Ok, I've always worked with timing belts but never a timing chain. well I need someone to help guide me through changing my water pump gasket. i had a leaky radiator cap and i replaced it and i had a LOT of pressure on my hoses and i suppose thats good compared to before. and now leaking from water pump area.


I wanted to ask you guys how hard is it really to change? my friend said it is hard and took him 3 days.


Thanks guys,

 

It's not that hard. It should not take you 3 days to do, unless you're only dedicating about 40 minutes per day. You should have it done in a few hours. It's a pain to work on because of the limited space.

 

ya, i see the limited space. but i was thinking of taking off the k member and unbolting the side motor mounts and slide the motor either up or down for more space.

it looks hard. the only part im worried about is me setting the timing back when im done. ive never done timing chains.

 

First off, you cant really go down to get to the WP. Would need to up with the motor if you remover the cross member.

Second, The trick I used (if the motor stopped close enough, mine did) was to set it to TDC, (insert necessary steps), Push in plunger on tensionser, rotate crank counter clockwise, R&R water pump, reset crank to TDC by turning back clockwise, release tensioner, reassemble, run engine to purge air from tensioner, Done.

Just my .02 and my luck really since the engine stopped fairly close to TDC

 

sounds hard but fun. i really am excited about tackling this job. it looks fun to me. i just really hop the timing marks are easy.

 

what i did was jam the tensior, then unbolt it and the water pump. put everything back, released the chain tensior, and started the car. there was a alarming loud noise for about 3-5 min, then it went away

 

sounds easy ^^^^. should i just change gasket or the pump and gasket?

 

why go through all that trouble and not change the pump you will kick yourself in the *** if you dont change the pump and it starts to leak in a couple of months

 

Seems like it would be worth it to just swap out all the necessary maintenance parts like the water pump. Any idea on what it typically costs to have this job done at a shop?

 

Call Dave Burnette at South Pointe Nissan, 1-888-254-6060. Great guy. Tell him you need everything to do a water pump R&R. It would be strongly encouraged to replace the tensioner as well (you may not even be able to push the plunger back in if it is the original one)

 

Should i change the timing chains? if not then should i at least change the Tensioner ? or should all be good only water pump?

 

I followed the FSM and it took me about an hour... its not as bad as people make it sound. just make sure you dont throw the timing off and you'll be alright. Oh and if you're gonna go through the trouble of pulling the water pump to replace 2 large orings you might as well replace the whole pump but that's just me..

 

yea, im gonna put new pump n all in it. im kinda nervious about doin it after reading this link lol. Im gonna tackle it tho next few days. the question right now is how do i loosen the timing chain once i take off the timing chain front cover? do i just take the two 8mm bolts out and pull out water pump? or does chain need to be loosened?

http://forums.maxima.org/4th-generat...es-manual.html

 

Don't even bother with Haynes or chilton as they both suck ***. Get the actual fsm. You can download it from pmohr's profile on here. Fsm tells you how to : )

 

I can find pmohr's profile. i searched. can u link me to it?

 

Looks like they may be down for now, here's the link; give it a shot and if you can't get it. IM me on AIM and I can send it your way