PFFlier

Well, I know it's been a while but I thought I'd better get something in here to wrap it up. I ended up putting in new head gasket, 1 valve, 1 rocker, 2 lifters, timing belt, water pump, seals, hoses, thermostat, cap, rotor, plugs, oil. I started it up and it ran great. I gave it back to my son in law for Christmas. I did hear a slight tranny noise now and then, but I thought oh well, that's not what I was working on and who knows how long its done that. Well, now it's back in my garage because it turnded into a loud banging noise that seams to be coming from the area where the torque converter is. I suspect loose TC bolts or lose or cracked flex plate. Now I need to figure out how to drop the AT tranny. Since this is a completely different subject I am going to start a new post.

The FSM says replace the washers, not the bolts. I need help finding the washers. I'll check out the lifter info.

After further inspection and some help from knowledgable company over Thanksgiving, we found a split in the fire ring on the end of the head gasket on cyl 6, which was torqed kinda loose when I took it off, so now I know where the coolant was going for sure. After cleaning it up the warpage is under .0025 on the head and the same on the block so I'm under the .008 total. But here is something weird. The idiots that put this together before put in an intake valve that was way too small, about 3/16" or so less it diameter which allowed it to get stuck down in the hole instead of seating and it got stuck and caused the rocker to break and also the lifter. I have all the parts ordered from Parts Dinosaur: head gasket complete set, timing belt, tentioner, cam and crank seals, rocker arm, lifter, intake valve, water pump. He doesn't carry the head bolt washers. The factory manual says to replace them (not the bolts) so I'll have to get them somewhere else. I found universal ones at Mr Gasket. I will look locally as I still need plugs, cap, rotor, and hoses. Input is appreciated on the washers. Also, I learned after it was too late that I was not supposed to turn the head in the non-upright position. It sat upside down a couple days. Does that mean I will have to pull all the lifters out and soak them in oil overnight or do they fill up fine from oil in the engine? Another thing, just behind the oil filter there is a screw in white plastic item that looks like it might be an oil pressure sender unit. I looked everywhere I could think of in my manual and couldn't find anything helpful. Does any one know if that is what it is????? And if so, it was not hooked up to anything so I need to know where the cable comes from that plugs into it.

It is definitly going through coolant. In 9 miles it went from full to too low to circulate and start overheating. I forgot to mention that when I was first notified of this overall problem he (my son in law) was stuck on the side of the road with a blown out top radiator hose. To get him home I put on a new hose, filled it with coolant and he drove it 5 miles home with steam billowing out the back. I did hear a squeeling noise when it started up......maybe a water pump? I gotta figure out where this coolant is going!

I tore into my son in law's 92 pathfinder VG30E expecting to find a blown head gasket as it was going through coolant real fast and huge amount of steam was coming out the exhaust, like a smoke screen blinding those behind you. The plugs on the passenger side looked good, so I focused on the driver side for now. When I took the valve cover off I found that the rocker arm for cylinder 4 (middle cylinder driver side) was broken off and the small spring and small parts of the lifter were laying off to the side. After I got the intake manifold off I could see fuel pooled up on the upper side of the intake valve that was rendered inactive. After I got the head off I could find no blown or burnt out areas on the head gasket, although the torque on the exhaust side was less than the intake side near the ends. Cylinder 6 (closest to driver) was full of water, but may have just drained in to it when head was pulled. Here are my questions: 1. Does this broken rocker arm sound like the cause of the problem, or an effect of the problem? 2. What is the overall effect of a broken rocker arm? 3. What is the tollerance allowed for head and block warpage. I'm getting about .005" on each but that is before scraping and cleaning the head and block of the gasket residue. 4. Can a head assembly expert tell if there is a leak or crack inside the head between any of the separate passages alowing coolant? 5. And finally, a less revelent question: When refering to the L3 and R3 on the cam pulleys, is the right and left as viewed from behind the steering wheel facing forward? (That would make L3 on the driver side). I think this is what I did on my own pathfinder, but when I took this one apart it had R3 on the driver side, which I think is wrong. Thanks

Thanks for the info. Can you elaborate on the 3M disk specifics (3M is a huge corporation with a gillion products). Also has anyone used products from Parts Dinosaur? He sells TSM gasket sets and PCI timing belt. He says they meet or exceed OEM and the prices seem good. I'm doing this project for my son in law(he and I both have pathfinders) who just got back to work and is currently broke and I can't afford to sink more into it that necessary as I've been out of work a long time too (building contractor......need I say more!).

From a nation wide perspective that sounds pretty close, but I live in Sequim and that would still be quite a drive.

Funny you should mention replacing the head bolts or not because I was just trying to figure that one out........The Chilton manual says nothing about them being stretch bolts or to discard old ones, so that's what got me thinking about it.

Thanks for the quick answer. I'll check into that Nissan brand. Do you know anything about "Replacement" brand?

Thanks guys for the discussion. But the free engine I was going to swap in is no longer available as the guy changed his mind. So now I need to do a headgasket on the old one. I did one a while back on Toyota 4Runner with a V-6 so I should be able to do this one. It would be nice to find a writeup with pics on that if anybody has one. I may have to start a new topic for this. Thanks guys.

Has anyone seen a well documented engine swap for a Pathfinder VG30E with AT. I plan on leaving the tranny if possible. I did a timing belt a while back thanks to Dr Bill's great work and was hoping to find something along those lines. Even if it isn't a VG30E it would still be helpfull. Thanks

Great........thanks for the answer to both questions. It sounds like I'm good to go with the Valvoline GL5 80W-90 that says limited slip on the front. I emailed Valvoline tech support and they said it has the friction modifier built it, so it sounds like I don't need the additional additive. Thanks again.

Do you mean you used the Napa brand gear oil or the addative? All I found in the manual was to use what Nissan reccomends. I called them and they said any brand that is GL5 and 80-W90 gear oil, but who knows if I actually got someone who knows anything.

My 91 Pathfinder has the orange LSD sticker on the rear diff. Does that mean the front diff is also LSD? I went to 3 places trying to get the API GL-5 and SAE 80W-90 gear oil. The only brand I could find was Valvoline which says limited slip on e the front, but the sales guys said I still had to buy this Kendal LSD additive (friction modifier). That didnt' make a lot of sense to me. I know others have reccomended the Penzoil as does Nissan. I want to get this right and I couldn't find anything about this in the Chilton or factory service manual.

Thanks. In the factory procedure they tell you to turn the idler pully full CW and tighten, install belt, hold idler plully steady w/allen wrench while loosening bolt, then turn tentioner 70 to 80 degrees CW and tighten nut. How do you turn it 70-80 degrees CW if you've held it steady when it was already fully CW? If I assume they mean to let it go tight against belt, then turn 70-80 degrees CW it is still back to almos full CW (8:00 or so). Then they sey to turn it CW 2+ times, then apply 22 lbs. pressure to belt between the tentioner and cam, loosen tensioner whiile holding steady with allen wrench, insert 0.0138 inch feeler gauge etc. It sounds like a bunch of balony and the 70 to 80 degree thing sounds wrong. Any opinions?

Hi guy! I've read thru many of the timing belt threads and had a question that I didn't see addressed. On my 91 VG30E when I put on the new timing belt so all the belt marks line up with the 3 sprockets and their corresponding marks on the engine, then turn in clockwise by hand, the marks never seem to line up again between the belt and the sprockets. Every two times the crank revolves to where it lines up with it's mark by the oil pan, the cam sprockets line up with the marks behind them on the rear cover. But no matter how many times I turn it over the belt marks don't line up. Eventually it gets close, but is off one tooth on all sprockets. Do it a bunch more times and it is off 2 teeth, etc. etc. I notice when I took the old belt off the belt lines didn't line up with the sprocket marks by a few teeth. Are these marks only for initial line up and not meant to line up after rotating engine? I repeat, the marks on all sprockets continue to line up with the fixed marks on the rear cover and oil pan on every 2nd crank revolution. I just want to get this right before proceeding. Thanks.

I am a firm beilever in Murphy's law, so I figure if I don't replace the seals when rerplacing the timing belt, thats a sure bet that the seal will go out shortly after. That's the same reason I'm replacing the water pump. I just inherited this rig from my dad when he died and I'm not sure what all has been done, but I know the TB wasn't done, so that's how I got to this point.

Yeah, the key and keyway looked good, but there a little rust on the shaft and inside the sprocket so I cleaned up the shaft with some emery cloth and the sprocket will be new so it should go on better with some assemmbly grease.I'm still wondering if most guys use the water pump gasket only, or if they use RTV also. IF RTV, which one.....red or blue. I guess the same question would go for the water thermostat installation. Thanks

Thanks for all the help. It'l be a few days until the new sprocket gets here and I can put things back together. I'll let you know how that goes later.

OK........how do you use a puller to get off the crankshaft sprocket???? There are no bolt holes. There is at most a 1/16" space at the back. I had to get it out almost 1/4" before I could get my puller that has the "L" shaped pivoting arms that hook behind and the threaded bolt in the center that pushes against the crank bolt. By the time I got it out 1/4" it was messed up. I was tapping lightly on it, but it still flattened out slightly the teeth. I wasn't impatient, it took me about 6 hours to get it off. There may be a way to get it off w/no damage, that is why I posted, but I couldn't figure it out.

I got it out about 1/16" but I think I've ruined the sprocket. Still can't get it off. It's take me 3 hours to get 1/16 but I guess I'll try hitting it back. As for the double post, I didn't realize I wasnt in garage when I posted the first one.......waited for hours w/no replies. Sorry about that. That's what happens when you're new. OK! I finally got it out, but its buggered up so I need a new one if anyone has one laying around let me know. I Need the Crankshaft sprocket and the Timing belt plate (the one behind the sprocket).

I tried prying on back while tapping, even tried heating it with a torch........no go. Help

Hi guys - Newbie here. I'm putting a new timing belt kit in my VG30E and trying to do all the oil seals, water pump, etc while i'm in there but I can't get the crankshaft sprocket off. I put WD40 on, tapped on it while pulling but no luck. I was afraid to pry in the back because I didn't want to ding up the timing belt plate behind the sprocket that keeps the belt in line. Do I need to torch it? Also, do most people install the water pump with just the gasket or do they use the red silicone? Thanks

Hi guys - Newbie here. I'm putting a new timing belt kit in my VG30E and trying to do all the oil seals, water pump, etc while i'm in there but I can't get the crankshaft sprocket off. I put WD40 on, tapped on it while pulling but no luck. I was afraid to pry in the back because I didn't want to ding up the timing belt plate behind the sprocket that keeps the belt in line. Do I need to torch it? Also, do most people install the water pump with just the gasket or do they use the red silicone? Thanks