Greg 88 Floater

My maxima just recently capped 236k miles, and I just moved to the Northern VA area to get a job and be near my fiancé. Was driving to the local shopping center to try and get a temp job for the rest of the month when a noise rose from my engine. I had never heard this noise before, and it sounded pretty serious so I pulled over into an Exxon station to have a look and a listen. The sound was like a 'thwak thwak thwak' in time with the RPMs and was coming from the passenger side. Originally I thought it might just be one of the secondary belts because I've had some problems with the pulleys not being at just the right tension, but they were fine.

Cranked the engine, had a quick look/listen and the noise was coming from the timing belt housing. In a panic I started to try to pull it all apart to see if I could confirm the problem, and then I remembered its a good hour or so of removing stuff to get to just the cover for the timing belt. I put the alternator pulley back in (that's all I had removed), replaced the belt, and decided to try and drive it home because my apartment is only 2 lights away from the Exxon station.

The noise was still there, and still in time with the RPMs, so I was trying to keep the RPMs low as I went. I got to the turn lane right before the street my apartment complex is on, and the engine died. I don't think it ceased because the RPMs just dropped like I had stalled the car, but it would not start again when I turned the key. I called AAA and they sent a tow truck to have my car towed the last 30 yards to my apartment's parking spot.

Related side story: who lets these people operate flat bed tow trucks? When the guy lowered the bed and hitched the hoist to my maxima, he hooked it to the factory fog light mounts!! I have a GXE, and never felt the need to remove those mounts, but man am I ever glad I love my car so much I'm paranoid about people going near it. He would have ripped my bumper apart! So I told him there were two loops underneath the car that were part of the subframe put there specifically for towing and that what he had hitched to was the fog light mount and he'd rip my bumper off. He gave me a look as to say 'wtf do you know, kid?', laid down on the ground and sure enough found the tow loops.

Going to try and pull all the pulleys and stuff off in the coming days to see if the timing belt snapped. All this on the day before my 23rd birthday. She's the only car I've ever had, and it feels like a family member is in the hospital and they won't tell me whats wrong with her If the car does turn out to be dead, I don't know if I'll be parting her out or selling her off in one piece, but I'll keep you all posted. Happy birthday to me.

Greg

maximase86

iTrader: (24)

Ack, sounds like the timing belt is gone....but it looks like your RPM's are low enough you might of gone unscaved.

S

Greg 88 Floater

seeing as the noise got worse as I accelerated in first gear, I only kept in 2nd long enough to get a bit more speed. Then I put it in 3rd and then 4th to keep the RPMs low. Did it just to keep the belt from turning too fast. Hadn't really thought it would be a saving effort for the engine, was just tryig to make it last until I got home! If that possibly saved my engine, I'll be so happy.

Greg

maximase86

iTrader: (24)

It probably helps because the faster the motor is spinning, the more damage it'd do.

S

Niku-Sama

iTrader: (1)

at ~800rpm it cost me 2 grand on an enging with exactly 160,000 at the time

maximase86

iTrader: (24)

Please note I said probably. There have been a few people in the past that snap the belt and manage to get through unscaved. Besides....I'm trying to keep Greg optimistic.

S

claytonc

So the vg30 has a belt, not a chain like the l24e? The belt broke on my old Prelude after only 8,000 miles and its been sitting ever since. I'm a fan of chains now.

blackmaxima88

yeah they have a belt. fortunately, they're not as hard as they are in some cars to replace. a backyard mechanic with a 12-pack and a decent set of tools can get it done in a day.

it's funny too, cos other nissan models of that year like the sentra and the pulsar NX had timing chains. I think the difference there is the maximas were fully constructed in japan and then shipped here, while most everything else was built in the states. I dunno, could be wrong.

belakithom

Most automakers were converting from Timing chains to timing belts, due to the cost. It's easier and cheaper for the manufacturer to have a timing belt instead of a timing chain installed. Also, since timing belts need to be changed more often than the chains it's more profitable for the dealership too. Can you imagine the nightmare it would be to change a timing belt in the pre fuel injected Hondas?

blackmaxima88

that's a car you just drive until it dies. take it field hopping or something and get a friend with you so that you two can carry it back when it breaks down actually, the timing belt is reason #1 I sold my '90 Accord. it was a really nice car, quick and good on gas, but it needed a timing belt in 5000 miles and I didn't feel like doin it. so I sold it and bought a 94 sentra with a timing chain. the accord has a new timing belt and is still on the road today....

Greg 88 Floater

Good news and bad news. The good news is the timing belt is intact and not frayed or anything. The bad news is that the bolt the tension is mounted to stripped/sheared at the block and the tensioner became loose (though still close to its place). I think the noise I was hearing was the tensioner spinning around and the straight piece of the spring that rests on a metal pole hitting as the timing belt continuted to spin the tensioner. The question I have now is if the VG30 is an interference style engine. If it is, then does that mean the valve covers are sheared off as a result of improper tension on the timing belt? My brother's dodge ram had a timing belt mishap and it resulted in the valve covers being sheared off and he had to replace the top of his motor. I obviously can't find out the extent of the damage until I get the bolt out and a new tensioner in, but I would like to know if it's likely that the loss of the tensioner resulted in severe damage to the engine. It ran for a while after the tension's bolt sheared and the tensioner was loose, just don't know if that was just good fortune letting me get it off the main road and close to home though

Greg

maximase86

iTrader: (24)

The valve cover's sheared off? Wow...that's scary...

Most likely when your tensioner did give, it through the timing off. There is still a chance you some valves, but it sounds like most likely the valve timing is off enough to prevent the car from running. I would replace the belt while your in there since there is no telling what a tensioner floating around the timing cover can do to your belt.

S

Greg 88 Floater

My dad and my brother came up with a Uhaul auto transport to tow her home to Virginia Beach. Gonna call my mechanic on Monday and see what he says about the possibilities and . It was sad to see her turn the corner on a trailer and go out of sight. Thanks for the positive spin on things, S And that's enough of the smiles. Probably won't hear more about it until after the holidays. Have a good one, everyone.

Greg

Niku-Sama

iTrader: (1)

you could pop off the valve covers really easily (well the front one) and wiggle the rocker arms and see if any of them move easily:

moving easily=bad
not maving=good

max95q

iTrader: (10)

I would say replace your belt and tensioner and things should be ok. Reason is because early this year for some reason my timing belt got loose and it turned out to be the tensioner. The people said they were able to crank the car up but after awhile it would sound bad on that side. And my car died at about close to if not over 2k rpm while accelerating from a red light. My car runs today. I also say this because I wouldnt want you to replace new heads for no reason at all and get charged out the butt for the job. Oh, and it cost me a little over 300 bucks for a new timing belt and tensioner. It beats the 1500 I had to pay when my tensioner pretty much disentegrated and caused me to get new heads about 2 years ago.

Niku-Sama

iTrader: (1)

when my tensioner sheered the teeth off of my timing belt it bent about 8 valves but i didnt ahve any damage to the cylinder heads so i basicly had the heads rebulit and had all the top end gaskets replaced. they also went over it real quick at a machine shop and that mabe cost $150 just to shave it some to be safe if there were inperfections that the other methods missed.

but i was told (and what i could see my self) that when they took the engine apart it was in excellent shape other than what had just happened so it could have gotten alot more expencive than a couple valves, gasket set and a quick shave

Greg 88 Floater

well my belt looks 100% aside from the normal wear and tear of ~10000 miles. And like I said, the tensioner was pretty much 'in place' seeing as it couldn't go very far once the mounting bolt snapped. The belt was loose when I got the top timing cover off, but still on the crank and cam cogs as it should've been. The only thing wrong when I saw it was the tensioner being out of place and the belt being loose. I think the car might have stalled out/died because the RPMs were too low to go around the corner, but that wouldn't explain why it wouldn't start again. Only replacing the tensioner will tell.

Greg