ankana

Point taken, since this group was for that specific body style, I thought it an appropriate post. I've posted on the "parts for sale" section. My apologies.

$7 each plus shipping for the caps. I have no Idea about the condition of the skid plate. I'll check after work and get back to you.

How's $50 plus shipping for the console? I'll have to see how well the vents/covers and door handle trim come out before I quote a price. I've dealt with them before and had them break as you probably well know. I'll do it after I get off work tonight and post pictures tonight.

Vents and console are good.

Sorry armrest is not so good

I had this problem on my 93. the woodruff key and slot had worn to the point that the harmonic balancer had rotated on the crank. Took some very creatiive in-place machining to cut a keyway. But man, was I puzzled about what the timing was doing... How I finally figured it out was to remove the spark plug and insert a small wooden rod into the cylinder and determine actual TDC. At that point the timing marks didn't line up although I still couldn't fathom what was going on until I pulled the harmonic balancer off

I have two 93 Pathfinders. One of them is probably going to the salvage yard before winter hits. I was going to make a trailer out of it but decided that ws going to be too much work. Anybody need parts? No front bumper, engine block or right head. Everything else is in good condition. Let me know if I can supply you with what you need before the junk yard gets it...

Woodruff key failure. Your Harmonic balancer is spinning on your crankshaft.

It would be easier to count the teeth between the timing gears. Your belt will only occasioanlly line up with the marks after installation.

Been a while since I checked this board ...Nice to know another Yewtaah'n posts to this. I'm in North Ogden, Where are you?

Sorry guys, it was the RIGHT side (Passenger) that broke. I am surprised that this is not a rare occurance. The place that mine broke made absolutly no sense. it gave way about an inch past the oil seal behind the timing belt pulley. There should be no torque there and the geometry of the shaft is straight and smooth (no stress risers) I can only surmise that there was a flaw in the metal that just degraded over time. So, I pulled the head to replace the camshaft. I had it cleaned and measured the journals and they were out of specifications. I bought a doner Pathfinder the same year as mine for next to nothing thinking that I could pull the head off and use it to replace mine. But when I started pulling things apart things quickly got ugly. The first indication was a loose timing belt... You all know the rest of the story... Luckily I was able to transfer enough parts to more than recoupe the money spent so I didn't have to beat myself up for being a dumb ass and not checking the thing out before I bought it. I am still planning on the vg30e to vg33e engine swap but I bought a head from a salvage yard to get my silver one running and then I'm going to do the engine swap when I can find a turbo 33 for it and put the 30 into the red one I just bought and sell it to help recover the cost of the new engine. Hell I might even get a chassis lift out of this. I was going to part the red one out and may still if I can generate enough interest in selling parts off of it. Anyone need parts out there? Oh yea, how many of you have had their camshafts break? What a bizzare thing to have happen!

On my way back from Sacramento, my Pathfinder died suddenly in the middle of the Great Salt Lake Desert. I figured it was related to a repair I broadcasted in this forum where I recut a keyway in my crank. No, the crank looks just as I had last seen it. My left camshaft broke. Not sure how this happens, but I'm going to use this opportunity to drop a VG33E into her amoung other modifications. Anyone else done this upgrade? Would love to hear any war stories of tips.

I believe it will. I think I'm about to do it myself. Check out this article... http://www.nissanperformancemag.com/projects/pathfinder.php

Sounds like the mystery I had a while ago. The Woodruff key keeping the Harmonic Balancer from spinning on the Crankshaft disintagrated. Fortunatly, it siezed on the shaft after turning only a few degrees, so it didn't wreck my valves and pistons. It was a bugger to chase down though. It probably shouldn't have been, but I just couldn't figure out why the timing was so far off. Mine was really bad to chase down because it would start and run fine until it warmed up, then it would just die. Put a timing light on it, that should tell you if it's the problem I am describing. Or not... Good luck

Hey Slick, nice bracket, but where is it mounted?

Yes, I have all kinds of means to fabricate stuff. I just get ahead of myself sometimes. As I always say " that's why they call it development", and as a wise engineer that I once worked with would say "screw something up and hopefully you have learned something" What I learned is that it is not wise to claim to have found the ultimate anything. there is no room right there to place the oil filter. I ended up mounting it to the engine side of the skid plate. Which has it's drawbacks, but untill I get a better idea...

Agreed... the actual revolutions involved probably are not as much as a factor as change in rpm- say during a gear change. Agreed...the woodruff key is not "soft" but mine had literally turned to dust. -Enough to allow the timing gear to rotate 15 degrees on the crankshaft. Do not agree... No matter how tight you make that bolt there will allways be movement although it may be minute. Do not agree... The woodruff key is obviously for torque. Otherwise mine would not have rotated on the shaft as the bolt holding it all together still had tension on it when it was dis-assembled. I'm not sure why you are taking this side on this "discussion" especially in defending thermal expansion inconsistancy involved in breaking manifold studs. A first year engineering student could have predicted that, and it was certainly Nissans responsibility to fix it. This is not a wear and tear thing, it happened to ALL of these engines. I'm not going to respond any longer. You are clearly more educated than me in this area and I know when I am outwitted. By the way. I drove my Pathfinder this evening Nice to be back on the road! -bounce-

Nope, cleared the power steering and belt, and it looked like the best place untill I replaced the metal radiator hose tuby thing. oops! Damn and I thought I was finally getting clever. :furious:

I don't know if the problem was related to a loose bolt or not. It would certainly accelerate the problem if that bolt were not torqued properly. The fact that this is not an isolated problem would indicate that either there are alot of crappy mechanics out there, or there was an error in engineering this part. Merely for the sake of debate, I will give you my take on this thing. -stepping up on soap box- Ladies and gentlemen, This is a rotating assembly with a slide fit.- averaging around 3000 rpm for 220,000 miles @ an average of 50 mph= approximatly 792,000,000 revolutions so far- I don't care how much you tighten that bolt, anything short of welding the thing in place is going to see a tiny bit of movement every revolution. Because the surface area on the components are so much greater, and the key is made of softer material. Even the slightest movement causes the woodruff key to wear on the power side. Here is where I think there is an engineering problem. Even with a new key there nearly .07in difference between the height of the key and the size of the slot. Because of the shape of a woodruff key, when it wears on one side, it rises in the slot and suddenly there is more room to move. Eventually the key rises and wears so badly that damage occurrs to the crankshaft and you get to where I was with a factory tech telling you to replace your motor. I think this whole situation could have been prevented if Nissan had used a keyway which has a much greater surface area that distributes the load more evenly. It is a bit more expensive to produce a crank that way and I would bet that was the drivig factor in this instance. One drawback I can see is that cutting a keyway removes alot of material and thus weakens the end of the crank. That problem could be rectified by making the diameter of the crank greater where you would position said key. I don't know why engine manufacturers may have gone to a woodruff key, but most engines I have dealt with have had a keyway/key setup and I have never seen one of them fail. I just hope that my efforts to salvage this engine are not in vain. Presice1 Sure, now you tell me! I suppose I could have repositioned my timing gear and HB, but that would have been too easy. What fun is that? Besides I have all these toys laying around. Gotta have a use for them, or they're just junk. Oh by the way, I love my Pathfinder, and it has given me many care-free miles, but I consider the exhaust manifold stud problem a disgrace to Nissan that they should have acnowledged and fixed as a design flaw. Instead they caused all of us to pay good money to fix their design flaw. - recall - I could be wrong, usually am.

Allrighty then... I suppose that this could be a rebuild caused failure. Since I do most of my own maintainence, I think I may thake this personally...God knows that Nissan doesn't have any engineering problems--(cough)exhaust studs!!--

I think I can get to it from above, but it's a long reach. It's not difficult to remove the skid plate, and that's most likely what I'll do anyway just to make sure I don't spill oil anywhere.

Since I had the front end of my Pathfinder all tore apart for a repair I thought this might be a good time to find a location for my remote oil filter. Fashioned a bracket out of some angle I had kicking around and here is the result. Inside the engine compartment, and protected by the skid plate.

Didn't happen to have one laying around.