99 Quest t-belt?

[berge]

just got a 99 quest with 110K. runs well, have absolutely no maintanance history on it though. since it runs fairly good I'm assuming the previous owner/owners weren't total dummies and took reasonable care of it.
the $800 question is the timing belt. will taking the timing belt cover off and getting a good look at the belt give me any clues whether it's been changed or not? book calls for 105K t-belt change on this van.
thanks.

 

[cryptokid]

why not ask the previous owners if the belt was changed or not?
if you cant do that for some reason, i doubt looking at the belt would do any good. my timing belt has 78K on it and it still looks like new.

 

[moribundman]

Well, the belt is now 5 years old, and belts don't get better with age. I would think the belt has probably not been changed. Ideally, the previous owner was overly dildigent when it came to expensive maintenance, but I wouldn't bet on it. If you can visually inspect the belt, you might be able to see small cracks, which would be an indication of old age.

Does that car have an interference motor? If so, don't risk the belt going bad. Also make sure that any related parts (idle rollers, waterpump, or whatever is driven by the TB) are also changed or in good condition.

 

[berge]

turns out it's a one owner vehicle. spoke to him and he got all the service done at a nissan dealership close to me. this is good.

he has not changed the t/belt. this is bad.

since the car was in such good condition, I assumed the dealership did good work and am getting them to do the t/belt, w/pump, and tensioner. they quoted me $700 cdn. plus taxes with all oe parts and free loaner.
seems like a good deal.

 

[berge]

regarding whether this is an interference motor or not, nobody seems to know.

two nissan dealerships said yes.
another two nissan dealerships said no.
gates online listing says no.
dayco book says yes.
nissan canada says that's proprietory information that you don't have to know and/or, ask the dealer.

does anybody have a clue or what?

 

[john_ertw]

If he got all his service done at one dealership I would ask them if they could give you a hardcopy of the service history. They should be able to bring the vehicle's VIN up on their computer and access all the service done at their dealership. This could help you in the future if something else comes up.

 

[moribundman]

quote:

---

nissan canada says that's proprietory information that you don't have to know and/or, ask the dealer.

---

Ask a mechanic you can trust. Or look online for a list of interference motors. Even better, find a Nissan enthusiast forum and ask there. And most of all, tell Nissan Canada that you won't buy another Nissan, if they won't tell you whether or not your car has an interference motor.
I knew I was buying a car with an interference motor, and my dealer did not try to hide that fact from me.

 

[berge]

persistance pays off. nissan canada called back and said that it is not an interference motor, unless,

there is an issue with sticking valves
or
the belt breaks at very high revs.

 

[moribundman]

quote:

---

persistance pays off. nissan canada called back and said that it is not an interference motor, unless,

there is an issue with sticking valves
or
the belt breaks at very high revs.

---

Yup, that's an interference motor. And I'm sure you are familiar with Murphy's Law!

 

[berge]

what do you mean? they specifically said that it is a 'freewheeling' type engine. if the belt snaps, there will be no damage unless there are two, rare, technical issues present.

-sticking valves(poorly maintained engine)
&
-very high revs.

they basically said if you're stuck in snow and while you're trying to break free, the belt snaps, and, you have sticking valves, the pistons MAY make contact with the valves.

they are just legally covering their asses so that if somebody fulfills all the above criteria and damages the head they are not liable for it because 'it is supposed to be a non-intereference engine' so why did it get damaged.