The Nissan Path

Alrighty.... time's a wasting. Need to get started.

I have a friend who works as a service tech coming to help me but I don't know what his schedule is or when he's actually going to be swinging by and I need to at the very least get the ball rolling.

Good news is I have two days to do this (today & tomorrow are my days off) and worst case scenario I can borrow a car to get to work and back until it's finished.

Current supplies: all my tools and a timing chain replacement kit purchased off Rock Auto (http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinf ... 473&jpid=1)

Is that pretty much everything I need? And oil, I assume? Haven't found any service manual or walk-through videos for this.

Help me out, guys. What do I need to know? All I really got to go on is this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGecQ0-wrsA

Wow, that's a big one to take on at home. Keep the thread updated and take some pics or notes if you can.

Good luck!

I plan on doing this at some point myself (probably when it cools down a little bit).

Here is the link I saved for information:

http://x.nissanhelp.com/forums/frontier ... epair.html

Would appreciate an update/tips you have when you complete your project, I'm a little nervous myself

I think some research in to the special tools required is in order. Someone on the forum had them for sale a while ago IIRC.

Thanks.

Luckily I got a service tech buddy of mine coming over today. We did a double motor swap in his driveway back in the day.

At the time he had a Subaru Impreza L wagon with a 2.2l

His dad had a Subaru Legacy wagon with a 2.5l

His dad went on vacation.

You do the math.

Be strong man. Be strong.

Look up the TSB for the upper timing chain noise in the knowledge base at NissanHelp.com. It'll have you everything you need to know about doing the job and has pictures and torque specs. You'll need the ring gear tool unless you plan on removing the upper plenum and valve covers. You'll also need sealant; I would highly recommend Permatex ultra grey 82195 for use in a caulk gun. I would also recommend you torque the tensioner and guide bolts, which is around 80 inch pounds +/-. Whoever did mine before I got it must have over-tightened it and the primary tensioner bolt broke while I was driving it. Fortunately, the chain only got loose, but didn't jump.

Please take pictures or videos of your steps!

check out the Youtube videos:

Search this on Youtube:

2005 Nissan Frontier (VQ40DE) timing chain replacement"

Sorry, didn't take any vid along the way. Snapped a couple pics but nothing you can't find on the net already.

It's almost back together, but I'm sorta kinda fucked... both of the power steering pump mounting holes on the front of the motor are stripped. I'm going to have to tap/helicoil one and tap the other & get a larger bolt. No idea where the Fack I'm gonna find that.

Luckily I have a friend who's a technician coming by tonight.

Of course it's raining out and will be ALL FRIGGIN DAY but at least I have a 10' x 10' ez-up.

Jesus... 10 friggin days later (8 days of wrenching my ass off) and it's finally back together and running smooth. Only issue is a slightly high idle (~900rpm instead of 650-750) after cleaning the throttle body. Hopefully the idle re-learn works for me.

I had a road block at about every.. single... step of the process. No special tools meant some extra work (mainly not having the tool to hold the flex plate in place to keep the engine from turning). I also didn't do enough reading & didn't have proper, knowledgeable help for most of the project, so I ended up doing a lot more wrenching and disassembly than necessary. Now that I know what the hell I'm doing, I could EASILY do this job in 3 days or less if I had to do it over again.

Not only that, but both of the power steering pump bolts on the front of the engine were STRIPPED, so I had to deal with that...

So glad this massive headache is over (so long as the high idle gets resolved easily. I know some people have had complications).

Lessons learned the hard way:
1 - LISTEN TO THE TSB AND ORDER OEM PARTS!!! I bought a kit from rockauto (linked in my op) that had more parts than I needed, which probably cost me more than if I had just gotten the OEM parts. In the end, I still needed to go to the dealership & pick up a couple of OEM bits.
2 - You DON'T need to remove the friggin starter to get to the flex plate. There's a damn access panel on the transmission.
3 - Sort and label the damn bolts you take out.
4 - Good friends are hard to come by. When you find them, make sure to keep them.

Appreciate the update and advice!

Can you describe the emotions you were feeling as your turned the key over for the first time and heard that motor come to life with no annoying whine with it? lol

azaizai wrote:Can you describe the emotions you were feeling as your turned the key over for the first time and heard that motor come to life with no annoying whine with it? lol

Oh.... dude.... you can not even BEGIN TO FATHOM how STRESSED OUT I was as I put those keys in the ignition.... and how RELIEVED AND ELATED I was as it roared to life and the oil pressure came up.

I don't think I've ever felt a rollercoaster of emotion like that in my life