1984 Other Nissan Models Repair options, Cheap & Easy

REBELTNT

MEMBER
1984 NISSAN
4 CYL
2WD
MANUAL
296,798 MILES

Just recently I took my 1984 Nissan 720 King Cab Ute for a 3 hour drive, on avival at destination she steammed up and had not auto feed the cooling ststem into the reserve tank nor had it obviously opend the thermostat,
Now I have replaced the thermostat, and have a tapping sound coming from my OHC Tappet case (Reson I dont know) possibly the lifters need replacing

but most of all I now have water in my oilk I think as the oil is turning grey/ milky white

my questions are

The tappeting sound from the OHC tappet cover what can it be?

The milky white grey substance in the oil? What can the cause be?

The theory in my mind is its only a head gasget as the water/coolant is in the oil and not vice versa. So that the water preasure has ruptured into the oil when the engin has become warmed up to operating temprature and this obviously happend when the engin boiled almost dry due to the stuck thermostat and the wrong radiator cap for a recovery system that I fifted.

the engin is now sounding like a lawnmower funning on its last leggs and shudders like an old victor lawnmower also LOL

Any help is greatly appreciated thanks in advance

Cheers Ty

5 Replies

SERVICE WRITER

MECHANIC
9,123 POSTS

Your theory is about what I would think. The oil /water combo is destroying your engine. The water has made it thin and probably is lifter tap, this will be followed by a more heavy metallic rap from the bottom of the engine as the bearings will be wiped out.
Probably started as an overheat which blew the headgasket or head. That engine very well may be on it's last legs.

Sometimes you can drain the oil, repair the engine, flush down the contaminated oil with fresh oil and get lucky. IF you take this route, when it's back together change the oil and filter a few times in the next 250 miles. It may be too late to salvage however.

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Thursday, March 6th, 2008 AT 6:05 AM

REBELTNT

MEMBER
3 POSTS

Thanks for the speedy reply I will take the hopeful get lucky option, my proccess will be as follows:

strip the Head down to gain access, Inspect, and possibly get preassure tested.

Followed up by either
Replace head gasket, flush contaminated areas
Replace head cylinder unit, Gaskets and flush contaminated areas.

I will post any findings success and non success I find.

Anyone with modifcation suggestion feel free to reply
What your thoughts about fitting a Holden 253 Baby VBlock V8 to the 1984 Nissan/Datsun 720 KingCab Ute

Cheers Ty

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Thursday, March 6th, 2008 AT 3:07 PM

SERVICE WRITER

MECHANIC
9,123 POSTS

Have the head pressure tested and shaved. Just good procedure that may prevent a do-over.

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Thursday, March 6th, 2008 AT 5:44 PM

REBELTNT

MEMBER
3 POSTS

After express engineering had a look he said the head had gone soft so I am now on the hunt for a replacement head or a suitable replacement engine

If I do replace the engine and want more power and pull what's the best engine I should look for any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Ty

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Thursday, March 20th, 2008 AT 1:17 AM

SERVICE WRITER

MECHANIC
9,123 POSTS

If it was mine, I would consider a used engine or getting a reman engine. OR having yours remanufactured.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=used+nissan+engines

I'm beginning to go into uncharted areas of intelligence by saying this, but I'll say it anyways. IF you have yours rebuilt, you may be able to get the cylinders bored over sized and use larger pistions to create more power. I'm not smart enough to know what it will do to a 1984 powertrain system, but my thinking is if there is a speedshop in the area, they can probably inform you better.