Slartibartfast

The rubber is part of the balancer, and it's internal. No additional rubber is necessary. I don't see a torque spec in the manual either, but the diagram for the four-banger says 7-9 lb/ft for what looks to be the same application. They're pretty small fasteners IIRC so I wouldn't be surprised if that was right. I'm sure I just went to German-spec on mine.

The service manual suggests 61-76 lb/ft for the nuts holding the end links in. If they were loose, or worked loose, that would certainly cause a rattle, but I suspect you would've noticed that when removing them. It does say to make sure the sockets aren't cockeyed before you run them down. I'm looking at SU-11 and SU-14 in the '03 manual, though, I'd want to double check with the right year before taking the torque specs as gospel. I have a hard time believing that you'd go through that many in that length of time if the only problem was cheap parts, especially since it doesn't sound like you've been using cheap parts. All I can figure then is installer error (maybe they don't come greased?) or something tweaked on the truck to where the links are binding and tearing themselves up.

That sucks! I'll bet it's something simple, though. My first thought: is the rubber air intake going to the MAF sensor installed? Is the MAF plugged in? If the computer has no MAF signal, it should be able to run without it; if it does have signal, but the hose isn't connected, I would expect the mix to go super lean as soon as you open the throttle. Either put the pipe back on or disconnect the MAF. If that's not the case, I would roll it back to somewhere around TDC, then count teeth. 40 between the cam dimples, 43 from the driver's cam dimple to the crank dimple. Count a few times. If it's off, make it right. If it's right, leave it alone and look for your issue elsewhere. That brings us to your timing. Belt tension should not change your timing (unless it was super flappy loose and skipped a tooth). Because the belt is referenced to the sprockets, not the timing cover, I can't imagine how doing the belt with the engine a few degrees off TDC would change anything--if you wanted a challenge, I think you could stop the engine in any position and change the timing belt, and do just fine, provided you could hold the cam sprockets still and do the mental gymnastics to work out proper tooth count. If you had it on the wrong TDC, it would not run at all. You did suggest however that the last guy may have done it a tooth off. If the count from the crank to the driver's side cam was incorrect, the distributor would've been off (it's geared off the driver's side camshaft), and it's possible the lazy sod just adjusted the dizzy rather than opening the timing back up and fixing his mistake. If you suspect that the last belt was a tooth off, you could put the lower timing cover and the balancer back on, find your timing light, and see if the timing is anywhere near the right ballpark. Or do it old school: move the dizzy a few degrees one way and see if that helps, move it the other way if that made it worse, and see if you can find a timing where it runs right. Either way, once it's back together, warm the engine up and re-set the timing properly. (You might want to mark where the dizzy is before you start, either so you can see how much it was off by later or so you can put it back where it was if it turns out that your ignition timing is not the issue.) The only other thing I can think of is that the cam sprockets are different side to side--if you removed them (to do cam seals), make sure you put the correct one on the correct side. I would be very surprised if this was the problem, but I remember being fairly paranoid that I'd get mine backwards.

I've gotten out and bumped the wheel and had the steering lock kick in, and then the key won't go in. I haven't had to roll it, just turn the steering wheel one way or the other against the lock (might have to push kinda hard) until the key will go in, then the lock releases. You might have to turn the key, too, it's been long enough since I triggered mine that I don't remember. It's an anti-theft sorta deal so that even if somebody did get past the ignition without the key, they wouldn't be able to steer. Mine's a WD21, but I'd be surprised if the R50 system wasn't more or less the same.

Like I said on your other thread, those lines are only useful for initial setup. There are a lot of teeth on that belt. It would take an awful lot of spinning the engine over to find a point where they line up again. This is normal. Get it to TDC again (or thereabouts), count teeth between the dimples, and if the tooth count is right, then the belt's on right.

Not surprising that puling the bulbs didn't fix it--unless a bulb was shorted (unlikely) you've got a wire from the tail light circuit shorted to ground somewhere. +1 on checking trailer lights. The dash dimmer (assuming you've got the rectangular one like I do) is a pain to get out of the dash. If you want to test it, I would just unplug it from behind and see if the short goes away. If it doesn't, plug it back in and move on.

Are you after the oil pump seal, or the front crank seal? I didn't do either the first time, then something started leaking, and it turned out to be the crank seal. Easy enough to do, I just had to tear everything down again, which I was less than happy about. It's just a round one like the cam seals, easy enough to deal with. I never touched the oil pump seal or the pan.

Gearing would throw off the speed sensor reading the same as tire size would--it's all changing the final drive ratio. And for all we know, somebody might've replaced the sensor in one truck or the other with the wrong one. Again, if your speedo was accurate before, I'd replace with the same as what you took out. If you plug in your spare cluster, and that clock doesn't work either, there may be a power feed to the cluster that's gone out. I haven't looked at the cluster wiring in the manual, but AFAIK the clock is the only thing in the cluster that receives power with the key off, so I would expect it to have its own power feed. Unless you hit a dead end with diagnosing the other issues, or have the dash torn open anyway, I'd ignore it until the major issues are cleared up. Hopefully it's just the dizzy. My only reservation there is that this isn't how they usually go--from what I've read they usually work when they're cold, then crap out as they warm up. It doesn't explain the bogging, either.

Plugs in/out shouldn't matter, if the cams jump it's because of the valve springs pushing the lifters against the cam lobes. Don't worry if the paint marks aren't lined up--they don't line up each time the engine is at TDC. They'll line up when you're installing the belt but if you roll the engine over by hand with the cover off while you're setting the tension, the marks won't line up again unless you turn it backwards to where you started. This is normal. If the tooth count is correct, the engine is timed properly. Think of it like a tank track... it takes quite a few turns of the drive sprocket to pull the whole track around, and if the number of teeth on the sprocket and the track don't have a common denominator, that track might have to go around a few times before the same tooth engages the same link. If it does turn out that the last guy got it a tooth off, then congrats, you've freed some hidden power! If it's the count between the crank and the driver's cam that's off, you'll need to set the ignition timing when you're done. Also, don't worry if the cam sprockets don't line up perfectly with the marks on the back timing cover. Mine were a little off. Again, tooth count is your friend. And if you get the cover off and it doesn't look like it's on TDC, you can thread the crank bolt back in and roll the engine over by hand until it is. This is the only thing I'd use the timing marks on the back cover for--if you get the cam sprocket dimples reasonably close to lining up with those, then you should be close enough to TDC.

Different tooth count is likely due to different final drive ratios (HG46/43). If the speedo was correct with the sensor that was in there, I would replace it with the same. I haven't had to remove one so I'm no help there. Fluid leaking out of the res probably indicates that your res is shot but that's about it. The one on my '95 leaked from the side where there's a little ball driven in to seal a passage. My test for the booster would be to remove the line going to it, block it off, and see if the engine runs better. If it does, then you can reasonably assume that the booster's shot and you have a massive vacuum leak. Again, though, I'd be surprised if it was just that given all your other issues. No idea what to make of the clock, though it does make me wonder about other wiring issues. Did that quit around the same time as the issues started or has that been out for a while? Could very well be unrelated. A bad dizzy could explain why engine and trans are both acting up--I'm pretty sure the TCU gets its tachometer signal from the dizzy.

There's a limp mode for the engine and a limp mode for the trans. Sounds like yours was in the trans limp mode. If the idle bounces whenever you hit the brakes, that makes me think your brake booster might be borked and making a massive vac leak, though for that to crop up at the same time as everything else seems unlikely. The last bit with the speedo bouncing around is odd, makes me wonder if the speed sensor might have an issue (which could be what put the TCU into limp mode). The speed sensor in a '95 is electronic, but it's just a reed switch, so I'm not sure what would make it fail like that. From the video, it looks like your dash clock is out too.

I'm in the middle of nowhere Washington and I've seen people leave cars running at the post office. Things do get stolen from time to time (we do have tweakers) but it's usually stuff closer to town, and stuff that hasn't moved in a while. Still, especially in an area you don't know, lock up when you park.

I don't think your cruise control would notice the difference.

Fuel leaks aren't good, and you should track that down, but I doubt it's your mileage issue unless it's piddling everywhere. Could be that your oxygen sensor has failed.

If you line the motor up to TDC before removing the belt, the cams will not jump. In other positions, they may. I still had to build a tool to reorient mine, but that was in part because I removed both sprockets to do the cam seals. I did have one of my cams jump a little when I was trying to remove a cam bolt (before I made the tool), but I just moved it back again and it didn't hurt anything. Count the teeth when you put the new belt on, move the cams a little if you need to, and you should be alright.

The four seconds on/four seconds off is interesting. Makes me think it's not an issue with the wheel, I've had some shaking issues from out of balance wheels (packed with snow) but those were constant once I got up to speed. +1 for jacking up that corner and giving the wheel a wiggle to check for joint or bearing issues.

My power outlets came in today. They mount in round holes--imagine that. Install would've been easy if I'd thought to pick up a decent hole saw... I think the one I used was made of cheese. The outlets I got do a good job of covering the mess I made. I got a little carried away and mounted the inverter and the rear outlet, and roughed in the wiring well enough to test everything on the bench. I'll need to shorten a few wires and add a ground bolt somewhere to clean everything up at some point. The inverter was originally assembled with the 120v wires soldered to the circuit board and the inserts in the face plate, which meant that I had to cut the wires to take it apart. It's got spade connectors bodged into it now so that I can disassemble it without cutting anything. This will probably come apart again a few times before I'm ready to paint it. When I find a good length of 3" pipe, I'll pull this thing out again and get some cupholders going.

Pretty sure they never made a twin-cam 3.3. And from what I've read, the 3.0 intake actually flows pretty well.

I've read a few threads where the key sheared. Not sure why it happens. Maybe the tension from the crank bolt helps hold the sprocket in place, and the key shears if it's left loose?

I had some laying around as scrap from a TV I tore down a while back, and figured it would be thick enough to hold the switches. Overkill I'm sure but it was free! I've mucked around with plastics a little but I prefer working with steel--it's just so much faster to weld something than to glue it, especially with wire-feed and shielding gas, and it's so much more durable. I do like how easy plastic is to cut, though, especially after filing those switch holes. And I've got two more holes to drill now, once the 12v and USB outlets I ordered show up. I've learned, though--I got the kind that mount in round holes! I've got it pushed back far enough that it's not too hard on the elbows. I've brushed it once or twice but nothing too bad, no worse than the stock console, anyway. I'm more worried about burning myself on it this summer. The top may get some padding before I call it done. The sport/comfort switch is factory. Many of the WD21s had dual-mode shocks. I cut one open a while back and there's a little motor in there that opens or closes a valve to bypass the usual shock valving. Kinda cool, though after 23 years, I'm not sure it does much anymore. I've thought once or twice that the circuit would be easy to repurpose for rock lights or something, though whenever I think of attaching lights to the floors, I think of a Pathfinder with sikk neyonz yo and think about something else. I've never seen a build sheet in one of these. If you want to know what options it came with, and the PO didn't keep the window sticker, I think a few guys on here can look up the info with your VIN. As for the build, I'm waiting on those outlets to show up and looking for a local source of 3" exhaust pipe to make cupholders out of. I think I can get five cupholders into this thing if I really want to go nuts with it.

No worries, hopefully the new dizzy works out for you.

There are a few options for lifts. Lots of threads on that. The search feature ain't the greatest, or at least I haven't figured it out... I just google what I'm looking for find the thread on here that way LOL. Lots of good info on here once you find it.

The condenser is the capacitor you saw on the side of the dizzy. It suppresses arcing to make the points last longer. When you replace points/condenser you do them as a set, because apparently the points often fail because the condenser quit. The ceramic thing is probably the ballast resistor. When you're starting the engine, it's bypassed to compensate for the battery voltage sagging under the load of the starter, and it reduces current through the points and coil the rest of the time. I think it's supposed to keep the coil from burning out if you leave the ignition on for a while with the engine off and the points happen to be closed. We rigged the plow with no ballast resistor (because the stock one was pretty knackered) and it runs great, but the one time we somehow left it with the key on, it did indeed run down the battery and fry the coil... so probably not a bad idea to keep that piece around!

Hadn't considered that. Yes, it's odd that hitting the brakes would only cause issues when the truck is moving, and not cause any other obvious issues. Depending on what the brake light circuit shorted to, though, it might not be adding enough load to the circuit to pop fuses or noticeably dim the bulbs--not a short to ground, certainly, but maybe a short to a sensor. Since it only happens when the truck is moving, I'm starting to wonder it it might've shorted to the wiring for the revolution sensor. I had a look at the diagnostics for that sensor in the manual and it looks like it makes an AC signal, with the voltage rising as speed rises. Perhaps the TCU is using the frequency of that signal to determine speed, so when the truck is stopped, putting +12v to it and then taking it off again just counts as one revolution and it doesn't care. Or maybe it only listens to that sensor when the truck is in drive. When the truck is moving, though, the TCU sees that signal go from oscillating to stuck on, and thinks the trans has suddenly locked up. The trouble with this theory is that I would expect the TCU to put the trans in limp-home mode if it thought something had locked up, and neutral in all positions is not limp-home mode. One other thing to consider: the TCU is supposed to tell you when it thinks something is wrong. When you turn the ignition off, then on again, the light in the E-AT switch should flash if it thinks there's something wrong, and with the help of the AT section of the manual, you can decode the flashes into what the TCU is upset about. I'd be interested to see if your TCU has anything to say for itself, especially if it turns out I'm all wet on this brake light wire idea.

My best guess is that the circuit for the brake lights is shorted to the transmission harness, and an unexpected +12v connection on some wire that's not supposed to see +12v is making the trans control unit shut down. Ignition off/on resets it. My first test would be to unplug the brake light switch and see if it still does that. Put the trans in neutral first, I think the shift lock works off the brake lights, so it wouldn't let you out of park otherwise. Then test it again. If I'm right and the brake light wire's shorted to something it shouldn't be, the trans should work like normal. The TCU is located in the passenger's rear quarter panel, should be the big square module, and I think the wiring for it runs forward along the bottom of the door openings on that side under the carpet. I think it branches off and goes to the trans through the floor somewhere under the passenger's front seat, but it was a while ago that I had my carpet out and I wasn't in there for the wiring so I don't remember for sure. The service manual probably shows the routing in the EL section. Anyway, I'm pretty sure the brake light wire for the passenger's side runs through that same bundle along the edge of the floor, so I'd be removing the passenger's side seats, step plates (careful, the screws are plastic and can be an SOB to remove), the trim over the wheel well on the inside and the lower B-pillar trim, pulling the carpet back, and checking the harness for damage between the TCU and wherever the trans harness branches off. It should have plastic covers over it but who knows what didn't get put back the last time someone had it apart, or what someone pinched under a fastener. If the trans still acts up with the brake lights unhooked, then, well, I'm as confused as you are.