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Xterra died, turns over, won't fire

7K views 85 replies 10 participants last post by  jcmorgan11072 
#1 ·
So my Xterra died (thankfully as I turned onto my street). It was running normal, no sputtering or anything out of ordinary. As I turned onto my street in front of my house it was dead.

It turns over but sounds off but it won't fire.

I have checked fuel. The pump is only a year and a bit old. I can hear it when the key is on and when I popped the line off it was pressurized.

Reading hear it sound like it could be a distributor but most others have has some indication there was a problem. Mine went from normal to dead in 20 feet. Will a distributor go that quick or could this be a timing belt issue?
 
#14 ·
So I am questioning if this is the cause since the upper part of the belt is intact and looks good. I haven't turned the crank to see that the cams are turning but when I pull the belt it doesn't slip. Seems less likely that this would cause it to die without even a whimper.

So maybe onto a distributor as well? I will pull it tomorrow to see when it looks like. So OEM belt and aftermarket dist?
 
#17 ·
I was reviewing this and from what you have stated you were not over your mileage with the timing belt. It is recommended every 105K miles and you were at about 60K miles (100,000 km), that is assuming that it had been done as stated.

I am going through a distributor issue myself but mine still spins. From my understanding if it does not spin then it should be the timing belt as the distributor would still spin (perhaps not smoothly) if the belt was intact. Please correct me if I am wrong but just using my logic here. The distributor is purely mechanical which is driven by the belt.

Hope you get it figured out and no damage was done. Best of luck!
 
#18 · (Edited)
My dist rotor didn't spin either by hand or when i turned the engine over. I think if it spins when the engine is turned iver it means the belt is not at issue. It should only spin when turning the engine over. Never freely i think.

It was done at about 100,000km says the prev owner. I am at 220,000km now. So. 15k over.

I turned the cam about a quarter turn and everything started to turn. There is a bald spot about 4 " right where the belt went around the crank pulley.

I watched a youtube series that walks through most of the process of getting too the belt on an 04 X.

http://youtu.be/tc94bSXUvLob

Now, my timing is going to be out. How tough is it to re set it? I have the service manual pdf and read up on this section.

It looks like the two cams are in sync but the crank is going to be way off. I am still waiting for the tools to get the cranks pully and lower cover off but i have tried to get the crank into TDC but cannot get the cams to line up too. They both hit their marks though.
 
#19 ·
Check your belt. It's right infront of the grill make sure it's tight and not loose. Also look for cracks or looks like a breaking point.
Do not try and start it before trying these other steps cause if it a timing belt broken BOY you might have a major problem. On xterra when the belt breaks those engine normal go bye bye...

If the timing belt looks ok and doesn't have cracks go to the battery make sure the wires are fully connected and tight ( if there's rust or dirt poor boiling water on them).

If that's looks ok go to your starter and and wiggle it around to see if it's loose, a loose starter could cause a car to crank but not fully fire up. Also I would check with a multi meter of your starter is getting the power it needs.

If those are ok I would check all your spark plugs and wires also dizzy cap.

Check those first but check the belt before even trying to start it. If the belts broken cranking it will do a lot of damage. And if it isn't the belt and it's something else I advise you to get a new belt and water pump
 
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