Well today i figured it was time to do my timing belt. its lasted me 135k hard miles, and yes that is 30k overdue. so its time to do something for my truck. Brand new water pump, timing belt, tensioner, and thermostat from Nissan.
start by removing the breather tube that goes from bank 1/2 to the intake. remove the fan and loosen nuts that hold on the fan clutch to the pulley while the belt is still on. remove brackets that hold the radiator in then pull off all 3 belts. Set the crank pulley to the TDC marking and pull off using a puller. the pulley is very easily damaged so be careful. you can see the puller in the bottom of the pic
remove the 3 12mm bolts from the thermostat housing. pull the old thermostat out and scrape off all of the old RTV. mine was not bad but this is the best time to do it.
Remove the 2 timing belt covers and keep the bolts in a clockwise order, some are different lengths and it is easier to keep track this way. make sure the marks on the cams are facing upwards like in the pics, if not you will have to rotate the crank 360* to get the cams to turn 180*(i got lucky and they were at the right position). loosen the tensioner bolt then pull off the belt. remove the spring off the old tensioner or install new one onto the new tensioner.
Now, remove water pump. Again, keep bolts in a clockwise manner to help with the order. scrape off all of the remaining gasket on the block(it is a pain!!!). having a whiz wheel helps a lot on this step. apply a thin layer of Grey RTV to the water pump side of the gasket and install the pump itself.
now install the tensioner and spring onto the stud. slide timing belt onto the gears keeping the marks lined up like in the picture. install new thermostat and apply Grey RTV to the housing, no gasket is needed. your hose should come off, mine was stuck on so we just worked around it.
Reinstall the timing belt covers and crank pulley, keep an eye on the half moon key on the crank so it stays in.
Start putting the pulley brackets back on to the motor and reinstalling belts. put the fan/clutch back on, the rad back in, tighten hoses, and reconnect the breather tube to the intake.
All done now fill the radiator back up with coolant and start it back up. bleed the coolant system out and them your all done.
Random Pics:
135000 miles of wear on the belt, sorry couldn't get a pic to not be blurry guess it was too close
Your truck probably stands a good 1ft above stock SE with 16 in tires. I find it a pain to work on as I'm about 5'8. Seems like I am always using a step stool for mine. Can't imagine what yours would be like. Maybe I might be able to get to the radiator cap, but probably couldn't see inside it.
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2003 silver CC LB V6 SE non-s, leather, SPAL e-fan controller, nismo wheels, bed extender, alarm, e-fan, Nismo CAI, sunroof, nerf bars, knock sensor mod, interior courtesy lights, Rockford Fosgate Audio, oem trailer harness, Nismo CAT-Back, *My Best truck mod* children seats in rear.
Your truck probably stands a good 1ft above stock SE with 16 in tires. I find it a pain to work on as I'm about 5'8. Seems like I am always using a step stool for mine. Can't imagine what yours would be like. Maybe I might be able to get to the radiator cap, but probably couldn't see inside it.
haha well I'm 6'2" so the reach ain't too bad for me how it sat. doing the lower stuff wasn't the funnest though.
the job at nissan pays for 7 labor hours. it took me about 5 start to finish but i aslo stopped for over an hour while waiting for fronty2wd to get off of work, gotta love air tools! the job isn't very hard just very involved and intimidating. i just wish i got a pic of the block without the water pump on it or anything.
Good job on the write up bro. This is something just about anyone can do. The only special tool you need is the crank pulley removal tool. It is commercially available and a lot of parts stores will rent them to you. The trick though is finding the bolts to fit in the two holes in the crank pulley and still be long enough to go through the puller. The bolts are 6mm x1.25 thread pitch and i believe they are 80mm long. Do not attempt to use a jaw style puller on the crank pulley. It is cast material so it chips easily... also the pulley on the 3.3 is two pieces, if you try to pull on the outer edge of the pulley you will seperate the rubber holding the inner and outer pulley together. SO USE THE CORRECT PULLER i know this from experience. Also like mudpunisher said it sucks cleaning the water pump gasket off the block. I recommend a scraper with replaceable razors. then once you think you have it all off you can use a whiz wheel (nice technical name) to polish the surface up so that you can be sure you got all of the gasket off or you can get some emery cloth and clean it up by hand which is going to take a little time but well worth saving your self 500+ dollars in labor. The only other thing i can think of is you will need a 1 1/16th socket for the crank pulley bolt. I recommend an impact wrench for the job or a big breaker bar and someone to counter it with a strap wrench around the outer diameter of the pulley.
If anyone has any questions feel free to pm me(i'm not on here real often anymore)
X2 ON A STICKY FOR THIS THREAD
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Pretty much stock.
The Following User Says Thank You to fronty2wd For This Useful Post:
Didn't you need a belt tensioning tool? I think that's what it's called... it costs like $600? The guy I had doing my belt had to abort mid way through because he said he absolutely needed this tool.
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2002 XE 2wd, 130000k miles, torsion bar removal mod
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