gamellott
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Posts posted by gamellott
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On 12/25/2020 at 7:10 PM, Mr_Reverse said:
I don't recall any special break in process. It is said that when reinstalling used ones that they should be put back in the same spots they came out of.
I know when I worked at the dealership there was nothing special we did when replacing lifters.
Was that before or after the oil manufacturers removed the zinc in the oil? Flat OHV Lifter rebuilders warn of this problem without zinc in the oil. I really don't want to flatten a camshaft in my, first ever, OHC rebuild.
Again, I'm not 100% confident that I put the lifters in the same place.... Close, but not positive. Round @!*% rolls
I really do appreciate your experience and insight. Don't give it up!!
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Ok, a some progress since I last posted anything. The heads came back from the machinist and they were good. They milled .006 off of them. I don't expect that I will have any issues with that little amount being taken out upon reassembly.
Right head reassembled.... mostly. I haven't applied full torque to the rocker arm shafts and I notice that the valves don't close all of the way. This is the first time I have overhauled an overhead cam engine. Is this Normal? I'm assuming that the lifters will eventually come to rest at a shut position. I have made several rotations on the camshaft and there is little change to the amount of valve remains open.
I have one new lifter being replaced because the face of it appeared as though it had cleaved off where it contacts the rocker arm. I purchased one of those $20 sealed power lifters from Rock Auto. What's your take on the ones that are $1.50 each? The rocker arms and shafts appear to have normal wear for the age and mileage. Nothing screams "I'm Fooked" aside from the one lifter. Seems to be a likely candidate why there was occasional valve clatter on startup. All of the rocker arms appear fine.
Since I will be putting in one new lifter on an old camshaft, and I'm not 100% confident that I kept proper track of all of the lifters; is there any suggestions to breaking it in. I have found the procedure in the SBC world, but these are not the same, and I don't want to ruin my efforts.
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My experience with Junkyards in western WA appears to be similar. This week I did a search of what's for sale (vehicle Wise) so I could strip it myself. I found an older Xterra with a blown rear end for sale just a few miles down the road... That being said, I did some soul searching and where this might be somewhat ideal, I don't exactly have the space to accommodate this sort of undertaking... Yet... Yet...
There is a workshop in our future, it's just not built yet. Thank you Rona....
Sooo...I pulled the trigger and ordered all of the parts I needed to rebuild the VG30. Once I have the space, I will be looking for a viable VG33 to swap out. The VG30 does struggle a bit in the hills which is why I would like the bigger engine. Maybe with the lumpier cams of the VG30, it'll be even stronger????
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I'm going to have to start calling around and making trips. Sadly, there aren't many in the region I live in at all. Oh and the couple of places I have called, seem to be awfully proud of their stuff
I'm just starting, but I'm almost under the impression that I might be better off finding a complete vehicle and then junking it
We shall see....
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Thank You very much for your insight. Now I know what I need to look for. I'll keep y'all posted if I manage to get a donor motor. Sounds like my best option is to find an Xterra or Frontier for a donor and I'll likely get rid of my A/C for the time being since it's an R-12 system. Maybe I can have someone drain and recycle it for a MINT!! These prospective donors are getting kinda old nowadays, so I can probably find one beaten to death, relitively cheap.
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What modification did you need to do to your Harmonic balancer/crank pulleys? I think I can work with modifying the rest of the mounts... maybe.... I'd have to see/figure out what has to be done to them.
Based on more recent reading, it appears as though the VG30 heads will bolt up. I have read a little bit about your differences on the camshafts. I'm assuming the clocking of the cams are the same?
I'm really exploring my options. I called a couple of wrecking yards. One has one with a blown head gasket and I wouldn't have any idea on the condition of the block. Worth looking at as a donor though. The other one, they just got in and they haven't checked it out yet to see if it's viable. Either way, I'd consider getting the short block and work with it. Baby steps....
Do you happen to know if valves are any different between the two? If the 33's valves are bigger, that might be a reason to switch.
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BLUF, If I were to get a VG33 short block (Block, Crank, rods and Pistons) , can I take everything off of my VG30 in my 92' Pathfinder and still work on the VG33 block?
I have read some instances where this is true, but I have seen conflicting information on interchangeability.
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11 hours ago, Mr_Reverse said:
Sludge build up like you describe is usually an indication of neglect, though coolant leaking into the oil can also be a factor. A PCV system that isn't operating correctly can cause it too.
If you have the heads off, go on and clean them up and put some assembly line on the cams and valve lifters when you reassemble. Then I would probably do a full with ATF and new filter. Let the engine idle for a while, drain and change the filter and refill with some 5W-30. Run it for a few hundred miles and change again. That should clean it out. Something the old timers would do is replace a quart of oil with kerosene or diesel fuel and do the idle routine. You don't want to put a load on the engine while cleaning it out, the lube will be too light and allow damge.
One thing that concerns me is the condition of the bottom end. The main and rod bearings might be damaged by coolant contamination.
My niece bought herself an 05 Altima last September. A couple weeks later either the head or head gasket let go, something the first generation 2.5 suffered from. I told her it would be cheaper and better to just replace the engine with one from a wreck. It wound up costing just under $200 for me to swap the engine. Can get them pretty cheap here, about $130 is what hers cost and a few hours of my time that she paid me for.
My 93 Pathfinder has a 3.3 from an Xterra in it because it was cheaper and easier than repairing my original 3.0. Fits fine and runs well.
With the 2 coolant hoses at the back, bulk hose will work fine for the straight one, but the space and bend is too tight, you need a molded one and I have found in my area at least the dealer part is competitive in price and the easiest to use.
Thanks Again, You are a great wealth of information.
If I had the means, I would be swapping the engine, but I don't. Right now, I'm looking at roughly $300 in parts for starters of what I KNOW I need. Then there is the milling that is recommended which is around $100 from what I am told... Sooo... $400 is what I'm looking at so far... None, of which, has been actually ordered or done yet...
I'm going to have to look into what has to be done in order to get that 3.3L and how much more Hp it has vs the 3.0.... Future project
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On 12/3/2020 at 11:16 AM, Shift_Path90 said:
The drivers side valve cover is leaking, so I may get into that, but it looks to be quite a bit more involved with that plenum removal. On the other hand it may make installing the Doug Thorley headers a little easier.
Taking off the air plenum, for me, was a challenge. If you've never done it before, just take a day to do it. It's not as easy as it looks. The coolant lines are an absolute PITA!!
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Another observation/question while I'm thinking of it....
When I took the top end apart, I noticed that there was a good buildup of sludge everywhere in the engine. The oil galleys that go up to the heads are pretty small and it has me wondering if I should find a way to blow that out. Does anyone have any advice on how to accomplish this without pulling the block or dropping the oil pan?
I didn't notice any indications of oil starvation on the valve train. Should I even bother??
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14 hours ago, Mr_Reverse said:
The bolts I use to pull the balancer is a couple of 6x1.0 about 80mm long. I have a couple small fender washers on the head end to keep things from binding in my puller.
I simply cut those 2 little rubber hoses at the back and replace them with new on reassembly. My local dealer stocks them and they don't cost much.
With the heads, I would have them surfaced and the valve seals replaced at the very least. I would also use new headbolts since they are torque to yield and supposed to be replaced. That said, I did get away with just a new head gasket and bolts on my 1980 280zx when the 2.8L injested about 3L of water and blew out the gasket at #6 while crossing a flooded road.
Great advice. Thanks!!
Do you get the preformed hoses or just bulk 5/16" hose? Looking at Rock Auto, I see a few preformed ones, but I suspect I could make most of the bend radius' without kinking, or put in a good service loop.
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Ya, it took a lot of work to get the distributor out of the hole. It did not pop out at all. The 2 bolts holding the base plate in place were loosened and it eventually popped out. It appeared as though the o-ring was seized in there.
Considering the hoses were in place for the last 28 years, that's what made those incredibly difficult to remove as well.
The No.1 cylinder was the one leaking coolant into the cylinder. The heads do not appear to be warped more than a couple thousandths. The lip seals on the head gasket for 1, 2, and 6 were all cracked. Again.... 28 years... No way of knowing when/why they developed cracks, but that was likely where the water intrusion came from on No. 1. Does anyone have any insight on if I should get these milled?
I'm not in a huge hurry to get it all together. I'm gonna be painting the top end so it looks better than a rats nest of grey and black and oxidized crap and smudges of permatex.
No emissions tested in WA anymore, so the EGR is gonna go
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As some may have read, I'm having an issue with the coolant on my 92 Pathfinder VG30E and I'm working on getting the heads off to see what the deal is. Symptoms are a bad misfire when cold and coolant vomit when the engine is running when taking off the radiator cap (This has never happened before) This is the first time I'm tearing into it. It's not what I would call a reliable driver anymore so I can't make it any worse (Or so I think I can't), so I figured WTH.
What I didn't realize is how much of an immense pain in the butt this is.
First things first, when I pulled the spark plugs, I found No. 1 cylinder showed signs of where the problems were coming from. The rest of the spark plugs were nice and clean. They were relatively new, so clean they should be.
1. It took me some time, but I finally got my intake plenum off. I didn't quite realize that there was coolant lines going to a couple of places in the back of the plumbing attached to the plenum. Has anyone completely bypassed those for ease of re-installation, or is that a MUST to reattach? If so, did you completely bypass the hard tubing and run lines under the intake? What would be suitable replacement hoses? I can't imagine it would be as simple as a cheap vacuum hose or fuel line.
2. Although I believe my EGR is fine, has anyone successfully blocked this off without having running issues?
3. My distributor base is free and spinning, yet I cannot pull it out. Is there a trick to pull it that I may not be aware of? I'm sure it's a 20yo hard as rock rubber O-ring that's holding it in place, but if someone has a trick up their sleeve, I would appreciate some insight.
I gave up for the day after I figured out that I can't get the harmonic balancer off because I don't have the correct bolts to attach my puller to, in order to pull it. And I cant remember what I did the last time I did it 5 years ago when I simply changed the timing belt.... off to whatever parts store now.... More to follow. I look forward to everyone's insight on the topic
I had a quick look at the bottom of the water pump and I didn't notice any signs of leaking... but I didn't get in there with a light either, so it could be that I'm simply not seeing it yet.
Thanks,
Geoff
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Slartibartfast, I concur!!! I thought I would start tearing into it over the weekend, but I found other things to do. Similar to the entire summer. Some good news though, the battery did seem to take a charge, so I'll be firing it up and limping it into the driveway for the teardown.
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Again, it's been a hot minute since I have been on here. I have been procrastinating
The Pathy has been parked since March this year. Aside from a dead battery, I'm thinking I have a multitude of problems with this and I'm about to do a shotgun blast to get it all fixed. I've noticed a few things happening and I think it's all coming together. This is my Winter driver/ Snow Buggy, so better now than never, even if I'm a little late to the dance....
A. The water pump is slowly leaking. Should have replaced it when I replaced the timing belt and tensioner pulley 5 years ago. likely source of coolant loss and possible reason why the coolant doesn't go back into the overflow tank....This has me wondering.... Was the "no heat" a symptom?
B. There is evidence that some coolant is making it into one of the cylinders. It's not bad, and it clears up after it's warmed up, but it's over pressurizing the coolant and causing it to vomit when I take the radiator cap of when it's hot. This has never happened to me in the past. Again, likely source of coolant loss, more than likely an effect of low coolant
C. Assuming I resurrect this beast and the heads aren't warped or cracked, I'll take theMECHANIC0329's advice and simply bypass the servo. It's early in the winter anyway
Well... Maybe I should just get the servo if it persists....
I'm not really trying to derail my own topic, I just feel that all of these issues could be related to the issue of having intermittent heat. Either way, the Engine has some significant issues that have to be dealt with before I can safely use it as my Snow Buggy.
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No, no pic. I was too busy cleaning it up and reassembling it to wash my hands to handle electronics
. I used a stainless steel wire wheel in order to clean off all of the rust. The piston appeared discolored and had some buildup on it, but I was able to clean it up and make it smooth again with steel wool. Still looks discolored, but it is smooth. I didn't have any brake cleaner to flush it out this time, so I used isopropyl alcohol in a spray bottle instead, and compressed air. Worked pretty good.
No issues in reassembly or inspection of the rubber.
Again, I've only experienced seizures like this on the rear.
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Rust is building up under the inner seal and between the inner and outer seal. Over time that rust seizes the caliper, F's the rotors up and destroys the pad. What, if anything, can you do to prevent this rust. It has been 2 years since I rebuilt the rear calipers and I just had to tear them apart again for this exact reason. As I was taught years ago, I reassemble the brakes with brake fluid as a lubricant. Should i be using something else and pack the boot with some kind of grease?
This is not the first time I have run into this. I have experienced this on multiple vehicles with rear disk brakes, but for me, never the front. What's the deal??
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Possibly the coolant temperature sensor telling the computer that it's already up to temp when it's actually cold. That would be my first thought.
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13 hours ago, Mr_Reverse said:
Yep, us old guys lived with the wire type fusible links. The way to check them for failure is to gently pull on them. If they are burned, they stretch. They are just a lighter gage wire (rule of thumb is 4 sizes smaller than the circuit wire they are protecting) with special insulation that is not supposed to burn. I thought back in the early 80's when I started doing diagnostics, that it was cool that Nissan made them plug into the wiring rather than crimped in like the domestics did. The different colors was a nice touch too. The domestics just had them in black with a tag showing the size.
Then they came out with the maxi-fuse style and that was just brilliant. Another future modification to my Pathy down the road.
Cross your jumper cables and you will definitely smoke that wire
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I would almost rather convert over to drum. As of the moment, the parking brake only works on one wheel and not very effectively, because the cable is seized on the drivers side. I have looked for a replacement at the parts stores and have not found one that will work (the mounting assemblies are different) Probably cataloged wrong, but clearly not for my ride. I have a suspicion that if I found one at a junkyard, I would find ones in the same condition as what I already have, which is not good.
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21 hours ago, Mr_Reverse said:
When my fresh/recirc servo died in my truck, I simply replaced the servo unit. A couple of screws and a wire plug, nothing all that special. For the record, I have replaced a bunch of HVAC door servos over the years in a wide variety of cars and trucks. Not an uncommon failure part and most can be found in the aftermarket.
It took me a hot minute in order to find it. In the 30 years in dealing with cars, and having worked in an auto parts store (20+ years ago) this was the first time I had to try to look for this, and it wasn't an easy find, because I was looking in the HVAC section when I needed to be looking in the electrical.... I'm pleasantly surprised that they're not that expensive. Thank your for your insight!!
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Sooo.... After looking at the illustrations that Nissan provides, I don't know exactly which part it is that I'm looking for, but it doesn't look like there are any parts available for this anyway. I'm under the impression that if the mixing door motor is failing, I might simply have to convert it over to manual, or figure some other way to skin a cat... Start stalking the local boneyards... Because WE NEED a heater in WA....
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On 5/16/2019 at 8:21 PM, Mr_Reverse said:
The not pulling coolant back from the overflow bottle back into the radiator is usually a failed radiator cap. If not that, there is a leak in the hose.
The door actuators on the HVAC system are all externally mounted and are just simple motors with reduction gears. The gears tend to break when old preventing operation.
I had replaced the radiator, it was the original and leaking all around the seams and the cap was brand new, so I looked elsewhere... I found that the hose within the tank was just barely hanging on to the tube, so I threw some lockwire around it in order to seal the hose in place. Since it's not my daily driver now that its warmed up a bit, I haven't been keeping an eye on it.
If it continues with intermittent heat, I'll have a look into those motors. Are the gears available for replacement somewhere? Napa and Rockauto shows squat for parts available, or I'm looking under the wrong rock.
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11 hours ago, Slartibartfast said:
I keep wondering when mine's gonna do something like that. The HA section of the '95 service manual (you can download the whole thing here if you haven't yet) has troubleshooting for the auto HVAC starting on HA-55. Scroll down a bit and there are diagrams of the circuits and where everything's hidden. Unfortunately I'm not seeing much about heat in there, but it might help you figure out what you're looking at, anyway.
As for easy to get to, I tried to open up my HVAC box apart when I had my dash out, and found that the piping for the evaporator was not going to let it come out unless I discharged the system and unhooked the lines (which I didn't want to do at the time). There may be a trick to it that I don't know, but I screwed around with it for a while and succeeded only in screwing up the foam seal between the case halves. Looks like the actuators are on the outside of the box, so if that's what's gone out, hopefully it's not too difficult to get into. I opened up one of the servos in mine when I had the dash out, just to see what it looked like inside, and it looked fairly straightforward; you might get away with just cleaning/bending some wipers depending on what's worn out.
I keep threatening to convert mine to the cable setup, but that project's pretty low on my list right now.That's some really good information, hard to figure it out though. Wish it was more "year" specific though.
You guys wouldn't happen to have the resources to actual electronic/schematic drawings with specifications on resistors, capacitors and other random components, would you?? I have a few things that I might want to rebuild.... since some of my stuff has become... glitchy... The resistors, in my experience, tend to be the high failure components and tend to go out of tollerance and are usually the culprit. But like anything else, the drawings for those are hard to come by.
VG30E Top End overhaul
in 90-95 WD21 Pathfinders
Posted
New Update.... I got the heads all assembled and ready to install. I got the head bolts as recommended. They were shipped from Rock Auto.
I was putting on the RH head and going through the torqueing sequence and I was putting down the final torque for the one head, when SNAP!!! The head bolt sheared off in the block. So I guess the head bolts are fragile compared to what they could be....
Rock Auto is sending me a new head gasket and I will be sending back the bolts in exchange for new ones... Yay me... a bit of a delay in a driveway in the PNW.... I have a sneaky suspicion that I won't have this all together before it starts snowing here....