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39 Posts
So I bought this truck back around May. I found it on CL nearby and the owner advertised it as only needing a transmission. So I went and looked at it and aside from it sitting for a couple years it wasn't in too bad of shape. The engine seemed to run good but had a large exhaust leak (driver manifold cracked).
After getting it home I dug into it further. It had several lights on in the dash, ATP/4Lo, VDC/Slip and Service engine soon. I first dug into the transmission. As I tried drive and reverse it seemed to want to move but was bound up then I heard a pop in the transfer case. So I pulled the drain plug on the transfer case and man was it burnt! I pulled it and split it open and found it destroyed. I found another case for $325 and put it in.
The truck drove pretty good other than now I found that the LF wheel bearing was completely toast. So I put a wheel bearing in it. The truck smelled horrible so I drove it about 30 miles to a detail shop. Just prior to dropping it off I stopped to put gas in it. Took me forever to put $20 worth of fuel in it. When I started it up it smoked like a chimney, I thought it blew a head gasket but it still ran great. It filled the parking lot full of white smoke. I got the hell out of there and it went away within seconds.
So I did some research on Titans and white smoke after a long drive and it came up with bad PCV valves and valve covers. Turns out Nissan sells them pretty cheap so I ordered both sides. When they came in I pulled the old ones and found them packed with sludge as well as the top of the cylinder heads. I spent about an hour cleaning the heads before installing the new covers. Took it for a drive and no more white smoke!
I then worked on the driver exhaust manifold. I took it off and sure enough it was cracked where they all crack. I had a friend weld it up and put it back on. Seemed to work good. After fixing the exhaust leak I could hear an engine rattle. Knowing the heads were packed with sludge I decided to pull the lower oil pan and check the oil pickup screen to see if it was plugged as well. Man was it ever! There was a spot about the size of my thumb where oil could pass so I cleaned it all up and put it back together. The rattle was still there so I pulled the driver side timing cover cam gear cover. Again all packed with sludge and the timing chain was extremely loose to the point it was rubbing the inside of the cover.
So at this point I ordered a timing chain set complete with guides and tensioners and a new oil pump. Off came the front end of the truck and started on the timing chain. After a bunch of reading I couldn't find for sure if the oil pump could come off without removing the oil pan. Well it will not! So I crawled under the truck and started removing the oil pan. This is when I noticed the dreaded differential failure...axle popped out and the axle shaft bearing wasted. That was a problem for another day for now. I then lowered the pan and replaced the oil pump, chains, tensioners and guides. I put it all back together and what a difference in performance and how quite it was.
So I decided to hold off on the front differential until some money came in and pulled the front axles and front driveline and just drove it around as a 2wd. At this point all the dash lights went out for about 2 weeks. That's when the check engine light came on and showed a driver side catalytic converter code. Also now the passenger side exhaust manifold cracked. That's when I decided to find a decent newer set of manifolds and found some on here from robstrevor. Finally replaced both of the manifolds and seems to be working good.
Now back to the front differential. I have the big tow gears 3.357 and what a pain in the butt finding a used differential. I tried to get a couple on here but just couldn't make it work. I finally said to hell with it and took the front cover off and inspected it all. The axle was still in good shape surprisingly so I ordered the bearing, seal and clips from Nissan for about $70. Yesterday I put it back together and so far it's holding together.
I did replace the vent valve back by the fuel tank but haven't tried filling up the tank yet so not sure if that will fix it and still have the clicking noise under the dash that needs attention. Not to worried about that yet as winter is almost here and the heat part is working.
Well, that's my Titan experience so far. Honestly not too impressed yet with all the major work it has needed but I'll give it some time and see what happens.
Oh yeah, the smell was from mice making a home in the cabin air filters.
After getting it home I dug into it further. It had several lights on in the dash, ATP/4Lo, VDC/Slip and Service engine soon. I first dug into the transmission. As I tried drive and reverse it seemed to want to move but was bound up then I heard a pop in the transfer case. So I pulled the drain plug on the transfer case and man was it burnt! I pulled it and split it open and found it destroyed. I found another case for $325 and put it in.
The truck drove pretty good other than now I found that the LF wheel bearing was completely toast. So I put a wheel bearing in it. The truck smelled horrible so I drove it about 30 miles to a detail shop. Just prior to dropping it off I stopped to put gas in it. Took me forever to put $20 worth of fuel in it. When I started it up it smoked like a chimney, I thought it blew a head gasket but it still ran great. It filled the parking lot full of white smoke. I got the hell out of there and it went away within seconds.
So I did some research on Titans and white smoke after a long drive and it came up with bad PCV valves and valve covers. Turns out Nissan sells them pretty cheap so I ordered both sides. When they came in I pulled the old ones and found them packed with sludge as well as the top of the cylinder heads. I spent about an hour cleaning the heads before installing the new covers. Took it for a drive and no more white smoke!
I then worked on the driver exhaust manifold. I took it off and sure enough it was cracked where they all crack. I had a friend weld it up and put it back on. Seemed to work good. After fixing the exhaust leak I could hear an engine rattle. Knowing the heads were packed with sludge I decided to pull the lower oil pan and check the oil pickup screen to see if it was plugged as well. Man was it ever! There was a spot about the size of my thumb where oil could pass so I cleaned it all up and put it back together. The rattle was still there so I pulled the driver side timing cover cam gear cover. Again all packed with sludge and the timing chain was extremely loose to the point it was rubbing the inside of the cover.
So at this point I ordered a timing chain set complete with guides and tensioners and a new oil pump. Off came the front end of the truck and started on the timing chain. After a bunch of reading I couldn't find for sure if the oil pump could come off without removing the oil pan. Well it will not! So I crawled under the truck and started removing the oil pan. This is when I noticed the dreaded differential failure...axle popped out and the axle shaft bearing wasted. That was a problem for another day for now. I then lowered the pan and replaced the oil pump, chains, tensioners and guides. I put it all back together and what a difference in performance and how quite it was.
So I decided to hold off on the front differential until some money came in and pulled the front axles and front driveline and just drove it around as a 2wd. At this point all the dash lights went out for about 2 weeks. That's when the check engine light came on and showed a driver side catalytic converter code. Also now the passenger side exhaust manifold cracked. That's when I decided to find a decent newer set of manifolds and found some on here from robstrevor. Finally replaced both of the manifolds and seems to be working good.
Now back to the front differential. I have the big tow gears 3.357 and what a pain in the butt finding a used differential. I tried to get a couple on here but just couldn't make it work. I finally said to hell with it and took the front cover off and inspected it all. The axle was still in good shape surprisingly so I ordered the bearing, seal and clips from Nissan for about $70. Yesterday I put it back together and so far it's holding together.
I did replace the vent valve back by the fuel tank but haven't tried filling up the tank yet so not sure if that will fix it and still have the clicking noise under the dash that needs attention. Not to worried about that yet as winter is almost here and the heat part is working.
Well, that's my Titan experience so far. Honestly not too impressed yet with all the major work it has needed but I'll give it some time and see what happens.
Oh yeah, the smell was from mice making a home in the cabin air filters.
