klze head gasket = loss of lots of power ??

[lucasefczynski]

hey i was driving one day and all of a sudden my rpms droped and the car started to stall as i was driving , when i try to start it up it will run at about 500 rpms.
this happened before work so as i was taking it back home the engine ran worse then any 70hp engine ive ever seen, i would shift every gear at anywhere from 4000-5000 rpms and by the time im in 5th gear im onlu hitting 80 km/hr, so this car just feels like it only drives on 2 cylinders.
checked out my coolant , was at half way between empty and full , after driving for about 20 min , the coolant was all gone , i have no leaks anywhere in the car.
thers also ticking going on and that happened right after the rpms droped, i heard its famous on mazda's so im not too worried about that , im jut guessing thats cuz its missing a bit of oil.
now my question is , is it the head gasket that went on the klze ?
and if so then what would be a better idea ?
take it to a mechanic , im pretty sure they will charge me any where from 500-1000$ for it
or buy a new klze , which i can pick up for about 600$ with 30,000 kms and pay the labour to get it swaped ?
or of course i can do the head gasket myself saving lots of money
the engine right now has anywhere from 150k kms - 220k kms
im not sure how much it has , i just bought her and the guy that i bought it off of says it only has 130k kms , but u can never trust wat somebody else says
anyways was just wondering what the problem may have been
thx

lucas

[Sleeper6]

First off what color is your oil thats left? If its a headgasket you should see a milkshake color/ milky looking oil. If not fill both your fluids up and let it run in your driveway while checking for leaks there. Also if you do a basic compression test that will also tell you if your loosing power in one of your cylinders as well. Also how bad is the ticking? you might have even lost a cam but you cant tell until you put in some diagnostic work. best of luck

[lucasefczynski]

the oil was done like 10kms just before the ticking started
the oil looked a lil bit burned for soemthing that was just toped off
i opened the front valve cover and the oil in ther looked rly dark but had a creamy look but as for where the dip stick comes from ther is no creamy looking oil yet
like i said before ther are no leaks anywhere one the car , i checked over and over, the ticking sounded just as normal as any other ticking video u would see on youtube
ill try getting a video up of the startup and the idle
as for power, i knwo i lost lots of it considering that the car has no take off wats so ever

[lucasefczynski]

k i started up the car and got a video for u guys to try and help out a little more
the loud knocking noise is just the k&n air filter at low rpms trying to collect air , when i rev up the engine then u hear the slight ticking noise i was talking about
i also checked out the tailpipe and it looked like its letting out white smoke
here is the video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Yg43sbrILg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[lucasefczynski]

also ther is a wire that is just underneath the altenator that has been cut , i dunno wat its from but maybe my cooling fan cut it or i scraped it accidently , other then that i ran out of ideas

[_-Night-Shade-_]

A cut wire near the alternator doesn't sound good, trace where it goes or take a a pic and post it. Try undoing your idle screw a little bit, it looks like it's not getting enough airflow to stay idling cause when you give it gas it looks and sounds alright.

[wytbishop]

White smoke = burning coolant. Is it noticeably white? Be specific. If there's a healthy bit of white or off white smoke fromt he exhaust you probably blew your head gasket. That is sort of what it sounds like anyway.

Easy to fix.

[lucasefczynski]

the white smoke u cant see until u rev it till about 4000 rpms
and the wire im talking about is located right underneath the alternator, right uinderneath ther is an oil pump or something like that and ther is a wire in between the alt and the pump it seems , i will take a pic of it tmrw , and the car will be in at the shop tmrw just for inspection to see wat it may be , ill let them know about the wire too and let u guys know wats goin on , im hoping to get the compresion of each cylinder done aswell just to give u guys as much detail as possible
thx for the ideas so far guys , i apreciate it

[wytbishop]

The wire right under the alternator is the oil pressure sender wire. It should have a female spade connector on it to connect to the male spade on the sender unit which is threaded into the front of the oil filter housing.

I would bet $5 that one of the head gaskets is blown. White smoke is always a result of burning coolant. The fact that it doesn't smoke until 4k is not unusual in that case.

[lucasefczynski]

yah the male and female is conected , just seems like ther is another wire running from it that is cut, looks like ground but i think it mightve been like that before the problem arised
anyway i got up this morning to pull the car from the driveway for a 2 min drive to the mechanic, didnt even get out of the driveway and a big puff of white smoke comes out of the exhaust, decided the mechanic doesnt have to examine it to tell me its the head gasket.
so im going to start ripping the engine apart .
few questions though
does anyone have the specs for torque on the cams and the head bolts and what not ? i tried searching but kinda hard when "klze" cant be used in the search.
also what kind of gaskets should i buy ? will the 2.5 ltr probe klde work ? and how do u flush all the fluids out of the engine ? im good at cars but ther are some things i dont know
and also , cuz im taking apart the IM i might aswell get it polished , any ideas on how to get it nice and shiny ?

thx

[wytbishop]

Click on the donation link at the top of any page and then click on "Online Manuals" in the navigation pane on the main page. The torque specs for the K8 will be exactly the same as the DE or ZE. Disassebly and assembly will also be applicable.

[lucasefczynski]

is ther a way to get the heads off with out having to touch the cams and valves or is that included in the whole head gasket swap ?

//
nvm i found it in the online manual , its just the camshafts that come off , the vlaves dont have too

[lucasefczynski]

probably my last question for awhile , so im getting the 2.5 ltr klde gaskets correct ? and if so wat kinf of material should it be made up of ?
im sure u casn get metal and and different sorts.
which ones would u suggest to use ?
i wanna be able to walk to carquest and just tell them i want this kind of gasket of this type of material.
thx again

[wytbishop]

Get the most expensive one you can afford. If I was doing it I would as for Felpro.

[stereoking15]

well it definately has one hell of a miss. Do a compression test before you decide on tearing into it. could be as simple as a fouled spark plug. the white smoke is usually only attributed to internal moisture in the engine and once it gets warm it goes away. however if it is a constant billowing of white smoke then yes head gasket for sure. a couple of things to make sure it is a head gasket is #1 compression check. should be between 150-200 psi if its higher then good. #2 open up rad caps and look for gross amounts of oil residue. #3 check oil and see if it is a chocolate milk color with lots of white foam. #4 if you have symptom of #3 then drain a small amount of oil out of the pan and see if water comes out first or oil. water will usually sink to the bottom and then look at the color of the oil also that way.