did my swap, 17 hours, and the engine is bad

[madwilly240]

about a month ago i got stuck in a flood with my 96 (with 93K miles), and bent a rod in cylinder four.

this weekend, we worked for 14 hours on saturday and 3 hours on sunday, and swapped in the new KA (73K miles).

we went to fire her up, and i heard the worst ****in rattle ever. they damn timing chain is so loose and its hitting the casing. we got the engine for 750, and i think we are going to have to get a new one and do the swap all over again. i did some searches and i see that this is a problem common with KA's. to adjust the tensioners do I have to take the head off or anything? or is this not a huge problem for me. would you guys reccomend trying to fix it, or trying my luck with another KA?

also, we got the engine from a very reputable used parts company.

[Bill Roberts]

Arn't those engines guranteed for something like 30 days or so?

I would call the shop you got it from, tell them what the deal is (after checking compression) and see what they want to do about it.

They may refund you the amount it would take to correct the problem. I bought a used tranny once that was bad (not for my Nissan though) and told the salvage yard, bought another, it too was bad, told that salvage yard, both salvage yards sent a dude out to look at them, they refunded the money, I got to keep both bad trannys, and out of three (my original bad one) I MADE a good one.

Just bring it to their attention and see what the options are first.

After you exhaust those options, I would look into either trading the parts off your old engine (if you still have it) and make it right..if they seem to not want to help you.

[madwilly240]

yes there is a 90 day warranty, and the compression is fine. but anyways... we will call the company and tell them, but we think they are just gonna give us another engine, rather than refund our money, and we dont wanna have to do the damn swap all over again.

between the 95 and 96 KA, there are a bunch off different vaccuum lines and sensors, and we had to swap all that **** to the new engine from my broken one.

maybe they will give me a refund though, since the KA i bought was they only one they had in stock. they dont have another one to give me.

[Bill Roberts]

ooohh I did not know you went a year back with a 95 Engine. The timing chain situation should fit from the bent engine to the 95 engine...right?

I was hoping they would like refund you 200 dollars and you could take the internal parts from your 96 engine and put them on the 95...and the extra money would come in handy.

I wish you well with it..keep us updated!

BR

[madwilly240]

im an idiot. i definately have a perfectly fine timing chain assembly sitting five feet away on my old engine. we could swap that on if i cant fix it. thanks man.

[Bill Roberts]

LOL...it is the little things that get pasts us sometimes!

Cool beans!

[misnomer]

Don't forget that it isn't always the chain. There are a few guides that are prone to breaking and rattling like a mofo. Search for my thread on timing chain rattles and you'll find a walkthrough to get to the upper chain.

[thx247]

Um, why not pull the timing chain cover off and check the thing first. It could be as stupid as the timing guides are stuck or even pulled back with those little clips for service. :aw:

Otherwise, if the engine has no oil pressure those chains are going to skip and rattle like a mofo. Did you try priming the engine with oil before starting it up?

Is the oil pan dented? Oil pickup operating?

[orion::S14]

Yeah - Before you damn the new engine, check to see if the tensioner is stuck.

I just swapped in a new KA as well (preventetive maintenence...hehe), and it rattled like hell for the first couple minutes, eventually going away...now she's silent.

And in my experience, those tensioners get pretty sticky when they just sit there. Ttake off the upper timing chain cover, and you'll see the tensioner on the passenger side of the motor - See if it's stuck. I bet it is...

Later- Brian

[madwilly240]

thanks guys, yea it was the upper guide, we took it off, and it rattled for another couple minutes. probably just cuz it was all gunked up inside. its silent now, and i just got my cd/s brembo rotors on the back, so im in good shape.

[zero.counter]

Originally posted by madwilly240
thanks guys, yea it was the upper guide, we took it off, and it rattled for another couple minutes. probably just cuz it was all gunked up inside. its silent now, and i just got my cd/s brembo rotors on the back, so im in good shape.
Glad to hear it was nothing major.

[fast-datsun]

There is a Nissan recall to remove the upper chain guide because it makes noise even with a good chain..

[rufrydrsc2]

I just had my KA rebuilt, and the guy that rebuilt it went to Nissan to get the upper timing chain guide because mine was making the same noise, and they told him that he can't get it anymore. There's a memo out from Nissan not to put it back on, they break and there's nothing Nissan can do about it. Some engines it breaks early, some it breaks late, and some it never breaks at all. You can try putting it on from your old engine, but it may break. If it does you will know it, cause it will make a noise horribly worse than before. It's just something we have to live with. It goes away under acceleration.

[WIshb0ne]

it took me 4 horus to do that swap.... wtf were u doing...

[weirdstyles.net]

Originally posted by WIshb0ne
it took me 4 horus to do that swap.... wtf were u doing...

96-95 swap in under 5 hours, show me the video