Valvetrain pics 97 Maxima VQ30DE 154k

[zorobabel]

I did not take my time taking these pics, as I was pretty stressed out; I ended up spending 5 days working in a friends garage on the car.


One of the fails of the job is next. I did not remove the rags placed on the heads and ended catching this one while doing many crank revolutions by hand.


I did not check compression afterwards or before, I haven't noticed any changes in how the engine runs, so I must not have damaged anything.
I added 8 oz of MMO about 1500 miles before this job (oil had to be drained for the job) and topped of the oil (again) 1000 miles before the event.
Extras:

 

[mehullica]

Not a fun job to do at home. I did one a few years back & had no power tools. All the old sealant & cleaning involved makes for a lousy experience

 

[JC1]

What did you work on during those 5 days?

 

[crustacheous]

congratulations,(it runs) that's a [censored] of a job and a good lesson in patience, and what not to do when installing a timing chain and tensioners. my back aches for you

My son was recently given a 2001 maxima 120K miles, on cold start I can hear the chain slap befor the tensioner
oils up. seems fine otherwise

one things for sure these cars are rockets, it pulls like a freight train and then some

 

[zorobabel]

Originally Posted By: JC1
What did you work on during those 5 days?

The main objective was to replace 2 o-rings between the block and the inner timing cover, so it stops leaking. To get to those o-rings, all the accesories on the front of the engine had to come off, as well as exhaust, pulleys, the timing [censored], engine supports, sensors, 2 oil pans, intake manifold collector and valve covers. Between my inexperience, lack of muscles and power tools and working on a transversal V6 in the the cramped space, it took a long time; most of the work I did was my first time. I almost panicked a number of times when getting stuck. Supposedly the billable shop hours are 10-12; no way in h#ll someone would do a proper job in that amount of time, just cleaning all surfaces and letting the RTV set between various components would take that long. I also changed all seals and hoses along the way as well as some parts, cleaned EGR and others I'm trying to forget (I did this at the beginning of March).
My friend, owner of said garage, was sure I'd call the junkyard in the end, with so many parts laid out in his garage. Before trying to start the car he distanced himself for fear of blowing up ) but was amazed it started on the first try.

 

[bigt61]

When I was at Charlotte in 1985 for an SCCA National race, a competitor in GT1 with a Corvette removed his carburetor to work on it one night and his crew member stuffed a rag in the intake manifold opening to keep dirt out while the carb was off. The next morning they replaced the carb and somehow overlooked the rag. When they started the car, pieces of the rag were spitting out the side exhaust. The engine was toast and they did not start the race. Lots of long faces. Patience and discipline required when working on cars - slow down, check & double check. Trying to be fast can be expensive. I'm glad you survived your rag incident.

 

[crustacheous]

currious, you replaced the guide rails and tensioners?

@155K miles I'd have replaced all of the timing chains, the guides, and the hydraulic tensioners
you were smart to rotate by hand, but what was the rag for?

 

[zorobabel]

Originally Posted By: bigt61
When I was at Charlotte in 1985 for an SCCA National race, a competitor in GT1 with a Corvette removed his carburetor to work on it one night and his crew member stuffed a rag in the intake manifold opening to keep dirt out while the carb was off. The next morning they replaced the carb and somehow overlooked the rag. When they started the car, pieces of the rag were spitting out the side exhaust. The engine was toast and they did not start the race. Lots of long faces. Patience and discipline required when working on cars - slow down, check & double check. Trying to be fast can be expensive. I'm glad you survived your rag incident.

Thanks for sharing!
I had a rag on the intake manifold as well, but it stayed in place fortunately.

 

[zorobabel]

Originally Posted By: crustacheous
currious, you replaced the guide rails and tensioners?

@155K miles I'd have replaced all of the timing chains, the guides, and the hydraulic tensioners
you were smart to rotate by hand, but what was the rag for?


I replaced the tensioner with an updated one (not sure what 5th gen comes with) and the tensioner guide. I had no chain slap problems and the old tensioner and guide I took out seemed fine. The other 3 guides did not seem critical and had less than 0.5 mm of wear so I did not replace them (had not ordered the parts either). My main regret is forgetting to check the main chain to see if it stretched. I did not replace any of the chains, apparently they are not an issue on my generation Maxima.
The rag was for reducing cr*p and dust setting on the valvetrain, since I had it open for some time.