So the timing belt in my p-finder went out at about 150,000. I'm swapping that out and the technicians manual says i need to remove the rocker arm covers, however, in order to unscrew my last screw in the right side cover, the distributor needs to be removed.
My problem is that I see no way to remove the distributor. All of the bolts have virtually no room to loosen. Is there a better way to get this off?
Please help,
23 year-old DIY'er
92 pathfinder V6 timing belt replacement hang-up
Re: 92 pathfinder V6 timing belt replacement hang-up (adamAH64)
I don't think you have to remove the valve covers for that timing belt. The motor is the VG30 or 33. Just pull the fan shroud, fan, radiator, drive belts, a/c compressor idler pulley bracket and the harmonic balancer (pretty much in that order) then the timing cover (upper and lower) is right there. Good luck
Re: 92 pathfinder V6 timing belt replacement hang-up (carmo)
Carmo,
The book told me that I had to remove them to loosen the rocker rods, but i was able to get that last valve cover screw out with a pair of needle nose pliers. That being said, I took off everything and replaced the belt. I also replaced my water pump while i was down there. Which brings me to my next issue:
I put everything back together in the correct order and lined all of the dots on the sprockets with the marks on the housings and the marks on the belt. I reinstalled all of the belts and pulleys and housing timing covers and it wont start.
I have confirmed that I have my number 1 piston in the TDC position with the rotor in the correct position. I have also confirmed that I have spark at the right time and I can even smell the gas coming from the tail pipe.
On a side note, when installed the new timing belt, the marks lined up, but after a few test hand rotations, the marks were off by one on each sprocket. I figured it didn't matter because they were proportionally off equally.
Now I'm stuck and frustrated.
Regards,The stationary man
The book told me that I had to remove them to loosen the rocker rods, but i was able to get that last valve cover screw out with a pair of needle nose pliers. That being said, I took off everything and replaced the belt. I also replaced my water pump while i was down there. Which brings me to my next issue:
I put everything back together in the correct order and lined all of the dots on the sprockets with the marks on the housings and the marks on the belt. I reinstalled all of the belts and pulleys and housing timing covers and it wont start.
I have confirmed that I have my number 1 piston in the TDC position with the rotor in the correct position. I have also confirmed that I have spark at the right time and I can even smell the gas coming from the tail pipe.
On a side note, when installed the new timing belt, the marks lined up, but after a few test hand rotations, the marks were off by one on each sprocket. I figured it didn't matter because they were proportionally off equally.
Now I'm stuck and frustrated.
Regards,The stationary man
Re: 92 pathfinder V6 timing belt replacement hang-up (adamAH64)
After you install the timing belt and give it a couple of test rotations, the belt almost never lines back up again. So, your good there. You shouldn't have had to take the distributor out so ignition timing should still be good. I wonder if you left something disconnected. You have spark and you have fuel, the only thing left is compression. Also you may have soaked the plugs in gas now too, and that will hinder spark for sure. Was the truck running before or did the timing belt break and bend half of the valves causing you to not have any compression? Goodluck and keep me posted.