The Nissan Path

I’m going to tackle the timing belt job next weekend. I believe I have got all the components for a complete timing belt change job. This includes timing belt, tensioner and tensioner spring, water pump, front crankshaft and camshaft seals, bypass hose. I went ahead and got upper and lower radiator hoses and new serpentine belts, Thermostat, RTV high temp silicone gasket maker, some antifreeze.

First question: Is there anything I’m missing?

Second question: is there any way I can remove the timing belt without having to remove the AC coolant hose?? It’s basically right in front of the upper timing belt cover... I was thinking I can “shimmy†the cover around the AC hose?

THANK YOU FOR READING AND THE HELP!

You must have an early R50...around 96-97 I'm guessing? On the first couple of years of the R50, Nissan had the A/C pipe right in front of the timing belt cover (dumb design) and after a couple of years, they designed it so that it was out of the way. If you have the earlier style, the refrigerant has to be evacuated and then the A/C line needs to be disconnected and moved out of the way in order to get the timing belt cover off.

Yeah it’s an older model with a dumb design... 1998 I will call around for quotes to see how much they’ll evacuate my ac lines. Thank you for the reply!!!

Not necessarily. I think the standard practice is to gently lever it up out of the way. That was what was done on mine, but your car your risk.

Okay if you did yours with no damage to the AC hose then that gives me confidence in the job. Either way I will get it done, just removing all the Freon and replacing it is a bit more costly and I was trying to avoid those costs... I’m going to do the job next Sunday I will post the results. Thanks for the reply!! [/u]

While I remember, if you have the original radiator you might want to swap it out. I put in a $90 denso one. The top pipe on the original literally crumbled away when I attached the upper hose. Still, at least it died empty in my garage.