weirdness inside the Pathfinder distributor

[crab]

My rig died on the road a few months back, just getting around to looking at it as the rain has subsided for now. I was going to check for an intact timing belt by watching the distributor spin. Took off the cap and this is what I see.

 

 

a large chunk of plastic a a screw just lying there. wth? any ideas?

 

Thanks

 

[Citron]

Now you know where you left that chunk of plastic and bolt you have been looking for.

[crab]

Now you know where you left that chunk of plastic and bolt you have been looking for.

Hilarious, Yes. It was the set screw and part of the rotor. put in a new one but now all I get is a single bang from the starter when I turn it on. charged the battery, used a jump starter, same symptoms

[Citron]

I don't feel that you thought that was as funny as I did.

 

Single bang from the starter? Like it only turns the engine one revolution?

[RCWD21]

Looks to me to be the bolt that secures the rotor to the distributor shaft. That piece of plastic is probably the rib that is on the other side of the rotor opposite the bolt hole. Does the rotor free spin on the shaft? If it does then there's your problem. Replace the rotor and make sure the threads in the shaft are ok (more than likely are) and try to fire it up and see how it runs.

 

*The later replies didn't load when I posted but I see it's already been stated.

 

As for the single bang, what exactly do you mean by that? Like it back fires and then stops trying to start?

 

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

Edited March 12, 2017 by RCWD21

[crab]

No backfire, just a single click from the starter. maybe it felt like a bang because the hood and door are open making the sound louder than usual. Going to check fuses as I had wire brushed the battery terminals yesterday and caused some sparks when I contacted the positive terminal and the fender at the same time.

[crab]

replaced Battery terminals. Probably could have tightened things but one of the terminals was split, so I did that. Fired right up. Not enough juice coming through the loose terminals?

[RCWD21]

With loose terminals the draw from the starter trying to turn the engine over can exceed what the limited contact on the battery can handle.

 

Nissans love a hot battery with clean and tight connections.

 

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

[Slartibartfast]

Good to hear it's back up and running with a new rotor! Much better outcome than a stripped timing belt.

 

Loose/dirty terminals suck on any vehicle. A loose terminal can be enough to run the lights, or the starter solenoid (likely that bang you heard), but a small and dirty contact area will have a hard time supplying the starter motor.

 

And don't worry about the sparks from the battery to the body, there's no fuse between the - terminal and the body, so you're not shorting a fused circuit. Making sparks around a car battery isn't a great idea generally (they can go boom if there's enough hydrogen hanging around). You can get a special wire brush tool for car batteries, they've got a round brush on one end for the female part and a Sarlacc-looking end for the male part. Pretty cheap and quick too. I usually give mine a smear of dielectric grease before putting them back together.

[crab]

I think I may have had a non stock battery in there, as it was so long that the positive terminal was about 1/2 inch from the fender. Luckily my spare battery was an inch narrower side to side as you look at the engine bay so it's nice and further away now.

 

I had changed the timing belt last January with my buddy so I was hoping it wasn't that.

 

 

thanks, folks.

[Slartibartfast]

Interesting--sounds like your battery's mounted back to front from how mine is.