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All of this for a water pump...


MiltonWATech99
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About a week ago, I noticed I was leaking absurd amounts of coolant on my driveway. Not thinking much of it, I continued driving my Pathfinder as I usually do until it began overheating. I checked the radiator and little did I know it was completely empty...and then I saw the constant flow of coolant coming from around the crank pulley.

 

Two days ago, I began tearing apart the front of the engine to gain access to the water pump as well as the timing belt (both are 50,000 miles overdue for replacement).649011050fccde1b4329651e4ee11668.jpg

 

You can’t tell from the image, but the left camshaft sprocket was retarded a tooth (41 teeth between cams rather than 40). After I get my new head gaskets in and reassemble the engine head, I’ll be swapping belts, installing a new water pump, thermostat, and all gaskets and seals for the intake, fuel system, valve covers, and the cams and crank. Pray for this first timer.

 

 

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Just a little update for everyone:

I’m down to the intake manifold but ran into a problem unplugging the fuel injector connectors. Is there an easy way to disconnect the tabs? After that, I should be able to get to the head gaskets (once I get new head bolts).0e4be860ac8f53d90cf11db417cbd4b8.jpg

I’m still on the hunt for another screw matching that from the upper timing cover to pull the balancer, but I haven’t had much luck so I may result to a different puller.


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X2 on the small metal clips, When they pop out they like to go flying, i held a magnet next to it to avoid the crawl of shame all over the garage looking for them.


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For the harmonic balancer, I have a pair of 6mm 1.00 thread bolts that are about 70 mm long that I picked up somewhere. If a local hardware store can't help, there is always online ordering. 

 

For the plug clips, a couple of T pins that are large enough to handle without too much trouble works well. Pry the wire out far enough on each side with the pin that the end of the pin slides past the end of the plug, will hold the clips past the tabs. Then you don't have to go through the fun of removing the clips, finding them when they do fly, and then reinstalling them in the plug. They are tedious, but the newer styles have their own issues like the double locks and tabs/locks that like to break after a few years if heat cycling. 

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crawl of shame


Lol word

For the harmonic balancer, I have a pair of 6mm 1.00 thread bolts that are about 70 mm long that I picked up somewhere. If a local hardware store can't help, there is always online ordering.


And when you get it off tap M8 threads into the balancer. Why in creation did they put itty bitty M6 threads?? Maybe more threads per length or something.. I had to cut M6 fine threads onto some standard bolts that came with my puller. I had forgotten about that, and about how super stuck the balancer was on the shaft, and how the woodruff key was almost completely gone.


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Take one of the shorter ones out and match it up with a longer one of the same thread pitch.

 

Also do not remove all the bolts on the balancer... though I see you've already done that lol. It can go back on 6 different ways, and make it really hard to set the ignition timing.

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Take one of the shorter ones out and match it up with a longer one of the same thread pitch.
 
Also do not remove all the bolts on the balancer... though I see you've already done that lol. It can go back on 6 different ways, and make it really hard to set the ignition timing.


If I set it to TDC then align the bolt hole closest to the timing marks (on the balancer) to the top then it should be fine right?


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A little update as day five on the job winds down. I finally got the fuel rail out by removing the metal clips inside the connectors for the fuel injectors as suggested earlier. However, my fuel lines were seized around the send and return lines so I had to trim them back a bit. I’ll be replacing those sections of fuel line on top of the coolant lines going to the throttle body and all of the vacuum lines around the manifold.

 

I also went ahead and placed an order on Rock Auto for the head bolt set with express shipping. I’ll be back in business on Thursday assuming I don’t find a cracked or warped head.

 

Update: I went ahead and bought this puller just now with high hopes!006a1e3da39ec1dfa4db996505a9dd29.jpg

 

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I have a balancer puller like that that I bought about 15 years ago. Works great on GM and Chrysler engines. Never tried it on Nissan though. Don't think it has anything to grab. I originally used a steering wheel puller with the bolts that I believe I got at a local Ace hardware store. Have plenty of options here, have Lowe's, Home Depot, a variety of smaller hardware stores, and a whole bunch of auto parts stores. For exotic sizes, have a Nut and Bolt supply store about 10 miles away. 

 

These days I just use my pair of bolts and the small puller that I got from Cornwell. 

Never thought about drilling and tapping my balancer to use a larger bolt. If I was to go that route being in the US, I probably would go with 1/4-20 for that. Common size and would not require as much drilling. 

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New head bolts and the balancer puller came in the mail today. I won’t have a chance until Saturday to slam everything back together assuming I don’t find a crack in the head.

I also picked up some copper spray-a-gasket from AutoZone yesterday because of the great reviews I’ve heard on it. Got a new set of fuel injector o-rings and a knock sensor since I’m that far down (not even sure if the stock sensor works, so better safe than sorry).


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It is quite likely the knock sensor has failed. When you install the new one, clean the rust off of the mounting surface and very lightly torque the bolt. I don't recall exactly, but think it is something like 11 ft/lb. Go much tighter and the sensor can be damaged. 

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Work and school have really gotten in the way so I took a couple-day hiatus from the project. Today and tomorrow I’ll finish the stripping and hopefully the reassembling. bec78632f02e9c7fa2f056f3f2ca19ed.jpg

 

 

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Took a few hours today to finally get down to the timing belt and water pump. To my demise the water pump and crank sprocket are both stuck and the intake manifold is being a pita to get out.

Also bought a new oil filter, fuel filter, coolant hoses, and fuel hoses to replace the old ones I had to cut. Sprayed the head gaskets with copper sealant to increase my chance of a successful DIY job. I’ve never seen so much oil and coolant inside the timing cover!6a07d58070fedb16cd90a8298b3747cf.jpg


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You want to try something really fun? Try replacing the cats on a Honda Pilot sometime. Ruined my day off this week with one. Started Wednesday with the timing belt/water pump to cure the clatter and went in to work and spent most of Thursday to replace the failed cats. In the process, discovered the radiator had a leak in the upper left of the core, so had to contact the owner to have it replaced as well. Just cost of the radiator though, labor was already there since I had to pull it to get the bank 2 cat out. Second pilot I have done cats on in less than a year, I am seriously wondering if it would be easier to just drop the engine/trans to replace the bloody things. 12 year old car with 200k miles and the owner spent $3500 on it. I was a bit amazed.

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Finished cleaning the heads and block and installing them now. Broke my nice torque wrench when torquing the first head bolt to 43 ft/lbs and had to buy a new one. I bought a seal puller to get my stubborn crank seal out but it’s just crumbling into bits as I try to rip it out.d61143843248f0881f18e1762c97a980.jpg

 

 

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