Please, if anyone can give advice. I bought the complete set of gasketts/seals for the entire enigine. I have 90 Max Auto..and have had tranny rebuilt and ppayed off as well too =). I would liek to lkeep iyt. Seems my ongoing joyous project. Now I have already purchased water pumnp -= timing belt soon..to do this as well. What parts can I be sure to have to purchase. I would like to get this all togehter then just pa someone labor to do the work. I am expecting to pay up to 600 to get all seals replaced and timing belt/water pump... as well.. having all parts i buy to replace putting on sitead of previous. I jsut want to get an idea. I set my mind to do and just want to be prepared. Any and all help please. HTnkas. I also am purchasing a new rack/pinon top replace. getting it for 200!! azwesoem deal. thanks!! in advance

 

if you bought a complete gasket kit, then it probably includes the head gaskets.. might as well buy a set of piston rings and just have the heads redone and do the piston rings (your "basic" engine rebuild) while you've got it all apart.. that should last the engine another 100k miles, barring any weird problems.

if you car smokes on startup, that should cure that problem too, PLUs give it a bit more power, by just having the engine running properly.

 

awesome. thanks for response. I know much about my car but this is something i am new to. could you break it downa lil.and an est on a price you would pay for? I know what I got is the pOEM brank FULL gaskett and Seal .. reason I have small oil leak..not sure where - -but front seal I am told maybe...which means you tear car apart..tohught I might as well do this..but anytjhign else beside head things? You think I should do injectoras too? I know they are like over a grand..so I am hoping not..I just don't want the guy to tear it apart and say all this and that needs to be replaced..me me be stranded w/out wheels until I get it all.thats why I want to be extra prepared. THanks again guy!!

 

I have bought two motors at local wrecking yard and swapped em out.
Cost of motor only with 80-90K miles was $525 with a 6 month warranty. (90 days is typical) After you add all the other "incidentals" you need (Water pump, timing belt,timing belt tensioner,water hoses, belts,plugs wires, cap, rotor, motor mounts (these wear out), it is easy to reach $1000.00, not including the time you spend.

On one of the swaps (91 SE) I replaced both end oil seals. On the other (89 SE) I got lazy and just left the seals in place.

So far both engines run strong with no evidence of oil usage or leaks.

These engines are very strong and reliable, typically do not leak or use oil and run (if maintained) for > 150,0000 miles. So....... my advice would be to just go visit your local wrecking yard and buy a replacement motor.

Just make sure your motor if removed from the car was stored "inside" or (better yet) is still in the car and you can hear it run and check compression.

You can find motors for less...... if you want to look around.

Just my 2 cents. Nissan Parts are tooooo expensive to mess around inside an engine unless you really enjoy that stuff.

 

Depending on how far you want to go, you can do a 120K service
and replace the acc belts, timing belt, water pump, tensioner,
water pump, thermostat, and cam seals.

These are the prices I got them at from UltimateZ back in July:

Timing Belt: $19.49
Tensioner: $49.70
Drive Belts: $16.22
Water Pump: $75
Thermostat: $8.72
Cam Seals: $3 each

$175.13 total.

Your oil leak could be from your cam seals...or something else.
This was for a 1993 Maxima GXE SOHC and the list will differ
for an SE if that is what you have.

 

Oil leak is possibly from the cam seals (2, one on each cylinder head), valve cover seals (2 also, one for each head), front main oil seal (need to pull off the timing belt and crank pulley to get to this).

My friend and I just changed all that last week on my 1990 SE auto. We thought it was the front main seal, which required pulling off all the accesory drive belts (3 - power steering, alternator, and AC), timing belt, timing belt cover, and crank pulley. It ended up being a front main and cam seal. Since the seals are like $3 each, you might as well get both. Since the water pump is in there, I did that as well as the thermostat. The Nissan thermostat is like $18 and I got a lifetime water pump from Pep Boys for $40 instead of using the Nissan one. I was going to replace the timing belt tensioner, but nobody had it in stock. Might as well replace the coolant in the cooling system as well since a lot of it comes out when you remove the water pump. Total time for us was around 5 hours. If we had to do it again, I'd say total time would be about 3 hours as we'd both know what to do...

-V

btw, the crank pulley is a kinda pain to pull off