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Nissan Xterra VG33E Engine, 6 cylinder 3.3L
I was ordered to do a DOT inspection, which required replacing my alternator belt, and waterpump/power steering belt.
Upon completion, I had this new noise – which I figured was likely relative to belt tension, or a new idler pulley I installed etc. But upon removal of each belt separately, I noted the sound was still present.
My diagnosis – Most likely a piston ring or pushrod or crankarm (given the sound seems to match 1/6 of the engine RPM) – but it could also be something like a crankshaft bearing or maybe even the crank pulley.
Any suggestions?!?! This is getting stupidly expensive.
Here’s a link to the sound via the youtubes:
ALSO – Hey Eric man, A real cool idea I think, would be to make a soundboard of vehicle problems so that people can match them with their issues – make it easy to discern between bushings and ball joints, bearings and belts, etc etc etc. Just a thought.
Cheers guys!
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Does not sound metalic in nature. Since it started after replacing belts, recheck all steps of work performed.
It’s seem to come near the oil pump outside the engine Itself. The engine is running smoothly but this noise is twice louder then the engine noise. The engine Itself vibrate. So I expect some metal and rubber outside the engine made contact whit It. It’s not sound like metal to metal contact at all, Metal to metal contact made a hight frequency sound.
Thanks a lot guys that’s a huge reflief. There’s no engine vibration either, and it’s not too bad of a sound when the engine’s warm- which stillll makes me think of piston rings, but… we’ll see. And like I said, I took the new belts back off in succession, and with no belts attached it still made the noise.
sounds like the ballancer to me and makes sence with the description. Hard to really say with the crap speakers I have here.
Can you see the harmonic balancer vibrating with the engine running? With the engine off can you move it around at all? Is the water pump on this driven by the drive belts or is there a timing belt/chain that drives it? Definately sounds like something rubbing.
sonofabitch you might be right. Coolant leakage- I don’t know if the water pump is driven by the timing belt or not- the PS belt drives the fan, and the fan is attached to the water pump, but the fan and waterpump function separately (like a freewheel on the same pulley) but i am noticing a coolant leak- I had to undo the coolant-pump intake in order to replace the idler assembly. But i’ve put it all back how i found it. how could the waterpump leak onto the timing belt? how do I fox that? I’ve got a photo of exactly this situation from the service manual… trying to upload it via mobile….
The water pump can leak when the bearing inside the pump became loose, On my corolla 2001 It’s happened.But the noise that like a metal to metal noise and fluid coming out by little when the engine is running. The water pump can leak if the gasket It’s made from steel. The rust weakened the metal and fluid coming out when the engine is off. When replacing a water pump gasket you need also to put black silicon water pump sealant. If your observation is right you have 2 place to look.
If you can, remove the upper timing belt covers and run the engine (if possible) and see if the noise gets louder. If so then I would be looking down towards the timing belt, water pump area.
Pretty strange that this would happen right after the belts were changed though. Did you take the fan clutch off and try running the engine?(if possible)
If the truck don’t have a automatic tensioner, the tension on the belt who might be greater then before can cause bering damage on the alternator, water pump.
here is the break down of your engine.I guessed on the year.
Given that it happened after you replaced the belts I would look there. You can remove them one by one and recheck for the noise after each one is removed. If the noise goes away after you remove a particular belt then check the components that belt drives. If you remove all the belts and the noise is still there it could mean the timing belt or it’s tensioners are the cause. I also recommend checking the balancer as suggested.
As for your suggestion about a noise database. You just added one to it. Each post on the forum goes into the database which is searchable via the search function at the top of the page. So if you do a search for your vehicle and put in the word ‘noise’, this post and any more like it will come up.
Yea thanks a lot for the help, guys!
so as I mentioned, I removed all of the exterior belts (doesn’t have a serpentine, but alternator, powersteering, and A/C in succession) – and the engine still made the noise. I’ve managed to pry open a cover and get a peep at the timing belt – the sprocket is running true, and seemingly unlaboured, but there’ no real way of knowing unless I go allll the way in to the timing belt – which I could do, but it’s a bit risky given the winter environment etc, and the fact that I’ve never been that far into an engine before.
What is a balancer? does anybody know where that is on the VG33E?
Awesome thanks a million Eric! is it common for a timing belt sprocket to be on a bearing? could it be the crank pulley bearing or similar?
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