ka wont start. weird issue

[2fast4y0u]

so heres the deal-
kid says he blew his more in his 95 s14. wants to sell the car rather then fix it. i know the kid knows nothing about cars at all other then filling it with gas.

i buy the car and he tells me that when he turns either direction the car dies. when the motor "blew up" he was making a left turn. sense then the car has been started once by pumping the throttle like crazy

today i get the car and start looking over the obvious things. plugs, plug wires, fuel pump, igntion fuse, ect...

he tells me that he recently had a nissan stealership (gerlad nissna in North Aurora) replace the water pump, timing chain, and timing chain guides. by the looks of the liquid gasket all over everything under the hood i would say they had the whoel front of the motor apart.

so...i checked for spark - its there
i checked fuel through the lines - its definetly there

if i turn the key and have someone move the car up and down like crazy the car almost start....its has ignition and wants to start but wont stay going

any ideas???

[silvia-junkie]

timing might be off, or timing chain might have been faulty and broke. take valve cover off and put a cyl at tdc valves should be closed then leak test cyl. if air leaking then either valves are open or there is a leak some where else. to check valves air will either be comming from exhaust if exhaust valve open or from intake if intake valve is open.

[2fast4y0u]

sweet
thanks

[S.ONE.THREE]

silvia-junkie is on the right track, just hope the jackass did not bend any valves with the timing being off that bad. but im 99.9% sure its the timing, had a lose chain jump a tooth and its just how you say is wrong with yours. good luck.

[idlafie]

Put your ECU into diagnostic mode & see if there are any diagnostic trouble codes stored in the ECU. Use those trouble codes as a guide to figure out what your problem is. If there are no Diagnostic Trouble Codes stored, then check your wiring harness. If there is any play in the motor mounts, then there will be some movement in the wiring harness when you make a turn in any direction leading to the engine dying. An electrical short in the wiring harness will result in the motor dying or causing a No Start situation...the motor will turn over but won't stay on.
The mechanics at the stealership probably either forgot to tighten down one of the ground wires or crimped one of the wiring harnesses when the previous owner took the vehicle went in for service.
Anyhow, hope this helps...
ID

[rlpinoy]

i would start at the ecu first and see what codes it shoots out. the ecu is located near the passengers right foot floor panel. look up how to read codes in this forum and you'll find plenty of info. from there just watch and diagnose. gl

[2fast4y0u]

awesome,
thanks everyone for the help so far. i will let you know the out come of all suggestions listed above

Jay

[2fast4y0u]

ok-
set the timing to stock. what a pain in the ass. there is only one link that is a different color to use as a timing mark. the cam gears both have a mark on them but the distributor only has one mark as well. so, my timing still might be off.

then, as i was setting it TDC i left the 1/2 rachet and socket on the crank pulley and tried starting it, well, i ripped off the trans cooler line to the radiator. so, after that stops leaking everywere i will continue to work.

i checked the ecu for stored codes and i got
Camshaft Position Sensor 11
Knock Sensor 34
Intake Air Temp Sensor 41

cleared them and now im just getting the intake air temp sensor

any other suggestions

[infinitexsound]

timing... for sure.... you'd have to TDC #1 again and restick the distributor...

[2fast4y0u]

thats what im hoping...

the timing sprockets have one mark each like they are supposed to. thw crank pulley has 5 marks. the distributor only has one mark other then the shaft pin, and the timing chain only has one different link and its yellow.

so, which mark on the carnk pulley am i supposed to line up? the FSM doesnt really have a good pic of that.
also, were is the yellow link on the timing chain supposed to be for TDC? is it supposed to be over the mating mark on the intake cam side or over the mating mark on the exhaust side.

[aznpoopy]

http://www.240sx.org/faq/articles/pics/timing01.jpg

the engine can still be 180 degrees off even if its at this mark. to check, pull off the oil filler cap and look in to make sure the cam lobes are facing away from each other on cyl #1. alternatively, i usually just pull the spark plug and stick a long screw driver in to make sure the cylinder is at the top of its stroke.

you shouldn't need to look at chain marks unless you are redoing the cams or the timing chain.

[2fast4y0u]

beautiful
i have the valve cover off os i can see whats going on. the pin on the crank was just about lined up with the last one like to show it in the pic. i will take another look tomorrow and see what i can do.
Thanks,
Jay

[2fast4y0u]

sweet victory!
she starts now, but the rod knock is so bad its not even funny. so, just want to say thanks to everyone that has hepled me out on this.
now i need a ka24de to replace with :)
Jay

[infinitexsound]

what kinda knock? spun bearing? id just rebuild the block its fucken cake...

[Jbma327]

DO A Compression test!!! I have a feeling that 2 of your cylinder may not be holding enough compression. SEEN THE SAME THING HAPPEND TO KA's. 2 of my friends are in the same situation right now.

[2fast4y0u]

well i had someone else start her up again tonight so i can hear whats going on...i would say that #3 and 4 is were the banging is cmoing from and im sure its bad because its really, really, really loud.

im trying to find a replacement ka so we will see. once i get the old out i will tear it apart and post pics of the carnage

[cloudstrife930]

humm just curious, how did you get it to actually turn over, was timing off, or just a shit load lack of compression?

[2fast4y0u]

mostly timing, but i would say some of the valves are junk because there is a lot of white vapor coming from all over the valve cover when its turned over/running