88 samurai 1.3l overheating help

yotawheelin

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 26, 2009
Location
rock hill
ok i bought a 88 sami this past weekend. guy says he had the head rebuilt a few miles ago, new pistons and valves i believe along with the head all cleaned up. then he put a weber carb on it with the k&n lookin filter on it and took out a lot of emmissions and capped off a lot of vacume lines and took off a lot of vacume hoses. now it smokes blueish whiteish smoke when cold and when first acclerate and when you shift gears. also noticed that on the plugs it looked to be runnin rich the plugs where black black. then on numbers 3 and 4 the plugs where white so i checked the oil cap sure enough it showed coolant mixed with the oil on the cap. but on the dipstick the oil didnt looks bad at all. driving down the roadthe sami drives fine but after it heats up to normal temp it will start to slowly rise in temp and overheat. i called the guy and he said he tried bars head gasket sealer but HE stuck it in with the radiator fluid which it said not to do. it said flush system out before use. so here is what i have done, i flushed the entire system with hose, i took off water pump inspected it cleaned it did same with all hoses related to cooling system and took out the radiator itself cleaned it, as well as replaced t-stat. only thing i did not clean was the heater core. everywhere i found cloggs and chunks of sealant stuck everywhere in chunks. i checked system with pressure tester soon as i cranked it (motor was warm) pressure went to 17psi. killed it and flushed system again tried head gasket sealer myself the right way and changedthe oil, and still motor does the same thing it warms up then starts to slowly overheat. pressure bulids up and it spits the coolant into the overflow. but im not seeing the bulid up of coolant on the oil cap hardly at all anymore.
what do i need to do now? could a clogged heater core or not free flowing cooling system cause this or is it for certain a cracked head or blown head gasket causeing all this? also could a misplaced vacume hose or missing vacume hose or emmission system be a problem? cause i would put it past this guy to have done something wrong when takin everything out.
thanks for any help i went broke almost buying the sami now i just want to enjoy it.:confused:
 
It could be as simple as a bad fan clutch. There's not any good way to check those without experience. It's kind of a "feel" thing. I'd be more likely to believe, though, that the guy dumping the BARS garbage in the motor has clogged up a passage or two in the block or intake manifold. It's so easy to change the head gasket on a Sammi, I don't understand why someone would take the "easy" way out. Oh, and the coolant on your cap isn't coolant at all. It's just condensation. It's bad for collecting there, especially if you're making a lot of short trips and it's cold. Like you've been doing lately. Don't worry about it. Where did you get the Sammi from?
 
sami

thanks for the info i'll try and check it out again today. im just worried the head is cracked or something or the block??? i got the sami from from around my area in SC. also its really not any coolant just on the cap its shooting coolant into the overflow and then out of it all over the engine bay.
 
yotawheelin said:
also if their are a few clogged passages how do i unclogg them? thanks
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The only way I know is to tear the engine down and clean them by hand. These motors are not known for cracking head, but it does happen. That should have been checked when it was gone over, though. You need to pull it apart, at least the head and pan, check it over thoroughly, and make sure you assemble it correctly. Before that, though, check timing. If it's too advanced, it can run hot.
 
sami

ok thanks i plan on doing this tomorrow morning. the head looks like it has been cleaned really good like new so im guesing they took it to a machine shop and they should have checked it for cracks. but why do i need to check the pan? and what is considered too far for timing? sorry so many question just new to the sami's and really want to enjoy it and play in the snow if it comes our way this weekend.:driver:
 
sami

also are their any places better than others to get parts from as far as cheaper or better? i order a head gasket set from autozone for $130 today seemed pretty steep for a little 4 banger.
 
mizumoauto on ebay will have the parts you need cheap. Their headgasket set is less than $40 usually, and it's decent stuff. I've been running one on mine for several thousand miles now, no problems. Relatively quick shipping, too. You don't need to check the pan, but you should drop it while cleaning passages to make sure the crud doesn't get sucked up into oil passages.
 
startin

ok last question by the way thanks for all the help. put all new gaskets and seals in today. when i go to start it it just coughs up in the carb. sounds like a single chug like a train lol. number one psiton is a top dead center, timimng belt crank and cam are all at top, zero degrees and the rotor button is dead on number one piston, all this is at same time...thats correct right? but no fire. going to change out plugs tomorrow. maybe she was fludded bad not sure. any suggestions? thanks
 
Sorry for the delay. You're using the Chilton's manual to time it, and it's wrong. You need to pull the belt and turn the cam 180°. Proper setup on this motor is to have the #1 at TDC with the marks on the cam and crank pointing at each other, 12:00 and 6:00. Not 12 and 12. The Suzuki service manual explains this, but the Chilton's and Haynes are wrong. You might be able to pull the distributor and turn it 180°, and leave the belt alone. I believe the way you've got it set up right now, when you're at 12 and 12, #1 TDC, the #4 is at TDC compression, #1 is at TDC exhaust. Yeah. That's it. Spin the distributor and tell me what happens.
 
hey sorry for the delay also. but yes i figured it out late the other night and yes it was exactly as you are saying. i spun the distrubtor around 180 degrees and she purred like a kitten.

i tore the top end down replaced all the gaskets flushed out the heater core radiator and cleaned the block best i could and put it back together, ran fine for a couple of days then i noticed a small leakon the upper rad. hose under the clamp so i replaced the hose and clamp, fill her back up with coolant head down the road a few miles warm it up and it slowly starts to overheat again. pop the hood and she has pressurized and pushed coolant into overflow and overheating, to me signs of head gasket again. checked oil cap and a little sign not much of nothin not sure if its some left over coolant signs i didnt get out with the oil change or not. so now back to square one thanks though for your help.
 
When you tore it down, did you install a new gasket? Torqued properly? Timing is correct? Carb is in good shape, not running too lean? Thermostat is installed correctly? Radiator cap is good? Pressure-tested the system? Fan clutch is working? I wouldn't immediately blame the gasket.
 
yes i installed a new head gasket kit. torqued down bolts timing is at 10 degrees like i was told...is that right? carb is new but base is leakin causing a whistle. t stat is good cap holds pressure, fan clutch seems to be ok, did not pressure test dont have one of those things i have to borrow a friends.
 
Webers whistle a little. They are prone to base warpage, though, causing vacuum leaks. This usually comes from over-torquing the base bolts. Make sure it's that before you tear it apart, it's a bitch to get to the nuts! Check your PCV valve. It can cause similar symptoms. I'm not sure exactly what your problem is, but I don't think it's the head gasket. And Webers like to run around 12°, but 10° is fine. Too much advanced, and things get hot quickly. I'll keep thinking, but this one is puzzling. Pressure testing would be my next step, to determine if you've got a cracked head or block.
 
you may want to look into getting a new radiator. There may be a build up of sludge and crud in the tubes that you cant just flush out. That would cause it to over heat and it would push coolant into the overflow since it cant flow enough through the radiator.
 
notnearlow said:
you may want to look into getting a new radiator. There may be a build up of sludge and crud in the tubes that you cant just flush out. That would cause it to over heat and it would push coolant into the overflow since it cant flow enough through the radiator.
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Also very true. You might also want to find somebody local who's handy with them. If you log onto www.zuwharrie.com, you'll probably find somebody nearby who's willing to lend a hand. I don't think I could take you any further without laying hands on the rig.
 
tomorrow i plan to do a pressure test. and maybe gettin a radiator, if i can but money is limited.
 
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