WATER and OIL in my KA24DE! help!

[mixedwell]

sorry for not using the search guide guys but i was getting different subjects and whatever. anyhoo, yesterday it was raining like crazy and i ran over a really flooded street and my INJEN intake sucked up water. then when i checked my spark plugs, it had oil in it (bad seals?) and when i checked out the other plugs, they had water in it and my car idles funny and i cant drive it regulary AND 3 spark plugs stick out a little bit. i keep trying to push them in but no matter what, they keep sticking out. please help ... cuz i really want to smog my car soon so i could use the SR again. holla


mixedwell ;)

ps- what should i do? HELP ME please.

[Jeff240sx]

Burn it off and hope it's just water in the engine. Water and oil in the engine is usually caused by a blown headgasket, but that doesn't appear to be your case.
If you have a little oil in the combustion chamber, and some water, the oil will float on it. It will kinda amplify a slight oil blowby problem.
Also.. as far as the plugs "sticking out".. I don't quite know. Seems like they would go no matter what. Unless you have perfect compression in the cylinder and the entire cylinder is FULL of water.
That's all I've got for now.
-Jeff

[240Stilo]

Are you getting good experience having to swap back to a KA for smog? Or have you never put in the SR before?

[mixedwell]

thanks JEFF you rock.. i'll post up to see if anything else goes about in my KA.

240STILO- i've done numerous swaps from KA to SR and i pretty much know the scene all around. i'm also a very experienced builder of SR motors (i've worked with the signal team down in TOrrance, CA) since owning my car, it's only had the KA for 2 months and i put a nice stock S14 SR in its place. i've been about 9 months past due on this smog/regestration thing becasue my KA keeps throwin its CHECK engine light on. we'll see what up damn EGR valve!


so i should change the head gasket? and no one knows of the spark plugs huh?

holla

mixedwell ;)

[uiuc240]

do you mean that the spark plug WIRES keep popping back up after you push them down? that's normal. they just have to seat...but they will usually pop back up about 1/16 inch after you push them down on the plug.

be careful with your terminology.

now, if you do mean spark plugs, then I have no idea what the hell is going on.

Eric

[mixedwell]

ooops.. yeat thats what i mean... the spark plug wires keep poping up. but they pop up pretty far and it feels like like my car is losing power. 3 spark plug wires keep rising up and i ended up having to push it down by stuffing tools under a rag and putting it under my front strut bar and having those press it down for me. its pretty ghetto and unsafe but it pushed those little suckers down and my car reagined enough power to go home. im thinking of removing the head and replacing the gasket. i also think my screws for the head (the 3 long middle ones located on top next to the spark plugs) are probably worn out. as for the head gasket.. im not sure anymore.

holla
mixedwell ;)

[uiuc240]

well, first suggestion would be:

Go to parts store
Buy new plugs
Buy new wires
Buy valve cover gasket (if you want...)
Install
Drive

Eric

[mixedwell]

Eric- so u're telling me that my spark plugs and my spark plug wires are bad? is that the reason they are sticking up? because i think i got rid of that water problem but now im assed out again wiht these 3 spark plugs that are sticking out. i've decided to place a piece of wood under my strut bar which pushes the 3 spark plugs down and it seems to work great but its way too ghetto for me. and what of the valve cover gasket ? u say if i want to... but i think its bad. u think i should do it or it wont make much difference? thanks alot holla!

mixedwell ;)

[240-porkchop-sx]

Hey mixed
I had a similar wire problem with my supra (god rest her soul :( )
if you look into the end of the plug wires theres almost like a ring that hooks on to the top of the plug. Sometimes if u pull off the plug incorrectly it increases the gap of the ring, and causes it not to stay in firm enough. So what i did (since i didn't 80 bucks to kick out for new wires) was grab some needle nose pliers and close the ring inside the plug a little more. This allows the plug wire to hook on to the spark plug better.

As for the head gasket issue (since i had a supra and know all about the damn things) what i would do just as a quick check. Turn your car on and pop off the rad cap (make sure ur car was sitting for awhile and is cooled, so the themostate isn't open and don't want hot coolant on you!!!) If once ur rad cap is off and engine running, look for some air bubbles coming up from the rad. If you see them then you definately have a crack in the head gasket ( or a hose leak) and antifreeze is getting into your chambers. Now i'm not saying this is a definate check, but i was told by a head tech at toyota that this is a good check to due. Other symptoms include thick white smoke out of you exhaust (the smoke has a sweet smell to it), and your spark plugs have a white like carbon on them.

personally i haven't heard too much about ka headgaskets going. there pretty solid!

i hope this helps you out

[Jeff240sx]

Yea. I said before that I didn't think that you could have done enough damage to destroy the headgasket.
What Eric is saying about the valve cover gasket is that it is a 2-piece gasket. If there is oil in the sparkplug well, it might be the inner gasket.
He said replace if you want, cuz it's rubber, and doesn't NEED to be replaced... but it's not a bad idea.
-Jeff

[ramses]

your spark plug wires are just grounding out. my magnecors grounded out against the block all the time. i tried putting them in different positions and seperators in different positions. i sent them to magnecor and they said plugs were not bad i just got to loom them properly. well i have my wires where i need them. if i move the seperators or take put the 4th cylinder wire down into its own wire seperator on the top of the wire. it will pop out of the hole. they are the pickiest damn things. and with water or oil in your engine. i don't think it helps. but after it drys up the wires might not ground themselves out anymore. or just make sure the wires don't touch each other or the block.:)

[ramses]

i know you might not have magnecor's but what wires do you have and are they over 8mm