djboo

Ok. I've procrastinated long enough...

I have to replace the timing belt on my '91 SE, but the local dealer said that just the BELT would cost $60.00 (never mind the labor)!! I KNOW I can get one at Autozone for $16.

Is there really THAT much different between the Nissan timing belts and all the others?

thanks guys,


ben

FFxI30

iTrader: (2)

I have read on here that one guy bought a cheaper belt from Autozone and it broke a few miles later. I believe Matt93SE said something about it. Call Coz at the Ultimate Z 630-837-0700, and tell him what you need. Tell him you are part of the .org and the price should be about $20. I am going to be doing mine either this weekend or next, but gotta get the cash for the rest of the parts while you are in there, ie. Water Pump, Tensioner, 3 other drive belts, Thermostat, and cam and crank seals if you are beginning to leak oil. All together you are looking at about $190 for all those parts. But Coz will be your best price, and he is great to deal with.

djboo

wow. thanks for the advice. you really think i should replace the water pump and the tensioner and such? i just thought that was a ploy used by the mechanic to screw you with unnecessary work.

and who's "Coz"? Just some parts guy?

FFxI30

iTrader: (2)

I have done plenty of searches on the org and everyone says to replace the water pump and stuff while you are in there. It will probably save you in the long run. Most feel that the live of each other part I said is about the same as the timing belt, and should be replaced with the timing belt. Coz is the sales manager at The Ultimate Z. He is a great guy who has been giving us good prices. His website is listed below, but I always call him to order my parts. They mostly work on Z's, but can get all the maxima parts we want.
http://www.ultimatez.com

raeqwon28

iTrader: (1)

Yeah I recently just changed my timing belt and It only cost 28.99 from the nissan dealership and mine is a 91. I don't know where you stay but I shouldn't cost you no freakin 60.00 that dude is tryin to hustle you.

Jeff92se

iTrader: (82)

Dude, do NOT use some cheapo Autozone belt. You don't want to cheap out on this kind of labor intensive work. (or any other part for that matter but especially this one) If that cheap belt breaks, it will cost you your entire engine or at least one or both heads. Then your looking at a few grand for repairs instead of a few dollars. And please do change the parts that FFxMax mentions. It's MUCH cheaper to replace these items since the covers are already off. If you have to pay someone to do this again later(ie.. water pump), you will have to pay for another timing belt. (if water leaks on the belt, you have to change it) Same goes for the cam seals(oil on belt is worse)

MaximaSE91

yes please use factory parts its crucial to having the job done right some aftermarket timing belts have wrong teeth shape causing them to wear and break, also cam seals, crankshaft seal, weater pump tensioner and tstat are highly recomended being that if you dont replace them now guess what it all has to comeback apart and the labor to do just a waterpump is something like 4.5-5hrs in the shop
depending on the tech. I worked with a few crooks.
Didnt agree on what they would charge but 5hrs is the norm plus 1/2hr for each oil seal and another 1/2hr for the waterpump and tstat so it should come out to about 6.5hrs in the shop when its all said and done i do em for 150.00 lobor and I get cost on the parts for who ever i do the job for. just to pass on the benefit.

C-Dawg

My local shop showed me in the book that the time required for the water pump is 1 - 1.5 hrs.

Jeff92se

iTrader: (82)

Ah.. doing JUST a H2O pump alone is much different than doing one while you have 90% of stuff off(to do the t-belt) already. Hence only the 1/2 extra added while doing the T-belt.

Maybe that's why everyone is recommending him to get all this stuff replaced while the front end is taken apart already.

djboo

Well, i just got a quote from the local Nissan dealer, and he said it would be around $700 for the t-belt service (which would include the water pump, tensioner, seals, etc). Can this be right?!?!?

How about this: I get all the necessary parts from Coz, then have my regular mechanic do it. He's not a nissan dealer (he does mostly Saabs, Volvos and Audis), but he's knowledgeable, and I know HE won't screw me with the price.

Whatta you guys think?

Jeff92se

iTrader: (82)

1) That dealer is full of crap.
2) Your 2nd idea sounds good. He can probably handle it no problem but it would be nice to know if he's done a t-belt on a vg before. It wouldn't hurt to ask. If he hasn't, give him the car and tell him to take his time.

djboo

Woo Hoo! Coz and I are playing email-tag, but he'll be able to get me ALL the necessary parts for the T-belt replacement (I decided to just replace EVERYTHING involved - better to be safe than sorry), for $200 shipped.

I just wanted to thank everyone for their advice, and to recommend Coz to anyone looking for OEM parts. He's been very cool.

Thanks!!

Ben

FFxI30

iTrader: (2)

I just ordered mine this morning. Should be gettin this stuff early next week and then time to start the install. Coz is really a great guy. Ordering was the easy part, now time to get ready for install.

laserjet

Cost me about $600 parts & labor at Goodyear for the timing belt, thermostat, waterpump, and all of the drive belts.

92ZexMaximaSE

Damn.. I thought we had a timing chain not belt?

C-Dawg

You do have a timing chain. You have an SE.

92ZexMaximaSE

ok.. I didn't know the GXE's had belts..

Brian_TII

FWIW, I used an "Advanced Auto" belt for my car and so far I have 12k miles on it. Working great. The car did have a NAPA belt on it before which had 85k miles on it. Didn't show ANY signs of wear, even at that mileage. I used a cheap "Advanced Auto" $25 NEW water pump (not reman) and it is working great. I used a Beck Arnley tensioner which seemed like a well made part. The old tensioner was definatly shot. You can't go wrong with OEM parts, but they will cost you twice as much and honestly in this case the ONLY thing that I would consider going OEM on would be the belt. Also this job is NOT hard to do, I did mine myself and total cost including parts was less than $100. I had to borrow a pulley puller and an impact wrench to get the main crank pulley off. The beauty of the Maxima is that all this stuff is well designed and easy for your average home mechanic to get to and deal with. I was truly surprised at how easy it is to do on this car.

Brian

superdesi

Has anyone ever used belts (timing,alt.,a/c) made by Dayco?

My mechanic installed these belts because he insisted that they were excellent quality and that he never had a problem with them.

I insisted that he order Nissan belts, but he is such a hard headed guy.

PrinzII

iTrader: (2)

Coz is our point of contact at Ultimate Z. However, if you don't feel like tangoing with this project yourself, they will do the work for you for $500 (versus $900 at the dealership I regularly do service at). They are going to paint and reinstall the bumper, install my PIAAs, and replace my window switch for the sum of $568.

As the other post said, they are great to deal with in terms of getting parts for the car. I had to get a new bumper for my '94 and it only cost me $150 versus $230.


Are you in the Chicago area?

Brian_TII

I think the belt that I'm using might be a Dayco. I've heard good things about the Dayco timing belts. I have used the Dayco regular belts (v-drive belts) on my RX-7 and I thought those were OK, they didn't work as well as OEM drive belts, but they didn't suck either. I wouldn't worry about the Dayco belt thing. I honestly think anyone can make a bad belt every now and then and if it happens, it happens. Like I said before I had a NAPA belt on the car from the previous owner, and the belt went 85k miles (He was assuming 90k mile belt changes) I changed the belt ASAP, but I really didn't need to. That NAPA belt looked like it was good to go for another 85k.... seriously NO signs of wear or deteration. The belt that I installed appeared to be manufactured the same EXACT way that the NAPA belt was. I looked at a timing belt from Autozone which is Kelly Springfield brand (I think) and the quality didn't look half as good as the Dayco / Advanced Auto belt that I am using.

Brian

MaximaSE91

the 92-94 SE models only have the timing chain those with the gxe model have the vg30e which is a timing belt engine question for 600.00 did they replace the front crankshaft seal and both camshaft seals, if they didnt you paid a little much for it the dealership i used to work for charged 500 complete for everything. I have done many timing belts and was just wondering those need to replaced everytime at least I recommend it just because the parts are cheap and the labor is fairly inexpensive at 1/2hr per seal.

laserjet

I checked the invoice and it doesn't look like they replaced those seals you mentioned. Here's how it broke down:
cam shaft belt: $33.55
fan belt: $21.00
pwr steering belt: $15.90
A/C belt: $25.25
new water pump: $75.59
thermostat & gasket: $12.50
labor to install camshaft belt: $318.00
labor to install everything else: $62.10
Total: $584.00 (inc tax, etc.)

Next time I'll do it myself. Live and learn

Brian_TII

Gotta love how they threw in the extra $62.50 for labor even though it had to all be taken apart ANYWAY. (Except for the thermostat, but that's not an hours work)

Gotta love the dealerships....

Brian
87 Turbo II
89 Maxima (daily)

laserjet

gotta give the credit where it's due - this was from Goodyear. (and, by the way, it doesn't include an extra $75 in labor they refunded me after I b#*@&ed about it)

Brian_TII

Ahh... Goodyear... wouldn't have expected it to cost so much. At least you got $75 back. Next time if you want you can try it yourself and save some serious cash.


Brian
87 RX-7 Turbo II
89 Maxima (daily)