Wife arrived and "my van is making a strange sound". I expected maybe, I dunno, but not what I heard - a quite audible tapping or knocking sound. Using the old ear and screwdriver method I've located it to the RH cylinder of the front bank; sounds like the small end maybe? It doesn't have that deep clunking sound of a failed big-end. When I gently rev it, it starts to rattle, but again, there's none of the horrible deep rattling and banging you get from failed big-ends on the overrun. Or am I wrong?
What's worse, the transmission has pretty much gone west at the same time.
The two Gen IVs are doing fine, but it looks like my Villager Gen 3 powertrain has had it...

 

WTF does this have to do with maxima's let alone 3rd gens....

 

I was looking under the hood of a Murcury Villager and noticed the funnyiest thing. A vg was in there hiding.

 

Villagers has the same VG engine as the 3rd gen, minus the interference valve problem. I'm thinking that there is no real Villager forum out there, so he goes into the 3rd gen forum seeking help instead. As for the knocking sound, I have no clue. I think that some of the more knowledgeable members will chime in soon. Good luck though.

 

anytime i see one of those vans mobbin around i hear horrible exhaust
manifold or something leaking almost sounds like worn valvetrain part(s)
does anyone know if they have the vg exhaust manifold stud curse?

if anyone's thinking about snuging down the exh. man.stud nuts remember
they dont go very tite and will snap if overtorqued. most of you know this.

 

it could be a lifter noise, or piston slap.
if the trans is already gone, I'd pitch it. they have very low value to begin with.

 

villager = hybrid taurus/maxima mutt

 

YES! the van makes that chuff-chuff sound. Exactly the same as the Gen 3 car.

 

1 week or so later and the engine is back together. It was the big ends, #1 cyl. was pretty bad.
Replaced con rods, crankshaft main bearings, timing belt and for good measure, the water pump, all from below and without having to remove the motor. Total cost was $300 inc. labor, FYI. The van isn't back on the road yet though, as the tranny is being reconned. (Yeah I would have bought a used spare, but here in Mexico any Gen 3/ Gen 4 parts are very scarce. Gen 5's are much easier but too expensive to justify transplanting into a 96 Villager, bearing in mind all the extra work and the computer and harness and so on. Although I must admit I do like the idea of having a 235HP Villager... oh well. My Gen IV will be next b/c it sounds like the TC tensioner is on its way out...

 

never in a million years would i have considered ford/mercury to be using a nissan engine, and at the same time, never would i have imagined nissan would go so low as to sell out to ford/mercury.

interesting

 

They didn't "sell out" to ford,it was simply a joint venture between the two companies..Nissan designed the whole van and manufactured the parts for the van,then final assembly took place in ford assembly plants,then badged as either mercury villager/nissan quest as per dealership ordered.

 

Are you sure? I was told Nissan made the body, drivetrain, and chassis, while Ford designed the interior and used many OEM Ford Parts/Electronics. My dad used to have a 96' Quest and the interior resembled many other Ford Minivans.

 

Some of the interior parts(radio/heater controls) were from the ford aerostar vans,and were slightly redesigned to fit the villager interior.

 

the quest also got the brake system from the ford taurus.
if you had a quest and took off certain bits, you'd find the ford part # on them.

 

Why not Nissan. they did it with Yamaha and the Taurus SHO. That motor was way better than the Ford 3.8L.

 

Well, I went and picked the van up yesterday. I thought you might like to know how the tranny held up after 160,000 miles. Pretty good! None of the friction surfaces needed replacing. The valve body was fubarred and had to be replaced. The linkages had all developed a lot of play and were adjusted as required. The mechanic found that the plastic steering column bushes were totally gone and "adapted" some from a totally different vehicle, to fit.
I would go so far as to say that the Nissan parts are really, really reliable. Not only the parts but also the interior; I have two Gen 4 Max cars both with the black leather interior and the leather is practically like new. By contrast the leather seats in the van are wrecked. Poor quality I assume.
The final bill incl. labour was $300 to recondition the tranny, incl. all labour and adapting new bushes for the column, and $350 to replace the bad engine parts (rods, mains, water pump, timing belt). It still has the original pistons and rings and even at 160K miles doesn't burn oil. Nissan motors rock!

 

Those aren't bad prices at all. But do they have any kind of warrenty?

~Alex

 

only an informal one between me and him!
My main problem is figuring out what the words mean. I tried translating "big end" with Google but it came up with the Spanish for "large finish". D'oh.