Well guys all good things come to an end.... Just After A few weeks since installin ma CAI and fixin ma Exhaust my car took a **** on me. I was drivin going to leave Hofstra after visiting a friend of mine... I went over two speed bumps and was on my way to leave the front gate and my car went clunk. The noise sounded lik i knocked ma exhaust straight off my car! I went to start it again it tired to start up and just goes clunk and dies off. The next day I wake up and have ma car flatbeded to a local tranny guy that is good friend of mine. He checked it out and says it is most probably a thrown rod ... So 2mroow the car will be bedded back to my house. Now u mechics out there probably know this better then I , what is the level of difficulty to fix this. I have 2 things going for me .... I have a mechanic that works at Benz that is willing to help me out and 2 I have a spare blown engine in ma garage that can be used for parts. Any suggestions as to the best way to approach this when the car get here? Thanks for any advise ~Charlie~

 

Buy an low miler engine and replace it.

 

You wouldn't reccomend just trying to fix the part that blew?

 

Go ahead and find out what it costs to fix your 'blewn' engine or to fix that part that 'blew" on your current engine. Then get back to me.

 

what jeffy said.. find the problem first.

 

I am not talking about cost besides time and effort i have a spare engine for parts and a mechanic willin to help me out? I just want to know for myself what level of difficulty is involved in fixin a rod that is thrown?

 

me = easy
you = clearly difficult
Your mechanic = probably easy. Not cheap.

Why aren't you asking your mechanic????

 

Alright I'll go from there I will keep ya up 2 date tommorow when the car gets here.... O and the mechanic is a friend he works for free besides food>

 

thrown rod = hole in side of engine = throw away engine.

don't try fixing it, just replace it.

If you've got a dead engine for a spare, you *might* be able to make a whole one out of it if the bottom end is good on the spare.. but most likely you'll be best off buying a junkyard engine and swapping it in.

 

On Estimate What Would A Junk Engine Run for A SOHC?

 

www.car-part.com is a good place to start to looking. IIRC, decent ones seem to be in the $600 - $800 range. Decent as in description. I haven't actually gone and looked at any.

When your car made the "clunk," was there oil and or coolant all over the road?

Listen to Matt and Jeff. A broken connecting rod = trashed bottom end (assuming the timing belt is intact) = hideously expensive repair. Just get a used motor. Trust me when I tell you that simple repairs have a way of becoming complicated very, very quickly - especially with inexperience. Fixing your problem does not sound "simple."

Good luck.

 

I've seen SOHC engines on ebay down right cheap.

 

Um when we pushed the car outta the entrance to the college there didn't seem to be any oil or fluids that were on the ground that i saw... it also was in the nitetime and was dark out...thanks for all the advise guys!!!!!

 

I have never actually seen an engine with a thrown rod, but my understanding is that they usually get flung right through the oil pan.

 

might check the timing belt. if that went the engine would stop dead in its tracks most of the time.

 

Yea as for now all i am going on is that the Tranny place i had it towed to said that it has nothing to do w\ the tranny and it a definate "engine complication" his exact words he mentioned a possible thrown rod... so as for now I wait until ma car can be Flatbeded here tomorrow and it can be checked out up close....

 

Aren’t connecting rods only on pushrod engines? The VG SOHC does not even have rods since the cams are driven by the timing belt, right? Correct me if I am wrong. I may have to look in my FSM to check it out.

 

you are thinking pushrods, Connecting rods connect the piston to the crankshaft.

I'm on the timing belt bangwagon personally, because the engine will knock long before it throws a rod, unless you've badly overheated it.

and I've NEVER thrown a rod even with the 2 Rod knockers I had.

 

Duhhhh. Thanks for the correction INTERNETAUTOMAR. I don't know what the heck I was thinking about.

 

had a long day darhaw?

 

I had a celica throw a rod and it knocked loudly for several days before it finally went. I even had a mechanic look at it. He told me the only way to fix it would be to rebuild or put in a new one. Either one was too much for me, since the car had 260k on it, so I sold what was left for $500.

Oh, and when my Celica went, the rod put a hole in the block and I dropped about 3.5 quarts of oil (out of 4) right in the road where it happened.

 

Hehe the wait continues I am hopeing it is not too much of a burden that it cannot be fixed w\ my spare engine's parts.... If it comes down to puttin in a junkyard engine I would need an engine hoist and more than 1 person that know what there doing to take out one engine and swap another...talk about wasted money on puttin headers on less than a year ago...all that work would be for notin Grrrrr!

 

http://community.webshots.com/album/69294879sOMQfB

 

just sell it and cut your losses like I told you, trust me, I kick myself in the *** everytime I see my car.

 

Hmm, I remember that. This was before that big truck?

 

that was three engines ago.

 

+1 on the t-belt.

if you're low on funds then swap in another motor and call it the day.

if u got a little nest aside then go for another (newer/new) car.

 

Ugh. Threw a rod. Replace engine with a 60k low miler. 2 weeks later. Blammo! Take engine/tranny/doors/entire suspension/wheels/leather interior/airbag, switches/ecu out. Buy another maxima. That engine stuffs a ring and smokes. Swap said above items to new maxima.

 

If you threw a rod, you'd know about it. It almost always goes through the block when it happens, leaving a big oily, fluidy mess everywhere. Probably the most violent destruction of an engine there is, IMO. Even on the off chance it didn't go through the block, I'd guarantee there's enough damage internally that you DON'T want to try and repair it.
I'm on the t-belt wagon as well, which is almost as bad on these engines. Rebuilding the heads at a minimum. So, take these guys advice and start looking for a good used engine.

 

if he's doing an engine, then he may as well do VG30ET swap with some help from the peoples here

 

enh..you think it's that easy?

 

sure it is, with help from people who have done it before

 

Ok well here is the deal my engine is definatly shot... what a funny scene it was here 2day 3 people to get one car off a flatbed , so my Greddy Exhaust and ST sway bars would not be ripped off my car! It has been confirmed a I threw a rod. And yes it went throught my oilpan.... Horray! So now what to do.... do the fact of the matter is I need a car to go to and from work and school during the week... I have two ideas I have come up with (Feel Free To Add Your Own) 1) Buy and temporary beater car 5 Speed Accord or somtin that is lik 400 bucks and roll Max in the garage for the time being.... This only b\c if when I do get a yundyard engine it will probably take a while to finally get it in a running properly. or 2) Go out on Sun and get a junk engine w\ lik 60 k on it in the NY \ Long Island area and try to swap it as quick as possible. I think this time i am gonna stick w\ the stock manifolds and just put the Warspeed pipe i have in the box on... Screw the pacesetter headers! If anyone would lik em they can glady have em! So leaves me sum ideas....and we'll see what happens. And as to putting in a VG30ET motor.... if i had help from others who knew what they were doing I would say what the hell why not.... but i think for know I don't need any more complications and am just going to swap a basic VG motor! ~Charlie~

 

$400 bucks on a beater = at least 1/2 the price of a used motor for your Maxima. I would do what I had to do get a new motor and go from there.

Forget about mods. Your main priority is to get your main means of transportation back on the road. IMHO, mods are only for when the car has no mechanical problems and you have the cash. You have appear to have neither.