I have a 2000 model xterra 3.3l that I went to the junk yard and found a good 03 model engine and put it in.The engine will crank over and its getting fuel and its firing with the spark tester on but it wont run any nothing.I have checked the distributer and it is where its supposed to be.The only thing that I am a little iffy on is the color of the injector wires from a 2000 to a 2003 model engine.I have wrote down all the colors and it seems to be right but you never know.

I have a 2000 model xterra 3.3l that I went to the junk yard and found a good 03 model engine and put it in.The engine will crank over and its getting fuel and its firing with the spark tester on but it wont run any nothing.I have checked the distributer and it is where its supposed to be.The only thing that I am a little iffy on is the color of the injector wires from a 2000 to a 2003 model engine.I have wrote down all the colors and it seems to be right but you never know.

OK, you turn the key...and it cranks, and fires...

What do you mean by "It won't run any nothing"?

I swapped a '03 engine onto an '01, so, it should be pretty close.

:D

Can you break down what works, and what doesn't?

Did you check the compression on this junk yard engine? How do you know its good?

Other things that come to mind - did you ck spark on all the plugs? Verify timing? Check fuel pressure? Could also be a bad sensor or even one thats not plugged in all the way...

I turn the key over and the engine will crank over normal but will not even begin to fire.I am a boat mechanic by trade and it seems like a boat motor with the kill switch off,it cranks its getting fuel but unlike the boat motor this engine even has spark at the plugs and it still wont even sputter or even begin to sound like it wants to start.The only problem that I can see so far is the timing on this motor.I have the link to the manual that someone on here gave me but the timing is still a little in the gray area.I have the 2 top gears one left one right,they both have a little dot on them that i am supposed to align up with the other dot on the engine...that part is done.The cranshaft dot is supposed to align with another mark but I cannot find that mark....also with the #1 piston being at TDC , but how do you know if youre on the compression stroke or the exhaust stroke?I have the distributer set on the #1 cylinder with the #1 cylinder at TDC.

I am not aware of any sensors other than one coming off where the oil filter is at that I have not plugged in.

I have traced down the injector wires from both engines and while some of the wire colors are different from the original truck wire harness I have all wires being in the right spot except 2 injectors.

I will take some pictures soon and post them.



I have verified that the spark plugs fire with a neon spark tester on all cylinders.

I have fuel in all cylinders but am not sure of the fuel pressure.

I do not know the compression on the engine as of writing this but when turning the crankshaft with a breaker bar there feels like good compression.

We'll I rechecked everything this morning with a frsh mind and decided to redo the process #1 cylinder TDC and rechecked distributer and it was 180 out,I adjusted it and it started and runs on its own but with alot of smoke.I still have not tackled the injector wire problem because I don not know how to get the wires out of the plug in.Now I am going to put everything back together and put a timing light on it to fine tune it because it wont accelerate very good.

For the t-belt job, on the crankshaft pulley, I've yet to see a mark on the housing to align it to, and I've done plenty of t-belts on VG motors. What I've always done is aligned the marks on the camshaft sprockets with those on the inner timing cover, then aligned the marks on the belt with those on all 3 sprockets. If the marks all align, you're golden.

X3 there are dimples, lines and divits. There is a dimple on the rear cover, a line on the T-belt, and a divit on the cam pulley. They all line up. Also, you have not set up base timing yet. :) Glad you got it running though. Before you mess with the other stuff, set base timing. it is a lot easier than messing with the T-belt. :)

Ok I finally got everything back together pulleys,belts,radiator etc.Now the problem I have is I put a timing light on it to try and fine tune it but I cannot get it where its supposed to be,its either to far advanced in timing or not far enough and there doesnt seem to be any splines in between.Now remember this is a 2000 exterra and ecu with and I replaced the engine with a 03,are the distributer the same in those 2 engines?

Hmmmm hard to tell. I would like to say theat one would work in the other, but I honestly think that they changed it up. It IS running right? If you want you can call me and I will talk you through it.