My car is 94 Maxima GXE. I replaced the timing belt, tensioner, two cam oil seals, but I didn't replace the crank oil seal, water pump and thermostat. here are questions:
1. How to remove the crankshaft spracket inorder to replace the seal?
2. I cound not remove the thermostat housing because it was sealed with liquid gasket and I found no way to remove it from the base without destroying it. How to remove the housing sealed with liquid gasket?
3. What is the result if thermostat fails? how long will it last?
4. The water temperature gauge failed, where can I get the gauge?
5. The specified torque is 90-98 flbs on the crankshaft bolt, I used 240flbs electrical impact wrench to fasten it, is the bolt fastened enough?
6. I tried to find the troque specification for the wheel on the manual or online, but I could not find any. What it the wheel torque specification? I torqued them to 150 flbs, is this fine.
7. Where is the flywheel on my car, I looked around for it under my car according to the mannual, but I could not find it.

Please help me out.
thanks

 

wheel torque is 70-90ft lb, depending on the wheels you're running.

you should purchase a service manual for the rest of the stuff- i.e. how to remove the crank timing sprocket.
(do a bit of searching on this also. it's a common problem.)

thermostat housing pops right off with a rubber mallet. it's rubber sealant, not superglue.

flywheel? it's between the tranny and engine. you can't see it unless you remove the tranny.

 

The wheel is alloy, and 70-90ft lb seems too low to me, anyway, I torqued it to 150.
For the thermostat housing, I tried to hammer it, but was afraid to destroy it because it was sealed very well. I once made some high temperature resistance adhisive during my school, I guess so, maybe I am wrong.
According to the manual I used, I need to hold the flywheel stationary in order to loose the crankshaft bolt, but I found not where to acess the flywheel.

 

You did WHAT?!? At a minimum, you are going to strip the threads out of your lugnut. 150 lb/ft is way to high.

 

Has anyone played around with changing the temperature of the thermostat?
I know that the OE temp is 170 F. Whereas most cars run a 195-200 T-stat.
Anyone know the reason why nissan chose such a low temperature t-stat for these cars?
I know that a 180 is made but I worry about detonation. which is already a problem in these cars. (hence the knock sensor).

 

you can gain access to the flywheel by removing the starter

 

why dont you just put the car in gear?? That should hold it just fine.

 

use an impact wrench on the crank bolt and it'll come right out.


thermostat... there are a few members playing around with cooler thermostats right now. Generally, you want the engine to run cooler, not warmer. the radiator in this car is HUGE compared to many other imports. (the 300ZX TT radiator is about half the size as ours. they swap Maxima radiators in when they need better cooling- and they've got well over twice the heat to dissipate than a 160hp Max!)

NISMO even makes a 150 or 160 degree thermostat. I'd hate to see the price on it though.

 

my car is automatic, I don't know I can do that on automatic tranny. I have retorqued wheel to 90 ft lbs, and hope I have not done any damage to the screws.
Now, I found other problems with my car. After all the belts replaced( timing belt, OEM, others from Autozone), I heard a small squeaking noise from one of the belts after car is running for a while. It is not from the TB. I found an edge of a belt is a little bit wide, is this the reason, do I need to adjust the tension and apply belt dressing?
Also, when I start the car cold and humid, it used to be difficult to start. I found the plugin of the 7th wire, the shortest one of all the wires connecting to distributor, is corroded. I changed the distributor cap, now it is much better, but it is still kind of sluggish and vibrates when start in the cold morning. After warming up, the engine runs good. The resistance of the spark wires is in the good range, are there some cracks on the wires? Those wires are original, do I need to replace them?

 

if they're the original wires, then they definitely should be replaced. usually you shoudl replace them every 60-80k miles, but it's an often neglected thing on imports because they ususally don't outright fail like they did back in the day.

 

Thanks Matt93SE. Do you recommend OEM from dealer or one from autozone or napa?

 

if yo're not going to do a lot of modding, parts store ones work fine- and generally have a lifetime warranty.

there's talk of some small power gains by going with NGK or Nology wires, but unless you're fairly well modded, it won't do you much good.