Going to be doing a waterpump replacement soon and I'm planning on
moving the power steering res. and removing the right engine mount
for more working room to access the tensioner. Can I just remove the
engine mount and rely on the other mounts to support it or must I
place a floor jack under to help support it??

 

You're on the right track by removing the engine mount but you will have to take the tension off it by placing a floor jack under it to remove it. The floor jack will then support this side while your chnaging your h20 pump.

 

^^ he's got it.

 

I sent this to one of the moderators, but I thought you might want this. Just make sure you get everything right when you put it back together. I didn't and now I'm paying a shop to get it right. It was a pretty difficult task for me, but I was in over my head anyway.

http://www.asashop.org/autoinc/jan2001/techtips.htm


Timing Chain Being Off One Tooth
Can Cause Ignition Coils Not to Fire

Posted 1/16/2001By Paul Kujawa


“Since the problem occurred right after the water pump was replaced, I wondered if the camshaft and crankshaft position sensor signals were out of phase with each other, since the timing chain must be taken off to replace the water pump.”


Vehicle: 1996 Nissan Maxima. VQ30DE
Symptom: Misfires. No spark from the coils for cylinders No. 2 and No. 3. The cam timing is off a tooth.
The problem began with a leaking water pump. After the water pump was replaced, ignition coils No. 2 and No. 3 did not fire.
This Nissan's engine is equipped with a distributorless ignition system (DIS), with a separate power transistor mounted with each one of the six coils. This gives each cylinder one coil and one power transistor. A separate signal from the powertrain control module (PCM) to the base of each of the power transistors turns the power transistors on and off. The power transistors pulse coil negative to ground, based on those signals from the computer.
The technician verified that the signals from the PCM to the base of the power transistors for the other four working cylinders were good. He found no signal from the PCM to the base of the power transistors for cylinders No. 2 and No. 3 at the power transistors. The harness was checked for opens and shorts between the computer and those two coils' power transistors. The signals at the PCM were checked as well. The technician tried running new wires between the PCM and the power transistors, and also tried new coil/power transistor assemblies for those two cylinders, as well as a used PCM. There were still no signals from the PCM to the base of those two power transistors. The camshaft position sensor (phase) and crankshaft position sensor (reference) signals were both scope-checked and had nice, consistent sine wave type patterns with proper amplitude for both signals.
Since the problem occurred right after the water pump was replaced, I wondered if the camshaft and crankshaft position sensor signals were out of phase with each other, since the timing chain must be taken off to replace the water pump. This engine has a main timing chain and two camshaft timing chains. The camshaft timing chains go around the smaller intake and exhaust camshaft sprockets. The main timing chain goes around the crankshaft sprocket, and then up around two larger camshaft sprockets that mount on the end of the intake camshafts, outside of the smaller intake camshaft sprockets that the camshaft timing chains go around. The main timing chain is the one that needs to be removed to replace the water pump.
When I asked the technician to check the engine mechanical cam timing, he found the timing chain was off one tooth. He corrected the cam timing and the two coils started firing once again.
So if you get a couple of coils with no spark and there are no signals to the base of their power transistors, make sure the timing chain is not off a tooth. Paul Kujawa is an IDENTIFIX Asian specialist. He is ASE master and L1 certified with 24 years of diagnostic and repair experience

 

he's right

 

dam dat was really helpful and a good article. Thanks also

 

I believe I read that the timing chain doesn't need to be removed to do the waterpump as long as you aren't replacing the timing chain tensioner with the new updated one since it has a new chain guide.

 

true. . .

 

Have yet to run into anyone that hasn't had to remove the tensioner

 

I know very late on this thread, bumped into it looking for answers on how to remove the power steering pump.

I thought I would introduce myself to Machinehead, hello sir I have didn't have to remove the tensioner when I replaced my water pump. I did however remove the cover and placed a pin in it to relax the timing chain in order to remove the chain from the water pump. Good to meet ya