the reason i ask is my g.f. has a 93 and its been running a little bit rough, so she took it to someone. they said something about the timming belt. i changed it in 02. any one know? i checked it out, it still looks good. why would or how could it affect or make the max run rough? doesnt make sense to me.thanks

 

1.Make sure she never takes a car back to that "someone"..

2.Has the car had a tune up?

 

if the timing belt stretched it can change timing and have performance problems.
How many miles are on the belt?
what about the tensioner?

 

if you do not know the answers to both of the answers above ro even if you know the answer to one just change them...ive had to buy 2 engines because of this...

 

the belt has been on there for about 50,000 miles. not sure about the tensioner or even know where that is?( can you let me know please) i will check it out tomorrow. it seemed to be right, not to loose or anything. she fixed alot of stuff on it, new spark plugs and feul injectors. i just thought that was someone who didnt know to much, i never heard of this affect performance. anyone else? thanks guys

 

I change mine every 50,000 just out of precaution.

 

That belt controls your cams. Cams control when and how much air you have. If it stretches or jumps a tooth it can affect performance.

They are usually good for 50-60K miles, so Id go ahead and change it. But Id say thats not your problem. Id seafoam the car.

Also be more specific, when is it running rough?

~Alex

 

The timing belt is WAYYY down the list of things to suspect if your car is running rough...Pay for my gas and I'll come to you and tell you what's wrong!

 

he may as well buy a new car

 

at least I can manage driving a 5-spd in the city...

 

The timing belt will effect your performance when it snaps & leaves you on the side of the road wondering what had just happened, till then, look for other suspected items that affect performance.....

 

"Also be more specific, when is it running rough?" im not sure, i dont drive it, my gf is signed up on here, tomorrow i will get her on here to tell more. you can smell a exhaust smell, so there must be a exhaust leak too. thats the main thing thing. i will look into it more and she will be here tomorrow for a little bit of help. thanks guys. later

 

you haven't tried my hood yet

 

I manage just fine in yur hood..

 

I was in your hood a month ago!

 

that's not what you said when you were driving
you were on the main street.
the alley before my place has 2 speed bumps, the alley north of my place has 3 speed bumps, stop signs at virtually every corner that isn't a main street.
Believe me, it's bad.
my uncle gets 20mpg out of his 93 civic DX manual trans, that's how bad it is.

 

my performance slipped a few weeks ago where i had no bottom end torque at all. i was thinking maybe air mass because my experience with bmw's and mercedes says this is the case. so the other day, it dropped another notch and would hardly pull itself. i havent figured out how all this links together but:
-rear cam seal leaked oil all over the timing belt
-timing gear on crank wobbles because the woodruff key that holds it in place took a chunk of crankshaft out and bent the gear
-something made the belt rub on the housing and shredded it to half its original width. (shredded timing belt and oil soup looks and feels like grease)

the belt slipped a few teeth but not enough to bend any valves. im working on sorting out the crank problem now. so they can be problems without breaking. i would figure out if insanity or a new car was cheaper and go with that

 

new motor is your best option

 

not sure the order of how things degraded, but some things worth checkin if you do a belt. my woodruff key that holds the timing gear was chewed up. it chewed up the hole in the crank and made the gear wobble. the gear has slack where it goes around the crank. so next time i put a belt on, i would pull the gear and check for slack on the shaft as well as inspect the key and hole it goes in. a new key costs $4 in the HELP section. the new gear was $30. the belt isnt rubbing anymore and the knock ive had for 4 months is gone.

im still hunting something though cause i still have no power. injectors fire, new plugs and wires but still have a miss on #6. its got compression. im gonna try the "resistor trick" with the knock sensor and see about a coil too cause mine didnt ohm out right. so while my timing belt wasnt helping anything, it seems that im still chasing the gremlin dude's girlfriend's car has.

 

I was stranded on the road last night. Prognosis is broken/trashed timing belt. 92 Max GXE VG30E SOHC. The question my mechanic asked is whether I know (or can find out) if my GXE has a "zero tolerance" engine (clearance or not between piston heads and valves). If it's zero tolerance, then there's a VERY good chance the valves (rods?) are damaged -- making a somewhat expensive timing belt replacement ($500 or so) into a $1500+ job. So, the question is, is there a way to find out (short of taking the thing about) to find out whether my engine is zero tolerance or not? If the VIN will help, here is my VIN:

VIN: JN1HJ01P2NT611619
Year: 1992
Make: Nissan
Model: Maxima GXE
Style/Body: 4 Door Sedan
Engine: 3.0L V6 MPI SOHC
Country of Assembly: Japan

Any help the forum can offer will be greatly appreciated. I might just trash it, but if I can get it back on the road for $500 I will probably go for it. This piston-to-valve clearance question seems key to that decision. Thanks.

tpowers56@yahoo.com

 

Its an interference engine, or zero tolerance as your mechanic calls it.

Id search the org, local junkyards, ebay and carpart.com for lower mileage VGs. And change the timing belt and water pump before you put it in. They should only be $100-500 depending on the miles.

~Alex

 

Thanks, Alex. That's a bit of a drag, but that's what I needed to know. I assume you mean that I should look for another engine and replace the replacement engine's timing belt/water pump before putting it in. Just want to confirm that. Such a bummer because the engine looks lovely on the outside. Kind of bent on the inside now. Ugh. Thanks.

 

Thats exactly what I meant.

I just went through that with a friends older 300zx. The tensioner rusted and blew up while I was driving (didn't pay for it, we were driving it home).

You could have your mechanic pull the heads and see if only one or some of the valves are bent. The rods are fine. VG rods are good for 400WHP, they wont get bent by valves easily. Id get a quote from your mechanic on pulling the heads, rebuilding them and putting them back on the engine, and then also what it would be just to put in a new VG.

VGs are cheap enough that it maybe cheaper to just get a whole new one.

I also have the heads I pulled from the 300zx (its a VG30E as well, same heads) I'd sell you cheap. I doubt it would be worth it tho.

~Alex