Maintenance 95 Nissan Pickup

[borgward]

95 Nissan 4cyl XE. 2 wheel drive. 188.888+- miles. Automatic. Did oil change and delivered it 600 miles away to family member. Did not use any oil on the trip. History unknown. Straight body. No rust.

Want to know service intervals. When should timing chain be replaced? That's my main concern. Is that an interference engine?

 

[Oliveoil2]

Replace all the fluids and drive on.

 

[gman2304]

I bought a new 1995 Nissan 2.4 5 speed 4x4 xe and drove it for 19 years and 200,000 miles. Best vehicle I have ever owned. Never changed the timing chain and it was running like a top when I sold it 10 years ago. I did replace the valve cover gasket and drive shaft center support bearing. Should have kept it.

 

[RedSpider]

Nissan had two versions of the 2.4L engine, the single cam KA24E, and the dual cam KA24DE. They are both interference engines and the single cam versions did have issues with the timing chain getting loose and grinding a hole in the back of the water pump cover, which dumps all the coolant into the crankcase, overheats the engine, and can wipe out the crank bearings. I have experience with this.

The dual cam version of this engine (KA24DE) did not have this issue.

The problem isnt the chain, its the chain tensioner. They prematurely wear, or they physically break. It doesnt affect all of them, but engines that get run low on oil or get very infrequent oil changes seem to suffer the worst which could be expected. Other than that they are pretty stout engines and many will live long lives no matter how much you beat on them. I have had two and the last one I owned I put almost 400,000 miles on it and it didnt burn a drop of oil.

Just google "KA24E timing chain issues" and you'll have months of bathroom reading.

 

[gman2304]

IIRC the D21 hard body trucks used the KA24E sohc 3valves per cylinder engine exclusively.

 

[72C10]

I don't know a lot about the KA24E, but my KA24DE engine has over 300k, with very little issues. Factory service interval on oil change is 7500, but I never let it go that far.

 

[borgward]

It's a 95 w/KA24E engine. I've read Nissan improved the tensioners and guides to eliminate the chain problem. I am confident the engine will last another year. Since the maintenance history is unknown I am going to recommend a timing chain replacement in a year or two's time. That should give it another 100K more life.

Good to know it's an interference engine.