Hey guys. Got a question.

I was going down the road and the motor died, did not sputter or anything, just bam, it's dead.... So I towed it home and took a look...

I pulled the distributor cap off and turned the motor, the motor only turns a little before the starter backs off and freespins, but I can see the accessory belts move, so the crank is turning, but the rotor is NOT. I think the bearings siezed up in the Dist. and thats the problem.

Pulled the codes off the ECM but it was just "44", meaning no codes.. So I think maby I accidentally deleted them, I don't know.

How do I install a distributor? I have the FSM but it fell apart and in a million pages and I have no idea where those pages are...

I know you need to put the motor at TDC, when I have not done on this motor, but I would GUESS that there is a mark on the block(oil pump housing) and on the timing sprocket that line up like on other cars. Once that is done, then what needs to be done?

I am gonna go run to the junkyard and get a distributor since a new one at autozone is 250 bucks... Just trying to decide if I should just drop the car off at the local shop and let the 'pro's' do this, or just do it myself.

 

TIMING BELT!!!

 

The text isn't big enough. Please make it bigger since you haven't quite emphasized your point yet.

S

 

Like Niku said, it's most likely your timing belt. Which , sorry to tell you, sucks. #1 cause of a VG dying is neglecting to replace the timing belt. Hopefully you don't have too many bent valves, and you should change your water pump too while your in there. Which reminds me, did you ever get to changing yours yet, Sarin?

 

Are you serious? Hmm, is there any way to peek through to see for sure without removing much of the shroud that covers the tbelt up?

Because this is the exact same thing that happened when the distributor went out last year.... Just died, and was doing this same no start sounds...

 

well if mine hadnt done the same thing about a month ago and cost about $2000 i would have had a whole new suspension and breaks by now so get crackin..

about how fast were you goin when it just went pfft?

 

i was probably in decel, going down a hill actually, but if i was accelerating, it was a very low throttle %

edit: wow, if the shop says its the tbelt, and it costs anywhere near what your saying to fix it, even 1/2 of that... then I will have a car to part out very soon.

 

You could be lucky enough to not have any bent valves depending on the rpm range you were at. I would say since you are on the dist. and it has happened before check that if nothing happens after that then its the timing belt.

 

I haven't yet Wylie....I gotta get that done. Bet then again, if it breaks, it's good incentive for me to put in a VG30ET

S

 

I took the 3 top bolts out of the 'shroud' or case or whatever you call it that encases the t'belt, bent it back and looked at the tbelt, the teeth are in sync on both cam gears, and I pushed in the middle and it seemed to have plenty of tension on it. Gonna just let the shop check it out tuesday and check the distributor.

 

Alas, let this be a lesson to us all to check our belts. Especially the one that prevents mechanical collision at 3000 times a minute..... An ounce of prevention was never a better motto in this situation. Bummer!

 

Hmm, did you check to see if the bolt that holds the rotor inplace didn't come out? Can you spin the rotor freely with your hand?

S

 

the rotor screw was a common issue in my max the last few weeks before I did my timing belt. the jump in timing was enough to cause the screw to vibrate and back itself out. it probably took about 4 miles of driving to get the screw to back itself out completely and stall the engine. I just kept a screwdriver and an 8mm with me until I parked it for the weekend and did the timing belt. after that, adjusted the timing and kazam, never happened again.

Dan

ps. sorry to hear about your loss. I wish people were more aware that these things need service every 60k.

 

Yes, the bolt is still holding the rotor in place. And no, I can not turn it by hand, gently atleast, didnt try to force it.

Yes, I know all about maintiance routines, but this little lady is my forgotten stepchild at the moment.. lol, I am a full time student, with very little $$, and we have had this car since it was new in 87', we used to always keep up with maintiance, but been slacking lately unless something breaks :/

 

yeah, you really can't use the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" philosophy with cars. or at least you can't for regular maintenance stuff. AND A TIMING BELT IS REGULAR MAINTENANCE! cars are not maintenance free! every now and then I'll come across someone who has an old foreign car, some kid in a civic or whatever, and I'll ask how may miles are on his timing belt, and I get this blank stare like the deer in the hi-beams. and I say to myself... that car's days are numbered. my belief is if you don't know how old your timing belt is, replace it, or at least check it out, just for moral comfort and satisfaction.

I knew a person who had a 76 monte carlo with a 305. it had a slight oil leak (a SLIGHT oil leak, that you'd expect with any old car) and he'd wait until the oil pressure light came on to add oil. he'd have to add 4 quarts at a time. and he never replaced his brakes when they squealed. he finally did when he was driving along, stopped, and noticed that the car didn't go any more. his calipers had actually WELDED themselves to the rotors. talk about lacking maintenance! I still get a good laugh outta that one.

 

My wife think's I'm on the other end of this spectrum...

She would say that I do way too much maintenance to our cars.

She says I spend too much time/money on all of our cars.

I say "better have and not need than to need and not have"!

But she sure likes it when it's 20 degrees below zero and even
though the little Max sits outside, she fires right up in a blink of
an eye!

Scott

 

hehe, mine did that, even through the brute of winter it sat in front of my house in need of a clutch, and was barely even run at all. I'd go out there and as soon as I turned the key it fired up. at one point it sat for 2 months in the cold while I did no more than look at it. then the day the tow truck was on its way to take her to the shop for the clutch, I went out, turned the key and bam! battery wasn't even dead. the starter rarely had to crank the engine. it'd only spin one revolution before the engine started. I liked bragging to my GM-driving friends about it.

Dan

 

My Max survived Rochester/Buffalo winters with the bad AAV. It did freeze a thermostat and need new cooling hoses (less than $100 repair at the mechanic), but ain't bad huh? We had good times doing drifts at 50mph. Fish-tailing at opposite lock, 90-degree slip angles. It's not everyday you wish for wipers on the side windows. Ah those were the days. The Max is so well balanced I didn't always even need the handbrake. Haha, one time I busted a 180 with my dad in the car. I was like, "Check this out!" His one hand went for the dash, the other for the grab handle above the window, and is face turned whiter than the snow.

Heh, sorry this has nothing to do with the original thread, but those were some good times....

 

that reminds me of this time last year, 2 nights after a snow storm. My friend and I were headed up this road which dead ends up at the top of a mountain where there's a radar tower. The pull-off at the dead end overlooks the susquehanna river and Harrisburg Intl Airport. This popular spot was called lookout mountain. and I'm sure anyone can guess which activities go on there. well we were headed up that way to shoot the sh*t and get some pictures of the snow over the mountain. I was too busy talking while I crested the hill and wasn't paying attention to the road. I looked in front and noticed that the road went to my left and downhill was almost in front of me. After a loud obscenity I jammed on the brake and cut the wheel over as far as it could go. by some unknown stroke of luck, I managed to make the curve and skim the outer edge of the road for about 15 or 20 feet, and then the front wheels grabbed traction and threw my a*s end around in a 180, where I lunged forward cos the car stalled (didn't have the clutch in) and managed to touch the front of the car up against the snowbank. I escaped a wreck that would have killed 2 19-year-olds, stayed perfectly on the road, swung a complete 180, and bumped into a snowbank all without a scratch to my maxima.

with our pants wet and stained, we both looked at the snowbank in front of us. no lie, my very first word after that was "COOL!!!"

started her up, backed out of the snow, and took off back downhill like nothing ever happened.

and then there's all the times with my 4WD blazer... the snow... the fields...

I know, I know, but I'm sure there are more experiences coming after this one.

Dan

 

i wish mine would do that when its ~60 degrees out side...i think air is getting into my fuel lines at the bottom of the filter and causeing pressure loss when it sits for a while though but not enough to leak while its running if that makes sence.


any way back on topic:
heres a good deal on something your gonna need....

a Head Gasket set for $140

pretty good deal how ever the set does not some with some sort of water system gasket, i cant rember which one but its cheap if the garage you take it to hgas to buy it. i used this set when my timing belt broke it has almost everything and will say you a chunk of cash (was quoted over $300 for a set) and no matter how fast you were going to bent a valve no matter what, i was doing less than 25Mph and i bent 5 valves.....they are aluminum so theyre gonna bend easily

 

Well, BAD NEWS. The max is dead. It was the t-belt that broke the shop says. I opened up the top of the shroud that surrounds the t-belt and the t belt was on the cam gears, but i guess it broke lower or something, i dunno, but thats what they said...

They said they could do a leak down test for 120 bucks to tell me if the head is damaged. Or 250 bucks to just put a new belt on, put it back in time, and see if she runs, and if she does, finish the job for more $$ or quit there and not put it back together. They said if there is head damage it would be 14-1500 to fix it.

What do you all think I should do? Do you suspect valve damage? Is it worth doing the leak down, or just find another car?

 

Any of the valves that were open when it broke would have been hit by a piston, so the odds of none of them being bent are pretty slim. I would price out some options like a set of used heads, or even an engine. Used VG's up here are only around $500 CAD.

 

Hmm, well.. I might look into that, but chances are I will just part it out. It needs some front suspension work cause it eats the inner wall of tires every few months, needs cat-back and muffler, and various other things, etc...

 

Keep us posted on what you decide. There are some parts I'd like to get my hands on (AAV?) But good luck, hope it all works out.

 

i could use an EGR....as long as your didnt knock when it warmed up

 

$250? Wonder why my shop is trying to charge me $500 for the the t-belt change...

 

500? maybe they were gonna do the water pump and cam/crank seals, tensioner, every other belt, etc, basically the whole works. a reputable garage near me was gonna do the whole works for about 450. but I did it myself. wasn't that bad.

Dan

 

My mechanic wants 500, I believe NOT including the pump. They're good there, but 500 is a lot...If it were less I'd of done it by now.

 

wow, that's awful steep.

forgive me for forgetting, but was it your engine that was FUBAR or was it somebody else? this thread just keeps getting longer and further off topic that I forget who initially had the problem.

have you looked into doing the job yourself? it's really not that hard. total supplies (belt, water pump, seals) ran me I think around $90, but I COULD be wrong. that was over a year ago. and with a decent amount of motivation, I could have gotten it done in a day. and all I had was a set of tools and the guidance of the FSM.

Dan

 

The local dealer charged me a little over $600 to do mine (the Nova
needed a new clutch and the Maxima's water pump was bad at the
same time - I did the clutch, and the dealer did the pump/belt).

They did the cam/crank seals, tensioner, CHTS + harness, pump,
and T belt for that amount + a one year/12K warranty... not too
bad really.

But the Maxima has an interference engine, meaning if the belt breaks,
there are parts (valves & pistons) that will collide.

Good luck with your decision!

Scott

 

i know that for a fact:

$2000 to replace all the broekn parts belts, water pump gaskets that you cant reuse and some machine shop work to go over the heads real quick....i saved a few bucks by buying my own belts, timing belt kit, water pump and head gasket set but it was still $1800 when they were done and i have a few other non related things i need fixed

 

Heh, ya this is becoming an all-purpose thread.
But anyway I've thought about doing it, but I don't really have any tools (read: $4 ratchet set) and I haven't done any repairs on it myself so far. So to say I'm reluctant to attempt such a repair is a sizeable understatement.
Overall, my motor is in decent shape. It leaks some oil, but doesn't burn any. I need to fix the AAV. Just about a week ago, the PS system started acting up real bad so I'm gonna have that looked at. But overall it's a strong runner. And it's definitely faster than the stripped Ford Ranger I drive at work. haha

 

prolly cos that ranger has the 1.9L 4-cylinder mazda engine, Built Ford Tough!

ps, don't feel bad, at my job we have one of those, and an S-10 with a "2.2L vortec"... I'm tryin to figure that out...

Dan
-------------

 

I don't know about you, but I've never seen one 1.9l ranger out there. Most of them are 2.3 or 2.5 for the I-4's.

S

 

The Ranger I drive is actually a 2.4, IIRC. It can actually haul a surprising amount of stuff (1000+lbs of Oil Dri). But with power nothing, no tape player, let alone a CD deck, I'd take the Max anyday. The one I drive is an '03 with less than 9k miles on it, and the engine loudly knocks on occasion.
I know this is WAAAAAY off topic by now but this forum is so slow, I don't think anybody cares anymore.

 

I think you're right, the rangers had the 2.3s. some of the s-10s had the 1.9L isuzu engine. I got it backwards.

can you say ?

Dan

 

i've seen a couple...very striped down base model RWD only i think....i see lots of different things where i work

 

hey turboast, it could be worse, you could be drivin one of them volkswagen pickups!

I'm sorry for contributing to the general misdirection of this thread. somebody needs to rename it to "fair game".

Dan

 

Well mine fell into the Ohio River and sat there for 10 days while I saved the money to rescue it. I gave the diver my keys and he went down 10 feet and started it and drove it out. By then, the river had frozen and he had to bust the ice to get it out. Just kidding......