fixinto

Well, i did the timing belt job on my pathy. between fighting with the crank nut and not being able to find 10mm bolts for the balancer puller, it took quite a while. Against my better judgement, i went ahead and worked straight through till i was finished and had it back together. Here in lies the problem. After i "re-installed" the crank bolt into the end of the crank, lined it up to TDC pulled off the old belt and put on the new one. I tried to pull the crank bolt out and it was stuck. I pulled and pulled with a huge breaker and it still didnt want to come out. I tried holding the crank with my chain wrench i bought and it still turned. So i put a socket wrench on each of the cam bolts, locked them into place and gave the 27mm bolt a mighty heave, thats when it happened, the timing belt skipped some teeth. In my "been up for 22 hour haze" i tried to figure out how i would find TDC again without messing stuff up. Well, to say the least i EPIC failed, my logical deduction was complete crap at the time, so i made a bad call. "even though i did in fact turn it over manually by hand like 8 turns without any real resistance or funky feeling stuff" so i thought i was good to go. However when i fired it up, i had valve slap on the passenger side. Currently I am tearing down the front of the motor again to get back to the timing belt and cam gears, I am also tearing down the top end to pull the heads and send em to the machine shop. I will bring her back to life. I do have a question or 2. After the heads are out of the Pathy, and i get em redone, I will have the number 1 piston at top dead center when i go to re- install the heads. 1st question being. Anyone have any tips as to how not to tighten down the heads without having them set wonkey so u bend a valve just from torquing the heads? My thoughts on the matter was to put on the cam gears and set the timing mark proper before torquing them down. or to remove the rails and the rockers before putting them on and then re-install them after i have them torqued to spec with the cam gears and timing belt on and lined up. if that wont work or if their is a better way someone knows, i would appreciate an advice. i would hate to get the heads redone just to jack them up putting them back on. i would in fact probably cry in the fetal position for days. Ok 2nd question is, does anyone have any advice about how to steady the cam gear while your pulling the bolt out without a cam lock tool. I was thinking of maybe making one that will work or trying to use the old belt wrapped around it trick. but if someone else has been where I am and knows any shortcuts, again i would love some advice. this is my first run in with over head cams and an interference motor so I figured i would ask before i did something stupid "again" Thanks in advance for any input. ( "BTW a side note, my driver side cam gear was one tooth out when i got in there to take a look before i changed the belt" ) Things i learned doing this job. 1. Don't work on your truck for over 24hours straight. 2. I really need to purchase an impact wrench 3. If your crank bolt does get stuck, you can use one of the old belts wrapped around the crank really tight and hooked onto a metal pipe to leverage your way out of the unfortunate situation. 4. It is much easier to tap the 10mm balancer holes to 1/4 inch and use two 1/4 x 20 4" bolts with a couple of washers and the blancer puller to get it off rather than drive around to 7 different stores over a period of about 3 and 1/2 hours to find 4 inch 10mm bolts. "i also figured i could buy some allthread, but the number 10 is in fact, not 10mm x 20. At least it wasnt here i bought it." Best regards Patrick

1996 SE 190k Miles on er, runs great.

Here is what i did for my R50, It worked well for me. when the tach would peg at 8k while i was at idle. If you guys are Pre R50 im not sure it will work, i believe our clusters are similar, but at the same time i read somewhere that you guys have a voltage regulator in yours that craps out. So if its dropping to 0 disregard but if its pegging at 8k. and sometimes it works and sometimes not. This can help you. "it didn't help 2 guys that tried it but its not to say it wont help you because it perma fixed mine on the first shot. http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/topic/34967-pesky-tachometer/?p=686664

Hi there Kyle, I'm sorry that it didn't work out for you man. what that tells me is more than likely, you missed the actual cold solder joint that is causing the problem when you reflowed the bored. I did mine about a year and 4 or 5 thousand miles ago and its still working like its brand new. But its a learned skill just like anything else and ive been soldering for a living for 13 years now. So ya maybe you need to hit it again, Pay special attention to where the "motor" comes through and connects to the board around those post sticking up. Man i wish i would have recorded it with my phone while i was doing it to show you guys what i was talking about. I was pressed for time in a major way though because i was doing it on my lunch break at work. Like i told the other fella, Be sure your tip is tinned and clean, "wet sponge is great for wiping off extra solder on the tip" and reflow the only IC in the circuit. Or ya man u can hit a JY and grab a cluster if there are some around there. But it looks like a decently common problem so they may have the same issue. Just patients and practice. any electronics device that works sometimes or u can bump it and it will work is usually one of 2 things, a cold solder joint or cracked trace or lan. 98 percent of the time its just a cold solder joint. I would venture to say on these since they arnt under any strain physically that 99.8 percent of the time its probably a cold joint. GL and i hope you get your cluster fixed up bud ~ Patrick

Sorry it didn't work out for you, what that tells me is more than likely, you missed the actual cold solder joint that is causing the problem when you reflowed the bored. i did mine about a year and 4 or 5 thousand miles ago and its still working like its brand new. But its a learned skill just like anything else and ive been soldering for a living for 13 years now. So ya maybe you need to hit it again, Pay special attention to where the "motor" comes through and connects to the board around those post sticking up. Man i wish i would have recorded it with my phone while i was doing it to show you guys what i was talking about. I was pressed for time in a major way though because i was doing it on my lunch break at work. GL to you man, and just be careful and take your time. Heck get every silver spot on the bored adding solder where you need to. And heating up IC legs to remelt them to the board also. Be sure your soldering iron tip is clean and shiny before you start that. You dont want to bridge the pins. and remember, Its not actually broke until you can no longer fix it. =) and heck it never hurts trying if its already broken. Patrick

Also, I am not sure what year pathfinder you have. But if it has a MAF sensor you may wanna at the very least clean it. Some people will yell and jump up and down when i say this, but its true. " For the record MAF cleaner is the best" but in a pinch, i use rubbing alcohol and a Q tip. Just 1 thing DO NOT clean it unless the vehicle has been parked and not running for at least 20mins. Dont want the wire to still be hot. But from what you describe with it running normal for 10 mins, thats when its warming up and its in open loop, after it heats up it goes into closed loop and starts reading the sensors. If your mass air flow sensor was dirty or bad, or had a bad wire connection, it would act pretty much like you describe, including the rich smelling fuel, and the post cat codes, dont run it like this too long because it will be shooting rich, and can in fact kill your cats if left unattended. But with the codes you are getting, aside from a vacuum leak, I cant really think of anything else off the top of my head. Good luck and hope you fix it up

Hmm sounds like you have things well in hand bud. However, on my 96, i dont have the auto 4x4 or awd option just a stick in the floor, but i believe it says in the manual somewhere not to drive it over 55 while in 4x4 hi. not sure about your ride. If it only does it in 4x4 it probably has something to do with the front end being engaged is all i would say about that ;P. For future reference, when i do a trans fluid change on auto's, i get a 5 gallon bucket, and some cheap trans fluid, the cheapest i can find, I take off the return line for the trans and clip it onto the 5gallon bucket so its shooting the stuff into it. while i have the car running i add the brand spank me new trans fluid as its emptying the old into the bucket. after the color coming out of the hose gets consistent, I stop adding flood and let it run for maybe another 30 seconds. then turn the engine off. At this time i drop the pan and replace the filter. then after the pan is back on I reconnect the hose to the cooler and put the good stuff in. That way im not just changing a few quarts of the fluid when i do it. Im giving it the full meal deal so to speak. Have fun with your pathy. Happy to hear your takin care of it.

I have to agree completely, when he explained it, i was scratching my head too. First time i even heard of a gasket just giving up AFTER your parked it. Thanks for the info though if nothing else its outside the norm and very interesting. OH an after thought, dont forget to soak your "rocker follower" or lifters in oil before you put them in. And i would probably use new head bolts, just as a precaution "really really wouldn't want one to um....ya im not going to say it" and if you use oil on the threads i believe it changes the torque specifications. GL with getting her up and running, I hate to see when someone puts a lot of time into a project and then in return the project craps all over your bath towel when your not lookin. =(

I read around here where another fella did a fairly large SFD and it was unstable. His solution, WELD that bad boy. Haven't visited the post in a while, heck i probably cant even find it, but i know his pathy was white and he wasn't state side. Beautiful country where he was though. Braces! ya sounds good to me. may even stiffen her up a bit in turns.

Ya same, Anything beat down in the front x2.....na i will pass. But its funny seeing the 96ish grill on it, looks like mine only mine is that cheap chrome plastic stuff instead of black. "which im going to change, and do a little experiment to see if i can turn the EL cheapo plastic chrome crap into some El Cheapo Black chrome finish. then matched with the rims and sliders and new bumpers all black chrome, should be pretty sharp. =)

HECK YA MAN, GRATS ON YOUR R50, I have loved mine since i bought it 5 or 6 years ago. REALLY REALLY reliable. only thing i have done to it so far is throw a batter at it and valve cover gaskets, "well aside for the rear diff gear oil, and normal upkeep stuff" getting ready to do the front diff and manual trans fluid soonish, probably the next week or 2. "fluid transfer pump 18 bux is all i have to say about the diff oil" it will make you not want to cry in the fetal position....."just trust me on that" haha

BTW guys just throwing it out there, i HIGHLY recommend a wireless OBD II reader i got from AMAZON, if you have a smart phone download an app called torque, it's free "there is a paid version as well" 5 bux unlocks some options. ANYWAYS, i paid 30 bones for the blue tooth OBD reader shipped and use the free torque app, and i have to say its probably one of the better investments i have made as a driveway mechanic. "throwin props to KYLE i believe his forum handle is ferrariowner123 is where i heard about torque if I'm not mistaken" bout a year ago Good bunch of folk here on the forums

Howdy, passing on a bit of info that may in fact make your time with the cam sensor a bit easier. I cant remember the thread or site i got this from but another person had a similar issue and replaced the cam pos sensor and same thing. they chased their tail for over a month on it. till they looked "inside" where the cam sensor goes. The way i read it, there are little valleys the cam sensor reads, well what happend to this poor dood is some "dirt" or something got into one of those valleys and it was causing the cam sensor to skip that valley while it was reading. he said he used a mirror to look into it and had someone else either bump the engine slowly or turn it with a breaker bar slowly and he just happend to see the dirt. popped it out with a dental pic and BAM worked like new again. soooooo hope im not too late. the Q's use coil packs dont they? ya number 1 likes to show his butt as well. ;P anyways hope i helped u out even a tiny smiget. Have a good one and good luck with your pathy PS my 1996 been throwin the Knock sensor since i bought it. "with or without the CEL" but point being on the 96's it stores it but wont actually throw a CEL for the knock sensor. Also if your cam pos sensor is messing up, or u have a lil gunk in the valley where it reads, heck it could of actually had a knock. AND if your going to have someone bump the engine over, remove the fire to the coil so you dont start it. "not sure if it will start without the cam sensor hooked up or w/e but ya just in case" wouldn't want ya getting hurt doin something i suggested, would be a very bad day.

ya i would throw a knock sensor at it, but u will need the lower intake gasket as well if you do that. when i did my valve cover gaskets, i went ahead and cleaned the upper and lower intake, did the spark plugs wires and dist.. cap. Also replaced all the hoses / tubing " a couple are preformed" even replaced the vacuum lines, and the one on the fuel pressure regulator as well. your IAC is under there as well, attached to the underside of the upper plenum. oh ya while i had the thing on my work bench i went ahead and put in a new PCV valve and cleaned the throttle body with Throttle body cleaner and some soft bristly brushes. just to let u know, i was in the driveway a day and 1/2. HOWEVER. if you cut the coolant hoses running through the upper plenum instead of fight with em u can get that time down to probably 4 or 5 hours no prob. and the 2 thicker hoses coming from under the Plenum to the top of the plenum on the driver side is pre formed and the local parts store had to order them so i just did some minor jerry riggin with some other hoses that were pre formed close enough. but you dont have to take those two off is where i was going with that. if they r not brittle or what ever leave em. but ya the little ones in the back of the plenum that are hard to reach, imo just cut em and replace them. i had to cut mine, then cut the hose off the tubing once the upper plenum was off. Eric the Car guy has a decent video on how to do the job on an R50. But he pulls the driver side hoses. but ya u dont have to. 5 hours or 10 bux worth of various sized hoses....hmmmmm..... have fun with that man.

Ya i have 189k miles on mine as far as i know its the original clutch lets just say its seen better days lol. the throw out bearing has been shot since i bought the thing. Guess its about time to break down and drop the trans. fun filled and action packed times r coming soon looks like..

If she is a 4x4 u may wanna check your front drive shaft universals. when they start getting a little sloppy it will clunk when u change directions from revers to forward and forward to reverse too. /shrug something easy hope u find it.

Sorry Kyle, i didnt take any pictures at all, but if you look at the back of the board, just reflow or "add solder" to everything, there isnt that much there at all, the entire reflow as i like to call it, took about 6 to 8 minutes, the rest was just tearin it down and back up. Hope that helps u out. If you have some old electronics that r broken layin around you can practice on that to get the flow down and stuff without muckin up the pads or traces. but anything you see with a pin stickin up, heat it up after adding additional flux "not just the core of the solder but a stand alone flux" you will see the joint become shiney. thats how u know it is fully melted. then remove heat. Say you add flux then heat the joint and the solder pulls away from the pad and toward the pin sticking throught the board, thats Definately a bad spot so add some solder there "in those cases i sucked the old solder up using a solder sucker and added completely fresh solder, U can also use wick to remove it, just dont "scoot" it on the board because thats an easy way to rip old traces or pads. Just lay it flat, touch the iron to the back of it, u will see the solder flow into the wick, while keeping the tip on the back of the wick, pull directly up on the wick to remove it cleanly from the pad. then remove the heat. that will ensure you do not "weld" or solder the wick to the pad. Sorry for taking a bit to get back to you on this, ive had a whole lot going on lately. I hope this helps you out. Have a good one

im with the guy that said exhaust leak pre cat. would cause poor MPG and a rich smell. If you want to recheck the O2 easy way is put it in a vice and ground the negative lead of a V meter to the side of the O2 sensor between the O2 and the vice. Put a propane torch on the end of the sensor and make sure the voltage goes upto around 1V usually and then remove the heat, the voltage should start falling right when you take the heat away, if it falls but it delays. "sluggish" O2, will also cause this kind of issue. Hope you figure it out. Pat

Probably not a good idea, because its not the V its the Amp that the alternator produces that would be an issue for the Solar panel. I have no experience with this personally, and haven't read anything about it, but at the very least i would put a diode in series with the solar panel because it will only come on one way and keep the alternator from sending amps to the panel and jacking it up. I have been an electronics technician now for 13 years, if that helps you at all. I am not knocking anyone else's opinion nor do i think my opinion is the end all be all so to speak. But i just thought i would throw my two cents into the pot. "also" im pretty sure that the radio / lights / ect... will draw way more amps than the solar panel can give back to it. I would probably go with a dual battery with a capacitor setup before the panel personally. GL with your Pathy Pat

When you first start the pathy, it runs in open loop "off preloaded settings in the ECU" until it warms up to a "certain" temp then it switches to sensors. So if it runs fine off Pre settings. i would say ur fuel injectors are probably ok. I am not sure what would be causing this. But i would start with metering out the sensors with and Ohm / Volt meter. Meter the MAF voltage. You know if you have a smart phone, there is an awesome app called Torque that is free. I ordered a 30 dollar Bluetooth OBDII reader off amazon.com. "that was shipped" and that in conjunction with torque actually displays the maf voltage, the short and long fuel trim. engine load. ect...ect.... its really rather nice. that will help you out quite a bit as far as trouble shooting the sensors because you can watch the voltages changing live. in the meantime. Since this is a used vehicle, there is no telling what was done to it before you got to it. so cover your basics. Spark / Fuel / Sensors. I love troubleshooting problems, i look at it like a puzzle, hmm a mechanical puzzle. But if you have the FSM then it will give you all of the "good" values of what things should ohm as or how much V you should have. Dont forget the "dreaded" knock sensor if you have one "which you probably do" i have a 96. not sure about the 95's. A good reading for the sensor is 470k ohms. "thats right in the center of the Range" so you can use a little math and come up with the High / Low good values. but usually if its bad its really bad so you will be able to tell straight away. Dont forget the Cam position sensor which is built into the distributor, And last but not least the Crank position sensor. It looks like the other fellas mentioned most of the other stuff. And old wires are known to have bad joo joo, "example" one of my front fog lights was working part time, then not at all, upon inspecting the connector one of the "male pins" broke off due to rust and age. "i just cut off the connector and hard wired it with solder heat shrink tubing and tape" works fine now. Sorry i got off subject. GL to you on your repair. Please keep us posted on your progress because i personally am very interested to know If you fix it and what the problem was. Sorry for being so long winded, im just super bored today. ;P I hope my endless babble helped you out some Pat

doh, didnt read all the way down before i posted, sorry.

If i am not mistaken, that is the gasket that goes in between the upper and lower intake plenum, and the EGR valve gasket.,

My 1996 VG33e is an interference engine. http://www.gates.com/part_locator/index.cfm?location_id=3598

96 is the 3.3 VG33E tis what i have in my 96

ya i just cut mine when i took off the upper plenum to get to the driver side valve cover gasket, messed with it for hours then a razor knife made the job much quicker. I figured "hours" of frustration vs 2 dollars worth of hose! GL to ya