Hello NPORA members,
Admitted new member, but I’ve read through the entire 10 pages of this thread, viewed a dozen or so YouTube videos, and consulted my Factory Service Manual (FSM). Reading 5523Pathfinder (original poster – thanks !) comments & others have been extremely helpful. I’d like to keep this beast going for many more years as I am the second owner after purchasing in 1996 w/ 39K on it & would like to do more 4 wheelin’ with it.
I still have a few questions about replacing the timing belt (my 1st time) on my 94 Pathfinder SE 3.0L V6 4WD VG30E engine (estimated 210K miles on vehicle, speed sensor/odometer quit working about 7 years ago). I believe the original timing belt was replaced by a shop since I purchased it, but failing memory & no records can’t prove that (the current timing belt is a Gates, so I’m assuming it has been replaced before).
The old belt, still intact, is a Gates T249 (roundtooth) and I estimate has about 100K miles on the belt, thus time to replace it.
After rotating the crankshaft, I can line up the left & right cam gear punchmarks perfectly with each dimple on the upper rear timing belt cover. When this is done, the following alignments are observed:
1) distributor rotor points to #1 position as marked on the cap
2) #1 piston at its uppermost travel (observing position of a small kebab stick in #1 spark plug hole)
3) crank gear punchmark is at ~ 4:30-5:00 position
4) crankshaft keyway at ~ 11:00
5) left-most timing mark on the crank pulley (out of seven marks) points straight up (12:00) & at timing pointer on front lower timing belt cover
6) tensioner pulley hex key hole is at 6:00 position
There is no alignment mark for the crank gear punchmark to line up with, even though the FSM illustrates there is (page EM-13). YouTube videos I’ve seen show, at least on the VG33E engine which I’ve read is identical to the VG30E, that the crank gear punchmark is around the 4:30-5:00 position when cam punchmarks are lined up & #1 piston is at Top Dead Center (more accurately, it looks like the crank gear tooth just to the left of the punchmark tooth (when facing engine) points to the right “lobe” at the bottom of the oil pump housing.
There is supposed to be 40 belt teeth between the left & right cam gear punchmarks and 43 belt teeth between the left cam gear punchmark and the crank gear punchmark. Before removing the old Gates belt, I counted 39 and 44 belt teeth between these sets of marks. The old belt is somewhat taut (I can twist the belt towards me a little more than 90 degrees, maybe 100-110 degrees, between the cam gears.
Also when at TDC, the three white lines on the old belt were located as follows when facing the engine (belt oriented to front as per arrows):
(I rotated the crank a couple dozen times to try and get all 3 white lines on the belt to lineup with the 3 cam/crank punchmarks - this was the closest I could get).
Dotted white belt line = one tooth to the left of passenger side cam gear punchmark (right cam gear)
1st solid white belt line = on top of driver’s side cam gear punchmark (left cam gear)
2nd solid white belt line = one tooth to the right of crank gear punchmark
It looks like the old belt is a tooth off at the right cam punchmark & crank gear punchmark and the new Nissan belt I bought (not installed as yet) will be the same (it has the same 3 white lines in the same places). I can “hop” the old belt over (clockwise) one tooth and get 2 out of 3 white lines on the belt to line up with punchmarks, but the belt tooth count will still be 39/44.
I don’t’ see how slacking the belt between cam punchmarks to get 40 teeth would work (this would create a lot of slack & it doesn’t seem like the tensioner would take it all up), and stretching the belt between the left cam punchmark & crank gear punchmark to get 43 teeth would work (don’t think it will stretch that far).
So, my question (finally, sorry !) is how to achieve the 40/43 belt tooth count and get the 3 white lines on the belt to line up with all 3 punchmarks ?
Thanks for your patience & thanks in advance !
Mark
