2000 3.3L Xterra died and wont start back

[broddam]

k, yesterday my girlfriend was sitting at a redlight in her xterra (which we have not had any problems with) when all of a sudden the truck just died on her. She tried to start it and it would spin over good but just would not fire up.

I got a friend to tow it to the house and I cannot figure out why this thing wont crank. Plenty of gas, by the way. I dont think I have any fire going to the plugs. I loosened one of the wires from the dist. cap and held it just above where it connects and tried to crank it. I would have expected to see a spark jump up to it, but I didnt. Tried another wire same thing. So I thought, well let me look inside the cap. All looked good. While the cap was off, I had her spin the motor to see if the rotor button turned like i thought it would, and its not turning at all. I am correct in thinking this thing should be turning while the motor is trying to start, right?

If thats true, evidently I am not getting power to distributor cap for some reason. I dont have any volt meters to check it out and all the fuses seem to look good, but I am not sure which fuse would be for this. I also tried the self diagnosis codes with the PCM and it listed 0505, which is "no codes found".

Any ieas on what to check or how I can verify if there is or is not pwr going to my distributor?

thx !!

[Big-Bird]

Sounds like a timing belt broke. The distributor is turned by the left side cam shaft ( the 3.3L is a dual can design ).

Timing belts need to be changed every 96,000 miles and they give no warning when they break. Take the top portion of the timing cover off and check the belt.



PS: The 3.3L engine is known as an interference fit motor. The space between the piston and valves is very close and if a valve was open when that piston came up due to the broken belt there is a chance the engine may have a bent valve(s). You won't know unless there is some further checking done. Something to be aware of.

[sinainanloo]

Hey, i now got the same exact problem as you, did you ever figure out if it was the timing belt or not? and if so, how much did it cost you to fix? thanks

[broddam]

Hey, i now got the same exact problem as you, did you ever figure out if it was the timing belt or not? and if so, how much did it cost you to fix? thanks

Yes it was the timing belt. Cost me about 250 I believe. Luckilty it tore nothing else up. From what I have heard, the things are so close together in there that when the timing belt breaks, it can easily bend a push rod or something. Turned out all was ok except for the belt.