Aggggghhhh TDC No 1 cylinder

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MickR

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Ok…… so in the next installment of Navara fun for me, after changing radiator, (was leaking anyway), installing a new thermostat and water pump, I have riddled myself of my cooling problem… however… I am over pressuring my cooling system, so I have a cracked head. Read manuals supplied here, awesome, really not that hard. All going smoothly up until 2 hours ago. I’m up to what I consider to be the most simple thing….. Find TDC No1 cylinder…… YOU HAVE GOT TO BE 800 kidding me! I’m now starting to think this is a mythical event, that obviously doesn’t occur while driving.. To be clear it’s my understanding that this is located when I have the two top circles lined up with the dark out colored sides of the chain, at the same time as you have the yellow colored outer lined up with the bottom cog circle and line. This is confirmed by checking that the b on the cam is located within the two b’s on the larger cog below…. Simple right……. I have turn the motor over so many times I am pumping oil out of it, I have achieved the first two items three times. But the b within the b…… See phots for my last close call. Is this some Navara engineers idea of a cruel joke….. but really help. WTF is going on
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it does take a lot of turns.
however when did ours i found the chain was installed 180 degrees out.
 
I haven't done it on a YD25 with chain marks and dots etc....but....

The old fashioned way is to look at the rockers & valve stems as you turn it.
If the piston is rising towards TDC with all valves closed, that's TDC compression.
If it's rising and two valves are open (4 valve head) that's TDC exhaust stroke.

I realise this might be useless information if you're not sure the chain is lined up yet.
But if you're only a tooth or two out it might help....?
 
So to close my own post. Well, ill start with, i am pretty sure there is a Navara engineering laughing somewhere at all of us who attempt this herculean feat. That said, i will now explain why it is so hard to actually set TDC using this process, and also what i ended up doing to solve my problem.

Firstly the way i solved this was removing the gear cover and resetting timing from scratch off the injector pump. Its really not that hard, but its very time consuming as you have to remove more than a few items to remove the gear cover.

The how to information provided in the manuals on this site is exceptional and easy to follow.

So why did i chose to remove the gear cover... well for starters i ended up having to do this process more than once for reasons i've explained in other posts on this site. What that meant is i got intrigued as to why it was seemingly impossible to align all of these points above following a standard practice. (I will add that should you have the patients you will eventually find it)... BUT, This is why it is a job of potentially nightmare proportions.

Below is the timing gear view from the manuals in the site. The balance shaft Left (e to e) is the offending culprit. When you turn the engine over through a complete cycle (around 30 to 50 turns at the crank) to go back to the timing marks above and try to line up the B's, that ******* little balance shaft Left rotates by only 1 tooth in an anti clockwise direction.

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That means to get this engine to the timing setting with all timing cogs set up if you were unlucky enough to start with it one tooth out anticlockwise, you would need to turn the rotate the crank between 570 and 950 times for this little ******* of an idler gear to line up e to e's.

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Its simpler, easier and quicker to remove the gear cover and reset timing from scratch.
 
Crankshaft key at 12 o clock and camshafts on no1 are both not in contact with valves. That’s injection/firing stroke. If valves are moving ur on overlap-end of exhaust stroke and beginning of intake.
 

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