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Engine blown, 84 Nissan Sunrader


GothicSunrader

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So our luck finally went south.   My 1984 Nissan Sunrader that we are wintering in blew its engine (massive white smoke,  rapid drain of radiator fluid).   Other than that,  it is such a sweet RV and I'd put a lot of TLC into her (springs, tires,  interior upgrades). 

 

Now what? 

 

It has the Z24 2.4L gas engine.  

 

Anyone been thru similar and can talk me thru my options?   And hopefully make me feel like there actually could be light at the end of the tunnel.  Or at least a different way of looking at things.   I'm in Tucson,  600 miles from my home in CO.  RV is at mechanic's now. 

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Assuming the 'massive white smoke' is out the exhaust, it sounds like a blown head gasket and the coolant is being burned. Compression test. Leak-down test.

 

I don't know if there any repair manuals (Chilton/Haynes/FSM) in Pdf for the Nissan Z24 online. I have hard copies of the Chilton manuals.

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2 hours ago, GothicSunrader said:

So our luck finally went south.   My 1984 Nissan Sunrader that we are wintering in blew its engine (massive white smoke,  rapid drain of radiator fluid).   Other than that,  it is such a sweet RV and I'd put a lot of TLC into her (springs, tires,  interior upgrades). 

 

Now what? 

 

It has the Z24 2.4L gas engine.  

 

Anyone been thru similar and can talk me thru my options?   And hopefully make me feel like there actually could be light at the end of the tunnel.  Or at least a different way of looking at things.   I'm in Tucson,  600 miles from my home in CO.  RV is at mechanic's now. 

The mechanic should be able to determine if it’s the head gasket or something more serious. A lot will depend on how soon you shut down the engine when it first happened.

Anything more than a head gasket it might make more sense to find a good running used engine. IMHO

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Thanks for the input Derek.   Unfortunately I'm not knowledgeable enough to do the work myself.  I've got to decide if fixing it makes sense.   I love the RV and would like to save it.  The mechanic is leading me toward the new engine route, not the fix it route (though it sure would be nice to just repair whatever broke, though I don't even know if that is possible). 

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35 minutes ago, GothicSunrader said:

 Unfortunately I'm not knowledgeable enough to do the work myself.

 

Even if not doing the work yourself, knowledge is power. Watch the videos to give an idea what your mechanic is talking about. You might not be sure if he's talking Cantonese or Mandarin, but better than nothing. :)

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I used to have a 1963 Buick Special that, unknown to me, at 16, it was known for blowing head gaskets.  It blew one shortly after I bought it.  Broke and barely money for parts I went to the library and got a chilton manual.  It was quite detailed and wasn't hard.  I drove  that Buick for a few years. I know the new one are more complicated but it is a lot cheaper than paying someone and you can learn a lot.  I ended up being an ASME mechanic for 30 years.    So if you have any mechanical ability and it looks from the video you do, you can probably do it.

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The Nissan Z24 engines were prone to head gasket failure but if you stopped quickly and had it towed to the shop there's a very good chance that replacing the head gasket is all you need. The head needs to be sent to a machine shop for inspection to make sure there are no cracks or warping. Still way less cost than a new engine. If that shop isn't interested call around for one that is

Linda S

Even if the head is bad, replacing the head is still way less than even a junk yard engine

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Linda make a good point.  You would want to take the head(s) to a shop and have them magnaflux and inspect the head.  They will rebuild the head for you and you put it back on.  I am not sure if they call it magnaflux anymore.  It is a process to look for cracks, both surface and subsurface.  On my Buick and  several vehicle after that I always did jut the head.  If you didn't drive it far  and get it really hot,  you will likely get away with just a head gasket/ head rebuild.

Edited by jetalkington
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Hate to tell you this you can't magnaflux an aluminum head! Magnetic being the key word. Aluminum can be checked with a dye but it has to be spotless.

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yea, i couldn't remember what they did to my Buicks aluminum heads. It was over 50 years ago. i just remember engines i did after were magnafluxed.  The Buick had an aluminum engine. That car blew head gaskets every few months until i put a thick gasket in and coated both sides with something called copper coat.

 

However, he will need to have his magnafluxed, if that is what they still do. Not sure if they have something newer and better.

Edited by jetalkington
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I have a z24 in my truck.  Head gaskets usually blow at 100k miles.  I did mine twice.  When it happened to me, gasket blew between cylinders, and was basically running on 2 cylinders.  You could do a compression test, anyone can do that.  Head gasket job might be 500 to 1000 bucks.  Cost would be similar to doing it on a 22r.   You could probably swap in a vg30 from a Pathfinder/d21, or ka24, but either of those options would require custom motor mounts, swapping wiring harness/ computer and tranny.  Z24 is a reliable enough engine, I would just fix it and throw a Weber on it, and get your headbolts retorqued after 10000 miles.  I think that's the interval, it's part of maintenance after doing head gasket on these engines.  Jfyi, there are some heater hoses under the intake manifold, you might be lucky and one of those blew.

Edited by moalaska
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Thanks to all who have chimed in.   It's nice knowing you are on my side.   MOALASKA,  you are spot on.   Our rig had 90k on it when she blew. 

 

Present update is the mechanic is gonna try to fix the top end and not replace the motor.   He is also recommending a new clutch cuz of vibrations he feels.   Clutch wasn't on my radar,   but at this point I'm really desperate to get our home back, so I said go ahead and do that too.  Quote is $3,500. Prly high,  but one finds oneself between a rock and a hard place and 600 miles from home. 

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