Trogdor636 Posted December 1, 2012 Share Posted December 1, 2012 Definitely what I was afraid of. Well it sounds like you have a plan laid out, but you can always try to find a low mile VG33 for a good price to swap in! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k9sar Posted December 1, 2012 Author Share Posted December 1, 2012 I could also buy the 07 xterra that was sitting next to my truck when I picked it up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingman Posted December 1, 2012 Share Posted December 1, 2012 I'd use factory Ishino/Stone head gaskets only. The Fel-Pro gaskets have a tendency to prematurely blow on the VGs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted December 1, 2012 Share Posted December 1, 2012 Well, there it is. Good call Trogdor, I never would have gussed that because I'd never heard of it. I could also buy the 07 xterra that was sitting next to my truck when I picked it up Well, you need to fix the pathy even if you are going to sell it and you have most of the parts, so that's definitely the way to do it. As for the X, I'd prefer the earlier generations. Then again, since you are a bit long in the tooth, maybe a nice VQ powered R50 is in order... B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tungsten Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 At first I thought that it could have been a clogged radiator but from further reading it's unfortunately a head gasket failure. Very rare to see on a VG30E but it could happen. Good luck with the replacement and definitely do the timing belt while you're in there. The other alternative is to stick a VG33E in there but it's up to you and your wallet... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k9sar Posted December 17, 2012 Author Share Posted December 17, 2012 After a few long cold nights of working on the truck, It's back together... but all is not well. besides the fact that I had the disty off by tooth which made it impossible to set the timing, there is a loud pecking from the passenger side head. The truck was noisy as hell when I first fired it up. A combination of the disty being off and having pulled apart, cleaned and reassembled all my lifters before reinstalling them. I double checked my timing belt to make sure the RH cam was not off a tooth and tapping the intake valve on the piston. That all looks good so the only thing I can think is that one of the lifters has failed to inflate (or I forgot to put the little spring in it when I rebuilt it). I have 9 more available that have been through my workbench rebuild so I'll pull the valve cover, set the cam with no load on the rockers and check for gaps before pulling the arms and replacing the offending collapsed lifter(s). Probably get to it tonight or tomorrow. And the original problem was definately a blown head gasket. This was a junkyard engine when I put it in and both gaskets had a similar failure area. The passenger side head gasket was the worst and had actually split the steel ring, allowing high pressure gasses from the cylinder to get to the water jacket. There was a similar weak spot on the drivers side head that would have blown sooner than later had I not replaced it. I'll try to get some pics posted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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