GSX down, and possibly for sale Options

[90GSX]

Well after all the happiness of having it back running, on my way to work something gave out. Im guessing headgasket. It was making all sorts of loud noises coming from the head and lifters, and going down the road it drove ok, but lacked power and not getting the turbo to boost any more than about 1 psi, and even when i floor it it would barely speed up any, so swing it around and baby it home (approx 10 miles total) i check my oil and its all really watery. I must have caught it early cause my overflow tank still has coolent in it, and it never even got hot. The car will start fine, and doesnt seem to have a miss to it. So my guess would be headgasket or maybe blew a turbo seal? Is it possible for it to blow one just out of the blue, no warning on the turbo? I only have 100 miles on this rebuild and i never drove it hard at all, stock boost levels, and never revved over 4k yet. It ran fine up till last night, and now im not sure what to do. I am at the moment carless. Guess i will call the guy who rebuilt it and see what hes gonna do about it if it end up being a headgasket. Anyone know how to test this? Can it be bad, but still hold compression?

So, i am open to any offers via pm to see if anyone wants a cheap AWD fixer upper. Lots of new parts, and rebuilt motor and im gonna end up taking a big loss on it, but i just dont have the energy to tear this apart again. Im not sure what this would be worth if its just a blown headgasket, but if the price is right, im willing to let it go. Trades, cash, trades and cash, or if anyone has a cheap DD emphasis on the cheap, let me know. Thanks

[AWD DSM 1]

Compression will be nil on any cylinder that blew a head gasket. Sounds like it may be the culprit. Very similar thing happened to be after I rebuilt my motor. I'd do a compression check to find out more before anything.

[90GSX]

Compression reads 160-170 across all 4 cylinders. when i fire it up, it seems to have a miss to it. I know all 4 plugs are firing, but the engine shakes pretty good and im getting alot of lifter noise. Almost sounds like a diesel tractor when im trying to drive it. Turbo doesnt spool more than to 0-1 psi but not any higher. I pulled the timing belt top cover off and the belt is riding on the back side of the cam gear and its starting to get some frey on the back edge of the belt. Not sure if there is any relation there to my problem? What should i check next, pull injector clips off each cylinder to see which one doesnt make a difference? Spark plugs? Or is it possibly turbo related? Also it kinda idles like crap, wont hold a steady idle, varies about 1-200 rpms and idles around 1200rpm

[90GSX]

Checked the turbo and the compresser wheel spins with my finger, and i checked the IC piping (stock) and retightened them down, but didnt fix it unfortunatly

[turbohcar]

I do believe he lives in Iowa Danimo.

Coolant in the oil is definitely NOT good. You're looking at another rebuild if that's the case. Sorry bud.

[90GSX]

Brand new plugs and wires. Spy just recapped my ecu. Looking like i may have been mistaken about the coolent in the oil part.

This is a new timing belt with about 100-150 miles on it. I put a new tensioner on it too.

Coil pack im not sure, i am getting spark to all four plugs.

Not getting any C/E lights either

I guess a boost leak check is next on the list. Not sure why my idle is off, except the fact i blocked off the EGR valve, not sure if that would have anything to do with it. Base timing i tried to check, but its next to impossible to see the timing marks on the crank pully.

My location is Quincy, IL

I did have an injector go bad back last year when i bought the car from KOU, but it threw a C/E light and he just replaced the injector that was bad and it went just fine after that.

[turbohcar]

Well, since coolant in the oil is out of the question and compression is on the up and up, I would assume you've got a boost leak / a spark problem / or a fuel problem. Take a quick log if you can and post it. If not, pull the plugs and ground them to the valvecover while having a friend crank the ignition. Watch them all. Spark should be defined and very evident. If not, you're problem is spark.

If not the above, do a boost leak check. This is probably the easiest of all the checks. Get yourself a boost leak tester and do the test. This is quite possibly your problem.

Or, pull your injector rail and hold a bucket under the injectors and just turn the key to the ON position (don't crank it, the injectors will fire when they get to the ON position) and watch the injectors. They should all spray a fine mist and be firing evenly. If not, replace the one that doesn't belong.

That should get you started.

[90GSX]

Id hate to think it jumped time (timing belt jumped) but with the adnormal wear on it, perhaps something is infact loose... Hmmm....

Spy hit the nail on the head with it. I pulled off the entire timing assembly and the crank ended up moving probably a quarter turn off where TDC should be in relation to the cams. It makes sence cause the car ran worse each time i started it, so it must have jumped a tooth each time it fired. I must have saved it before it bent the valves, cause i just reset it and it started up, but did sound like an exhaust leak, so maybe one got nabbed? Well im not sure why it jumped time in the first place, cause i obvously had it right in the first place, cause the first 3 days i drove it it ran fine, and sounded fine. Well upon inspection, my new tensioner is fully extended on the tensioner pully, so im guessing its not holding the belt tight enough. When i had my motor rebuilt, i was told by the guy that rebuilt it that it was twisted and warped, and he milled it down to the minimum spec, but im kinda feeling maybe its been milled too far. Theory i have is if you machine the head down, the belt stays the same length, so the tensioner has to stick out farther to make up on the height of how the head set. So material removed, head sits lower on the block, belt gets longer, so more tension is needed to keep it tight and my tensioner is maxed out. So im guessing im looking for a remanufatured head, and i called autozone, o'reilly, and advance auto, and advance auto is the only one that can get one in, and its 692 w/out valve, 882 with, anyone know of any place cheaper or any other solution? Im gonna try to get it done by next weekend since i got labor day off, so anyone know of any place that sells factory headgaskets that i can get before the end of this comeing week? Thanks

Also i did do a boost leak test, and my jpipe off the turbo was leaking real bad, so i replaced the gasket, still leaked, so i covered both side with RTV silicone and sandwiched the gasket in, is that gonna hold?

[AWD DSM 1]

Sounds to me like the tension didn't get set right.... (no offense)

You need to rotate the tensioner pully so that it takes up the slak in the belt more. You should only have about 4.5mm (1/8 or 3/16 of an inch) between the top of the tensioner body and the tensioner arm.

Are you saying that the tensioner was machined somehow? Maybe it's the tensioner that needs repalced. I think your head is ok, unless you bent valves. compression check will tell you that in a hurry.

[90GSX]

Sorry i meant the head was twisted and warped and it was machined down.

I come to realize there is an offset in the tensioner pully, is that used to take up the slack? This was my first on a 2.0 timing belt, so i tried to get it off the service manual and the vfaq website. The other thing is i dont have a timing belt tensioner tool, is that completly necessary to use or is there ways around not having to get one?

compression checked out ok yesterday, but like i said it started sounding worse each time i started it. I did put the timing back on and fired it up and it started, so i hope im still safe.

[90GSX]

Yours only for the bargain basement price of $2200

thats almost what i payed for the whole car in the first place. Unfortunatly i would love to go all out, but ive already spent a ton of money on the car and its really close on just giving up on the dream and rigging it back together and trading it off. Bad idea to try to have a dsm as a daily driver. LOL Ive owned this car almost a year now, and ive probably only been able to drive it 4 months in that time.

[AWD DSM 1]

I come to realize there is an offset in the tensioner pully, is that used to take up the slack?

Exactly. Depending on how much you rotate it, it makes the belt tighter or looser.

Tensioner tool is not necessary, I've done a few without one, but it does make the job easier.

I agree with spy, don't give up. I've done that way too many times and regret it.

[AWD DSM 1]

Oh, I'm definately scared of it...

[AWD DSM 1]

Scared the crap out of me once or thrice.

Ahhhhh.... THAT'S the smell....

[AWD DSM 1]

I'll make sure to remember that....

[AWD DSM 1]

Smell's moist, but I'm pretty sure it's had a good chance to dry out...

Talk about a highjacked thread....

[90GSX]

Oh i dont mind the high jacking, im pretty sure my problem has been solved anyway. LOL well i guess i will try to reset the tensioner pully tomorrow and see where that leaves me.

Does the EGR need to be hooked up if its been blocked off, and if not, what about the thermal valve on the thermostat housing, since they are interconnected?

[90GSX]

Well reset the timing and it ran like it was missing, compression check shows no more than 20 psi in cyl 3, the others are running 120-150 now, so i guess i did bend the valves So any feed back on the above post about a new head and headgasket. Its not gonna be a total pain to remove, as it seems i can just pull the intake manifold off with the head, minus removing the 2 manifold support bolts going to the block?

So im guessing im looking for a remanufatured head, and i called autozone, o'reilly, and advance auto, and advance auto is the only one that can get one in, and its 692 w/out valve, 882 with, anyone know of any place cheaper or any other solution? Im gonna try to get it done by next weekend since i got labor day off, so anyone know of any place that sells factory headgaskets that i can get before the end of this comeing week? Thanks

[turbohcar]

Yes, you can take the intake off with the head if you want. Good luck with it and keep at it. Most of us have been in your position before so don't get discouraged. That little bit you do get to drive your car makes up for all that downtime.