JamesRich

The fun already began if you got it out already! James

I'm thinking electric! I'm spending $80 to $90 a week on fuel! That would pay a note on a small electric car, leaf maybe! James

Thanks for the welcome! I love it up here, not sure my pathfinder likes it up here though! I took it to work once and it don't like the mountains! Burned a half tank for the two hour round trip! got it floored going up most of the hills too! It sat for a few months in louisiana before I had a chance to bring it up so I'll give it a good tune up this weekend and try again next week. My Ram 3500 dully makes a whole week back and forth to work on one tank! Can't beat a cummins for power and fuel mileage!

I'll have to do some searching, so far I don't know where much is up here! I live in Grandview and work in Lenoir city. slowly learning in between! I definitely plan to do some fishing up here! James

Brought my pathfinder from louisiana up to my new home in Tennessee! Now to find some places to wheel! James

Put some marvel mystery oil in there if you want to clean it out, works really good and it's been around forever and I've never heard of anyone having trouble with it. It will even clean out the ring lands and stop oil burning from stuck rings. James

You painted that frog in the picture too?

I've got a snap on 1000 series 4 box set full of things I rarely use. But when I need it it's there! That is at least when people that borrow them bring them back! The only problem with having a lot of tools, friends think I run a loaner company!

y'all just need a better puller! I got a snap on cupped style puller years ago and never had a problem pulling a pitman arm again. Even on big ford 3/4 and 1 tons. Like this one. https://www.ebay.com/itm/SNAP-ON-TOOLS-CJ119A-Pitman-Arm-Puller-Most-Compact-Cars-And-Trucks/162843263771?hash=item25ea37031b:g:LQcAAOSwlxRaVQPA

My thoughts exactly! If you did dish the flex plate, it may not be enough in front of the sensor to pick up correctly. If you can't see in the sensor hole directly use your endoscope to look in there and see how it lines up. I would pull the transmission to change that instead of pulling the motor again. James

That looks great! I have been offline because my old computer crashed!! Built a new one and good to go!

I used purple power to clean my heads when I had them off. I think i mixed it like 1 to 1 with water so it was really strong. James

I thought about the intake leaking but the coolant passes on each end, and the middle cylinder on the passenger side is the only one that got coolant in it. I have the modified TBI intake with a carburetor on it. I've been starting it morning and night and it runs fine. After I get my dye tester I'll start driving it again. James

I've checked it out really good and can't find any indication of a head gasket leaking! For that much coolant to get in a cylinder, it would have to be a pretty good leak. I let it sit 2 days with the plug out and no coolant collected in the cylinder. It runs perfect and no bubbles in radiator or blowing coolant out. Every time I check the radiator it is full, not loosing any coolant. Not sure how all that coolant got in that cylinder but i'm starting to think foul play! I'll have to start parking it where my security cameras can see it. I'll try running my dye tester on it and if it doesn't show anything I'll start driving it again and see what happens. I'll always be nervous when I first bump the key now! James

That's awesome! I've got all the parts to build one just hadn't cut the pistons yet. Has anyone come out with a VG34 head gasket yet? Or the VG33 gasket still working? James

Damn! So it turned from a seeping head gasket to the whole motor! Just freshen up that motor and you will know you have something good. I think reading your post jinxed me! I got a head gasket leaking on mine now! I went to stat it monday to go to work and the motor locked! pulled the plugs when I got home and the middle cylinder on the passenger side was full of coolant. I have VG33 heads on a VG30 block though and I used cheap head gaskets from rock auto! I thought all was good with the different heads, they have been on there for 13K miles with no issues. I got the water out and the motor still runs good and idles smooth. It may have been like this for a while just never stopped that cylinder on a compression stroke. James

There's not enough room on the new server for that story!! James

My ex's 01 Quest was starting to slip between shifts at wot, I started changing the trans oil every time I changed the engine oil and it fixed the problem. There's no filter to replace. I just drained the pan, and then topped it back up. It went another 60K miles since I started that with no problems. It was still going strong when the dumb bitch parked it because the alternator quit around 200K miles! I do the same with my titan now, I just have to buy the special oil for it instead of picking it up at walmart. James

Your issue sounds like the typical distributor module problem. That's the only problem I ever had with my factory set up. Mine would just be really hard to start once it was warm but ran pretty normal once it was running, just don't turn it off! I'd have to crank it for minutes to get it to start when it was hot! Almost left my ass 5 miles back in the woods one time! James

I'm an old WD21 guy so I assumed you had a 3.5 in that truck! One head is cleaner than the other, maybe the cleaner head had been replaced before you got it. You should take the rocker shafts off before you pull the head bolts, it's much easier. Just make sure you use a torque wrench to put them back. It's a very low torque, like 15 pounds I think, and are easy to strip if you over tighten. Are you just pulling the one head? If I were that far I'd pull both. That way you know they are both fresh. They usually sell the gaskets in sets anyway. James

Sorry I haven't been around, life has been busy! for future reference, Yes 123456 is the firing order starting with #1 on the passenger head and alternating back and forth going back. You will need to tune the carb too, in factory set up it's way too rich. It's been 5 yearn now and it's still running good. Starts with just a bump of the key and always runs good! Also yes I made the spacer plate myself. I'd seen this style plate for 4 barrels but not for 2 barrels so I made my own, mostly to hold the throttle cable. James

If you like carburetors just do what I did! 5 years later still running good! I did have to do a lot of tuning to the carb to get the mixtures right using a wide band. It ran really rich with the carb factory. I drilled the metering block and made jets out of 6-32 setscrews for the power circuit. Was way cheaper than adjustable blocks. James

If a cylinder was leaking and coolant getting in, the piston will be cleaner than the rest. The dye test is usually pretty definite that there isn't a leak though. I think I'd try one of those little tubes of powdered stop leak next! That's the best way to stop small leaks that you can't find. James

yes i would replace that hose, it could be leaking between the layers. Make sure you get coolant hose and not fuel line also. Some parts people don't know there's a difference. If you can't find small coolant hose at a parts house check a big truck dealer. James

Well that confirmed you don't have combustion gasses getting into the cooling system then. I can't figure what else would let air into the cooling system. Possibly the water pump or a small leak on the suction side of the pump pulling in air when its running but I would think something like that would drip coolant when you shut it down. Good luck finding this problem, I'll be watching.