new memeber.hello to all fellow nissan owners. I own a 1991 nissan sentra with 245000 miles. started making rattle. took to mechanic and he said 1000 maybe more to replace timing chain etc. I agreed with him not worth that much for that old of a car. however i will be attempting the repair myself. Parts coming for about 150 total. if successful i will maybe get a few more years out of car if not only out 150. my main question is can you change out all the guides and tensioners /chains without pulling the head? i searched this site and it seems i read one thread where you could that had a link however the link wasn't very clear to me on what you had to do. my repair manual says to pull the head but i would sure like to avoid that if possible. we bought this car new and it has been really good. A/C still blows cold with no repairs. still have original starter and alternator. Just been such a good reliable car with great gas milage(5 speed) i hate to give up on it without trying to repair it myself. thanks kevin
well kevin your right about the mechanic trying to charge you 1000 for the repairs,and yes they do sell the tensioner and the giudes for fearly cheap. the bad news is that you have to take off the head,the good news is that its not hard. you just have to take off the cams the timing chain cover and there you go,for good advice get someone to help you that knows what their doing. bcuz there are certan things that has to be removed and replaced. good luck
Kevin, please search some more before you pull the head.
I remember the discussion on removing the head that you asked about.
This was a new service directive from Nissan I believe.
I have not done this myself on the GA yet, but would like to find out what worked for you.
starting to get some hits and encouraging advice. only manual i have is a haynes and it says to remove the head. besides the timing kit i ordered a complete head gasket set which has everything gasket wise. sure would like to avoid pulling the head. i'm paranoid with the engine never ever had a wrench on it i'm afraid of breaking off bolts. speaking of bolts is it ok to reuse the head bolts? seems i read once you should change them. i have a back-up vehicle 1987 camry wagon 206000 miles. hopefully it will stay together till i fix my sentra.
thanks for inputs. kevin
download the FSM that is available here and on phatg20.com
Links here have been intermittent so try Phatg20.com and go to the repository and FSM's
The FSM probably still shows the procedure to remove the head as this is the original service manual.
If I get time I will try and find the old discussion on this.
haven't done the job yet. just got the complete head gasket kit off e-bay and still waiting on the timing chain kit. i did find the post on this site last night where someone only replaced the guides and tensioners and didn't pull the head. use the advanced search and look under user name of: "95 SentraB13". I suppose it depends on how many miles on the car, how well it was maintained and what you find when you start taking it apart. I did finally realize i had a chiltons instead of a haynes manual. i went to a used book store in town and found a haynes maual on my Sentra. it is much better (in my opinion) than a chiltons. several good clear actual photos instead of a few (3) drawings in the chiltons. Anyhow i will not start my project till i have all the parts and may just do the guides and tensioners like 95 SentraB13 did. My motor never has been gone into so i hate to disturb the head. It still runs so good, just the ratlle from the timing chain area. When i do the job i will post what i found and did.
my best kevin
thanks Jon. i thought about going to the local Nissan dealer to see if they would give me that info. Since you don't have to pull the head is it still necessary to bleed the fuel pressure? both the chilton and haynes manuals say to do that, then they both have you pulling the head.
again thanks
my best kevin
Hi, my name is Jon and i work at a Nissan/Hyundai Dealer, and no, you do not have to pull the head to do the timing chain, on the 1.6L
Is this one of those things where you don't have to follow the manual because you can work around it or should you pull the head? Are you saying that pulling the head is only required for the 2.0L engine?
(I've put it into PDF for just the Timing Chain replacement procedure at the above link)
.. that excerpt says that there is not only 1 but 2 timing chains in the 1.6L engine: An UPPER and a LOWER
Without looking at the engine itself I can't say for sure, but it looks like from the instructions that to pull the lower timing chain (which I'm sure you should if you are going to all this trouble) the HEADS WOULD NEED TO COME OFF.
Can someone take a look at that PDF I've provided and let us know if its possible to do the timing chainS without removing the heads and if so HOW? I don't quite understand it myself really. From the diagrams it doesn't look to me like the heads are attached to the timing chains in any way, but again I don't have the engine in front of me.
8 hours total time into this project and i have hit my first snag. i have gotten everything off and have reached the step where it says to remove the lower tensioner. quite a challenge to get those two bolts out, but now i can't break the tensioner free from the side where it's mounted. i have tried tapping around the housing and it won't let go. at this point i thought i would see if the lower timing chain cover would come off. i have the same problem. after 17 years and 247,000 miles is it just stuck that tight? is there some trick the mechanics use to seperate these easily? i even took my water pump completely off because the book said one bolt(or 2) goes into the block. So i'm 99% sure there is nothing mechanically holding it. any help would be appreciated
thanks kevin
yo kevin had somethin similair,just grab a flathead screwdriver and a hammer,and slip the flathead between the crack of the cover and hammer it untill it loosened a bit and go all the way around but dont hammer it too hard,just gently tapping it bit by bit,
that did it for me
I am doing the same job on my '96 Sentra (116,000 miles)right now due to the rattle. I am attempting to do this without having to pull off the head. I have most of the other interference out of the way. I believe that you are currently ahead of me as far as progress goes. So I have a few questions for you...Thanks in advance!!!
Are you doing this without removing the head?
Did you pull off your oil pan?
If so how did you get to the last 2 nuts by the transmission?
How did you get the crankshaft pulley bolt off?
What method did you use to prevent the crankshaft from turning?
Jim
yes i'm doing this without removing the head. So the nissan /hundi mechanic was correct in his reply to my post. Yes i took my oil pan off and i have lots of tools at my house so with extensions and swivels etc. i got them no problem. The oil pan would not come off without dropping the exhaust pipe. I took off the three fasteners. i put PB blaster on them but only one nut broke free and came off. the other two backed out the stud, but bottom line all three came out and it dropped enough for the oil pan to clear the pickup tube. after settin the engine at TDC i could't get the pulley nut loose without turning the engine(using 1/2 drive ratchet), so i reset it to TDC and used a electric impact drill and it came right off. On my lower tensioner and timing cover problem. i wasted 45 minutes trying to get the tensioner off first(because that is the order the haynes manual said to it). I also got a bright flashlight and did some cleaning and found two 12mm bolt heads to the right side of where the water pump went. i took these out and the lower cover came off easily. once off and on the ground it took 15 minutes to drive the old tensioner out. Had i known about those two bolts and that you could take the cover off first then the tensioner i would have saved at least 1 hour. Also i found that Advance auto parts sells a kit that has the new gasket for the tensioner, the two orings for the oil passages, a tube of RTV and new front seal for 11 dollars. I already have the new gears and chains on in place plus the new guides and upper tensioners. I'm a little over 13 hours total time into the project. Tommorrow i will put the timing cover on and lower tensioner if it isn't raining. I'm doing this in my driveway and i lose a lot of time dragging tools out and putting them back up. I must say it has been a learning experience and somewhat fun. However i'm not pressed to get it done(I started jan 29th). sometimes i only get 30 minutes before it gets too dark. anyhow hope some of this helps you.
my best kevin
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