Do I need to change the T-Belt also?

jeffro · Jan 6th, 2004, 01:12 PM

Hello all, another newbie here. I have a '91 Hardbody with the VG30 V-6, 2wd, auto trans, 128,000 miles. Not much to look at, but it runs very well for its age, not quite as peppy as it used to be, but still has plenty of passing and takeoff speed for me and can still run up to 90 mph without hesitating (I have been reading the poor power posts for a while).

Now I have an oil leak from what appears to be the cam shaft seal on the front right side. The timing belt/water pump/thermostat are 10,000 miles/2 years old. I looked around for a while but did not find this question: will the oil have messed up the timing belt enough to need to replace it when I replace the seal (and the other cam seal too since I am in there)? If I did not have to replace the T-belt, it seems that the job would be a lot less troublesome, but it might be just as bad.

I am having my mechanic put on upper ball joints Monday and he is going to check if it is the cam seal or not. I cannot afford for him to replace them so I am doing it myself. I did not change the timing belt 2 years ago due to time and no place to do it. Now I have a garage and can work on it weekends.

Thanks in advance.

96R50 · Jan 6th, 2004, 01:44 PM

That is a very good question. Your belt should have a ton of life in it at this point. Something on the order of 90% of it’s designated service life. You’re going to have the belt off to replace the camshaft oil seal so replacing it would only require a run to the dealer or auto parts store. Something that you’ll be doing anyway for the cam seals. Which by the way, Nissan’s seal is recommended. I was told that the after market seals don’t seat quite as well as the OEM seals. I say change the belt if its oily and re-use the belt if its dry.

1997XETruck · Jan 7th, 2004, 12:40 AM

Unless you see some signs of damage to the belt, I'd probably just clean everything under there with brake parts cleaner and let it go unless you're confident that you know what to do changing the belt...

Heath

jeffro · Jan 7th, 2004, 08:16 AM

That sounds like good advice. Guess I will make a parts run to the Nissan dealer soon, whenever it warms up enough to be in the garage for more than 10 minutes.

Are there any surprises lurking under the surface when tearing down the VG30 to this point? Out of the ordinary or just weird quirks that is.

Thanks for the help.

jeffro · Jan 29th, 2004, 08:57 AM

So after some thought, and a bit of time without internet access....

I was thinking of trying the Valvoline Max life oil (currently and as far back as I can remember the truck has had Castrol 10w30 or 10w40 in it) that is often suggested here and getting a "proper" oil filter such as a Wix instead of a generic one. Not really sure if there is a chance of stopping the leak with this action alone. Any thoughts??? Will changing oil types mess up something where the engine has become used to with the castrol??

I have been reading the service manual and looking at the front of the engine, mainly thinking, man that is a lot of stuff to take out to get to a seal. I guess if I was really lucky, I could leave the radiator hooked up if I did not need to change the timing belt, that would save some time. Am I missing any other obvious shortcuts if the new oil type does not improve the situation??

Thanks again.

jadcock · Jan 29th, 2004, 06:31 PM

I've never seen a case where Valvoline Max Life has caused any problems. In fact, I just used that to fix a leak on my Cadillac, with 127k miles. It has never seen any type of Max Life oil before, and actually, the leak was something else that I fixed mechanically (by snugging up some of the oil pan bolts), but the oil didn't cause any problems.

Whether or not it will fix the leak, that depends entirely on how big the leak is. If it's a small seep caused by a shrunk seal, I think you have a good chance of fixing it. If there's a nick or other breach in the seal, it may need more than a seal-enlarging oil additive.

jeffro · Jan 30th, 2004, 08:16 AM

Jad,

Thanks for the first hand user info.

I figured it was worth a shot, need to change the oil anyway, at least based on time although I have only driven about 1200 miles. Off to the parts store, updates to follow soon.

jeffro · Aug 10th, 2004, 10:37 AM

Long time, no update. Life happens that way. So I wimped out on the cam shaft seal replacement. Looked inside the timing belt cover and the belt is not coated with oil, so I decided to try the oil/filter approach to fixing the seal leak.

So I switched to a Wix oil filter and started using Chevron Supreme conventional oil. No longer seeing drops on the piece of cardboard in the garage from the cam shaft seal leak. Still see just a bit of wetness on the side of the engine block, but apparently not enough to drip off the bottom any longer. Another oil change is due now, but I can't get the Chevron Supreme at the local auto parts store, they say it is not being made any longer. Is this true?

Any suggestions for another type? Went with the Chevron Supreme based on the comments from here. From what I read lately, some of the Pennziol oils seem well liked. Others?

Jeff

jadcock · Aug 10th, 2004, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeffro

Any suggestions for another type? Went with the Chevron Supreme based on the comments from here. From what I read lately, some of the Pennziol oils seem well liked. Others?

You can't hurt it by trying a High Mileage type oil, but if a conventional oil is working well, it may not be worth the cost to upgrade to the high mileage oils, which are priced between $2 and $2.50/quart. They're a great value, having a lot of synthetic components, compared to "true" synthetics...priced above $4/quart. The seal conditioners in the HM oils might help your cam seals.