[ElGalloGringo]

About 3.5 hours into it. Done with: power steering pump, window wash reservoir, lower oil pan, battery, ecu, intake manifold, and fan. Now working on getting the valve covers off and for the life of me can figure out how to detach the wiring harness from the tab on the front of the engine. Because of this I can’t get the corner valve cover bolt out and remove the valve cover. Any tips would be appreciated.

 

[Bravo64]

About 3.5 hours into it. Done with: power steering pump, window wash reservoir, lower oil pan, battery, ecu, intake manifold, and fan. Now working on getting the valve covers off and for the life of me can figure out how to detach the wiring harness from the tab on the front of the engine. Because of this I can’t get the corner valve cover bolt out and remove the valve cover. Any tips would be appreciated.

Are you referring to the little zip tie tab? Because there's two options that come to mind, and both involve snips and a replacement ziptie.

 

[Bravo64]

I'd try everything I could to leave the a/c system charged. Maybe loosening the a/c compressor will give you enough hard line slack? Hopefully @Bravo64 will enter the chat as he's done this job himself. I just recently caught that video on the 2018 Pathfinder timing job. I'd imagine we'll see more as time goes on.

I had the engine out; but we pulled the AC lines. It'd be a giant pain to get the Timing cover off with them in place. If I were doing it in frame, I'd basically want to pull everything off that can come off on that side to give myself as much room to work as possible. That includes the hood.

 

[ElGalloGringo]

Are you referring to the little zip tie tab? Because there's two options that come to mind, and both involve snips and a replacement ziptie.

I am talking about the rigid piece that has the big cable bundle over by the thermostat. I was able to move it just enough tot he the valve cover off, but don’t know how I will get that front engine mount with it on (most people who have done it in-car have taken the front, rear, and timing chain side mount off and tip the engine up a bit).
It looks like it is just clipped on a tab down below, but I can’t figure out how to release it and slide it off the tab.

 

[ElGalloGringo]

Well, made a lot more progress. Once I got absolutely everything unplugged, that housing and cable bundle had just enough flex to get out of the way.

Making great progress now. Got stuck for a bit getting the harmonic balancer bolt off. Ended up having to take the same route as one of the Youtube videos of a dremel, a pneumatic chisel, and then the impact wrench. I had tried all my old tricks of penetrating oil, cycles of torch and cool, and the impact wrench with no luck.

The bizarre thing with my engine is that I don't see ANY of the sludge that is seen in lots of the pictures and videos out there, but all my tensioners are fully extended and the chains are as floppy as can be. Fortunately, there are very few marks on the cover or the back plate from the chain rubbing. Far less than I have seen in some of the videos and pictures.
I did do a SeaFoam engine treatment back when I heard it the very first time in hopes that it would clear out sludge and slow down the progression. Did that SeaFoam really do that good of a job of cleaning out the kind of sludge that I have seen in other videos/photos?

Here is a picture of mine right after the timing cover came off that looks quite free of any sludge:

I have two final questions:

1. I assume that it is possible that with how stretched all mine are that the cams aren't in the perfect position. I assume I can rotate those a very small amount (2-5 degrees) to get the marks and the keyways to line up correctly without worrying about any valve/piston interference issues?

2. I can't seem to find anywhere searching in the forums is if I need a fancy scanner/computer that can kick off the relearn, or is there a manual relearn process for both the valve timing and the idle? Unfortunately, I didn't see beforehand that it is best not to unplug the connectors to throttle control to preserve idle info. The dealer wants to charge about $180 for that re-learn and says they can't get me in for 3 weeks.

 

[Bravo64]

Well, made a lot more progress. Once I got absolutely everything unplugged, that housing and cable bundle had just enough flex to get out of the way.

Making great progress now. Got stuck for a bit getting the harmonic balancer bolt off. Ended up having to take the same route as one of the Youtube videos of a dremel, a pneumatic chisel, and then the impact wrench. I had tried all my old tricks of penetrating oil, cycles of torch and cool, and the impact wrench with no luck.

The bizarre thing with my engine is that I don't see ANY of the sludge that is seen in lots of the pictures and videos out there, but all my tensioners are fully extended and the chains are as floppy as can be. Fortunately, there are very few marks on the cover or the back plate from the chain rubbing. Far less than I have seen in some of the videos and pictures.
I did do a SeaFoam engine treatment back when I heard it the very first time in hopes that it would clear out sludge and slow down the progression. Did that SeaFoam really do that good of a job of cleaning out the kind of sludge that I have seen in other videos/photos?

Here is a picture of mine right after the timing cover came off that looks quite free of any sludge:
View attachment 21445

I have two final questions:

1. I assume that it is possible that with how stretched all mine are that the cams aren't in the perfect position. I assume I can rotate those a very small amount (2-5 degrees) to get the marks and the keyways to line up correctly without worrying about any valve/piston interference issues?

2. I can't seem to find anywhere searching in the forums is if I need a fancy scanner/computer that can kick off the relearn, or is there a manual relearn process for both the valve timing and the idle? Unfortunately, I didn't see beforehand that it is best not to unplug the connectors to throttle control to preserve idle info. The dealer wants to charge about $180 for that re-learn and says they can't get me in for 3 weeks.

The manual throttle relearn is, in a word, annoying. If you can find someone who has a scantool that can do it, I'd heartily recommend you do it. Otherwise, the sequence you're looking is for a manual idle relearn.

 

[Refatb]

My personal opinion on this is, I trust a slightly thicker 5w30 over thinner 0w20 in the long run in terms of offering more engine protection. Manufacturers are forced to recommend 0w20 and even 0w16 as a fuel savings measure, not necessarily because it protects the engine better.

Back around 2019 is when all the issues started pouring in on forums like this one in regards to the 2017+ VQ35DD forming massive amounts of sludge, eventually leading to oil starvation and engine destruction. Others had excessive timing chain wear.

The only thing I've noticed with my 2019 is it turns the engine oil jet black in very little miles. I noticed this right away after buying it used. For this reason, I wont go beyond 3500-4000 miles between synthetic 5w30 oil changes. I use low cost oil and filters because of the low miles and short time between oil changes.

It turns jet black because it's direct injected and the pvc system is crap, walnut blast the intake valves and get a oil catch can, the oil will stay clean.

 

[ElGalloGringo]

Well, it is done!!! I used the trick from here (and elsewhere) of pulling the fuel pump fuse and turning over a few times to get oil circulating before starting.

After the fuel line got primed again, it started right up. No rattle. No rough start. No rough idle. No leaks (so far that I can see)

But then it started getting really hot, really quick and the fans weren’t kicking on. I freaked out a little tBH. But after a quick check and there was no coolant in my oil or oil in my coolant, I calmed down and started checking sensors and hoses. I had idiotically left my phone and computer at home (doing this in a friend’s shed) so couldn’t look up the coolant temp sensor location (I did have my code reader and it was giving that code).

After running home and seeing it was hidden under the transmission fluid dipstick, I went back, plugged it in, and now it is running great.

it still has the P34C4 and P34C5 codes, even after trying the timing solenoid/actuator disconnect trick to try to manually fake it into think it has new VVT actuators. I will probably need to borrow/rent a nice scan tool.

But, even without the relearn being done, it is running infinitely better than before. I still don’t have the upper cowling on or the tire back on and am leaving for the week to visit family, but it is super promising to have no rattle, smooth start, smooth idle, and smooth when I rev it up.

Thanks so much to everyone here giving their help!!! It truly is a week of Thanksgiving from me to you.

 

[PoManzPathy]

@ElGalloGringo Did you have a chance to compare the new chains to the old? Your engine looked so clean internally, I'm curious as to what actually wore out, causing those tensioners to be fully extended.

 

[ElGalloGringo]

@ElGalloGringo Did you have a chance to compare the new chains to the old? Your engine looked so clean internally, I'm curious as to what actually wore out, causing those tensioners to be fully extended.

Yep. Stretched really bad. My only
conclusion was that the seafoam treatment worked really well. Here is a photo. The smaller chains for the cams were less stretched, but still a little bit. I don’t have a photo of those.

 

[ElGalloGringo]

The manual throttle relearn is, in a word, annoying. If you can find someone who has a scantool that can do it, I'd heartily recommend you do it. Otherwise, the sequence you're looking is for a manual idle relearn.

I saw that Amazon has a Black Friday deal for the Innova 5610 bidirectional scanner for $241. I had looked at this one a while ago when doing the timing belt on my kids’ civic, but it was almost $400. Now I just need to convince the wife that I really need this for Christmas. 🎅

Amazon.com

 

[Bravo64]

Yep. Stretched really bad. My only
conclusion was that the seafoam treatment worked really well. Here is a photo. The smaller chains for the cams were less stretched, but still a little bit. I don’t have a photo of those.
View attachment 21504

Glad you got it good to go, man, and glad you caught it before it did serious motor damage.

 

[Bravo64]

I am talking about the rigid piece that has the big cable bundle over by the thermostat. I was able to move it just enough tot he the valve cover off, but don’t know how I will get that front engine mount with it on (most people who have done it in-car have taken the front, rear, and timing chain side mount off and tip the engine up a bit).
It looks like it is just clipped on a tab down below, but I can’t figure out how to release it and slide it off the tab.
View attachment 21443

Apparently I missed your reply here, but when I did my swap, I pulled that box off because I needed access to that junction to futz with wiring, and I cut the outer plastic bundling back with a snips.

 

[Dss201]

I'm still apart, finally got everything off to get the chain out, and starting to put everything back together. Not looking forward to putting the cover back in, will definitely be a pain. So many dumb little clips and brackets all over just so time consuming anyway we'll see how it goes. I haven't been able to get a specific procedure for the vq35dd and going off the de which is a bit different. I didn't see a mark on the oil pump to match the crank sprocket key to, but relatively sane position (about 11 oclock) with the cam marks at 10 and 2 oclock respectively (as mentioned in anything I've found on the DE). Wishing you luck that your light stays off!

I just had a timing chain job done in this same engine. Few days later code p34c4 and p34c5 appeared. Took the car back and picked it up 2 days ago and the same thing. I’m defeated at this point. Mechanic had the car since October

 

[Andy M]

Does anyone know if the 4 bolts on the camshaft sprockets are non reusable and torque specs as pro demand does not provide that info. Thanks

 

[Mannyflores98]

I changed the timing belt and everything is aligned right and when i turn it on it starts but the engine doesnt want to accelerate theres no power any thoughts on what it could be?

 

[blaze2051]

I’m going to be trading it in at the dealer that sold it to me. But going forward I’ll be doing oil changes no more then 5,000 mile intervals on the next one! I usually use Mobil 1.

can you tell or anyone where the VVT solenoid B1 and B2 are on 2017 path finder? are there any others for the intake side? are there any for the exhaust and were are those located?

 

[Bravo64]

can you tell or anyone where the VVT solenoid B1 and B2 are on 2017 path finder? are there any others for the intake side? are there any for the exhaust and were are those located?

Here you go. This video'll show you what you're looking for.