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It just died


Guest shouldbesad
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Guest shouldbesad

I have a 89 Pathfinder V6 that just died on me. Going up a slight incline it spit and sputtered and then died. When tried to restart, the starter is turning over but it is like it is not catching or ingaging the engine. I have radio and lights.

 

Will have to drive the wife's truck til I can get this fixed so need to get done soon. -argue- Thanks all

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Guest shouldbesad

It is impossible for me to check spark as the engine is not turning over. The starter turns but doesn't engage engine. Seems like something missing between the starter and engine if that makes any sense. :huh:

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I just replied to your post on the Automotive Forum. I was kinda going in the same direction as your neibour. I was hoping it was just my paranoia kicking in, but I was thinking timing also.

 

How many miles on the timing belt and did it make clunking noises as it died or after it died and you tried starting it?

 

I hope it's not the timing belt because these are interference motors which means very high chances of major motor damadge.

 

Denis

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Guest shouldbesad

I didn't notice any noise when it died or since. It did loose a bit of power as it was dying. It has 200,000 miles on and had 100,000 when I bought it so I believe it is the origional equipment.

 

"I hope it's not the timing belt because these are interference motors which means very high chances of major motor damadge." - If you could please explain.

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"I hope it's not the timing belt because these are interference motors which means very high chances of major motor damadge." - If you could please explain.

 

 

If the timing belt slipped/skipped, it is very possible to bend Exhaust and Intake Valves.

 

Starter going out should not cause it to just die.....

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I didn't notice any noise when it died or since. It did loose a bit of power as it was dying. It has 200,000 miles on and had 100,000 when I bought it so I believe it is the origional equipment.

 

"I hope it's not the timing belt because these are interference motors which means very high chances of major motor damadge." - If you could please explain.

200K miles is a lot on a timing belt. This is raising a red flag as far as a possible cause.

 

Long story short. The inteference motor means that some valves would end up being open when your piston ends up at it's top postition and that the piston will colide with the valve (usually bending valve, posibly doing piston damadge).

 

I would have it towed to your mechanic and have him remove the timing belt cover. If it's not the culprit, take this as a warning and have it replaced. If it is broken or damadged......then you have a decision to take.

 

Good luck and let us know the outcome!

 

Denis

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Guest shouldbesad

Sounds like then I need to pull the timing cover and see what I see. Does that seem like the best way to proceed?

 

How does one determine exactly what engine type I have here. The list of different types of motor in these seems to be extensive. It is a 1989 Pathfinder SE V6.

 

Thanks for all the info coming in.

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It would be a VG30. There might be some slight differences amongst the different years (probably an extra letter on the end ie: VG30E or such). I'm sure someone that is a little more knowledgable on this will pipe up here.

 

Denis

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It would be a VG30. There might be some slight differences amongst the different years (probably an extra letter on the end ie: VG30E or such). I'm sure someone that is a little more knowledgable on this will pipe up here.

 

Denis

The engine for 87-89 pathys is a VG30i.

I concur that definatly sounds like a timing belt failure, I hope your engine didn't self destruct! And have you tried running engine codes yet?

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It never hurts to run the ECU diagnostics, but it sounds more like the timing belt. A few people have had that happen recently, and if thats the original belt that is meant to be changed every 60k miles, its a definite candidate ! Do a search and you will find plenty of info, theres even a write up somewhere. Let me know if you cant find them.

Cant hurt to pull the starter to look at it. You don't have to drag it all the way out, just enough to see. :shrug:

 

B

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Easy way to check if it's the timing belt. Take off the dist. cap and try to turn it over. If the rotor turns, the belt is not broken... if not then it is definatly fragged. Though it is possible that it skipped a tooth and is just out of time again, but it will get you a little closer to the culprit.

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sounds exactly like what my 87 did...pop off the top timing belt cover if u see just the cams and no belts then u broke u're timing belt...if you did what i did and hit the clutch as soon as it died then you may have saved "major" damage...i bent 3 valves #1 and #3 intake valves and #1 exhaust valve...funny thing is i had just refueled and thought it was a bad pump so i would bump over to the 3 pos and heard it prime up so i knew it wasnt that and knew then i was in big trouble...

 

what we did was since i was on a broke bank account was get a new belt put #1 at TDC and get everything back in time and crank her up to see what happened... pulled plug wires 1 at a time to see if the motor stalled or changed idle speed and thats how we found i had killed 1 and 3...

 

i got all new valves and a master gasket kit and rebuilt her in 3 days due to wrong valves being sent by napa's warehouse

 

88051.jpg

 

88052.jpg

 

the 2nd from the right is a straight valve the others are all bent and was my only carnage from breakage

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Guest 89SErawr

If the timing belt isnt broken, you snapped your flywheel. I did this in 2 different cars now, the starter will turn nice and easy, but you get no ignition or turn over. flywheel is less damage to the actuall engine, but its more expensive than a timing belt replacement, but atleast the valves arent bent if the flywheel snapped

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