If the belt breaks on a 2001 Xterra can the entire motor go?

Asked by clsmith7 Aug 29, 2014 at 02:05 PM about the 2001 Nissan Xterra XE V6 4WD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

I have a 2001 Xterra that was driving fine until one day it just stopped while on the freeway.  
The shop I took it to stated that the belt had broken and had to be replace every 100k
miles or so, and the motor was gone.  I just purchased the vehicle a month prior.  Could
this be true?

4 Answers

Yes, that is an interference engine. Nissan specs do indeed say replace at 100,000 miles, and if it breaks ...well maybe not the entire engine but the top end, and the entire engine if a piston was damaged. Sorry for bad news the 4 cylinder engines have a chain V6 belt

7 people found this helpful.
45,255

three cheers for Mr. Nut- he takes the time to look stuff up-

1 people found this helpful.
30

I bought a 2001 Nissan Xterra SE four-wheel drive and one month later the same thing happened to me it just stopped running at a red light the mechanic told me that the timing belt had snapped and the engine is ruined in this year Nissan made what is called an interference engine it is self-destructive when the timing belt goes

3 people found this helpful.
25

03 Nissan Xterra here and had the timing belt changed. No problem since.

2 people found this helpful.

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