Any other advice and lessons learned when changing the timing belt and water pump. What links do you guys have for this job . The search feature didn't help me much, just want to know any surprises i might run into.

 

There is one under the maintenance link under 3rd gen forums I think. Just take your time really. I looked through my haynes and chiltons for a long time, and there is a link that I was talking about, its for a Nissan Quest van I think but its the same engine and procedure. A big tip is if you have a large breaker bar you will need to have a socket for 1 1/16" ? bolt that is on the crankshaft. (im pretty sure about the size but could be wrong) You have to get that off so you can remove the main pulley and then get everything else off. One tip that saved me was to let wedge the handle of the breaker bar against the suspension arm (I used a bungee cord to kind of hold it there) then make sure wire to distributor is disconnected and bump the engine over with the starter to break this bolt free! The link to the quest timing belt mentioned this or maybe it was a link that was on that site. That really helped as the gripper tool did not work at all for me. Also go to autozone and rent a puller to get the pulley off. Keep track of every bolt you take off too. Read up on the section of getting engine to top dead center using distributor rotor for reference, also make sure marks on the cam gears and crankshaft gears line up on their respective marks. I put my tensioner on a little too tight cause I have a slight moan/whining sound but two different nissan techs sad it was fine and one said they always put theirs on a little tight cause they will loosen up. The wratchet wrenches I got for Christmas really helped out a lot too. Go ahead and change radiator hoses there is a little one that goes to the thermostat too, thermostat and change coolant since you have to drain it anyway. Might as well go ahead and change all the drive belts too since you have to take them off to get to the timing belt cover. I went with napa parts and they were fine, no problems yet, plus they were cheaper. Some folks that have money to burn install an underdrive pulley at this time also since they have to take the old pulley off, it you do this you will need new belts but there is a writeup at Craig Braces website I think. There is a link to his site on one of the faq links at the beginning of this forum I think.

Good luck, I had a lot of help from folks on this forum, so if I can repay the favor I will do my best.

 

I've done many of these. I found by trial and error that with the tight new t-belt, when reinstalling, I put the timing belt about a centimeter over the far back cam, then use a vice grip and rag (so as not to damage the belt) to hold the belt in place just barely on the sprocket, then I do the front cam sprocket the same way - put belt about a centimeter on the sprocket and hold it there with a rag and voce grip. That usually affords me enough belt to just barely get started over the crank sprocket. Once the belt is started over the crank sprocket, push it on as much as you can, then take off the back vice grip and push that one on, then take the vice grip off the front cam and push the belt further on that cam. I hope you under stood what I just wrote. Also, when you are done with the t-belt job, put the crank pulley bolt back in the crankshaft and manually crank over the engine a few times to make sure nothing is hitting. Good luck.

 

thanks for the help guys, alot easier than I thought, all these shops around here wanted 500$ at least, a bunch of bull****, just know the tools you'll be needing and I did it in about 8 hours and I was bull****ing around, but take your tome and it's not that hard, thanks for all the info, latr Coley