MrEviLDeD

Small update, WoooHOOO! Slartibartfast called it right. I had not disconnected the MAF sensor or put the hose between the intake and the MAF. Seems to do MUCH better now that I have put them back on. It still seems to lope a little when I hit the accelerator but I suspect that now I need to get the timing light out and see how we are doing in ignition timing as it seems a little off. There is a bit more slack in the timing belt now. Should I do the tensioner one more time before I put it all back together again? At least before I put the bottom timing belt cover and balancer back on? Steve_RI when you say "just shy of 6 o'clock" do you mean hour hand ? Should it be somewhere between 5 and 6 o'clock? I was so relieved. When I first put the hose back on the MAF I had left one of the vacuum off still and seem to rev up but as soon as I would release the gas it would rev down and simply stall out. Attached the one engine vacuum to the MAF hose and seemed to pick right up. With that said when fast revving the engine would seem to stumble about 2500 rpm. Just briefly but was still there.. I am assuming this is because I have not set the ignition timing and pulled the tps connector to reset the tps (saw this on a youtube video being done a vg33) on cold, and then again on warmed up timing checks. There is clearly more revving power felt so that is a plus. =)

Actually, The MAF is indeed still connected and the plastic pipe connecting the intake plenum to the MAF is not installed. I install it tomorrow morning and see if that has any effect. I didn't think it would matter without it being connected and the MAF still wired in. I have counted and recounted (I decided to call it a night so I didn't head out to recount after running the engine, hit the hot tub instead =) I will do that in the morning as well. As for the belt it is somewhat tighter than the other belt was. I can twist it 90% between the cam sprockets and I can twist it 90% between the drivers side cam and the crank sprocket so seemed like it was not overly tight and certainly not loose. I will check and recheck again. I was also of the same thought, it shouldn't matter where in the timing cycle the engine would be in as long as the tdc marks were all in the right place and the tooth count between them correct.it should be good to go. You would have to really turn the crank or the cam gears a lot I think to be out of time which I am fairly certain didn't happen in this case. Will check again.. I counted at least 5 times just to be sure. I will count 10 more I did not remove the cam sprockets this time. It was sort of a hind sight and clearly I would have to remove the plenum to remove the valve covers to get at the lock slot for the cam sprockets. I figured this was big enough of a job without adding more to it and potentially having even larger issues. Not that I am or cannot do this but a professional mechanic I am not and in that I lack a lot of experience that someone else may have to pull solutions from It was a great gift when I found this forum and the folks here. Even with FSM, Haynes and Chilton (which has been misplaced someplace) there is a lot to know and learn. Want a small laugh? My next real project is to pull everything off my rotted green pathy and rebuild the engine. Shove the rebuild into the current pathy with the power parts from the green one... =) Delusions of grandeur my friend Again thank your time and effort. I was in panic mode with no idea what to do next. Not so much any more.

For what it's worth, I was able to (a couple years ago now) purchase a revise nissan FSM for the 93 Pathfinder. I think I paid about 60$ with shipping. Had everything in it including the revised 8 speaker audio system with the rear/front amp wiring diagrams. You might have a good chance of locating an FSM on ebay as suggested by k9sar.

Could this maybe be something to do with the distributor? This has not been changed and the the tension on the timing belt is a bit firmer than the belt that was removed. I cannot stress enough that the teeth were counted and the marks all appears to line up as best they could be. All teeth matched between marks. So at a complete loss as to what to do next. All I can think of is that I need to put the distributor back to factory setting and hope for the best. Going to go back out here in a few moments and recount teeth now that the engine has been started to make sure there was no skipping of a tooth maybe.. I am getting desperate =)

Like for example when I press the gas it sounds like she is bogging out and then stalls. Did I do this on the wrong tdc like possibly the power stroke or something? RAWR!

Ok guess I did it wrong or something. Nothing is smacking or banging. I hear no knocking however when the engine starts (only running a few seconds at a time since there is no coolant) it starts.. seems to idle.. if I add any throttle to it it will make a bunch of fluttering sounds (like air isnt is being squished out, guessing valve blow through? and it will stall.. Please any help here would be appreciated. Did I have the TDC wrong? and on the wrong stroke? Was the crank shaft slightly out of place? I am at a complete loss. Watched everything, read everything I could.. Took the advice here and well just like I expected I screwed it up somehow.. How do I fix it? I guess spin the crank until I get to TDC again pull the belt and try again?

Thank you. Don't mean to be over paranoid of neurotic. I will finish the rest tomorrow. As always appreciate the patience and the help. Now to find my cable for my timing light Always something =)

Yea realized that yesterday. LOTS of work. There was no oil leak down over night so I took that as a sign that the seal itself was still in good shape and chose to not remove it. I will do it next timing belt replacement. Will most likely do the oil pump as well as the same time. Been putting off the valve cover gasket replacement, the rear oil seal replacement and my clutch is starting to go. So I figure I will squeeze as many miles out of the 100k suggested timing belt replacement and do it all at one time. Now just hoping that the water pump is installed correctly and that I have the timing belt back on and properly aligned (question in another thread).. If all goes well put on the timing covers, put the balancer, rad and belts back on and be back in drive Thanks as always for the help.

Ok, well I lined everything up best I could. I used a coathanger straight to see tdc best as possible based on your advice. It all seemed to go ok. I replaced the belt. However.. When turning the engine (not sure how many times that is) to bring it back to tdc on cylinder 1 I cannot seem to get any of the lined on the belt to line back up properly. I have turned the engine by hand quite a number of times and no matter how many I cannot seem to get those timing belt lines to line back up.. What did I do wrong? I have turned and turned and turned. When I get all three markes, cam pulleys, and crank to point to their marks (crank mark isnt there it is worn off or something but was in the area it should be based on all pictures etc) there are the proper teeth between sprockets. 40 between cam spockets and 43 between LH sprocket and crank sprocket. so like I THINK its right.but without being able to physically being the lines all together again makes me wary to close everything up... Any further thoughts or encouragement? Maybe I have done something wrong? Tensioner too tight maybe?

This problem has happened and does happen to me currently. What I found was my problem is the MAF sensor harness (Seems the ground wire tends to break in the connector).. When the engine starts to behave in this manner 100% of the time (in my case) it has been corrected by a very very very light tapping and wiggling of the harness connector. Engine picks right back up. Now I am not suggesting this is your problem but it may be and is super easy to rule out. Next time the engine starts to lope like that. Pull over, pop the hood and give the MAF harness connector a little wiggle and give the connector a very light tap with the back of a screwdriver and see if that doesn't pick the idle back up to normal 750 rpm and corrects the engine trying to stall when stopping at lights etc.. I also believe that the MAF itself can cause issues if its dirty or malfunctioning in colder temperatures. So maybe there is a greater problem in the MAF? Just some thoughts.

I cleaned it all out very well so this morning I will check to see if there is any oil leaking from the seal. I am not after the oil pump but I do have a complete crank seal set, so has the oil pump gasket, the filter gaskets as well as the crank seal. So figured I would change it all out while I was in there. The oil pump looked to be in good shape however it looked like there was a touch of oil building up under the crank seal so went out and bought the gasket set. I will set it aside with my real seal, and my valve cover gaskets. I will check it all again when I do the plenum to get access to the LH valve cover at which time I will also most likely replace the cam sprocket seals. Been chasing a small oil leak for the last year. Not sure if it is coming from the LH valve cover and leaking under the engine or if it is coming from the real seal or the cam seals. I am not going to do it today unless the seal is broke then I will replace just it before I put it all back together again.

Hah! Well done on the conversion suggestion.. It was all in my head. the lb-in would be 168 to the 18N-m and I have the correct tool and the bolts are torqued properly!! Thank you very much!

The torque spec for the water pump bolts is listed in the FSM as, 16 - 21 (1.6 - 2.1, 12 -15) The FSM states that the units are listed a N-m(kg-m, ft-lb) My problem is that I am not sure if the 12 - 15 ft-lb is inch-lb ? as my ft-lb wrench doesn't come close to that number, and my inch-lb does, but its in inch-lb not the same as ft-lb so I am confused and starting to think that I need another wrench that does very low ft-lb.. When it comes to the waterpump I would prefer to have it torqued properly as the material is aluminum and I would hate to ruin the threads over torquing the bolts. I will do the conversations here and see. Maybe my inch-lb wrench can get high enough to do those numbers.. I also notices that the wrenches both have N-m and the inch-lb wrench has a 18 N-m setting but it still feels like I am not putting any torque on the bolts... like it is just slightly more than finger tight..

Hey everyone, me again I have a question about torque values. The FSM says that the water pump bolts should be torqued to 16 - 21 Nm, I have two torque wrenches one that does foot pounds, and one that inch pounds. Is it safe to assume that 18 Nm would be the inch pounds wrench? It is the only one that has such a low value however it seems like I am barely putting any force on those water pump bolts so wanted to be sure and make sure I do not need another or different torque wrench. Any insight on this would be awesome. Just want to make sure I am torquing them properly.

Ok thank you. When I got back under there it looked like I had to remove the oil pan and proper re seal the pan and the oilpump when the oil pump went back in. Doesnt look like you can take the oil pan off without pulling the engine up at least 10".. Either way I will get that seal out and put the new one in.. Thank you for the information.

Hello everyone.. Hopefully someone will see this quick and be able to answer. I know this might seem like a stupid question but to replace the oil pump seal would I need to drain the oil from the truck? I wasnt going to take the oil pump off and remove the seal... I guess I should just drop the oil and remove the oil pump as well since I have new gaskets with the seal? With that said the question is, this. Do I need to drain the oil from the Pathfinder to replace just the front crank seal without removing the oil pump?

Seems without the plugs there is little to no tension at all so I was clearly over-thinking. The person that did the timing belt previous didnt seem to use the lines on the belt as a guide but instead counted teeth. It might be a tooth off actually based on what I saw today. I stopped because I was unable to be certain I had the engine at tdc on cylinder 1. Hopefully tomorrow will be the "winnar!" =)

Also. I stopped as I wasnt sure which was cylinder 1, and where it should be on the distributer cap.. I thought based on the youtube vids I have watched that it was the wire closest to the front of the truck however it appears tht cylinder 1 is the one closest to the firewall pointing towards the passenger seat... Now my question is this. If the valve cam gears line up with the marks on the timing back covers and matches the crankshaft gear indent does that mean reasonably that the engine is tdc on cylinder 1? Like is there another time those marks would line up? as this position if you look down at the distributer with the cap off from the front of the pathfinder it is pointing about 11 o'clock.. Pardon the stupid questions but as I said before this one is worrying me so want to make sure I am doing it correctly.

I will certainly try the twist method too. I tend to be rather anal about how to go about it so as long as I have a few methods to validate then I hopefully should be good to go.. The only question I have regarding the twist method is where you twist.. do you twist between the cam sprockets, between the left side cam sprocket to the crank shaft gear, or the side with the the tensioner? Anyhow I am under the hood now and will check back.. getting ready to clean out all the gunk an such.. Looks like someone put a new belt on this thing as well. Anyhow back to the pathfinder (Affectionately called "the wild one" =)

Just a note. I remember sparkplugs being much easier to remove. You could really tell the difficulty of access for the previous owner (whomever changed sparkplugs) as the ones that were easy to reach were WAY over torqued and the ones that were almost impossible to access were easy as heck. that one right in the back by the firewall that is a pita to access.. Needs a special length extension bar... Also the gaps on the plugs were no less than 2 1/100ths of an inch wider at 0.05 - 0.055 instead of 0.31-0.35 I hope when the new plugs get put back in that she is a little snappier just by having the proper gapping. More updates to come tomorrow (still looking for some experienced feedback regarding my questions if anyone happens to have anytime)

Hey everyone, Weather has finally warmed up a bit and I can get back under the hood to get more done on the waterpump/timing belt/tensioner task. I have only removed the upper cover and removed the harmonic balancer etc. Today I am going to remove the spark plugs, and do my best as getting the engine at TDC. My question is this and is based on other posts I have read here on the napora forums that the timing gears move or can move once the belt is removed. As I will most likely not be able to get the entire job done today I am concerned that I will walk away from the truck only to come back the next day and the valve cams be out of whack and my being to stupid to know how to put them back... Do I have that much to worry about.. Do I mark them so I know? Will they move that much? Do I just put the old belt back on with with right tooth count to keep the gears from moving when I close up for the day? Please excuse all these additional nagging questions. Maybe I am over thinking things? Be well everyone,

I appreciate the responses. Yea, I figured it would be a bad thing. I will hit the wreckers here shortly so fingies crossed =) Thanks again for the wise words and help as always!

It is my only vehicle. So it was more of a last resort if I cannot find a suitable replacement at the wreckers tomorrow morning. Thank you for the bolt dimensions. I will head into CT tomorrow before heading to the wreckers so I pull the other pulleys with the proper tool. It is a manual so the 5th gear suggestion will apply. As for the breaker bar and the frame. Heh moment of blankness.. its a large breaker and of course no way it could go INSIDE the engine compartment (completely blanked out on being able to position it under the truck against the frame. Will do that next time I am able for sure. Would have saved me a bunch of time. I have some metal experience and in that worst case scenario think I could get the pulley back to reasonably true, at least maybe last me long enough to find a better replacement. I am hoping that the wreckers will have a balancer but it is good to know that it doesn't look that damaged and could potentially be repaired enough to get me by for a short time. There is a bit of a sharp slight gouge inside the pulley path that I am more worried about. If it doesn't work the truth is I am no further behind.

I have a harmonic balancer puller however it isnt compatible with the pathfinder and I do not have the machine bolts to use. I scrounged through my bolts and didnt find any with a thread that matched.. That was done with a bloody pair of vice grips. I used them as I had seen a number of videos use them. However I didnt realized that they were vg33's not 30's so yea.. . stupid of me.. However with that said. the 4" jaw puller I picked up on the short ends of the puller seemed to work ok pulling it off. Adamzan, that damage was from my dumb ass loosening the crank bolt pulley came off smoothly with the jaws. (all I had) with that said. what is the thread size I should be looking for to use with my powerbuilt harmonic puller? So I can get bolts that fit and use the proper puller.

I know this is a crazy question, but could I just bend this back carefully? Would it cause that much of a wobble? Just wondering.