Page 1 of 1

The end of my 05 timing chain story

Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2020 1:57 pm
by twinblown
About a month ago and at 257,000 miles my timing chain tensioner shoes finally gave way and really got very loud. I drove about 15 miles home and parked it. Called dealer and they gave me an estimate for a complete chain kit replacement so I said ok. Drove the car there another 15 miles being afraid it might explode but I made it. Since it was there I also thought it would be a good time to have the valve cover gaskets replaced on both sides since they had been leaking for a long time. While all this is going on I get a phone call from the dealer and the advisor tells me that while the tech was removing the cam sprockets to install new ones they noticed one camshaft broken and only being held by the center bolt, also a secondary cam had a crack on it. I was like WHAT!! How’s that even being possible? Maybe they did it? ... Tech said this pathy was the worst condition one he had ever seen a timing chain be in; shoes completely worn, evidence of chain slapping and could not believe how the car was even still running with broken and cracked cams, lol. So now all four cams need to be replaced since Nissan only sells as a set......Bummer!
A month goes by and they call saying its ready …I am not pleased this job took so long!
This is all they replaced:
-Complete timing chain kit
-Water pump
-Thermostat
-All four cams
-Valve cover gaskets
-serpentine belt
So now the Pathy is running again and hopely ready for another quarter million miles, lol. I do have to go back for the idler pulley and clutch fan bracket replacement since that was my agreement with the advisor and they did not change them. And now for the shocker bill ,a whopping $3,500 …….guess I’m going to keep her a while longer and fix the small things and do some maintaince items I need to do like replace the diff oil which I have never done . Truck is been with me since new.

Re: The end of my 05 timing chain story

Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2020 6:18 pm
by smj999smj
In hindsight and with that many miles, you may have been better off getting a used engine with low miles rather than repairing the old, especially since Nissan used that same VQ40DE with almost no changes to it in Frontiers up to 2019 and up to the last year of the Xterra, Suzuki Equator and R51 Pathfinder. It sounds like those tensioner faces were worn out for a long time before you got around to changing them out, so that likely resulted in a lot of stress on the cams when it go to that point. Luckily you didn't have the chains jump timing and bend the valves and damage the pistons, because I have seen that occur on these engines due to the upper chain and tensioner face issue not being addressed in time. At least you're back on the road, again!

Re: The end of my 05 timing chain story

Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2020 7:06 am
by palmerwmd
A lot cheaper than a buying another vehicle!
Thats for sure! :D

Re: The end of my 05 timing chain story

Posted: Fri Dec 18, 2020 5:25 pm
by twinblown
Indeed it is. I did not want to get into a car payment for 4-5 years again. :lol:

Re: The end of my 05 timing chain story

Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2021 1:32 pm
by NWPathfinder
At least it didn't leave you stranded and now you'll know. I always wonder that if mine get's bad, would I pull the engine and do a full tear out on it???

Hard to swallow that pill but, it must feel like a brand new engine again!

Re: The end of my 05 timing chain story

Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2021 6:47 pm
by palmerwmd
A quarter million miles is nothing to sneeze at.