# 240 in desperate need of help (or just the owner)



## Firefly (Jan 10, 2006)

My 1991 240 just got some work done to it i had a new water pump, thermostat, and fuel filter put on it the person that did this for me said that it was missing but it should be alrite untill he gets a chance to find out where it is missing. he also told me to drive it around for a bit and then check the water in it. so i did as he said and on my way to my bro's house it started to overheat so i just parked it and rode with my bro and came back and got it later but b4 i went anywhere i put water in it and on the way home if i let off the gas it would die no matter how fast i was going and it has harldly any power it still starts up and drives but just barely the engine lets off some steam but not like it was blown (but i dont know if it is or not im not good with cars) and it never overheated after i put the water in it someone plz help me figure out what this problem is and if i should get it fixed now or just get my ford contour fixed untill i have the money to fix the nissan. also this chick that i work with is trying to convince me that nissan is owned by ford i dont beleive her and dont want to being since i dont even like fords could someone tell me if this is true or not so i can rub it in her face lol..
One more important thing that i do not know how i forgot is that when my freind was changing the fuel filter he said that it had water in it could this mean that i still have water in my gas and what could i do to fix this problem?


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## rogoman (Dec 16, 2004)

Firefly said:


> My 1991 240 just got some work done to it i had a new water pump, thermostat, and fuel filter put on it the person that did this for me said that it was missing but it should be alrite untill he gets a chance to find out where it is missing. he also told me to drive it around for a bit and then check the water in it. so i did as he said and on my way to my bro's house it started to overheat so i just parked it and rode with my bro and came back and got it later but b4 i went anywhere i put water in it and on the way home if i let off the gas it would die no matter how fast i was going and it has harldly any power it still starts up and drives but just barely the engine lets off some steam but not like it was blown (but i dont know if it is or not im not good with cars) and it never overheated after i put the water in it someone plz help me figure out what this problem is and if i should get it fixed now or just get my ford contour fixed untill i have the money to fix the nissan. also this chick that i work with is trying to convince me that nissan is owned by ford i dont beleive her and dont want to being since i dont even like fords could someone tell me if this is true or not so i can rub it in her face lol..
> One more important thing that i do not know how i forgot is that when my freind was changing the fuel filter he said that it had water in it could this mean that i still have water in my gas and what could i do to fix this problem?


1 - The overheating is probably due to air pockets in the coolant system. You need to properly purge the air from the system.

Also you should use an OEM thermostat. After-market units such as Stant can cause overheating problems. Also make sure when installing any thermostat, that the 'steam' hole is on top.

2 - Tell your chick that she's wrong; Nissan is NOT owned by Ford.

3 - If there's water in the fuel filter, you need to drain the fuel tank and purge the entire fuel system of water.


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## Firefly (Jan 10, 2006)

it hasn't overheated since i put the water in it but it still just barely run but im going to try the the fuel tank ill let you know if it works 
thanx


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## OPIUM (Aug 18, 2002)

if you have water within your fuel... thats probably your misfire right there


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## Firefly (Jan 10, 2006)

i went and got some gas and poured into it and the engine seems to be running fine now except there is white smoke coming out of the tail pipes. But other than that it seems to be running fine but im going to leave it parked untill i can find out what the white smoke is.


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## nastynissan (Jan 26, 2003)

rogoman said:


> 2 - Tell your chick that she's wrong; Nissan is NOT owned by Ford.



Kinda off subject.... BUT... even thought Rogoman is right, Nissan and Ford do have a Vehichle in common.... The Nissan Quest/ Ford Windstar. It uses a Nissan Engine, Ford wiring, Ford A/C, and several other things. Imagine my DISGUST the first time I popped the hood on one............... You'll find FoMoCo symbols on ALOT of stuff on the Quest.


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## little240boy (Jan 13, 2004)

Nissan is an independant company for starters. As for the smoke, might be coolant from the water pump. Are you putting in any anti-freeze as well? OEM or NISMO thermostats are the only way to go, I've never heard anything good of others. I agree with Rogoman and making sure you positioned it correctly.

To see if you have air in the system, crank your heat and put the blower fan on. When I had air in mine, only cold air came out.


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## Firefly (Jan 10, 2006)

Yes iv put in antifreeze. if the head gasket was blown would it lose oil quickly or slowly


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## Firefly (Jan 10, 2006)

ok if it was air in the coolant would it just keep a steady stream of white smoke coming out of the the tailpipes im starting to think that it has a blown head gasket but i had put some fuel stabilizer in the car could it just be burning that off? i realy need to know because its the only car that i have and halfway runs


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## rogoman (Dec 16, 2004)

Firefly said:


> ok if it was air in the coolant would it just keep a steady stream of white smoke coming out of the the tailpipes


Air in the coolant system doesn't cause white smoke out the tailpipe but a blown head gasket could. If the motor overheated severely, there's a good chance that there's a blown head gasket.

Check to see if you're losing coolant on a steady basis; if so, it's a good indicator of a possible blown head gasket.

You need to do a compression test on all cylinders to look for a leak; also you might need to follow that up with a leak-down test if the compression test doesn't show anything.


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## zellx2004 (Sep 30, 2004)

Going back to the subject of nissan and ford being together. They are not. Companies sell other companies their engines all the time. Such as Mercedes selling Mazda the rotary, and Suzuki selling GM (piece o s*** engine) for the metros..and such. Just because a ford has a nissan engine doesn't mean the companies have merged, just means someone made some money.


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## Joel (Jun 11, 2003)

in the end most things are owned or produced by renault anyway


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## nastynissan (Jan 26, 2003)

Joel said:


> in the end most things are owned or produced by renault anyway


True, true.... Im just pissed at Nissan for making the Quest with better than 30% Ford parts.... But as long as they dont take it any farther I'll try..... To deal with it. :cheers:


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## Firefly (Jan 10, 2006)

I went and started it this morning and was watching the tailpipes b/c at first there was no smoke but then as the smoke started coming i noticed that there was some water coming out to but the car has held all the coolant i put into it. so i popped the hood and took out the oil dipstick and turned it upside down and the oil started to drip off of the dipstick i put 10w-30 for high mileage engines and a bottle of lucas oil treatment to help with a small oil leak the car had. Oh and thanx for the nissan/ford info i made that chick feel like a duma$$ yesterday at work.


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## Joel (Jun 11, 2003)

the water you see at the tailpipes is usually just condensation from the muffler.


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## SonsofWisdom (Mar 29, 2004)

> My 1991 240 just got some work done to it i had a new water pump, thermostat, and fuel filter put on it the person that did this for me said that it was missing but it should be alrite untill he gets a chance to find out where it is missing.


DO NOT let this person EVER touch your car again...are you saying your fuel filter is missing??? It is NOT allright for anything you mentioned here to be missing...this person is DEAD WRONG....so what is missing??? if it's the fuel filter DON'T run the car...you NEED that filter bro...sooo...what are you talking about here?



> he also told me to drive it around for a bit and then check the water in it.


So this person didn't know how to accuratly do a coolant d&f...cause when you do it right...you don't have to recheck it...again...this person should NEVER NEVER NEVER touch ANYONE'S car again..stop taking it to them...or your car will blow up.




> ... blown head gasket but i had put some fuel stabilizer in the car could it just be burning that off? i realy need to know because its the only car that i have and halfway runs


As prev. stated air in the coolant can cause overheating but not steam/smoke...head gasket can do this.

White smoke is usually coolant in the combustion chamber (cylinders) but what you call white smoke others may call gray...needs to really be seen. Buddy of mine had a bad head gasket on his nissan pickup and it literally steamed out the pipe...you could see it start to get the pavement wet...REALLY wet.

Now in another extreme...these folks were trying to sell me...a 91 240 actually...the dad had taken off the head to do valve work (apparently overheated)...he had to do this twice (he bent valves cause he screwed up the timing)...first red flag...the first time he put on a new head gasket...the second time he re-used the head gasket...2-10 red flag...it actually shot water out the tail pipe when it fired up.

You could smell the coolant in the exhaust...I passed up that car cause it sat for a long time and I'de have to hone the cylinders and I needed a reliably running 240...man woulda been great if I coulda just parked it..oh well...

Another sign of a bad head gasket (extreme only mabye) is when you take off your collant cap and start the car, the coolant will just bubble and bubble...caues the compression is forcing air into it...just don't confuse this with air being worked out...as someone who doesn't have much car experience...I wouldn't attempt this test...you gotta know what you're looking for.



> i popped the hood and took out the oil dipstick and turned it upside down and the oil started to drip off of the dipstick i put 10w-30 for high mileage engines and a bottle of lucas oil treatment to help with a small oil leak the car had.


I'm curious as to the point of doing that? Oil is runny and should drip down...you can't tell how much oil you have by doing that.

Did it smell like gasoline?
Was it sorta thick OR was it REALLY REALLY runny? 
Was it a milky color (that could indicate colant in the oil and gas in the oil). 

Now for the oil leaks...the only fix will be to replace your seals...cam seals, crank seal, oil pump o-ring (uh do 240's use that? toyo does), valve cover. Those are all in the front...somwhat easy to get to...then there is the rear main...you have to pull the tranny for that.

I'm not a fan of oil treatments, they are crap in my proff. opinion...and same for oil leaks, there is only one fix...fixing the leak...if it stops a leak then what is it doing? Clogging a hole...you want something in your engine clogging holes? Gumming up? That is a BAD thing. Any way I'm sure many will disagree...but take it from me...I've seen plenty of these attempted fixes and many sludgy motors...the only fix is fixing the leak..not the side-effect, and cleaning off the sludge and grime in the engine...and I've done this several times...so that's what I'm speaking from.

So...I don't know what to tell you cause you need to put that "missing" part on immediatly

You need to learn how to do your own coolant drain and fill so you can make sure you have anough coolant...this isn't hard...even on 240's...and it, along with other things, is something you need to learn.

Another possible over heating...the water pump coulda been put on wrong...and from what you've said of this "guy" very likely...even though that's kinda hard to do.

Start it up and see if you smell a sweat smell from the tail pipe when it's smoking...again...just don't open your radiator cap when the car has warmed up...it'll spew on you...and burn badly

Water in your gas can make it run like CRAP...so that could be the cause of that...how's it running now?

Lastly...you may just be learning right now...but you need to learn to do your own work...get a haynes (I can't spell) or chiltons manual from autozone or orielly...read it...there is a lot of things you can and should do on your own...if your gonna be a "car guy" then you need to be able to do this stuff...

and being familiar with this stuff will help you spot people you should and shouldn't take your car to.


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## Firefly (Jan 10, 2006)

Hey there was a misunderstanding he didnt say the fuel filter was missing he said it had water in it and he replaced it and that the engine was missing but he meant misfiring when he told me to drive it he had just put a new water pump on it and hadnt got a chance to check for any leaks when the engine got warmed up. He didnt have the time b/c his wife had to go to the hospital in all reality he's actually a realy good mechanic one of the best around here at least. sorry about the misunderstanding i was in a hurry when i first posted it and forgot to go back and reread it.


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## SonsofWisdom (Mar 29, 2004)

Firefly said:


> Hey there was a misunderstanding he didnt say the fuel filter was missing he said it had water in it and he replaced it and that the engine was missing but he meant misfiring when he told me to drive it he had just put a new water pump on it and hadnt got a chance to check for any leaks when the engine got warmed up. He didnt have the time b/c his wife had to go to the hospital in all reality he's actually a realy good mechanic one of the best around here at least. sorry about the misunderstanding i was in a hurry when i first posted it and forgot to go back and reread it.



HA HA HA...slap me on the head...HA HA...was I drinking when I read your original post...oh how would you know if I was...HA HA.

K well then I retract that post...MY BAD BRO...no offense to your buddy.

Yeah best way to get water out is to suck all the gas outta the tank...next is letting it all work out...water in tanks SUCKS...so how's the coolant looking? Steam out the tail pipe? She running any better?


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## Firefly (Jan 10, 2006)

It is running a hell of alot better but im not gunna drive it b/c of the smoke coming out the tail pipes if the head gasket it blown i dont want to screw anything else up but there is one more thing that i think might explain the water in the gas tank but im not sure, i havent owned the car that long and i have only filled it up once but when i did the pump didnt stop on its own and ran out of the fill hole a little and the next day i wasnt thinking straight or something and went and put some gas treatment in the car but i noticed that it was coming out the bottom and i remembered that the tank was full so i figured thats why it was spilling out so i drove the car to work and while i was on break at work i walked back out to get my lighter and i noticed that it was steadily dripping still and i knew that wasnt right so i took the car home so it wasnt leaking gas all over the parking lot but first i got down to see where it was leaking from and it looked like it was coming off of the top of the tank i tried to drop the tank and all that it did was start to strip the bolts then it got parked and i completly forgot about the tank i just never filled it up again and it didnt leak any gas so i figure that its a hole in the top of the tank and not a bad hose or oring b/c the only time that it leaked was when the tank was full. and before the comments start i already know that i got one seriously messed up car but i got it dirt cheap and i realy like the car and i am going to put the work into the car when i can and thanx again for the help


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