for anyone that has done their own tbelt and actually remembers what shape their belt teeth/sprocket teeth were...

post your year and shape. we'll assume your car has not had engine swap. I'm once again doing one of my little discovery things.

i heard a rumor that they switched shapes for 94.... but i'm trying to use you guys to confirm that rumor. basically i had my tbelt done but i had to go buy another one because the one in my kit was wrong. the seller of the kit said they changed for 94.

 

I'm a disinfo agent.

 

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=280472

 

see that's the opposite of what they told me. I was told they went round for 94. Mine's a 90 round and the kit (89-93) had a square belt. my uncle, who was installing it said "well i'll put on this square belt for you. but you won't make it home tonight".

not that my old belt was worn or anything. I didn't know what it was like so i just went ahead and replaced it so i'm fine for 60k with no worries about that stuff. oil seals were "right hard" but that was the worst of it. most of the rest of the 'old parts' looked fine.

i'm still trying to figure out if my engine is really my engine or a swap engine.

 

If I recall, mine were square...I just bought both belt types and returned the one I didn't use.

 

my theory regarding the timing belt tooth issue:
the VG motor got used in the quest in 93 and later, notice that up until 93 all the catalogs only list the square belt.
we know that the quest got a "special" version of the VG motor, a non-interference one. I theorize that the round tooth was for the quest and the later VGs.
of course it is just a theory with no basis in fact.

 

93 GXE Round, and does anyone want to buy a brand new square tooth I couldn't use either?

 

well that basically blows up my theory

 

Not really, lots of times they make running changes during model years. You would need to look into the 93 model year. Besides, your theory supports what we found, doesn't it? I have a later VG and it is round tooth. A better question is: Since the Quest VG has a higher change interval, does the Round tooth maxima VG share this as well and they just didn't change it to avoid confusion?

 

just buy both...and return the one that is wrong.

 

but hectic is 91 round. could be a swapped motor tho.

well i'm trying to use this as a way to determine if my whole engine has been swapped for another. I know that i have some mismatches but i don't know if it's parts or wholes. My crank shaft or pulley are bent (vibrate visibly even at high idle), which could be a sign of someone knocking it into something hard while lowering it on a hoist or something.

see my car says US fed spec but i've got emissions components that tell me otherwise...

 

Personally,i think nissan used whatever sprockets they had on hand at the time engine assembly,thus explaining all the mismatched sprockets from year to year..

 

that could be too. Sadly there is no way that anyone can tell me of how to match my engine SN to my VIN. so i'm trying to use other ways to find out. Not that it matter a whole heck of a lot.. but i want to know if my engine is wrong.

 

There has to be a vin number on the engine block to match your car, I cant believe no one can tell you where it is. I will look around and get back to you.

 

All the info he needs to find all the vin matching codes is in the FSM..

 

My last 3rd gen (1990) was round i dunno what this one looks like as the belt was just done when i bought it.

 

well there is nothing that will tell me the exact serial for the engine that is supposed to be in my car, matched to the VIN. Of course it's supposed to be a fed spec VG30E, but they made thousands of those engines in thousands of fed-spec VG 3rd gens worldwide... I'm talking about THE VERY engine that was built into my car. As compared to THE VERY engine sitting in my car right now. Those serial numbers are not listed on the vin/color/model/whatever-else plate. It tells what kind of engine, but not what exact serial.

Unless that info is located elsewhere, like, on the door.

 

Hmmm..Have you looked at your serial # plates on you engine? what do they have on them exactly?

The plates on the engine will not match your vin #....you should be able to take the engine plate #'s to a dealership and they "should" be able to match up the engine plate #'s to your vin if it is the original engine..

 

i asked a couple peeps and they said that wouldn't yield results. I have, however, thought about it. I just gotta remember where on the engine to find the number. I found the tranny one, but not the engine one. But yes i knew that all 3 (VIN, eng SN, trans SN) are different from one another.

 

look in section GI/Sub section 16 of the fsm..

I don't see how it wouldn't yield any results? unless the dealership just doesnt want to help you(not making them any money)

 

yeah i thought it was around there somewhere. I peeked in but couldn't find it. Probably covered in crap. Tranny one was but i wiped it off. I'll look in there tomorrow. It's gotta be near the rear end of the vaccuum gallery, where the surge tank hose hooks in. I'll try and see if the dealership can match #s for me. And if it's a swap, I want to know what model-variation and VIN of the car it came from (year, tranny, emisisons spec, trim, etc) and then maybe someone can run a carfax on that vin so i can maybe have an estimate on my engine's true mileage, give or take a bunch.




as for the belt thing. They are only willing to give me back $14 for the belt they sent me. I paid twice that for the proper belt.

 

 

yeah i saw that. i meant that those pictures show nice, clean uncluttered areas. real cars have all sorts of stuff in the way. so it's not always as easy to find stuff that is shown neatly in pictures.

 

then why the heck would they put the wrong emission system on it? I'll go snap some pics if i can get a good angle behind the heatercore lines. Now i wonder if my ECU is correct, if this is indeed what happened.

 

The ECU would not be different depending on emissions, especially for an OBD 1 car. There was only one US emission spec in that year. Probably your best friend would be a carfax, it can at least help you trace where the car has been. Is it possible its Canadian that had US gauges put back in it? If it is foreign emissions then your only 2 logical options are:
1. Canadian but I doubt the emissions are that different or
2. It was a "J-spec" motor right from Japan/Europe and the guy just tossed it in.

How far back can you trace its history?

 

i have had the car since 6-30-06 with 143k. now has 156k. it's a cali-spec emission setup. I was under the impression that the ecu would throw a code on a US spec car if the EGR temp sensor was unplugged, as mine is. (and capped off) Tho I don't know why a US spec car would have the plug capped on the car's harness end, unless the harness was replaced for god-knows-what reason.

 

well, actually, can someone take a pic of their own vg serial (blur it if you want) so i can see where to look, presuming that my car has no serial? I'll take pics during the daylight tomorrow if it's not raining like mad, but I also wanted to see someone else's. My neighbor (89GXE) never brings her car back from the city she goes to college in until summer. Usually her mom just goes and gets her since it's not a terribly long trip. Point is, I can't look at hers for comparison.

 

I just took a quick look and the tranny number is right there but has nothing to do with the VIN number surprisingly, didn't see the engine # but it might just be dirty, didn't have time to get in there to really look. Then again maybe its just the model # and not the VIN so its elsewhere.

 

there was a difference in Cali-spec ECUs and FED-spec ECUs.
there still is to this day a difference on Cali cars vs federal cars.

 

yeah, that's part of what i'm wondering about, is if mine is correct. Anyhow, I found the number... it was underneath some rust. I'mma write it down next time i have daylight.

 

well it has a number. VG30-856119N. Now I gotta find out what's supposed to be where. I will check my ECU part number against the part list as well. If i can remember where I saw it before.

http://s164.photobucket.com/albums/u...t=IMG_0492.jpg

i used carb cleaner and sandpaper to uncover the number.

before it was like this: http://s164.photobucket.com/albums/u...t=IMG_0475.jpg

 

I just bought a new t-belt for my 91, and it has a trapezoidal shape.
I bought it from AZ, and they said that it was the only shape they had for the 91
I looked online, the part number for 91 and 94 maxis is the same...
do i just need to take it back, and whoelse would have one locally to pick up?
also when changing it out, what else should i check?

 

the change did not occur until 93.
your 91 only came out of the factory 1 way.
in 93 they introduced the non-interference VG30E-F so that may have been the cause of the other part #

anyone want to look up the nissan part # for the maxima vs quest vs truck timing gear part #s? that may shed some light on it.

 

okay, im not gonna be going anywhere for the next couple of days(bad weather here in okc, and i do not trust myself to drive in it yet..)
i am going to start the t-belt change, and need to know:
will the trapezoid toothed belt work?
(shaped like this\_/ vs U or |_|)

any help?

 

the wrong-shaped belt will work for a few minutes. until it slips a tooth or two against the crank sprocket, and blows up your engine.

at least that's what the guy working on my car told me. well, he said "Sure, i can put this belt on for you. but you'll be walking home." and i really didn't feel like walking home 90 miles with a whiny [now very much EX]-girlfriend in the middle of the night/next day/day after that/day after that

 

okay, the belt i removed (nissan p/n 13028-85e00) had the same tooth as the one i bought
i used a chiltons to put it on, it said to remove coolant hoses, and 'bout a gallon of antifreeze dumped out(the bucket i placed underneath caught mebe 1/4 that?) my question. ive got it all buttoned up, but need to top off my radiator. will water suffice, or do i need to go to the store and pick some antifreeze up?( what came out was a dirty, dark green antifreeze . probly need a flush, don't i ?)

 

ummm...it's winter dood..get some antifreeze

 

lol...
thanx

 

Its too late now but i cant believe you didn't change the water pump. You absolutely need antifreeze because its not just for cold its for hot so it doesn't boil over either.

 

yeah, i thought id ask, bc i still had fluid in the coolant system, and thought it'd mix, keeping it from freezing/boiling.

as for the water pump, are they really that prone to failure?
the timing belt i took out looked brand new(almost), and had no scarry wear. ive had the car for 'bout 30k miles. last known replacement was 91k and its at almost 221k
the previous owners kept it in shape (based on all the nissan replacement parts im inclined to believe they tried).they may have replaced the pump then.
it *looks* okay, and i couldn't afford a $130 pump (never going duraKrap again)