Coolant Leak I need help

[TheNigguh_Danny]

I have this coolant leak & it only leaks when there's pressure/when car warms up here's a video of where it's coming from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJ4KdXT8HDU&feature=youtu.be , I squeezed the hose in the video to simulate pressure because the car wasn't on. It's a 95 240sx with stock KA motor

[Renelovesnike]

i would deffinetly not run the vehicle without fixing that leak beforehand to not risk overheating/ blown headgasket issues.

and that mating surface from the head to the intake manifold deffinetly looks all gunked up with rtv so chances are its distorting a clean surface to make a good seal*

i would personally drain coolant/catch it with a tub if its still clean so when the intake manifold is removed the collant wont make a mess. then remove intake manifold and with a 3m Roloc "plastic bristle" on a drill or die grinder evenly clean both surfaces without adding any hard pressure since aluminum is a verry soft metal. you dont want to make any low spots.

if you wanna get technician magician on it you could take a streight edge and a feeler guage to both surfaces to check for any low spots to mke sure theres no warpage or is someone prior created a low spot to let coolant seep thru.

and reassemble with new gasket just make sure the mating surfaces are really clean.

id get a hold of some sweivel ratcheting wrenches and some 1/4 swuivel ratchet with some extenssions since some bolts there are hard to get to.

GL

[TheNigguh_Danny]

Okay thanks I'll look into this, I don't think it's gunked up with rtv tho i forgot I had some on my finger when i was first searching for where the leak is coming from that's why there's some on there.

[TheNigguh_Danny]

Any one else have anything to say

[TheNigguh_Danny]

noticed stud was missing, I had someone help me who I thought was more knowledgeable with cars help me replace my knock sensor and long story short he removed a couple studs to move the manifold i guess to have more space. He ended up leaving me with leftover studs & a leak that wasnt there before.I also checked if there were anymore missing for the intake manifold but that was the only one. So i put the stud i believed was the one that belonged there but still did not fix leak here's a video where i put the stud I dont know what to do now im frustrated https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZvCPFgY1DM&feature=youtu.be

[r20crazy]

the intake manifold gasket is leaking. right there is where the water/coolant goes between the head and the manifold. ur gonna have to pull at least the upper intake manifold off, it sometimes easier to take the entire thing out. theres gonna be a lot hoses/wires chit that's gotta disconnect and reconnect. use a gasket kit, don't use rtv. give urself a couple hours to do it. if its ur 1st time taking one off, mark/label things, and take pics.

[Alisaihin]

I might as well ask the question: was that intake manifold gasket ever changed before? If it hasn't been changed recently you might just want to change that gasket in entirety. An old enough gasket (especially there!) will be hard, brittle, and unable to re-seal effectively, and given that area constantly sees coolant and coolant pressure RTV isn't exactly something you wanna use.

Put it simply: That gasket attaches to the cylinder head, and it's made of aluminum. Aluminum exchanges heat pretty quick and that gasket sits riiiiiiiight on it. Add to that said aluminum head directly sees the fuel combustion well...yeah it's gonna make that gasket harden quick.

Also, from my personal experience, don't be afraid of making those bolts a little tight. Better to squeeze that gasket a little than lack a seal.

[TheNigguh_Danny]

the intake manifold gasket is leaking. right there is where the water/coolant goes between the head and the manifold. ur gonna have to pull at least the upper intake manifold off, it sometimes easier to take the entire thing out. theres gonna be a lot hoses/wires chit that's gotta disconnect and reconnect. use a gasket kit, don't use rtv. give urself a couple hours to do it. if its ur 1st time taking one off, mark/label things, and take pics.

I will definitely take pics and mark things, so I don't use rtv do i use anything or just put it on.

[TheNigguh_Danny]

To my knowledge the gasket hasn't been changed I just recently got the car in September of 2014 I only drove it for about a week before I had to do some repairs mainly it's taken me so long to finally finish due to not having a lot of money, this is the only thing left thats stopping me from driving it.

[r20crazy]

when the bolts were loosened the gasket tore. u need this gasket set

http://www.autozone.com/external-engine/intake-manifold-gasket/felpro-intake-manifold-gasket/nissan-datsun/240sx/1996/4-cylinders-a-2-4l-sfi-dohc/572029_46006_0/

your gasket is currently leaking on the right hand side of the lower gasket pictured in the link above. the upper gasket shown is the one between the 2 halves (upper and lower half) of the intake manifold. if u split the intake manifold u replace it too.

seems like u are new to working on things. to do this u'll be disconnecting the engine wire harness, fuel lines, coolant lines, u'll have to loosen or drop the alternator to reach a hidden bracket bolt, then re-tension the belt, bleeding the cooling system.... long socket extensions and swivel are a must, long handle needle nose pliers (straight and angled tip help a lot too). its straight forward, but a lot of work

[TheNigguh_Danny]

Thanks for the link and explaining to me where the problem is, looks like this is going to be my project tomorrow. Do I need to put sealant or anything since some of you guys are saying not to use rtv do i put anything at all? Sorry for the questions just want to make sure i do this right.

[r20crazy]

no just use the gasket set, nothing else. be sure to remove all of the old gasket with a scraper of some kind on the intake manifold and head or it will leak again, be careful to not let any gasket material get inside the head or u may have larger problems. (u can stuff a rag inside the openings to prevent this, just be sure the rag is clean itself and remove it when done).

[TheNigguh_Danny]

Okay, thanks for all the tips I'll let you guys know tomorrow how it went or how it's going. I'll take pics & most likely video also.

[Alisaihin]

when the bolts were loosened the gasket tore. u need this gasket set

http://www.autozone.com/external-engine/intake-manifold-gasket/felpro-intake-manifold-gasket/nissan-datsun/240sx/1996/4-cylinders-a-2-4l-sfi-dohc/572029_46006_0/

your gasket is currently leaking on the right hand side of the lower gasket pictured in the link above. the upper gasket shown is the one between the 2 halves (upper and lower half) of the intake manifold. if u split the intake manifold u replace it too.

seems like u are new to working on things. to do this u'll be disconnecting the engine wire harness, fuel lines, coolant lines, u'll have to loosen or drop the alternator to reach a hidden bracket bolt, then re-tension the belt, bleeding the cooling system.... long socket extensions and swivel are a must, long handle needle nose pliers (straight and angled tip help a lot too). its straight forward, but a lot of work
I'll also add to this, you might also want to get a bunch of new hoses as well, because a lot of them might be a bit hard and brittle as well (just about every hose up to the intake manifold is brand new on my '90). You don't want any vacuum or coolant leaks popping up from some old hoses!

Make sure you organize your bolts and nuts! I cannot overemphasize this, because I didn't and I almost regretted it.

Try to work out the tear down in three stages:
-Disconnecting the hoses, intake tube, and wiring
-Disconnecting the plenum/lower manifold (where the throttle body sits)
-Disconnecting the upper manifold/intake runners (the part that goes to the engine from the plenum)

Take care when moving the fuel rail off the runners, I'd personally make sure to purge the fuel lines (I know the old KA24E on the 90's can have that done by removing the gas cap, not so sure on the DE) so that way when removing the fuel rail...you don't risk having an injector pop off (because if you remove the fuel rail and leave the injectors in you don't need to worry about fuel spilling).

As said, you're likely going to need to loosen up the (apparently Alternator for DE) so you can get to the underside bolt (it was the power steering on my KA24E, and that sucked ass).

Make sure you have emptied the coolant before you start (most radiators allow this by a little drain screw on the bottom, really easy!). It should allow for the removal of more than enough coolant for the job.

Don't worry if you have to distend the throttle cables a little, they'll survive it (though the mounting bracket for the tensioners can be loosened to make the plenum easier to move out of the way, this means you don't need to remove the throttle body at all).

If, for whatever reason the runners don't come off easy, DON'T FORCE IT OFF! I almost regretted that when I was wondering why it wouldn't come off (turns out a couple heater hoses attached...on the underside of the KAE engine. wut), because I now have a bent stud on my cylinder head. Don't make the same mistake as I did.

If the car (still) has EGR this would be a wonderful time to clean out the runners a little :3 Even if it doesn't wouldn't hurt to do so anyway. EGR tends to foul up the runners bad. Just take a washrag you're comfortable ruining, put a little gun cleaning solvent on it and run it through them a few times.

If any gasket still sticks to the surfaces, scrape it off. A simple putty knife is wonderful for this (especially if you have a hammer to accompany).

Those are some little tips from my personal experience. Hope they help a little!

[TheNigguh_Danny]

I'll also add to this, you might also want to get a bunch of new hoses as well, because a lot of them might be a bit hard and brittle as well (just about every hose up to the intake manifold is brand new on my '90). You don't want any vacuum or coolant leaks popping up from some old hoses!

Make sure you organize your bolts and nuts! I cannot overemphasize this, because I didn't and I almost regretted it.

Try to work out the tear down in three stages:
-Disconnecting the hoses, intake tube, and wiring
-Disconnecting the plenum/lower manifold (where the throttle body sits)
-Disconnecting the upper manifold/intake runners (the part that goes to the engine from the plenum)

Take care when moving the fuel rail off the runners, I'd personally make sure to purge the fuel lines (I know the old KA24E on the 90's can have that done by removing the gas cap, not so sure on the DE) so that way when removing the fuel rail...you don't risk having an injector pop off (because if you remove the fuel rail and leave the injectors in you don't need to worry about fuel spilling).

As said, you're likely going to need to loosen up the (apparently Alternator for DE) so you can get to the underside bolt (it was the power steering on my KA24E, and that sucked ass).

Make sure you have emptied the coolant before you start (most radiators allow this by a little drain screw on the bottom, really easy!). It should allow for the removal of more than enough coolant for the job.

Don't worry if you have to distend the throttle cables a little, they'll survive it (though the mounting bracket for the tensioners can be loosened to make the plenum easier to move out of the way, this means you don't need to remove the throttle body at all).

If, for whatever reason the runners don't come off easy, DON'T FORCE IT OFF! I almost regretted that when I was wondering why it wouldn't come off (turns out a couple heater hoses attached...on the underside of the KAE engine. wut), because I now have a bent stud on my cylinder head. Don't make the same mistake as I did.

If the car (still) has EGR this would be a wonderful time to clean out the runners a little :3 Even if it doesn't wouldn't hurt to do so anyway. EGR tends to foul up the runners bad. Just take a washrag you're comfortable ruining, put a little gun cleaning solvent on it and run it through them a few times.

If any gasket still sticks to the surfaces, scrape it off. A simple putty knife is wonderful for this (especially if you have a hammer to accompany).

Those are some little tips from my personal experience. Hope they help a little!

For some reason I just saw this well anyways the sun beat me, I didn't finish today mainly because I'm working on my car in my apartments parking lot so once the sun goes down I have no light i was able to almost fully remove the upper intake manifold I just need to remove a few hoses and disconnect some things. I have ripped a few hoses due to them being brittle -___- so I have to replace those. I also saw where my gasket tore I'll post some pics in a little. Thanks for these tips just wish I saw them before I started.

[TheNigguh_Danny]

going to go pick up my mom from work so I'll put the pics up in like 45 min

[Alisaihin]

For some reason I just saw this well anyways the sun beat me, I didn't finish today mainly because I'm working on my car in my apartments parking lot so once the sun goes down I have no light i was able to almost fully remove the upper intake manifold I just need to remove a few hoses and disconnect some things. I have ripped a few hoses due to them being brittle -___- so I have to replace those. I also saw where my gasket tore I'll post some pics in a little. Thanks for these tips just wish I saw them before I started.
I had a feeling I might have been a little late, but nevertheless it's good stuff to throw out there.

If you get more hoses, be careful what you buy. If there's ever an angle greater than about 65-75 degrees in a hose, and it's a sharp bend, I'd try to get some pre-bent hoses from Nissan themselves. If not, some stock hose of a similar durability will do you fine, and save you money (I was kinda forced to do this because a couple hoses weren't on catalog anymore...). You really don't want to buy stock hose for sharp bends because there's the risk it might get sucked into a kink and block flow (of what's usually vacuum or coolant, both of which can be bad). I will say this primarily applies to the wider hoses, and really...sometimes your results will mirror what you pay for.

For smaller vacuum hoses, you can probably easily find a bunch of stock hoses for that (I'd just replace these if you remove any, really, vacuum leaks suck, and really fuck with the KA's). Just a general rule of thumb is to try to keep hose lengths as short as possible. It's why you'll likely find a ton of hardlines mounted to that intake (at least, there was on my KA24E. That thing was a rat's nest of hoses).

[TheNigguh_Danny]

yeah it's still great info to know I'm actually taking a break right now because i got frustrated trying to take off one of the hoses lol

[TheNigguh_Danny]

Okay sorry I havent given updates but i really wasnt making progress until today I finally got the intake manifold out & have cleaned off the old gasket

[TheNigguh_Danny]

I finished yesterday it was pretty easy to do except one of the hoses was a major pain I'll post pics tomorrow since I'm tired