# VG33E 2001 Xterra



## BigHoss (Aug 29, 2008)

Nice forum and I hate to have my first post phrased as a question but....

I recently accquired a 2001 Xterra with 120k on the odo. I am a bit of a backyard dog when it comes to wrenching so I know the timing belt should have been replaced at 100k. 

I was driving it home when it died like a dog on the road. I could hear the fuel pump pressure up so I eliminated that as a possibility, Checked for spark and NADA. Checked all the fuses and they were good to go. Pulled the ditributor cap off and no carbon tracking, so now I am thinking cam sensor or crank sensor. But just for the hell of it I spun the engine over and watched the distributor rotor, there was no movement at all. 

I do not have an engine schematic but it looks like the distributor is spun of the left cam shaft. If the timing belt is busted then the cam is not spining and thus the distributor is not spining and the CPS is not sending a signal and no spark generated...so far these were my thoughts.

At the very least I will be replacing the cam belt, now....how lucky can I get on the valve issue. I have read a lot of post where valves were bent, I have also heard some got lucky and no valves were bent.....When the Xterra died I heard no untoward mechanical noise, she just quit. I hand cranked the engine and there was no resistance to rotation, ie like a vlave had jammed against a piston.

Those of you with experience in this ........what have you seen??


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