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1997 Pathfinder budget build


AlwaysWrenching
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I just picked up a rust-free 1997 Pathfinder. It's from Oregon and I'm here in Michigan so that was lucky in its own. 220,000 miles. Totally stock. Very clean. My plans include a small lift, 31 inch tires (or equivalent), and some serious bumpers for deer and possibly adding a winch. It's sat for a year so after a major cleaning and detailing it's time for a tune up. It has a manual shift t-case and I plan on adding Warn manual hubs so I can get a little better MPG on the road. 

 

Is there any way to tell if the timing belt has been done or should I just do it to be on the safe side? 

 

Any other pointers, advice or recommendations are great!

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 The interval is 105,000, so it would have had to been recently changed if the previous owner kept up on maintenance. Mine has 209K, so it'll be due for a change before the end of the year. The only way to be certain if the belt has been replaced would be to open up the timing belt cover and look. Or maybe a thoughtful mechanic applied a sticker somewhere on the underside of the hood or on the timing belt cover to indicate it had been recently replaced.

 

If you intend to keep this rig for a long time, you'll have peace of mind if you just go ahead and replace the belt, tensioner, water pump, and camshaft seals. It's expensive, but at least you will know it should be good for another 100K.

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I tore mine down and did the belt when I got it. Not too bad of a job. The old belt probably had another 10k in it, if it was done on time previously, but now it's one less thing to worry about. Do everything you can get to while you're in there. Seals, pump, bypass hose, thermostat, tensioner, belt, the works. I skipped one part on mine and the SOB started leaking as soon as I had it buttoned up, and I had to tear it apart again.

 

Some form of rust protection is probably a good idea as well to keep it clean, especially in the strut towers.

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I did a bunch of other stuff at the same time, and ended up pulling it apart again and waiting on parts, so I don't have a good figure for time. I will say though that a friend and I did a much more involved timing belt job on his dad's Kia (that SOB had four camshafts, and two of them didn't want to stay put) that took a couple of afternoons. Depends on your tools/skills but it's not rocket surgery for sure. I used this writeup and the service manual for torque specs.

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Book calls for about 5 1/2 hours for timing belt on the VG in a truck. I do it in about 3, due to experience and having the tools. Easy way to break the crankshaft pulley bolt loose, is to use a 1/2" breaker bar on the bolt and wedged onto the floor or the frame. Unplug the distributor or pull the EFI fuse and bump the starter. You will need a pulled to get the harmonic balancer off. It will need to be a 2 bolt style with a pair of very long M6 x 1.0 bolts, about 80mm long. A steering wheel puller works well. Removing the radiator and putting a piece of cardboard in its place to protect the AC condenser gives you more room to do the work. 

While in there, I recommend getting a timing belt kit, water pump, thermostat, front main oil seal, both cam seals, and a new woodruff key for the crankshaft sprocket. Plus replacing the coolant hoses. The parts really don't cost much, most of the cost in the timing belt replacement is time. If you don't replace those parts while in there, you will be back in a few months when what you don't replace fails. 

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