Diagnosis: Ka24de gave out from overheating

[s13_whoa]

1993 S13 KA24DE Stock Motor. Mishimoto Rad.


I need some help with this guys. So my car has been running fine for awhile I drove about 20-30 miles to buy some parts , it drove fine, then when i got to my cities exit, i downshifted to 3rd and when i started to gas it i heard a sound kinda like a rattle i guess. At first i thought there was something with my tranny cause it happened like 2-3 times. it only rattled for acouple secs tho it didn't continuously rattle. so i drove about 1/4 mile off the exit and my car stalls. I get stopped on the side of a McDonalds I check under the hood and Smoke just fills the air around the engine bay. So Im just standing there like :picardfp: So then i see that my lower radiator hose has come off which had me like :wtf: how'd this happen. Luckily my friend was parked coincidentally at MikeyD, he came by and helped push my car into the lot. The radiator was hella cold But the motor was blazin hot. I got some water from a local food store nearby & filled the rad, as i was filling had hella steam come out from it cause the dude gave me kinda cold water even tho i asked for warm. anyways after we tightened the lower rad hose up and got done filling the water we tried burping it but no water came out the bleeder valve so we plugged it back up and i tried to start it & it cranked but it didn't crank good. it sounded bad. like I never wanna hear that sound coming from my motor. I mean it could've sounded worse but i just knew from the sound that something in the motor was wrong. it sounded like the timing was horribly wrong. my friend was telling me it could be several things, i.e melted internals, warped internals, bad compression, blown head. Does anyone know what has happened here thru experience or knowledge? & why had the rad been so cold? the car has been working fine till tonight i never had this problem before.

[s13_whoa]

Help please any opinions would be appreciated.

[supersayianjim]

you probably blew a headgasket. time for a rb upgrade!!

[s13_whoa]

you probably blew a headgasket. time for a rb upgrade!!

Can the motor still run after it has a blown head gasket? & did you know why my radiator had been cold and why it wouldnt cool the engine? Oh and im also plannin on going sr20 notchtop. Rb is to complicated and limited.

[Mikester]

Depends on how bad the HG blow is... but generally, I think you have bigger issues. Lower radiator hose blown off tells me the thermostat may have been stuck closed, in which case coolant won't flow and what's in the radiator would just sit there and cool whilst everything on the motor side will get hot with nowhere to go... Or your water pump impeller shelled out, which could be the rattle you heard.

No offense, but it sounds to me like you may have beat the shit out of this car and not payed close enough attention to the basics. On the other hand, shit unfortunately does happen- it sucks that it happened to you, but cool that your bud was there. At this point, I'd think your radiator being cold is the least of your worries.

[Kingtal0n]

If the radiator is full and the engine overheats, with the radiator ice cold, then it sounds like the water isnt flowing through the radiator. water pump, T-stat, blockage, giant air pockets cause this.

[s13_whoa]

Depends on how bad the HG blow is... but generally, I think you have bigger issues. Lower radiator hose blown off tells me the thermostat may have been stuck closed, in which case coolant won't flow and what's in the radiator would just sit there and cool whilst everything on the motor side will get hot with nowhere to go... Or your water pump impeller shelled out, which could be the rattle you heard.

No offense, but it sounds to me like you may have beat the shit out of this car and not payed close enough attention to the basics. On the other hand, shit unfortunately does happen- it sucks that it happened to you, but cool that your bud was there. At this point, I'd think your radiator being cold is the least of your worries.

I see, what could be the cause of the thermostat being shut like that? I mean it had been working properly before. & yeah i sorta did abuse the car kinda. Not that hard tho, thanks man for the info. Do you think this is worth fixing? & what do you think the expenses could be and what id need to replace?

[Fuego]

I see, what could be the cause of the thermostat being shut like that? I mean it had been working properly before. & yeah i sorta did abuse the car kinda. Not that hard tho, thanks man for the info. Do you think this is worth fixing? & what do you think the expenses could be and what id need to replace?

A t-stat can fail from age, crud, an/or shitty parts.

It's a KA so fix your problem and run it until it grenades.

[mechanicalmoron]

The thermostat usually fails open, by design, to save your motor from just this. But you could still check it, in looking for the reason for the failure. It's absolutely possible.

Watch your motherfuckin gauges.

Do a compression test to see what's up with the motor.

[s13_whoa]

A t-stat can fail from age, crud, an/or shitty parts.

It's a KA so fix your problem and run it until it grenades.

So i just need to replace the thermostat? Given with the information shown. Possibility could be other things but thats just something the problem is more leaning towards atm right?

[Fuego]

So i just need to replace the thermostat? Given with the information shown. Possibility could be other things but thats just something the problem is more leaning towards atm right?

I was just telling you why a t-stat could fail. As far as fixing it, you're going to have to do some work on your own. Pull the tstat and water pump, check compression, bleed the coolant, etc. Any of those could lead to your solution.

[mechanicalmoron]

So i just need to replace the thermostat? Given with the information shown. Possibility could be other things but thats just something the problem is more leaning towards atm right?

Take off the upper water neck, all you need is rtv to take it off. Take out the thermostat (for boiling to test) and put the neck back on with new rtv, top off the coolant, and start the car. If the radiator heats up before the car overheats, that was your problem.

If it won't run or really sounds so horrible, then no, obviously it's NOT all you need, but go see what you can diagnose and discover.

[s13_whoa]

The thermostat usually fails open, by design, to save your motor from just this. But you could still check it, in looking for the reason for the failure. It's absolutely possible.

Watch your motherfuckin gauges.

Do a compression test to see what's up with the motor.

So by gauges do you mean the temperature gauge on the dash? Mine doesnt work properly. When my car warms up itll go to normal. But theres certain times where it would just go down again on its own and come back up. So theres something up with my coolant temp sensor

[s13_whoa]

I was just telling you why a t-stat could fail. As far as fixing it, you're going to have to do some work on your own. Pull the tstat and water pump, check compression, bleed the coolant, etc. Any of those could lead to your solution.

Take off the upper water neck, all you need is rtv to take it off. Take out the thermostat (for boiling to test) and put the neck back on with new rtv, top off the coolant, and start the car. If the radiator heats up before the car overheats, that was your problem.

If it won't run or really sounds so horrible, then no, obviously it's NOT all you need, but go see what you can diagnose and discover.

Alright guys thanks alot for the help. Much appreciated

[Mikester]

So by gauges do you mean the temperature gauge on the dash? Mine doesnt work properly. When my car warms up itll go to normal. But theres certain times where it would just go down again on its own and come back up. So theres something up with my coolant temp sensor

Or your cluster, or your thermostat, or your water pump, or your coolant was as old as the car... I'm sure there are a few more 'or's' I'm missing lol

The thing that stands out in my mind is the 'rattle' sound you heard, then the fact that it would not start at all. This tells me that there is much more wrong than a t-stat... However, I'm no expert and nothing more than an armchair QB... So hopefully it works out. If it's something simple, drive it till it blows completely.

[mechanicalmoron]

So by gauges do you mean the temperature gauge on the dash? Mine doesnt work properly. When my car warms up itll go to normal. But theres certain times where it would just go down again on its own and come back up. So theres something up with my coolant temp sensor

More likely a thermostat problem, not temp sensor. Sensor was working fine, and telling you exactly what it needed to, you didn't listen.

So, you said it sounded horrible turning over, but what you described with the gauge sounds like a thermostat stuck open.

.......maybe you should check how far down your oil is.

[sleepyS14se]

Can the motor still run after it has a blown head gasket? & did you know why my radiator had been cold and why it wouldnt cool the engine? Oh and im also plannin on going sr20 notchtop. Rb is to complicated and limited.

probably because the lower hose was not even connected to he rad. aluminum heats and cools quickly....sooo. just consider the situation.:blah: