I replaced my timing belt, tensioner, water pump, thermostat, cam seals, oil pump seal today and it was freakin easy!
It took me about 3 hours with a couple beers.

I guess after building a few 300zx turbo motors (vg30et), this sort of thing becomes second nature.

yeah - it's not too bad once you know what you're doing

I am getting ready to do that exact task this weekend, any chance that you could give me any tips or tricks? I am fairly handy with a wrench in my hand, but I just dont want to go in unprepared. Also the Haynes manual that I have says that I need to evacuate the A/C charge. Why in the hell would I need to do that?

not too bad of a job, my first time, it took maybe around 5 hrs. Also, if you get stuck, and the Haynes dont have the answer, I do have the Nissans xterra bible for the first gen X's, dont know what year you have.

mind sharing that xterra bible?

weeeeird. There is no reason whatsoever to touch the AC for a timing belt replacement

well there might be reason to touch the AC, If you have the right size beer can, you can balance it in there, using the AC as a support, if I recall, or maybe thats where the one ended up that I dropped, never mind.

You definitely don't need to evacuate the AC. There's no need to remove any of the accessories (AC, power steering, alternator). They can all stay attached to the engine when you change the timing belt.

Notice how they all hang off the sides and not in front of the timing cover.

I have 110k on my 2003 Xterra. When should I replace my timing belt and water pump. I think the owners manual says 105k? With me waiting is it bad? Never had a timing belt break on my cars/trucks.
thanks!

yes muk33, for several reasons, 1, you are over the recommended miles, 2, belts are rubber, therefor subject to dry rot so should be changed at either 105k OR every so many years ( I cant recall right now if its 5 or 7 years) either way you are there.

Also, There is more to change at the same time as the timing belt, other than the belt. Such as the Tensioner, the water pump, etc.. look up the belt kit for your X on Courtesynissan.com and you will see what all is included, that they recommend you should change out when doing the belt.

even if you've never had one break, dont forget that after that much use and abuse, the belts can also stretch, tensioners can lose tension, and the belt could skip, or jump a tooth somewhere, that could cause major damage to the engine.

muk33: You haven't hurt anything by waiting - but you need to get on it pretty quick. If it breaks you'll be in a world of hurt.

I had 110K on my 2001, I ordered the kit on a Mon night and then,on that Wed night, with the parts IN THE MAIL, driving on a city street going 35mph with no stress on the engine, 10 teeth sheered off the timing belt. In the process, whatever raw fuel didn't burn in one of the cylinders - no Timing Belt working properly means no spark, no spark, no combustion, no combustion = raw fuel going out the exhaust valved directly into the cat. Which, in turn, fried the first cat on the left side. Of course, as soon as the engine died I knew what it was, I had timing belt on my mind. But, on the lighter side, had it arrived the weekend before it likely would have been put on the shelve in the garage for a few weeks (until it cooled down a bit in in AZ as it was September). When I disassembled, I was ammazed at the horrible condition the belt was in. I would suggest no more than 5-years 80K on the TB as the 3.3 runs so hot it must rot the timing belt. I don't know if being in AZ matters since the engine temp is much hotter than the outside temp.

So, word to the wise and not so wise. If you have 100K on the belt, get to work!

And, while you're inthere, I'd replace the knock sensor by moving it up and out from under the intake manifold, replace the water pipes under the intake manifold and of course, replace the water pump, belts, cooling hoses, little hose all the way inside there (see thread on the topic in this forum),actually find ALL cooling hoses you can find including heater hoses (be careful with the heater core connectors - they are plastic) and even check your radiator.

I'm one who would rather be proactive and replace stuff regularly than wait for it to go.

If you need links to the timing belt directions, here are some:

http://www.maui.net/~mauitom/Xterra/xterra.html

The other links I had seem to be disabled but I have PDFs for them if you email me, I have a yahoo group setup with lots fo how-to pdf's I collected from the forums just in case they disappear. It would be nice if there was a way to store them on this site.

When the timing belt goes, does it damage the valve train? I have a friend who just had his jump time, and he was told it does. I don't know myself, but am aware that there are some engines which suffer major damage, and some you just set it in time, and install a new belt.

the 3.3 IS an interference engine. that means when thing go wrong, the pistons can make contact with valves and such. It doesnt always happen, but odds are good that it will. IF it jumped time, and he is still running it, then he is just asking for trouble . If they know it jumped time, then they should know it needs to be fixed.

No one with the Nissan Xterra V6 3.3 in the forums has ever report damage (guy in HI was told it did but could not see any issues). I had a belt strip off a load of teeth an no interference.

That said, don't wait to find out!

Read his posting again.. He did have bent valves

Can someone tell me how much $$$ I am looking at to pay someone to change my timing belt, water pump, applicable hoses, tensioner and thermostat and anything else??

Is it absolutely necessary to change out the idler, tensioner etc...or can I just do the belt?

"Is it absolutely necessary " ,.. No, but would it be worth the cost if one of those cheap items should fail when replacing the other stuff?
Think about it, its a small bit of insurance to replace them while your already in there, compared to a large repair bill if you chance leaving one of those items in there, unless your talking about only a small amount of miles on the parts, then,.... maybe.

In my experience with the dealer to date... They quoted me at $89 an hour to total about $850... The kit costs roughly $300. Cheaper on ebay. I am currently checking into piecing a kit together myself with all the essential parts plus some.

yes, cheaper on ebay, those words might have more meaning that you realize. Cheaper isnt always better, 300 bucks from NISSAN, for NISSAN parts, the same parts that have been proven to last 105k miles. I'd rather spend the 300 bucks
(as I did) for proven parts, rather than save 45 dollars on lesser name parts that may cause several hundred dollars in repairs two years down the road.

Like has been said above.. there are some things I will go cheap on. This is not one of them.

Where did you order the First GenX Bible from???

I have the Haynes book, but all info I could have is needed due to my inexperience.

Thanks