[mudpunisher]

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

 

[joefrontier2]

I liked the 3 pic from the bottom.

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.

 

[adorsey]

Damn. No wonder it costs so much to get those changed my a mechanic.

 

[XE_KING]

I need to do mine soon...not looking fwd to it!

 

[pcar993]

Wow, thats awesome!! Nice job with the pics!!

 

[XE_KING]

Sticky?? please

 

[adorsey]

I have 91k on mine so the time is coming for mine also. I think i'm going to pay someone instead of trying myself.

 

[mudpunisher]

I liked the 3 pic from the bottom.

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.

 

[fronty2wd]

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

 

[punter23]

Special tools-

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.

 

[Abmobil]

Since we cant tell from the pic, How did the belt look with 135k on it?
Did it like it was on its last leg or was there usable life left in it?

 

[TheOregonFront]

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
...

hey man, my 03 needs a new water pump. the shaft must have gotten bent in the wreck because my fans wobbling like a mofo. how hard was it to put on? anyway i just rolled up on 121000 miles and i was wondering if i needed to do my t belt too.

 

[mrgrayaz]

should be done at 105k.

OP make the pics smaller will ya. They will be more usefull that way.

 

[mudpunisher]

Inyourface1650
should be done at 105k.

OP make the pics smaller will ya. They will be more usefull that way.

yeah no problem i didnt realize how big they were haha

punter23
Special tools-
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.

no none needed, just a 14mm(iirc) socket or wrench to tighten the tensioner.

B-Rock
hey man, my 03 needs a new water pump. the shaft must have gotten bent in the wreck because my fans wobbling like a mofo. how hard was it to put on? anyway i just rolled up on 121000 miles and i was wondering if i needed to do my t belt too.

you sure its not just the aluminum part that bolts to the fan then the water pump? if not, its not really hard at all just take your time and the old gasket is a pain to get off!!! and yeah your belt was due 16k ago.

Abmobil
Since we cant tell from the pic, How did the belt look with 135k on it?
Did it like it was on its last leg or was there usable life left in it?

prob could have made it to 150k if i wanted to. it didnt look too bad, but it was starting to separate a little at the teeth. if you are leaking oil out of any of the seals or leaking coolant from the water pump, the fluids degrade the belt so its a good idea to do cause my water pump had started to leak

 

[CRDLIBERTY]

cool

Im thinking about doing mine and try and save some money. So is this just a matter of taking fan off,rad out,try and get at timing belt. Did you loc tight water pump,timming belt adjuster

 

[TheOregonFront]

yeah mudpunisher i had already wasted 55 bucks on a new fan clutch assy, so its gotta be the water ump.

 

[joefrontier2]

Just dump the clutch fan and go with the electrical fan.

 

[mudpunisher]

Im thinking about doing mine and try and save some money. So is this just a matter of taking fan off,rad out,try and get at timing belt. Did you loc tight water pump,timing belt adjuster

no its got 4 washers on it, it is not necessary to lock-tight the tensioner.

pics on first page are also fixed, made them much more reasonable, thank you Zero Six LE

 

[XE_KING]

Hey do I need a torque wrench and how many lbs of torque do I need on what bolts?

 

[TwoBills]

Something you guys might want to check when you do your timing belts/water pumps. That's the seal between the goose neck and the block. Mine started leaking there 2 years after I did my belt. I thought it was the bypass hose, but it turned out to be the goose neck gasket. This was harder to repair than the belt replacement and the cost was about the same. Gravy (and cheaper) to do if you're doing your belt.