TightBlack97

iTrader: (1)

This is what my mechanic found have telling me everything in the book was wrong with my car. Now the engine is totally demantled. He did not even put the whole thing back together. Before it would turn over and drive but didnt have a lot of power. I just paid him $70 and got my car back because he didnt want to put a new crankshaft in it. He wanted to put a new engine but I told him no.

Here are the pics:




2nd pic shows where he said the timing was at it is a little off I guess


I think I am going to buy a 4th generation now but this still puzzles me because I had just had the timing belt and water pump done in March. It lasted till the end of June before it started to go bad.

Jeff92se

iTrader: (82)

VG power! ugh not good mang

internetautomar

iTrader: (30)

I'd be getting an opinion as to whether the timing belt installation was faulty

wiseguy

Sounds like the timing belt was put on too tight. I went through this when I
replaced the t-belt on my maxima ages ago. I ran across a website where a
guy went through replacing the t-belt on a Mercury Villager which has a
slightly modified VG motor in it (oil filter is in different location and the motor
is somehow a non-interference unit). Anyway, he had lots of pictures and it
helped greatly with the replacement....but one thing he stressed was not to
overtighten the t-belt because it will cause your crankshaft to break...maybe
not right away, but eventually. This was apparently a big problem with the
Villagers and there may have even been a recall because of it. A friend of mine
with a Villager did his own t-belt replacement and ended up with a broken crank
as well...he ended up buying a used motor and dropping that in.

Sounds like your mechanic set the tensioner wrong.

mtcookson

iTrader: (2)

seems like it would be easier to break the crankshaft by having over tightened accessory belts than timing belt due to leverage so that could have been possible also.

DMad8724

iTrader: (4)

either way sounds like the mechanic who did the t belt owes you something

DanNY

iTrader: (14)

why is it so rusty around the fracture of the crank?

mtcookson

iTrader: (2)

probably been sitting out for a while.

grody

There's a thin spot in the crank right at the fracture point. Mine did that too, and my neighbor was a Nissan service manager for 20 years or so. I called to see if he had any tips for me on the motor swap. He said that he had seen that several times. One car had been driven to the shop for a t-belt change, and when they spun the bolt out to pull the crank pulley, the crankshaft and timing gear came with it. He said that the shaft was mostly fractured and was rusted just like the one in that picture, and had just a little bit of metal still intact that broke off when they tried to pull off the crank pulley.

DanNY

iTrader: (14)

exactly what i was thinking...it looks like it started to crack already for a while..then at the end it finally broke off.

TightBlack97

iTrader: (1)

Yeah I think the mechanic who worked on it had someone else do the job because I would of never thought this would happen. Yes the part is rusty but he had to see that before he put it on. I dunno though. I mean it went for three months before it started to mess up. I can probably put a new engine in and it will run good but this would be the third motor and I was on the orginial trans so I probably better off getting a newer ride.

This is also my farewell to the third gen forums too. Thanks for all the help that everybody has given me over the years. I am probably going to part some of the parts in the f/s forum soon but I am going to hopefully get a 97 GLE sometime this week if everything checks out good and start a good credit.

I will be back on here because I know some of the OG third gen peps know their stuff about repairs on the VE motor.