IndianRider Posted August 7, 2005 Share Posted August 7, 2005 (edited) just did a timing belt / water pump replacement on a friends 99 pathfinder LE .. his pathy had 210,xxx k miles and he NEVER got any maintenance done as he doesnt really care and is on the road cross country all the time .. beleive it or not, he didnt even know the tranny oil was something he needed to get changed.. hes one of those with too much money and too many cars around the house but he religiously gets the engine oil changed at walmart once a year he said.. so i told him ill do everything if he got the nissan parts and he agreed .. hes in the market for a new pathy and doesnt care if i screw it up .. so i rented a pulley extractor from auto zone ( the bigger one) and bought a 27mm socket for the crank pulley and the red atv high temp. gasket sealant.. when he was ordering the timing belt and water pump parts from the nissan dealer they screwed him by also selling him a new radiator, radiator fan, radiator clutch as they said they should be changed coz the pathy is over 200k miles .. they also sold him a thermostat, radiator hoses, drive belts, distributor cap and rotor, plug wires, sparkplugs and the tranny filter ( all understandable replacements).. im surprised they didnt sell him a fuel filter, the camshaft seals, timing belt tensioner, and most imp. they didnt sell him an AIR FILTER .. so he got all the parts and dumped them on me .. took me 10 hours non stop.. i had him and a freind help me.. couldnt beleive how smoothly it went ..my first time doing something this hard.. went by the haynes manual i made him buy .. a few bolts were tight but apart from that everything went smoothly.. had to use a long wrench and crank the motor only ONCE to get the crank pulley bolt off.. the crank pulley puller from autozone was really cool.. used a torque wrench the tighten all the stuff .. the only bitch was scraping the old water pump gasket off ..took some time putting all the belts on .. took some time understand how the timng belt tensoner worked .. then drained the tranny fluid and dropped the tranny pan .. the oil was freaking burnt and stinking ( over 210 k miles and tranny oil never replaced ) .. the magnet on the pan had a decent amount of metal shavings..no big pieces.. replaced the tranny filter too.. replaced all spark plugs ( 6th plug was easy coz ive done it before) ..distributor cap and rotor were a piece of cake.. while i was in there, cleaned the throtte body with the STP carb/tb cleaner .. the plate was GUNKED up soo bad .. put it all back ..fired up and sounded sooo smooth .. ran for a while until i got all the rad. coolant in there .. no leaks so far.. turned it off coz i wanted to give it atleast 12-24 hrs for the ATV sealer in the water pump/thermostat and tranny pan to cure properly .. today he took it to cincinnati , 60 miles ..called me, told me its running soo smooth and running like a champ .. he noticed the tranny shifts were smoother..im still going to drain and refill the tranny fluid after a 1000 miles ( 5 quarts at $2.75 for a quart of Castrol dexron III / mercon ATF fluid is cheap insurance) .. i am NOT going to try a tranny flush on a high meilage tranny coz it "might" bust it .. but i still feel guilty i didnt change the cam shaft seals and the timing belt tensioner but what could i do ?..nissan didnt sell them to him.. my 96 SE pathy is at 110,xxx k miles now and am going to do the timing belt, water pump next month ..feel so confident .. also noticed his 99 LE didnt have a tranny oil cooler next to the radiator like my 96 SE .. or it is located somewhere else on the 99 models.. ?? Edited August 8, 2005 by IndianRider Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pathfinder_Rookie Posted August 7, 2005 Share Posted August 7, 2005 Holly @!*% man thats a lot of work to tackle in a day, nicely done. I got to get my timing bent change, as well as look at my oil pump cover to cover clearance, while im under there. I hope your buddy got you a case of beer while you were workin. Now that you have that Hanes manual get your buddy to read Chapter 1 on tune up and regular maintenance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trainman Posted August 7, 2005 Share Posted August 7, 2005 (edited) Good Job! also noticed his 99 LE didnt have a tranny oil cooler next to the radiator like my 96 SE .. or it is located somewhere else on the 99 models.. ?? On my 02, it is part of the rad, check for hoses coming from the trannie to the rad and back. Just did a bypass on mine with a high flow plate type. Edited August 7, 2005 by Trainman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88pathoffroad Posted August 7, 2005 Share Posted August 7, 2005 If the cam and crank seals weren't leaking, then ah well. Too late to do much about it now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted August 8, 2005 Share Posted August 8, 2005 You are a good friend, and he is the type of person that makes my eyes cross... 'Religously changed the oil every year', LMAO... Well, as you said, I guess he can afford it, and sometimes ignorance is bliss... B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndianRider Posted August 8, 2005 Author Share Posted August 8, 2005 (edited) yeah guys ..that was a lot of work .. never worked on a car or motorcycle for 10 hrs like a mad dog .. he owes me a real "case" of beer acc. to liquor store terminology.. 15 of those 12oz 12 packs .. dont think the cam seals were leaking but u cant say coz i didnt remove the rear timing belt cover coz we didnt have the seals .. im still stumped as for not being able to locate the tranny cooler in front of the radiator to the right side of the vehicle .. good luck on ur tb change pathfinder_rookie .. its hard, but its not so hard at all.. takes a lot of time and patience.. now i got to get my parts from courtsey nissan and get mine done soon .. Edited August 8, 2005 by IndianRider Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88pathoffroad Posted August 8, 2005 Share Posted August 8, 2005 The tranny cooler is not separate from the radiator. It's IN the radiator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewisnc100 Posted August 8, 2005 Share Posted August 8, 2005 i didnt remove the rear timing belt cover coz we didnt have the seals .. Since you didn't remove the rear timing belt cover I'm assuming you didn't replace the coolant bypass hose directly behind that cover. I'd be more worried about that than the cam seals, when it starts to leak it isn't small. Make sure you do both when you get around to working on yours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vengeful Posted August 8, 2005 Share Posted August 8, 2005 This makes me a lot less nervous about doing mine. I've heard it is a chore and a half...but I've done just about everything that can be done on a car, except the timing belt, so we'll see how it goes. Going to start compiling the parts this week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XPLORx4 Posted August 8, 2005 Share Posted August 8, 2005 (edited) im still stumped as for not being able to locate the tranny cooler in front of the radiator to the right side of the vehicle .. The external tranny cooler was not included on 98+ models. Not sure why, though. I guess Nissan found a way to save some money. Edited August 8, 2005 by XPLORx4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndianRider Posted August 8, 2005 Author Share Posted August 8, 2005 so on 98+ models the tranny cooler is incorporated in the radiator ?? so then is the radiator different on the 96 and 97 models ?? lewisinc100 .. thanks for the tip .. im going to ordering all the hoses inc. the bypass hose when i replace mine .. hows ur tranny shift shudder after u changed the oil ? vengeful, good luck on the tb / wp change ..im sure u can get it done .. btw, where are u getting ur parts.. www.courtesyparts.com always seem to be cheaper than the nissan dealer even after shipping charges.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XPLORx4 Posted August 8, 2005 Share Posted August 8, 2005 so on 98+ models the tranny cooler is incorporated in the radiator ?? so then is the radiator different on the 96 and 97 models ??.. No no no.... Nearly all radiators have an integrated transmission oil cooler in them, usually on the bottom radiator tank. The EXTRA external tranny cooler mounted in front of the lower left corner of the A/C condenser (when viewed from the front) was "deleted" from 98+. 96-97: AT-->radiator ATF cooler-->external ATF cooler-->AT 98+: AT-->radiator ATF cooler-->AT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndianRider Posted August 9, 2005 Author Share Posted August 9, 2005 thanks explorX4 .. got it now .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewisnc100 Posted August 9, 2005 Share Posted August 9, 2005 Here's a Nissan diagram of the older setup with the external cooler, looks like they had it until the 98 years, then removed it in 99+ years. http://groups.msn.com/LewisPictures/shoebo...Photo&PhotoID=3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndianRider Posted August 10, 2005 Author Share Posted August 10, 2005 now i get it .. thanks lewisinc100 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndianRider Posted August 11, 2005 Author Share Posted August 11, 2005 (edited) ok .. just ordered all the parts from courtsey nissan .. all belts and hoses along with the tb / tb tensioner/ wp/ seals .. not bad for around $320 when i can save on the labor .. am sure ill be ok coz this is the 2nd time im doing this in a week .. any tips on getting the old camshaft seals out ?? and putting them on in ?? is the crank seal easy to get out ?? the Haynes manual doesnt cover these thing clearly .. i would REALLY appreciate it if someone can copy and fax these 2 sections for me from the Nissan Service Manual .. my fax # is 606-564-7696 .. please att: it to "Vijay Munagala" the Crappie Killer .. thanks folks .. Edited August 11, 2005 by IndianRider Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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