98greenmachine

Has anyone pulled a 3.3 engine recently? I'd love to not pull the tranfer case and tranny or drop the front axle. Can it be pulled without doing this? I bought this '98 used w/low mileage (120K) 4 x 4 and 3.3 auto. Distributor seized up and ate the cam gear. I have the engine down to parade rest. Heads have been redone and another cam ready to install. Engine wasn't run long after dist.locked up (maybe a 1/8 -1/4 mile, basically till it died) according to previous owner. I got some metal from the well under dist, but seems like there should be a lot more...the entire cam gear was gone. I didn't find any metal in the oil when I drained it. I'd feel better about pulling the block and cleaning-inspecting it, vice putting it back together as is. I have most of the parts already to finish it. I've read the Haynes manual and looked extensively online. They mention pulling the inspection cover to gain access to the torque conv bolts. I have everything else removed and just pulled the starter & insp cover bolts. I still wasn't able to remove insp plate yet due to it hitting front axle housing and tranny lines (one on each side). Tranny lines are a minor issue, but it appears that the engine separator plate is solid and won't provide access to TC nuts or bolts anyway...I hate to mess with the lines and drain the fluid for nothing. Has anyone run into this dist lockup problem, I hear its pretty common? I considered just adding a magnetic drain plug and placing magnets on the oil filter, and running with it like that and doing frequent oil changes at first. The inside of the engine looks very good...no ridge at top of the cyl's. I'll be changing water pump and all belts and hoses, but wasn't planning to change the oil pump unless I pull the engine. Just trying to find out if anyone has run one after this happened, without a total rebuild? I am on a bit of a budget for time & money, but I'd hate to end up with metal in one of the bearings. Any help would be greatly appreciated...I didn't see any other similar posts. Thanks, Barry S. '98 Green Machine.

Thanks for the reply. I thought that would be the case and that maybe they're were slight changes because of OBDII. I'll crawl under a pickup at the boneyard and make a close comparison to the one in mine. I wasn't having much luck looking elsewhere online. The vehicle is too nice to scrap, but with almost 300k on the clock, I hate spend the money on a rebuild. I've read about the rear band problems that those tranny's and that I should use he factory transmission fluid.

Hi, I'm new to this outfit and I'm working on 2 different 98's. I'm in the middle of an engine rebuild on my 4x4, but I also need to replace a tranny in my 2wd, that I hope to use for a commuter. Has anyone swapped a 2wd tranny from a Frontier or pickup? Parts yards that I've asked are saying that it has to be from '96 - '99 2wd Pathfinder. The online interchange says they have the same model of tranny, though. I get it that 2wd & 4wd won't swap, but I'd think that others would swap and maybe just have to change some elect connections, etc. I'm hoping someone may have been there and done that. Any help is appreciated!