used to space it up. Bear in mind this was ONE of the problems. There were so many missing bolts I can’t believe the thing ran.
I pulled the motor mount off, welded a nut to the snapped bolt and spun it out then put a helicoil into the stripped hole.
Fixed!
Before pulling the head I did a quick hydrocarbon test on the coolant to make sure the head gasket was out. It is a simple test that anyone can do. Just head down to your local parts store (O’reilly for me) and rent a “block tester”. Make sure to buy a bottle of the associated fluid while you’re there. With the engine running use the squeeze bulb to draw air from the radiator through the blue liquid in the tester. If it turns clear/yellow (see below) there are hydrocarbons from the exhaust leaking into your coolant. Easy! If you want to see what the change looks like, go to the end of your exhaust pipe and pull some exhaust through the tool.
Pictured above is the tool sticking out of the radiator. A test that does not reveal exhaust in the coolant does not necessarily mean the head gasket is good but a positive test means there is a definite problem. I definitely had a problem. The head gasket was so bad that I didn’t need to use the squeeze bulb. The radiator sat there bubbling exhaust straight through the tool causing the liquid to immediately change color. Upon removal of the tool I could actually smell exhaust and raw fuel IN THE RADIATOR. Was the head gasket bad? Yes!
Ah, the delicious chocolate milkshake. Haven’t had one of these in years! This 2.4 would have to be cleaned out big time!
The head came off pretty easily and I was feeling optimistic about the repairs but I noticed there was a rust film on the cams and wanted to make sure they weren’t ruined before I continued. After a few minutes of gentle wire wheeling there was some very light etching on a couple of lobes but most of the rust wiped right off. Here is a before and after:
The Pistons and cylinders looked to be in nice shape. The coolant was being sucked through a 1/4 wide rust gap between a water jacket and the #4 cylinder so that one looked cleaner than the rest but not completely washed. The car was only driven 1/4 mile with the blown gasket so nothing was destroyed.
In the picture above you can see the new freeze plug and the rust trail from months of seepage.
I cleaned up all the parts, checked that the plane of the block and head then put the head back on. Then things took a bit of a left turn. There are 2 timing chains connected by an idler sprocket sort of like this one:
The sprocket bolts to the head and had to come off. When I took it off, the inner timing chain tensioned fully. No matter what I tried I couldn’t get the tensioner to go back in. I had to pull the timing cover.
To properly pull the timing cover I had to pull the following parts:
- power steering pump and bracket
- A/C compressor and bracket
- Idler pulley
- Water pump and housing
- Front motor mount
- Oil pan #1 and #2
- Lower crossmember and motor mounts
- Transmission shift linkages
The job just spiraled out of control until there were only about 4 wires, a clutch line and 1 bad CV axle still connecting the engine and trans to the car so I decided it would be much easier to just pull the darn thing out.
What. A. Mess.
My assessment of this motor is that it was designed to run for a very long time and then simply be thrown away. I’m not trying to alienate Nissan lovers but this car is not easily serviceable and as a tinkerer I am not a fan.
Cooling system maintenance is vital on every car and this is a prime example why. Even if it appears perfect, coolant becomes metallic over time simply from being inside the engine. Once this occurs electrolysis begins to eat away the metal of your engine from the inside out. Water pumps, freeze plugs and gaskets are the first things to go. You end up chasing leaks endlessly and if you’re only using water because of the frequent leaks then the corrosion cycle accelerates.
I can confidently say that with proper maintenance this engine would still be running great. With a 2.4 DOHC and a stick shift I bet it’s a blast to drive too.
Tune in next week, Rustlovers, for part 3 in the Nissan saga and a look at what salt can do to brakes.
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