What to do about the buzzing in my head?

[Storm4.0]

Well I have 71,000 miles on my Pathy and for the last 3,000 miles the infamous buzz/whine from the timing chain tensioners has arisen in my motor. I have always been mechanically inclined and have done all sorts of work on cars, motors, transmissions, suspensions to paint & body. I'm up in the air however on whether to tackle the timing chain on my Pathy myself or to just have the local dealership do it. I have had nothing but good experience with this dealership and they have given me a price of $1300 to do the job. The service manager told me IF they do the work and Nissan does end up recalling this problem then I will be refunded the total cost. I know how much of a PITA this work is going to be and I can't decide if it's worth saving a little over $1000 to do the job myself and not have the chance at a refund (doesn't seem likely) or have a 12mo/12,000mi guarantee on the parts & labor. I just makes me mad that the stupid tensioners had to last this long and weren't covered by the powertrain warranty

[JAHBLESSINGS]

close your eyes and spend the money if you have it. if not, you can try to tackle it IF you are mechanically inclined. just follow the service manual instructions. good luck

[Storm4.0]

I've done timing chain work before, I have the FSM, it's not that I couldn't do the work. It's just a matter of paying for something that I could do myself... but is it worth it?

[KEVSTER]

Me , I would pay to have it done, at my age 49 with a lwr back that likes to go bad from time to time, bad knees and the time involved.. I would cough up the money to have it done. Some things I still enjoy doing myself..like brakes, oil changes, tune ups, etc.. major stuff I like to stay away from now.. But it is fun to tear into your ride and you get the enjoyment and satisfaction from doing it..

[twinblown]

My buzzing started at about 65K miles , I now have 110K and still going without any further noticeable or increased noise. For now I will keep driving it as is and keep doing regular in terval oil changes. Let's hope a recall is done at some point. If you have the tools, the time and the skill go for it; I have heard this engine is finniky so follow all steps as indicated in the SM..good luck

[Storm4.0]

My buzzing started at about 65K miles , I now have 110K and still going without any further noticeable or increased noise. For now I will keep driving it as is and keep doing regular in terval oil changes. Let's hope a recall is done at some point. If you have the tools, the time and the skill go for it; I have heard this engine is finniky so follow all steps as indicated in the SM..good luck

WOW... if you've had the noise for 45,000 miles, I guess I have some time to ponder this problem. Like I said I only have had the noise for the last 3,000 miles and even then I can only hear it good if I have my windows down. I run Royal Purple engine oil every oil change & maybe that's why the tensioners have lasted this long. I could ride it out, and wait till the noise gets louder. I wonder how many people have done this with no problem of the chains skipping teeth or wearing into? The service writer at the dealer said that they have only done 3 tensioner jobs on R51's and haven't seen or heard of any coming apart... yet. Thank you very much on the insight. I'm not really feeling doing this work because I'm not as young as I once was either.

[Storm4.0]

Sooo... I finally jumped into the project myself the last 2 days & fixed the buzzing. I took my time and fixed the secondary chains according to the new TSB update, I didn't have to remove the intake or valve covers. I took all of the accessories, cooling lines, starter, fan & shroud and front timing chain cover off. As I figured by the sound, both secondary guides were worn completely through. I made all of the necessary marks on the primary chain with all factory marks in their proper position per FSM. I removed the primary chain and guides then removed the sprockets and secondary chains off the right and left bank. I snapped on the new shoes onto the tensioners and installed the new secondary chains. With everything aligned I intalled the primary chain and guides. The most time consuming thing was cleaning out the grooves and bolt holes on the cover, the flat areas were no problem, a die grinder with a 3M scotch bright disc did the trick. I cleaned the surfaces up and applied Nissan gasket maker. Then reinstalled the cover and everything else that I had to remove to get there.

Now my Pathy is running smooth a silk for less than $200 in parts and an aching body. It was a fun project and I got to get up close and personal with my Pathy... perhaps a little too close. Because as I was removing the starter I notticed the rear driveshaft seal was blown out on my transfer case... so now I've got another project, atleast it's an easier one

Oh yeah, I'm too tired right now but tomorrow I'll post up some pics of the repair.

[KEVSTER]

Nice job, did ya crack open a couple beers during this process? LOL..

[Storm4.0]

Nice job, did ya crack open a couple beers during this process? LOL..

No beer during work... but, yes definitely more than a few after! I managed to get all the pics loaded into an album on PhotoBucket, I figured it would be easier to just post a copy of the link to the album.

http://s291.photobucket.com/albums/ll29 ... hy%20pics/

[disallow]

great pics. can you update them with the 'play-by-play'?

And holy is the VQ40 ever a mess under that cowl... i had no idea!

[Storm4.0]

I'll get some descriptions added to the pics soon, I just haven't had time. And most of the mess you probably saw was a jumbled mix of wire harness and cooling lines that I flopped over onto the intake, yes, it's a mess indeed

[JAHBLESSINGS]

good job. do you have any pictures of the old parts to show the wear on them out of the vehicle?

[Storm4.0]

good job. do you have any pictures of the old parts to show the wear on them out of the vehicle?

No, but since you mentioned it I'll take some and add them to the album

...and the current pics are labled now.

[eieio]

What a great topic & posting you've done Storm4.0!
Thanks Very Much

[Storm4.0]

I was going to post this up on NICO but I decided to do it here, because there are more fellow R51 owners on here...