Alot of details: Camshaft/Distributor Cap Rotor Issue

[chrisq]

Start: Have valve cover gasket leaks, decided to tackle them. Did one at a time about a week apart. Did the easy one first, no problem. Started my pathy, let it run for a while, did a test drive, did a few test drives, week later decided to tackle the hard one. Started the hard one, removed everything while tagging connections and labeling them with yellow tape. FIRST SUSPICION was one of the last things I had to remove to get the valve cover screw was the distributor cap....or that's what I thought at first, but after you take it off, you have to take the camshaft (i think its called) or the distributor cap rotor shaft thing out, in order to get a clear path to the screw. Just to recap, I removed three screws that held my dist. cap on and then realized the rotor had to come out and removed a bolt-screw (bolt that gives you the option to use screw or rachet to remove). Once that bolt was out, I wiggled it a little (WITHOUT NOTING ITS ORIGINAL POSITION) and to my surprise it came out with the shaft that goes down into the engine and sits in what looks to be oil with a little gear on it...anyways, I set that aside (literally inches) do the valve cover gasket and reinstall the rotor shaft thing...while realizing I didn't note it's position initially so I kinda guessed (which ended up being pointed at like the 3rd cylinder i think). Reinstalled everything else according to my connections (i feel confident about everythign else because of the pictures I took and tape markings I made. I go to try to start it. I started but did not turn over (i think thats how people say it). Note, starter new (2 months old). It wasn't that type of failure that a bad starter or a low battery, it was like it started and the rpms try to build up but don't make it very far and go back to zero. Anyhow, I immediately thought that it was something to do with the rotor shaft thing, so I researched a little and decided to take it out and install it with it pointed at the 1st cylinder. Put the cap back on and now once I turn the key to the aux position (before crank/start) the system acts as if the battery is dead. AKA the stock digital clock goes blank and no power to any accessories etc. Checked the battery again, came back good, cleaned terminal with wire brush (they weren't bad but did it anyways), reinstalled battery, same thing. I am thinking it is a combination of problems with one of them possibly being fixed (the camshaft thing hopefully) and maybe I have a short somewhere?

 

Relevant notes: Car was running smooth before I attempted the work. I have always felt that I had a weak/stock ignition connection with the key turning into aux and on the way to start.

 

Summary: I think I messed up installing distributor cap rotor shaft thing, but I think it should work when aimed at cylinder 1 (spark plug wire 1). And I can't verify because when key turns to aux, it shorts/loses connection to battery.

 

Goal: Is my thought process bring memories to anyone with knowledge? Am I way off with my thinking?

 

Any help is appreciated, sorry for the long post, but wanted to provide details. This is not a daily driver, just my project.

 

Chris

[SpecialWarr]

I think you may be correct in your assumption of the rotor being off of its correct location.

 

I do think that you'll have to download the Factory Service Manual for details on how to set the engine back to TDC and the correct orientation of the rotor.

Edited March 29, 2015 by SpecialWarr

[chrisq]

I think you may be correct in your assumption of the rotor being off of its correct location.

 

I do think that you'll have to download the Factory Service Manual for details on how to set the engine back to TDC and the correct orientation of the rotor.

Thanks for the input, I tried digging through the FSM and I'm sure it's in there but haven't found it yet. I reset the rotor to the first cylinder but with the power shorting issue I'm not able to tell whether that fixes it or not. Going to do some testing today. I'll update this with any results in case anyone else has similar problems.

 

 

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[5523Pathfinder]

Set the engine to TDC by hand. Align the pointer on the timing cover to the 2nd(?) to last timing mark on the crank pulley. I think it's yellow and not white. Anyway, trace #1 spark plug(right side of engine, first cylinder) to the distributor. Mark the location of #1 on the side of the dizzy. Remove the cap and see where the rotor is pointed. Unbolt and rotate the distributor as needed to point the rotor just before the mark you made previously. This may take a few tries, that's ok. Once you have it where you like it, reassemble and try starting it. Oh, you may just have a low battery, try and charge it or jump start.

[chrisq]

Set the engine to TDC by hand. Align the pointer on the timing cover to the 2nd(?) to last timing mark on the crank pulley. I think it's yellow and not white. Anyway, trace #1 spark plug(right side of engine, first cylinder) to the distributor. Mark the location of #1 on the side of the dizzy. Remove the cap and see where the rotor is pointed. Unbolt and rotate the distributor as needed to point the rotor just before the mark you made previously. This may take a few tries, that's ok. Once you have it where you like it, reassemble and try starting it. Oh, you may just have a low battery, try and charge it or jump start.

5523, I did the second part already, the first part of "align the pointer on the timing cover to the 2nd to last timing mark on the crank pulley" I have not done. But I will research and see if I can do that. Still looking for a short somewhere because I don't think any of the timing would cause a no power affect when turning to aux. position, could be wrong though.

 

 

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[5523Pathfinder]

You need to align the crank before you do the distributor.

[chrisq]

You need to align the crank before you do the distributor.

UPDATE

Ok, I will search that process in the FSM. I did manage to find the issue of no power in aux/run/start position. Turned out to be a bad connection on the negative terminal (wire to clamp rather than clamp to terminal) so it was hard to narrow down. Now, pathy tries to crank again with very low rpms/sputters. I tried loosening the rotor and adjusting it intermittent each crank to see if I could find a good position. Noteworthy, I had the rotor aimed at spark plug 1 (cylinder 1). No good crank but getting closer. I think I'm going to look into the crankshaft alignment before proceeding.

 

 

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[chrisq]

You need to align the crank before you do the distributor.

5523,

 

Researching that, are you referring to aligning the timing belt and the camshaft sprockets? In your initial response you said to align the pointer on the timing cover to the 2nd to last timing mark on the crank pulley, can you go into detail of this process or reference material that does? I will continue to dig through the FSM. Thanks

 

Chris

[chrisq]

UPDATE: To anyone interested or following, found someone else had a post of the exact same problem and someone had the steps to properly set it, here http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/topic/22081-distributor-diagram/

 

Now there is one step of rotating the crank to get the belt to align that I am trying to learn more details on where the 'crank bolt' is or how you do that. Thanks for all the input.