Coloradocurls

Over a year and a half ago, I purchased my Z from a salvage auction and have done extensive repairs to it in order to get it in solid working order. It is a 2003 so DE engine and mostly stock. In December, I had multiple friends help me with the task of replacing the timing chain tensioner as mine was starting to go bad. They were confident it would be an easy job and assured me they had done it before. I want to make note that my car was running prior to this "repair".

During the repair process, the front end was taken off, and the timing cover was pried open. The internal components such as the left tensioner (the bad one) and some timing guides were replaced. However, throughout the entire process, it seemed like they were just taking educated guesses with no confident idea of what was going on. The timing chain was sort of lined up with the dots going roughly where they should have been, but I doubt we were exact with this step. Long story short, when the car was reassembled, it would crank, but no longer started. I had multiple people look at the car since, including an independent shop, assuring me that the issue was due to a fried ecu. My buddies and I removed the battery a bit late and may have caused a short. However, after 2 months of lackluster efforts from outside help the car was still not running.

I decided to take my car to a Nissan dealership as I had lost hope of the repair being simple. I paid the service center for diagnosis and was told that a wiring/ ecu issue may be the cause, but that the timing was not this issue as the engine would lock up if the timing was off. The car was partially rewired and a factory ecu was installed, but still, it only cranked. The master tech is finally looking into the timing after 1.5 months at the dealership.

My questions are:

1.Would a poorly done timing job cause the engine to crank or simply lock up like the tech suggested?

2.What other issues do you think could be preventing the car from starting?

3. If the tech is unable to get the car going, where should I take the car to be fixed within the Denver area (or maybe in general if the shop is good enough)?


I have invested quite a bit into my car and it's a piece of junk, but I love it. I'm willing to do quite a bit to fix it and I understand financially it is a silly decision. I am doing this purely for emotional reasons.

Thank you all for your time!

dkmura

iTrader: (64)

Welcome and sorry to hear about your Z. However, you neglected to provide some critical information in your first two posts which might help gain some guesses or suggestions. Maybe that's a good place to start. First, you mentioned in your first post that this salvage car apparently ran. Was this not the case? Next, how many miles were on this Z before it was totaled? Any service records included with the wreck itself?

Next, where in Denver were you having your car worked on? This might be helpful if any of us suggest a place to take it in the metro area. How did your friends determine the timing chain was going bad? Did you (or they) use a factory service manual (FSM) to perform this repair? Have you pulled codes to determine if the ECM is still functional?

Finally, buying a salvage vehicle is always a risk. Perhaps if you explained what your emotional issues are that have you spending this much time and money on such a troublesome project, it might inspire a few responses.