Small overheating problem

[kassim503]

ahahaha

And here is something to make my weekend
I GOT ITTTTTTTT

its in and there is no contact- unfotunatley there is no paint marks from 23 years ago But valve timing isnt so important, as long as ensures the "suck, squish, bang, blow" <- rember that- is happening

Also on top of that im doing a front end mantainence in 2 weeks, chain assy, ft seal, water pump, so it just has to play nice for now.

[philip]

SNIP
its in and there is no contact- unfotunatley there is no paint marks from 23 years ago But valve timing isnt so important, as long as ensures the "suck, squish, bang, blow" <- rember that- is happening SNIP

You say that as if it's a "good" thing. It is critical that valve timing be spot on. One tooth +/- is not okay.

[asavage]

But valve timing isnt so important, as long as ensures the "suck, squish, bang, blow" <- rember that- is happening

I sure hope that you don't really believe this.

This web page says that for the older L24 engine, there should be 42 links between the crank sprocket mark and cam sprocket mark.

Another reference says the same:

With the cam and the crank at their TDC positions, install the timing chain, sprockets, guides and tension block. The chain should be positioned so that the bright links are facing the front. Align one bright link to the crankshaft-sprocket dot, which should be at about the 4 o'clock position. Align the second bright link to the selected cam sprocket, start with dot 1. The link position should be at approximately 2 o'clock with the corresponding dowel hole in the sprocket hub aligned with the cam dowel. Install the cam sprocket to the cam nose. Once everything is in place, there should be 42 link pins inbetween the two timing marks, and the dash mark should be slightly to the left of the cam sprocket notch.

I suggest you get out your strong flashlight and get counting. If you think being off by one tooth is no big deal, you've never done this before, or talked to anyone who has.

And if you try that with a diesel, you'll be rebuilding your engine immediately (if it fires up) or replacing every valve (if you just crank it over).

[kassim503]

my bad- I was wrong

This car is the 2nd car ive ever owned that wasnt a pushrod, so the whole OHC concept is pretty new to me

Well timing isnt my problem now- I managed to strip the bolt that goes to the t-stat housing, I must of mixed something up when removing it- the bolt is too big for the hole. But its hard to mix it up when u put the bolts back into its place right after taking it off, so idk how this happend.

Al- thanks for the picture and not just ridleculing my ways, I set the cam at what I thought was TDC, when the cam sprocket was flat against the valve cover mating surface, the cam lobes looked TDC but it wasnt. Now with the help of your picture I know where TDC is for the cam gear, all i have to do is set the crank to TDC and start over, this time without dropping the tensioner.

[asavage]

You're going to be our resident expert on the L24e soon, unless Ben gets his act together

[kassim503]

Ben got his act together way before I even discovered the forum

Is there a factory notch for TDC on the crank pulley?

How reliable is the fill cyl with water/coolant method and slowly crank until it stops coming out of the spark plug hole method?

[asavage]

Haven't heard of that one. I "always" use a piece of gas welding rod down the plug hole, touching the piston. You want to use something soft enough that if it gets jammed against a valve or caught between a valve and piston crown, it won't do any damage, you can roll the crank back and pull it out. Use a looong piece, so it can't fall in irretrievably.

Somewhere, I still own a special kind of tool for that sort of thing. See, years ago, in motorcycle land, you had to be able to set the ignition timing on all sorts of odd and weird motorcycles, and many of them didn't have timing marks! Dwell meters don't work reliably on magnetos (Gawd, I love electronic ignition! I do not miss points!).

This special tool has a threaded adapter that goes in the plug hole (several different size plug holes, actually), which has a rod in the center that can slide freely, and which is graduated. You set it up so that the rod rests on the piston's crown, rock the crank back until the rod drops so far (arbitrary distance, but repeatable), note the reading on the rod, crayon the flywheel (damper, in your world). Then rotate the crank forward until the rod rises, then falls to the same level you noted before. Crayon the flywheel (damper) again.

What you did was make crayon marks to note the "before" and "after" TDC of exactly the same amount -- the value of "amount" is irrelevant: you've bracketed TDC with crayon marks equidistant from TDC.

Then it's simple to just move the flywheel to exactly halfway between the crayon marks, and that's exactly TDC. And I mean exactly.

Well, for most work, a piece of welding rod down the plug hole, rock the crank back and forth around TDC and watch the rod, is close enough. Not for static ign timing, but for most other things, such as valve lash adjustment, it's fine.

[kassim503]

I think its safe to say nobody misses points

Did the almost the same thing, took some thin arc welding electrode, smushed the flux off of it and sent it down.

Set it right- i was short 2 links. Used a clotheshanger and a light to help me count and feel the links.


Started the car, it runs, but something is off, it runs rough, I guess thatll describe it. Instead of the nice smooth clack clack clack that the car used to do now its more like a putt putt putt with a small rocking motion to it, seems to be effected at all RPM's, but I didnt push it nowhere past 3k rpm in fear of it being a tensioner problem. Anything that would make this problem besides the chain in the wrong spot or the tensioner giving out? I also think it smoothes out while it revs down, but its 130 in the morning over here and I dont feel like waking up the whole neighborhood to find out.


It starts fine too, but I cant quite place this type of running, it dosent "feel" like a fuel delivery problem mabye I could of forgot to connect a vaccuum tube.

I think ill refrain from driving it until I replace the chain, the old chain and tensioner sound a little iffy.

Oh I to add to the mysteriousness the power is the same as before, no sluggishness.

[kassim503]

turns out i cant count, i checked the valve timing and i was off by a link.

Car runs better but not perfect, it feels like a misfire, ill hook up the EFI tester later, mabye itll help me figure it out, i think its either a connecter that didnt connect or greasy spark plug boots. No backfiring.

On the other hand there is a coolant leak, dosent seem liek the headgasket, i think its the crappy GMB water pump giving way - see water pumps thread under the SDxx engines. I think, not that sure yet.

[kassim503]

Uh oh- the coolant leak is coming from the head gasket. This time its around the #1 cyl and the timing chain area, and its leaking to the outside of the engine. Didnt check for water in oil but ill do that soon. How come it do this to me?!?! The head is straight and block is as well, and the old gasket came off clean, so there was no chunks of layers of old gasket on there.

Ill try retorqing the heads tighter, mabye to 65 ft lbs instead of the 58 I did earlier.

[kassim503]

my bad again- its the seal that goes between the water pump and the timing cover, too bad i have to cut up a new seal, put it in, then take it out and install a new pump whenever napa gets my new pump in.

today took a turn for the better, not only is the new headgasket sealing, I won clapton tickets from the local rock station , 102.3 wbab, and suffolk county police seems to have a vendetta against speeding, so that means I might not hear civics "go" at the traffic light near my house anymore

[kassim503]

The car runs beautiful! I pulled a high rpm run and held it at high speed for a while and it just started running great! I think there was crap in the valves stopping it from closing fully or something

[kassim503]

all betta, wp replaced, hopefully all is well. Going to take it for a drive, put some miles on it, if i dont return- the car exploded

[kassim503]

Ok Ok, Hold all criticism untill tommorow morning, when im ready to take on all of your "he is a dumbass" "let me dumb it down for you" responses

Well to make things short, I did some work, and I fancied having the fan off to do it, I was replacing the belts and im trying to avoid man handling the fan while I loosen the lower outer alternator bolt (its what broke the stock fan), after changing out the belt I put the fan back on, all is well. Test ran it, no belts slipping and I did a quick wiggle test to make sure the fan is tight, well the fan wasnt as tight as I thought and we all know what happens when the fan nuts are loose.....

...Soooooo I have a stock fan from a z car heading my way right now, and im going to call the place that sells the rads for $130, once I find that number, ive been scouring the forum in my free time and cant quite find it. Also I need to get ahold of a new hood heat sheild, and shroud, Is that stuff something I can order from a chain parts store? I never thought of ordering a shroud from a store before, but I know that there is no 1st gen maximas in jys around here, hasnt been here in the past year or two and im pretty sure none came in since last month.

Lucky for me nobody got hurt by a freewheeling fan, and there was minimal damage done, surprisingly

[asavage]

im going to call the place that sells the rads for $130, once I find that number, ive been scouring the forum in my free time and cant quite find it.

How 'bout upthread?

Also I need to get ahold of a new hood heat sheild, and shroud, Is that stuff something I can order from a chain parts store?

Go dealer. The upper plastic fan shroud is very difficult to find in good condition: the "snaps" break. If you only need the basic shroud and can bolt the upper to the lower yourself, a used one can be found.

I can get you the part Nos. for the shroud. Heat shield? Hood blanket?