bmitchell

It's been two years and I'm honestly still not sure.

I probably will repack everything when I swap out the axles. I did repack the one that I took out, but the back ones I didn't need to remove to get what I needed done done. Now that we broke all the bolts from 30yrs ago it'll be easier for me to disassemble the hubs again. Might consider switching out the auto locks for some manuals. Thanks, I'll check around for metal recyclers, should be lots around here. Ben

Caveat #2: The tiny screws for the washer that sits over the lock nut are really picky and hard to get started. Otherwise all done. Didn't remove/regrease the inside seals/bearings as they were not problematic and appeared to be fully functional. Otherwise all done. Noticed a minor leak on one of the right side pistons, got a new seal to put on soon. Brakes work much better now and ABS engages nicely. Any suggestions on what to do with the old rotors? Far too thin now to bother resurfacing them, and no core charge as I bought the new rotors online. Ben

Caveat #1: 6mm hex key that is not made of soft steel AND no 1/4 inch drivers. Rounded my allen key and sheared off a 1/4 inch bit driver trying to break these allen bolts. All but one broken on one side, none on the other. Show stopper. Edit: Wow, 1/4 not 1/2. Too sleepy.

I read that one, very helpful indeed. I've got some plywood to put down but it isn't very big. I'm not sure it will be an issue. Thanks! Ben

Wow, looking back I made a lot of mistakes on this top end. Stripped one of the rocker bolts, accidentally dropped a q-tip into one of the coolant channels, neglected to replace a copper seal. Polished the valves but never got them airtight (they were definitely not when I started). Kinda wish I hadn't lost interest/steam and pulled the head again. Ben

So I'm hoping to replace both front rotors tonight. Striped like the rings of Saturn and have new ones sitting. Was going to do it last night but forgot I had 4WD and didn't realize the whole hub had to come off to swap rotors. Too dark and too much lack of preparation/knowledge. Hoping to reuse all the bearing parts, condition permitting, as long as I don't gouge the seal or drop the bearing into the gravel. Anything I should know that I may be overlooking? Got the FSM pages printed for this and will have the PDFs on the laptop. Don't have the bearing lock nut socket, may have to do it by hand if Oreilly doesn't have it. Thoughts on pre-loading without it? Does this bearing need hi-temp grease? Wish I had another vehicle so I could take my time, but it's gotta get done. Ben

Yikes! Hope you got that new one lined up.

I think there was a reason for not dropping the chain at first that completely escapes me now, which is why the block of wood was there. Maybe so I could be sure that I indexed the new one right? I think I thought I could get away with not replacing it, which looking back seems silly to me. Since I gave it to my buddy the only work done on it is that he removed some of the tires and was going to replace them with some tires he found in the woods behind his house that are somehow better... Ben

That's basically what the shop said. Very difficult week but could have been so much worse.

So a few years ago I bought a '94 Pathfinder SE and neglected to change the timing belt even though I didn't know when it was last done. Fast forward to last week, came home from work, engine running normally, and parked. Came out later the same day to start her up again, and no spark. Turning, sounds a little strange, but nothing firing up. Checked a couple things, fuses, relays, ignition coil, dist cap, all seemed OK. What I didn't do is leave the distributor cap off while turning the engine to see if the rotor was spinning. Didn't have time to deal with it as I had several houseguests in town, so I had it towed to a shop. Got a call from the shop saying it was the timing belt, and there was a 50/50 chance the valves were hosed, but since it broke while it wasn't running at speed the chance was better. Another few days and I hear back that all is not lost. Picked it up and the engine seems like it is running OK. TL,DR: Should have replaced the timing belt when I got the vehicle and saved some time and money. Ben

As a follow-up to this (I realize it's been years), got everything sorted out with the head and ended up with no compression on a couple cylinders, so either the valves were too far out of seal, head was warped more than it appeared, or I severely screwed up the gasket install. Ended up giving it to a friend, and now it is sitting in his driveway instead of mine. Pathy is doing well despite having broken a timing belt, the transmission being on fire (hose came loose on the highway) and some other minor issues over the years. Ben

That is what is going on - it looked odd because I wasn't sure I was looking at the right thing at first - it is definitely shorting against the side of the engine. Looks like the wire melted in the middle - probably from the fire I guess? Oh well - as soon as the exhaust shield cools down some I'll splice them back together. Edit: Done. All is good. Thanks for the help!

Unless I am looking at the wrong thing, it is not plugged in to anything and it looks like the wire just ends. Posssibly it was damaged when the ATF flared up but nothing else down there seems to have been affected. I know the light wasn't on before the trans problem. I can't seem to find it in the EL section of the FSM except for the section on checking its voltages which does not tell me where it should be plugged in. However...what is really odd is that the light will flutter and go off if I am around 3k RPMs, so I don't know how that is possible without it being connected. I'm going to pick up a new pigtail connector for it and see. Ben

Didn't have the luxury of waiting for them to do anything extra - I will be adding an aftermarket trans cooler as soon as it is feasible. I have it back now - shifts like a charm (as I'd expect from a rebuild). They mentioned the option of an upgraded valve body - not sure what this meant and they didn't go into detail. We shall see. Now my oil light is acting up. The light is bright when idle but dims when I rev it. The oil pressure switch is missing the harness for the wire but it appears to possibly not matter...kind of low on info about it since the FSM only mentions to remove it to check oil pressure and how to test the voltage. I also noticed my CV boots are ripped a little on the front - then I noticed a note from the trans shop saying the same (they also mentioned the oil sensor but said it had a leak which I don't see).

Well, two flushes, several attempts at other diagnoses, a dismissal of the dropping resistor circuit as anything related, and one small fire later and it is being rebuilt. Long story but it definitely burnt up on the road about a week ago. Looks like a hose came loose on the road and splashed hot ATF all over the exhaust which flared it up. Towed to the shop, one rebuild in progress. All sorts of things wrong with it. The shop had almost everything done then they called me and said that somehow now my rotation sensor is cracked but they aren't charging for its replacement. Very odd. Also now I own a fire extinguisher. Why couldn't I have learned from all the people who said to get one? Had a wedding to be at this weekend so no work on the pickup (though it is now in reassembly phase). Ben

Well I broke my camera's screen and it doesn't have a viewfinder so there will be more guesswork in the pictures from here out. Ben

Yeah, I should have photoed it but I was a little more than ticked at the time and didn't really feel like doing anything but resolving the issue. It wasn't so much holding it on as holding it down - the other bolt was in and fine, so the wire was just keeping it from flailing. Well, the wire was broken, so it was doing the flailing... Anyway, the valves are out: Ben

That did it - impact wrench popped it right loose once I got things out of the way. Did the rear brakes on my pathy too - someone had put some bailing wire on one of the calipers because I guess it was missing the bolt - serves me right for checking the pads through the wheel and not actually pulling them off to see. Well, there was a piece of broken bolt still in there so I hit it with penetrant dremeled a slot in it, came right out. Happened to have a similar sized bolt - will be ordering the right one to replace it for good. Ben

I found out tonight that my neighbor has an impact wrench so I should be set once we can get things going there. I've seen photos of another Z24 (or maybe a KA24) that was the same color. Who knows. Ben

Well, with the big breaker bar and a cheater pipe and a prybar extension (bout 3 1/2 ft total force multiplication) I have succeeded in turning the crankshaft but it is not still enough to budge the pulley bolt. Trans is in gear with the brake on. I'm looking into a chain wrench to hold the pulley still. Ben

Somewhere deep down, I knew it was blue...but until now I did not believe. Ben

Time for an update. Spent a few hours today loosening more bolts. Here is the Z24i headless. The wooden block idea is pretty absurd to me. I've heard rumors of a tensioner that precludes its necessity but never seen one for sale anywhere. The pistons. The pistons were dirty - the one on the right I wiped with a shop rag to show the difference. The head. Again. Again. So now I'm done with that step. Time to hit the shower and maybe run down to OReilly to see if they have a cheap pulley puller for the crankshaft pulley and maybe a 1/2" breaker bar for the crankshaft bolt (so I can remove the timing cover and muck around in there). With the truck in high gear and e-brake engaged, when I torque down on the bolt the pulley still moves about ten degrees. I suppose I'll have to align the cam timing anyway once I put the new chain on so this isn't a big deal. Ben

Unless he wants to scan in all the pages concerning head and timing I haven't run into anything specifically challenging yet. Ben

I have one but it is disconnected - from what I understand it has something to do with dropping the voltage to one of the solenoids - providing harder (more forceful) solenoid action. Mine's been rewired out of the circuit and I don't even have the socket to plug it back in. Note: I am not an electrician, mechanic, lawyer or magician. Ben