So while i was pulling the front cover off my 93 q45 to replace the guides i noticed that the oil pump sprocket on the crank wasn't on a key way. the sprocket just spun freely. Is this supposed to be like that? it doesn't seem like there's even a key way for it.. this is my first time doing this and the last thing i want is to starve the motor of oil if the pumps not being turned..

Yep.. That's why the crank pulley requires the proper amount of torque so it will press against that sprocket and turn the oil pump.

Ok good to know. I was worried that when the motor was running the crank wasn't turning the oil pump. Thanks

So did your engine have plastic guides or metal backed ones? There's some debate here on which ones came in the '93.

Heath

Plastic quides. 2 of the guides were broken and fell into the oil pan. Also found that the oil pickup tube had some plastic stuck in it.. It's a real pain it the ars because you have to drop the pan to get the rest of the pieces out. I had to lower the subframe and remove the alternator/ ac compressor bracket . I'd highly consider replacing the guides on anything 93 and older. Although I did hear from other sources that the later model 93's got the upgraded guides. My car is an early model 10/7/92 to be exact . I was lucky enough that my high school auto tech teacher is letting me keep my car on the rack till it's done. It's saving me ALOT of time and money and I'm really learning a lot from this car.

I copied and retitled this thread because I want to make this very searchable. The actual discussion can be found here.

engine-question-t598016.html

There has been a myth propagated on this forum for several years that 1993 Q45s don't have the timing chain guide problem. Now we have proof positive that at least some 1993 Q45s came from the factory with plastic guides.

I think the most accurate statement we can make is that some 1993s had them and some didn't. I also don't think we can rely on VIN ranges... maybe one container of motors got installed in some cars, and some slightly older motors with guides got installed after that. We really don't know what practices Nissan was using 22+ years ago in terms of inventory stream.

This clearly wasn't a big concern to Nissan, since they never publically acknowledged the issue or made any effort to recall affected vehicles.

Heath