Well bad news for me everyone, I just called my local machine shop and I've found out my cylinder head has at least two big cracks in it from the prior issue I was having with overheating. All of the past history on my problem can be viewed here in the Peddle or Procure it Forum under the thread "Wanted: New/Used Radiator." The issue I was having was coolant/water would bubble over in my coolant reservoir tank. My dad and I thought for sure I had at least a head gasket problem so we took the cylinder head off last weekend. I was really hoping it to be just the head gasket, but seems it got hotter than I thought and the cylinder head received some damage. My dad examined the head gasket to find it had two spots where it looked questionable. We dropped off the cylinder head two days ago on Wednesday and I called the machine shop today to find out my issue. Looks like I'm going to need to buy a good, used cylinder head and wanted to post here to let you guys know I need one. This forum is about my only place to go of course. Unfortunately, money is an issue for me now because I don't have a job and I really can't pay for a used cylinder head, not to mention a new one. My car has just over 212,000 miles on it but I'm not sure I want to just quit on it given the issues. If anyone can help me out just let me know, I'm sure I will get replies nonetheless. Thanks.
The '82 Wagon I've been pulling things off of in Lynnwood still had a head on it two weeks ago; it's probably still there. No injectors or glow plugs, we've pulled them already. For a head, they charge $31 (w/tax), and I have to pull it. It costs me five hours round-trip plus $30 ferry + gas to get there and back. Shipping would be high, due to weight -- I'd guess that it's in the 90-120 lb range (one 6.9l diesel head bare is 91 lbs). It will have to have a crate made for it too (plywood, 2x2, screws). I've done this before.
Anyway -- I hope that you can find one local, but if you can't, I can get one for you. You'll be looking at close to $200 by the time it gets to you though.
Al, I knew you'd be able to help me out and at the same time I dread the distance from WA to PA (it's coast to coast, which sucks for shipping haha). Jeez, $31 plus tax for a cylinder head is a great deal not to mention a six cylinder diesel. Most U Pull It junkyards are like that though and sell parts for a set price no matter what the make and model. Junkyards like that are the places you can get parts for a deal instead of paying a lot. It looks like I'll have to try to get one local to save money in my case. Thanks for the offer, I really appreciate it, and I'll keep you in mind if I need to go that route.
Unless he has junked it Billy in Aspers has a head still on an engine.
Matt B.
83 Maxima Sedan, LD28, 5 speed, white, 130k miles. My original Maxima.
83 Maxima Sedan converted from gasser, LD28, 5 speed, 2 tone blue, 230k miles 82 Maxima Sedan, LD28, 3 speed auto, 2 tone Gray/Silver, 140k miles
81 810 Sedan, LD28, 3 speed auto, rust, rust, and more rust!
I find that I'll probably be going to Billy to get a cylinder head because he's local and for the fact that my dad and I know him and have dealt with him in the past. goglio, didn't you say you had his email address? If no one hasn't already, I'd think it be a great idea to refer him to this great site and message forum because he'd be a great person to talk to about the Maxima diesels. He is experienced with them. If you give me his email address I will contact him to let him know to join this website. I'm sure my dad and I will make a trip to his house in less than a week. I've had my car sitting for awhile as it is and I want to get her up and running again. Currently it's my only transportation! I'll let you guys know what happens in the project. Thanks.
I already invited Billy over here when he was selling two starters. I told him he could sell stuff here - directly to the target group. His email is billyboyprice1@hotmail.com
Matt B.
83 Maxima Sedan, LD28, 5 speed, white, 130k miles. My original Maxima.
83 Maxima Sedan converted from gasser, LD28, 5 speed, 2 tone blue, 230k miles 82 Maxima Sedan, LD28, 3 speed auto, 2 tone Gray/Silver, 140k miles
81 810 Sedan, LD28, 3 speed auto, rust, rust, and more rust!
goglio, thanks for Billy's email address and I think maybe I'll try to ask him to join this site when I email him. Al, I should be able to get you pictures of the cracks on it and I don't think we'll be scraping it because my dad and I usually save spare parts like this for anything diesel.
Well yesterday my dad and I went to Wayne's house to pick up my replacement cylinder head I agreed to buy from him. I bought a spare from him that had a piston/rod break and it had slighty less than 73,000 original miles on it. Wayne, if you read this I thank you again. My dad and I enjoyed meeting another diesel fan and Maxima owner. I dropped off the cylinder head to the same machine shop today and I hope it comes back with no cracks given its lower mileage. I also brought my radiator fan with clutch assembly so Wayne could switch the hubs between a factory diesel fan he had. So, I'll have the correct fan and it will be operating correctly at all rpms. Also my dad and I went to our local Nissan dealer today and asked the parts counter person to check to see if the physical plastic fans are the same between the diesel engine and gas engine. Turns out the fan is exactly the same, but what's different is the clutch hub. They have two different part numbers. Hopefully we'll have my car finished by the end of next weekend. Looking forward to putting it all back together with my dad in these next few days. I'm glad I could count on Wayne to help me out, even though the drive to Elkton was about 70 miles I know it's local to me in a lot of ways.
TheDieseliminator wrote:I'm glad I could count on Wayne to help me out, even though the drive to Elkton was about 70 miles I know it's local to me in a lot of ways.
Salvy
It's not what I would call truly "local", but it's not that far. This weekend or the next I have to run to Akron OH to pickup a 1980 Peugeot 505 TD (680 miles). Donor engine for my 504 TD project. The car isn't bad, and would probably make the trip back on it's own except that the owner was having a tree downed in the yard and "oops" a log fell into the windshield!
It's a long trip but worth it since it's complete with everything I need to do this conversion. The only problem is whether I can stomach the mpg of driving the Dodge B250 van that far. I'm praying for a 40 mph tailwind (both directions)!
Went to pick up the replacement cylinder head (bought from Wayne) today at the machine shop and I've got myself a solid unit. Has no cracks and is all cleaned up. She was a dirty unit as Wayne and I know, but not anymore. My dad and I will be putting it all back together this coming weekend. Goody goody!
Earlier today we started the work on putting the car back together. After setting the head on top of the head gasket/block surface we then go to the next step which is timing. A block of wood was cut to the correct length to hold up the timing chain and make it easy to install back on the sprocket when we got the head cleaned and ready to do so. A big problem has arisen and when we go to install the chain in the correct teeth on the camshaft sprocket we don't have enough slack in the chain to mount it correctly on the physical front of the camshaft. My dad says the tensioner needs to be loosened because that's what is preventing us from having enough chain to install the sprocket and lift it to line up with the center of the camshaft. I know for sure that the chain didn't fall at all and hasn't been touched this whole time we waited for the cylinder head. In other words I really can't believe that the chain has fell off at the bottom on the crankshaft sprocket. Guys, can you go about changing the cylinder head/head gasket on the LD28 without taking the front covers, crankshaft pulley, etc off? I would imagine so. Is there a trick to getting to the tensioner to loosen it up to allow us to install the sprocket/chain on the camshaft easier? Can you take the injection pump timing belt cover off to somehow reach the tensioner? We'd be able to have this job done by tomorrow or Monday if we didn't have this issue with the timing chain being short, but since we may have to take front parts of the engine off it will set us back longer. Hope you guys can help me out. Thanks a lot.
The tensioner isn't "loosenable". It is a spring-loaded plunger, it looks like, or maybe it's pressure-fed by engine oil pressure (less likely from the picture, and the L24e isn't). It looks like you have to pull up on the pass. side of the chain hard enough to compress the plunger horizontally back into its bore. Bad picture is in the FSM on pg. EM-37, bottom right, Fig. EM170.
I doubt if anyone here has had to do what you are doing -- I've never had to have an LD28 head off. Don't forget those pictures
All of the past history on my problem can be viewed here in the Peddle or Procure it Forum under the thread "Wanted: New/Used Radiator." The issue I was having was coolant/water would bubble over in my coolant reservoir tank. My dad and I thought for sure I had at least a head gasket problem so we took the cylinder head off last weekend. I was really hoping it to be just the head gasket, but seems it got hotter than I thought and the cylinder head received some damage. My dad examined the head gasket to find it had two spots where it looked questionable. We dropped off the cylinder head two days ago on Wednesday and I called the machine shop today to find out my issue. Looks like I'm going to need to buy a good, used cylinder head and wanted to post here to let you guys know I need one. This forum is about my only place to go of course. Unfortunately, money is an issue for me now because I don't have a job and I really can't pay for a used cylinder head, not to mention a new one. My car has just over 212,000 miles on it but I'm not sure I want to just quit on it given the issues. If anyone can help me out just let me know, I'm sure I will get replies nonetheless. Thanks.
