Definately helped me on a truck im currently working on. Appreciate you took the time to do a video on it. I googled the hell of the cam phase to install and your video sent me the right direction!
What year is yours ? I got my Cloyes timing chain kit from Rockauto.com You can also buy all OEM from a Nissan dealer but you will just have to buy all the parts seperately since they don't have a "timing chain kit" available.
I just finished putting mine together and needed a video comparison of the upper chain tdc as I think mine is not correct. My exhaust cam looks 80° where as yours looks 90° And my intake looks 90° but yours looks 80° So I'm going to change that now... hopefully it fixes my issue
Thank you for providing this information, since there isn't much available at this stage of the repair. Did you need to remove the oil pan to get to all the bolts? And does the front timing cover contain the oil pump? I have the exact year and model of Frontier and need to do this procedure before long, since it has 215K. I figure that replacing the oil pump would be wise, since I'm already deep into the engine and with the mileage. Thank you for posting this and best of luck with your truck and it's new lease on life. These trucks made during this time period are some of the best Nissan has ever made and I want to keep mine going, just like you. Greetings from Louisiana!
You can remove the front two bolts of the oil pan so that way the lower timing chain cover comes off. And yes the oil pump is installed on the lower timing chain cover. Remove the 4 bolts of the oil pump and its comes out right away with the distributor shaft. If you do replace the oil pump just make sure to go OEM. In my case since the lower timing chain tensioner broke as well as one of the guides i did remove the oil pan after this video to remove all the broken pieces that had fallen in there. Make sure before you start taking everything apart to set the 1st piston to TDC. Just follow the FSM and you should be good to go.
@@ByronRamos_ So the oil pump separates from the front cover then. My truck has had it's oil changes every 3K but I keep reading about the timing system on these engines failing catastrophically and bending valves and other damage. I don't have any cold start rattle, but there is a whine that's either the timing system or the AC idler pulley. I'm getting ready to take the belts off to see if the whine goes away. I'm a realist and know this particular timing system can fail without warning. I would rather not have it fail and complicate the picture. I'm using the truck for hurricane cleanup, and my sister is in your neck of the woods at my cousin's house in Houston. The eye came over her city (Walker) and just tore shit up and she wont have power for weeks. It sounds like you were having a bunch of noise and you likely tore it down before serious damage to the head resulted. The engineers need to find a better material for those chain guides than that nylon plastic material. After it's been heated and cooled thousands of times, the plastic part breaks somewhere and acts like the other plastic under the hood. My friend had a grease monkey type do the timing chains in his Mustang with the 4.6L after it developed noise. The guy didn't pull the oil pan to get the pieces of plastic out, and the pieces plugged the oil pump screen and the engine seized as he was driving it home from the dude's house - within 5 minutes. Thanks for your fast reply.
@@plumkey197 If you're on FB you can also joined this First Gen Nissan Frontier group. You can ask questions, post photos and people will help you out. facebook.com/groups/Nissan.Frontier.D22/?ref=share
@@ByronRamos_ I finally bought the timing kit from Rockauto and will be tearing into the Frontier engine soon. I need to check out the Nissan Frontier group on FB. Thanks for the link. Do you still have your truck and is the timing system back to normal? i'm thinking of making a video series on this procedure - one for the teardown and one going back together. You are the only one who has anything meaningful about this job with the KA24DE. Hope you are doing well in Texas!
I noticed the weirdest thing when i took the timing covers off mine. So neither of my chains ended up breaking but the links were a few off from the alignment marks on both chains and the old lower chain only had 1 marked link. It's possible that the chain jumped a few links but all the sprocket marks looked lined up somehow like in your video. How is that possible?
Got same truck, '00 Frontier XE manual 4cyl, 1.5 year ago. With 117K miles on it. Has been a headache to pass California smog. EGR monitor won't complete. Replaced catalytic converter, EGR monitor, solenoid, thermostat, new clutch and flywheel. Currently in shop for new timing chain, water pump and radiator. Not putting anymore money into it after this job. Any suggestions/help with that EGR incomplete monitor. There's no check engine light.
Im also planning to stop putting money into it. Thinking of moving on to the new 2022 model. In regards to your EGR issue i have no clue. If you're on FB, join this 1st Gen Frontier Facebook Group. Ask the question there and someone else might have an answer for you. Good luck. facebook.com/groups/Nissan.Frontier.D22/?ref=share
Hey, thanks for posting. My son is driving the same truck and the timing chain wore a hole in the timing cover. I'm going to tear it down and make the repairs. Do you have a video for the disassembly completed up front? Did you have to drop the cross member? Lower the oil pan?
Unfortunately i do not have a tear down video of this. I just followed the factory service manual. After this video i did remove the cross member to get access to the oil pan. Once i removed the oil pan, there was a bunch of broken pieces from the timing chain plastic guides. Just make sure to have the truck on jackstands before dropping the cross member.
Byron, do you happen to know what size bolt goes into the harmonic balance to use with the puller? There are two threaded holes on either side of the harmonic balance 27 mm crank bolt. Need the thread size of these
When you say if the chain was not broken what do you mean? I had the upper chain snap, but I took the head to get machined and replace the valves. After the install I had everything set and it looked good. After not getting it to start properly, I removed the valve cover and saw the timing lines had jumped a bit and the chain seems to shake after every rotation. Wondering if I just got a bad chain or tensioner.
This entire removal and installation was on zilvia for the S-chassis, tons of information if you look up how to do it because it's the same process. Good stuff though
I recently started to hear this clicking sound. It goes away after 2600 rpm. Went to the mechanic and he said it’s a loose timing chain. What do you think. Should I do a timing chain job or would I have to replace the engine. I still need to open it up and look.
If you're going to open it up anyway, i would start by taking everything apart from the front of the engine. Do that to see if it's a timing chain issue. Don't buy a replacement engine nor any other parts until you know 100% whats the issue. A timing chain guide is probably on its way out or its broken which they're really known for. Before you start taking stuff apart make sure to set 1st piston to TDC.
I don’t know if I missed it or not … why u change the timing chains belt ? Cuz it time to change or it making noise??? My truck makes noise when starting engine n idle for while with noise then it stop noise and still running motor so short time noise then goes away
I decided to replace the timing chain because it was making a rattling noise on start up. If you are planning to keep the truck for a long time i would suggest getting the timing chain replace before it gets worst and eventually gets out of timing and does more damage internally like bending a valve.
Once those timing chain guides start going out you would tell a chain/rattle noise coming out from the front of the engine. Kinda hard to explain unless you hear it in person. In your case it might be another issue. Distributor rotor and cap are in good condition ?
@@MistaRibzz Same. Wish it was made of stronger material. I do recommend for you to replace before it fully goes out or else you can have a bad situation where your chain goes out, chain gets out of timing then the valves make contact with the pistons...
@@MistaRibzz My lower timing chain guide broke in half at 210,000. Bent every valve in the head. The machine shop charged be $400 just labor and $130 head gasket set to rebuild the head. My total out of pocket including towing, water pump and oil pump is $1,400 doing it my self. A mechanic quoted me $4,000 to repair it and they earn it, If you plan on keeping your truck put a new timing chain kit on it soon for about $300-$400 all in, taking the head off is a real chore and the machine shop took 6 weeks to get my head back to me.
@@shaneparry4148 We are talking about thousands of an inch so like the other person mentioned it wont make that much of a difference. You should be good.
I just got my head back form the shop and am working on putting it back together. It is very fresh on my mind if you want to holler at me. This is quite a job.
@@ByronRamos_ This is the best video on the internet for the this job and I have looked at a bunch of them. You have helped save my 2000 fronty from the salvage yard.
In my case, first time was around 160K miles, 2nd time was 234K .... If you have never got it done i would suggest to get it done and not wait till a guide breaks and causes other damages due to the timing jumping.
@@jimmymundane1084 My lower timing chain guide wore in half at 210,000. The timing chain came totally loose and I had to rebuild the head. I wish I would have been looking for this as an issue . Pulling the head is a real pain and expensive even if you do the labor. $300-$400 versus $1,400 including towing. The machine shop took 6 weeks to get me my head back.
Хобби
Definately helped me on a truck im currently working on. Appreciate you took the time to do a video on it. I googled the hell of the cam phase to install and your video sent me the right direction!
Glad i was able to help !!
Nice man. I can't even find a timing chain kit for my fronty anymore. Always on the hunt for parts now.
What year is yours ? I got my Cloyes timing chain kit from Rockauto.com
You can also buy all OEM from a Nissan dealer but you will just have to buy all the parts seperately since they don't have a "timing chain kit" available.
@@ByronRamos_ Mine's an '01. I had been going through Nissanparts.com and NAPA. Both of them told me they're no longer sourcable.
@@bikenraider99 Try here
www.courtesyparts.com/
Nicely done.
I just finished putting mine together and needed a video comparison of the upper chain tdc as I think mine is not correct.
My exhaust cam looks 80° where as yours looks 90°
And my intake looks 90° but yours looks 80°
So I'm going to change that now... hopefully it fixes my issue
Thank you for providing this information, since there isn't much available at this stage of the repair. Did you need to remove the oil pan to get to all the bolts? And does the front timing cover contain the oil pump? I have the exact year and model of Frontier and need to do this procedure before long, since it has 215K. I figure that replacing the oil pump would be wise, since I'm already deep into the engine and with the mileage. Thank you for posting this and best of luck with your truck and it's new lease on life. These trucks made during this time period are some of the best Nissan has ever made and I want to keep mine going, just like you. Greetings from Louisiana!
You can remove the front two bolts of the oil pan so that way the lower timing chain cover comes off. And yes the oil pump is installed on the lower timing chain cover. Remove the 4 bolts of the oil pump and its comes out right away with the distributor shaft. If you do replace the oil pump just make sure to go OEM. In my case since the lower timing chain tensioner broke as well as one of the guides i did remove the oil pan after this video to remove all the broken pieces that had fallen in there. Make sure before you start taking everything apart to set the 1st piston to TDC. Just follow the FSM and you should be good to go.
@@ByronRamos_ So the oil pump separates from the front cover then. My truck has had it's oil changes every 3K but I keep reading about the timing system on these engines failing catastrophically and bending valves and other damage. I don't have any cold start rattle, but there is a whine that's either the timing system or the AC idler pulley. I'm getting ready to take the belts off to see if the whine goes away. I'm a realist and know this particular timing system can fail without warning. I would rather not have it fail and complicate the picture. I'm using the truck for hurricane cleanup, and my sister is in your neck of the woods at my cousin's house in Houston. The eye came over her city (Walker) and just tore shit up and she wont have power for weeks. It sounds like you were having a bunch of noise and you likely tore it down before serious damage to the head resulted. The engineers need to find a better material for those chain guides than that nylon plastic material. After it's been heated and cooled thousands of times, the plastic part breaks somewhere and acts like the other plastic under the hood. My friend had a grease monkey type do the timing chains in his Mustang with the 4.6L after it developed noise. The guy didn't pull the oil pan to get the pieces of plastic out, and the pieces plugged the oil pump screen and the engine seized as he was driving it home from the dude's house - within 5 minutes. Thanks for your fast reply.
@@plumkey197
If you're on FB you can also joined this First Gen Nissan Frontier group. You can ask questions, post photos and people will help you out.
facebook.com/groups/Nissan.Frontier.D22/?ref=share
@@ByronRamos_ I finally bought the timing kit from Rockauto and will be tearing into the Frontier engine soon. I need to check out the Nissan Frontier group on FB. Thanks for the link. Do you still have your truck and is the timing system back to normal? i'm thinking of making a video series on this procedure - one for the teardown and one going back together. You are the only one who has anything meaningful about this job with the KA24DE. Hope you are doing well in Texas!
thanks man!!
Welcome.
I noticed the weirdest thing when i took the timing covers off mine. So neither of my chains ended up breaking but the links were a few off from the alignment marks on both chains and the old lower chain only had 1 marked link. It's possible that the chain jumped a few links but all the sprocket marks looked lined up somehow like in your video. How is that possible?
Got same truck, '00 Frontier XE manual 4cyl, 1.5 year ago. With 117K miles on it. Has been a headache to pass California smog. EGR monitor won't complete. Replaced catalytic converter, EGR monitor, solenoid, thermostat, new clutch and flywheel.
Currently in shop for new timing chain, water pump and radiator. Not putting anymore money into it after this job. Any suggestions/help with that EGR incomplete monitor. There's no check engine light.
Im also planning to stop putting money into it. Thinking of moving on to the new 2022 model.
In regards to your EGR issue i have no clue. If you're on FB, join this 1st Gen Frontier Facebook Group. Ask the question there and someone else might have an answer for you. Good luck.
facebook.com/groups/Nissan.Frontier.D22/?ref=share
Please help me ofter timing setting the oil pump and distributor setting?
Hey, thanks for posting. My son is driving the same truck and the timing chain wore a hole in the timing cover. I'm going to tear it down and make the repairs. Do you have a video for the disassembly completed up front? Did you have to drop the cross member? Lower the oil pan?
Unfortunately i do not have a tear down video of this. I just followed the factory service manual. After this video i did remove the cross member to get access to the oil pan. Once i removed the oil pan, there was a bunch of broken pieces from the timing chain plastic guides. Just make sure to have the truck on jackstands before dropping the cross member.
Thanks Byron. I will do a little more searching on RUclips for tear down videos.
Byron, do you happen to know what size bolt goes into the harmonic balance to use with the puller? There are two threaded holes on either side of the harmonic balance 27 mm crank bolt. Need the thread size of these
When you say if the chain was not broken what do you mean? I had the upper chain snap, but I took the head to get machined and replace the valves. After the install I had everything set and it looked good. After not getting it to start properly, I removed the valve cover and saw the timing lines had jumped a bit and the chain seems to shake after every rotation. Wondering if I just got a bad chain or tensioner.
In my case tensioner went bad so it caused the chain to jump timing. Chain did not break physically.
❤
Good
This entire removal and installation was on zilvia for the S-chassis, tons of information if you look up how to do it because it's the same process. Good stuff though
I recently started to hear this clicking sound. It goes away after 2600 rpm. Went to the mechanic and he said it’s a loose timing chain. What do you think. Should I do a timing chain job or would I have to replace the engine. I still need to open it up and look.
If you're going to open it up anyway, i would start by taking everything apart from the front of the engine. Do that to see if it's a timing chain issue. Don't buy a replacement engine nor any other parts until you know 100% whats the issue. A timing chain guide is probably on its way out or its broken which they're really known for.
Before you start taking stuff apart make sure to set 1st piston to TDC.
I don’t know if I missed it or not … why u change the timing chains belt ? Cuz it time to change or it making noise??? My truck makes noise when starting engine n idle for while with noise then it stop noise and still running motor so short time noise then goes away
I decided to replace the timing chain because it was making a rattling noise on start up. If you are planning to keep the truck for a long time i would suggest getting the timing chain replace before it gets worst and eventually gets out of timing and does more damage internally like bending a valve.
Have only put 3k miles on it. Just changed oil, will do spark plugs and Fuel filter once outta shop. Will replace battery cables too.
Do the distributor cap too.
How do I know for sure my Timing Chain was bad without open up everything? I has same truck as yours with 182K miles, current crank but won't start.
Once those timing chain guides start going out you would tell a chain/rattle noise coming out from the front of the engine. Kinda hard to explain unless you hear it in person. In your case it might be another issue. Distributor rotor and cap are in good condition ?
When my lower chain is got only 1 mark, what must I do to get the right taiming
You sure ? It should have two.
One to line up with the crankshaft gear and the other mark to line up with the idler gear.
great vidoe how many miles were on the truck when you decided to replace and why did you replace?
Like 234K mi, plastic timing chain guide broke..
@@ByronRamos_ mines at 150k and sounds like its going out. wish nissan made the guide out of something stronger.
@@MistaRibzz Same. Wish it was made of stronger material. I do recommend for you to replace before it fully goes out or else you can have a bad situation where your chain goes out, chain gets out of timing then the valves make contact with the pistons...
@@MistaRibzz My lower timing chain guide broke in half at 210,000. Bent every valve in the head. The machine shop charged be $400 just labor and $130 head gasket set to rebuild the head. My total out of pocket including towing, water pump and oil pump is $1,400 doing it my self. A mechanic quoted me $4,000 to repair it and they earn it, If you plan on keeping your truck put a new timing chain kit on it soon for about $300-$400 all in, taking the head off is a real chore and the machine shop took 6 weeks to get my head back to me.
@@laidbacokie turns out it got so loose it skipped a tooth. one cylinder making 0 compression. i ended up selling it. got 1300 bucks for it
🎉 3:23 thanksyou
Hi if I cut the my frontier head is that going to make the chain slack an make it jump timing?
What do you mean if you cut the Frontier head ? Resurfacing it ?
@@ByronRamos_ yes
@@ByronRamos_ yes resurfacing
It shouldn't make that much differance, a few thousands of and inch.
@@shaneparry4148 We are talking about thousands of an inch so like the other person mentioned it wont make that much of a difference. You should be good.
Thank you sir
Welcome
I just got my head back form the shop and am working on putting it back together. It is very fresh on my mind if you want to holler at me. This is quite a job.
@@laidbacokie Niicee
@@ByronRamos_ This is the best video on the internet for the this job and I have looked at a bunch of them. You have helped save my 2000 fronty from the salvage yard.
@@laidbacokie Glad i was able to help !
Tk Sir
No problem
How do I know if this is what's wrong with my truck? It doesn't want to start and someone told me it's the timing chain.
Kinda hard to tell without taking the front area of the engine apart to physically see if there is something unusual in regards to the timing chain.
I am from China engine factory, do you need?
At what mileage should you replace the timing chain / kit?
In my case, first time was around 160K miles, 2nd time was 234K .... If you have never got it done i would suggest to get it done and not wait till a guide breaks and causes other damages due to the timing jumping.
@@ByronRamos_ Thanks. I'm at 182K now on my 2001. I should probably do it.
@@jimmymundane1084 My lower timing chain guide wore in half at 210,000. The timing chain came totally loose and I had to rebuild the head. I wish I would have been looking for this as an issue . Pulling the head is a real pain and expensive even if you do the labor. $300-$400 versus $1,400 including towing. The machine shop took 6 weeks to get me my head back.
@@ByronRamos_ mine has 110k on it, but has a fair bit of rattle when cold
@@squidinkRC only on start up and then it goes away right ?
Can you name me a truck from the ,90s to 2000s that is non-interference?
Ranger
nissan I4 frontier 1998 to 2004 ka24de
Ka20 timing