I want to know the timing marks on the crank and cam on a 1999 nissan sentra 16si.16vaulve twincam

Hi Richard. I'm Tim Dorton. Make sur the engine is at TDC #1 cylinder on the compression stroke. Crank over by hand with spark plus out, thumb over #1 cylinder hole, feel compression. Then put in #1 cylinder spark plug hole a thin screw driver, watch bottom mark line up and screw driver will reach highest point. then match marks to diagram.https://ww2.justanswer.com/uploads/indytech/2010-09-30_110635_Picture1timing_chain_1.6.png

remove rocker cover and look on ends of camshaft ,think there are two flats that line up horizontal with head ...

most vehicles have a crank timing mark which sit on the crank pulley,its the big pulley at the bottom of the motor
the cam pulley should also have a mark on the pulley if its belt driven that should line up with a notch on the head or tappet cover
if its chain driven you will need to remove the tappet cover and your cam sprockets will have marks on them that must line up facing each other or facing level with the sides of the head

Here's a link to your timing.

The answer to your question is "YES" and "NO". What I mean by this is a couple different things. Yes, the cam and/or crank sensor can cause the engine to shut down on certain vehicles, namely those like Hondas that use the cam sensor to fire the ignition. Then there are the other vehicles that use only the crank sensor for ignition timing purposes and the cam sensor is used only to syncronize the injectors. On these vehicles, a failed cam sensor will not cause it to shut down. Then there are the variations of those vehicles where the cam sensor itself will not cause the engine to shut down unless it shorts out the 5 or 8 volt reference circuit which it shares with the crank sensor. This will cause the crank sensor to stop functioning and shut the engine down, although the cam sensor failure is the actual cause.

With all that said, if you are asking for help with your vehicle, I would recommend taking the time to include the YEAR, MAKE, MODEL and ENGINE SIZE in your question so that someone will be able to give you information that actually applies to your car.

I do see where you mentioned 1999 Nissan Sunny. Those are not sold here in the United States, but they are esentially the same as the cars that are sold here as Nissan Sentra.
For the 1999 model year, all Nissan Sentras utilized a Light Emitting Diode (LED) type cam sensor located in the distributor housing. This sensor is also known as an "optical sensor". This sensor is used by the ignition system to determine spark timing and advance. Failure of this sensor will cause the engine to shut down.

A common failure of this sensor is caused by oil leakage into the inside of the distributor housing which damages the lens that the sensor reads the light pulses with. The fix for this usually includes replacement of the entire distributor assembly.

Hi I got problem with a Nissan sarbe 160gxi after the head gasket blown i send the head to get sorted out the car don't have a same power I'm not sure if the guys set my cams right . I feel the timing on plug leads r to advance its pining . It was also low on gas . 156 km

The cam has an access cover that allows you to see that the timing points line up. You have to look at the cam from the end on the passenger side and see that the points line up. This is done by making sure the lower pulley is on Top Dead Center and then look to see that the cam and the pointer line up with the inspection cover removed.,,,,,,, I copied this from somebody else, I thought I would pass it on. I have a Nissan Sentra, but I am not familiar with the cams. Hope this helps.

There is 3 marks on the timing chain, 2 are exactly 16 links apart and the other is 22 from either of the 2. The engine should be at top dead center. Line the 2 (16 apart) marks with marks on your cam gears and the 3rd with your crank gear. Torque cam bearings to 100 inch lbs.

Yep they installed the timing belt or chain incorrectly. They didnt have the cam and crank timing marks aligned when they put the timing belt on.

Its possible, that you crank angle sensor is failing. Also, that vehicle had a issue with the ECM/computer. Nissan put a set of foams inside of the ECM box to prevent the ECM from movement, however the glue that they used to attach the foams was causing the ECM to fail. The vapors from the glue would eat up vital circuits inside the computer causing failuer. I would go to your local dealer and provide them with your VIN nujber. With the VIN number, thay can check to ysee if the foam campaign has been doen and also the crank and cam angle sensor camaign. Nissan volunteraly replaced cam and crank angle sensors if the VIN number matches the campaign. Your ECM/computer is covered for 8years or 80000 miles. We are also starting to see timing chains getting stretched causing running issues, but you will have a "check engine light on" for cam angle sensor circuit. Anyhow, go to your local friendly NIssan dealer and have them run your VIN number to see if you have any open campaigns (crank and cam sensors, ECM foam etc.) Good luck and let me know what you find.