Welp This time the Water pump has gone up... It started seeping coolent about a month ago and ive been adding water to it on a weekley basis untill 2 days ago when it just stoped working i guess. I drive it for about 3 or 4 miles and it will start to go to hot and not come back down. By the time i get to work about 10 miles down the road its extremly hot and boiling out of my resivoir..So it is now parked in the back yard untill i can get it swapped out...I tried to get it out a few weeks ago untill i got to taking the cam gear cover off, i stripped one of the 7 or 8 millimeter bolts off and i said screw it, put it all back together and road everyday intill now..I was just wondering if any of you have replaced your own and maybe some tips on maybe doing it my self.. I would really just like to take it to a reputable shop but im sure im looking at a 500-1000 dollar bill so i would liek to find alternate soilutions.. Any info would be appreciated!

 

Before you attempted the WP removal did you try to seal up the pump seal
with anything or just keep filling when low. Next you could try and get a large
vice grip on the end of the stripped bolt and turn it or maybe file/grind the bolt down to the next size socket to loosen. You obviously know a little something so you just need to get that one bolt and install WP. Forget about
taking to a shop, they'll rape you. Goodluck, Shiloh.

 

I never tried filling the weep hole because thats normally the first sign of the waterpump failing so i just let it take its course untill it finally stopped working..and the bolt that i stripped(broke) the head off of is in a tight location bolting to the cam cover so getting any kind of vice grip in there will be tricky let alone trying to grip it on and actually turn the thing..I dont believe i would necessarily need it being there are about a dozen if not more of these little bolts holding the cover on. I might give it another shot in the garage seeing as i wont be driving it untill this problem is fixed..

 

Change the timing belt while your at it if you haven't done so recently. If the crank pulley hasn't been taken off in a while try using a torch and a dead blow hammer. Pay close attention to how you take everything off so it won't be the hardest thing in the world to put back together. I help do a VG wp and it seemed to take all day b/c of small complications.

 

Jack the car up about a foot on the passenger side, if you can do that safely on jack stands. Take off the front wheel and the plastic covers. You would be amazed of how much work you can do sitting down and looking up. I can do a timing belt on that car in less than two hours. Once you know what your doing, its so quick.

 

oops wrong thread. sorry.

 

I feel you man, if it aint one thing its something else on these cars. My starter just went out today or either the solinoid or watever. It seemed to just spin around and wouldnt start anymore, on top of that Ive got to replace an injector, and struts! The starters on these cars are like $100 dollars new. I dont want to buy a new one because I dont plan on driving the car for too much longer, maybe a reman would do or a good used one.

 

Dude just head a junkyard and grab one (or three). I haven't ever bought a new alternator or starter. I just grab junkyard ones and all have lasted me for several years

 

Great, Im glad, that $105 is a bit high for me right now, but Ill head to the u-pull it in the morning. Then as a matter of fact, I was just there yesterday and saw 2 still intact. Ive got to get a positive cable from there too, because somehow when the tranny was installed, the guy managed to damage the starter solinoid screw that connects to the positive cable, so I had to take it along with the starter still connected. It never made full contact, so sometimes I would have to tap it to crank the car, really embarrassing sometime LOL.

 

Alright well i finally decided to get the shop that normally does all my major work to do the job... I know the job will be done right with warrenty and i dont have to do it. They are replacing the water pump and timing belt for 650.. In all honosty its worth it for me because i didnt want to go back into it again i tried once before and got frustrated..Im a bodyman give me a rust bucket and i can turn it into a show car but i just cant deal with motor work.. Im trying to get better tho i deal with front end motor work with frontend collisions at work so in time ill get enough practice to be able to do my own work...But anyways the car goes in thursday hopefully ill get it friday evening if all goes well!

 

I Picked my car back up on friday drove it home fine... Drove it on sunday for about 20 miles it did just fine i even regained heat that i havnt had in 3 years.... I drove it to work this morning with no problem but i did notice a little bit of smoke out of the tail pipe witch i though was odd because my car never smokes thats 1 thing im proud about with it is it has 167,000 miles and it doesnt smoke but anyway on the way home at lunch time i got near my house and the temp started to rise to hott, thats when i started to get concerned.. i got home popped the hood and i saw the same thing coolent bubbling into my resivoir so i let it cool off then started it back up about 40 minutes later and it had a hesitation when i revved it and white smoke is coming out of the tailpipe bad.... SOOOOOOO Im guessing i blew a head gasket now question is which 1 AND or possibly have i cracked a head??!??!!? i have smoke coming out of the rear(firewall) side head so im guessing it is the rear 1..........I AM SOO DISGUESTED AT THIS POINT...

 

Well guys after letting the car sit for a week i finally got tired of it sitting in the back yard so i drove it to work. The crazy amount of smoke that was coming out of my tailpipe actually stopped smoking about a mile down the road and it never went over half way hot...I got to work and noticed it was missing so i shut it off only to try and turn it back on about 2 minutes lator and it locked up. I pulled the back 3 plugs because i figured it was that head and tried to crank it and got a slow hard crank about 3 times...i put the plugs back in and tried it and nothign at all! the starter wouldnt even engauge.. After letting it sit all day i got a few of my co workers to push it down to the other shop so i could keep it inside for the weekend while they were pushing me i popped the clutch in 2nd gear to get it to turn over and it did it fired up And low and behold The water that was in the cylinder locking that up i guess somehow drained into my oil so it knocked its *** off like it was blown up.....Now i have to replace the motor no question,.... SOOOOOOOOO for all of you who think that getting hot a few times wont hurt your vg ... IT WILL!!! sad day for the maxima...

 

Alright guys just an update on my whole situation.. Its been about 3 weeks since my motor locked up and since then ive had a shop (that is located right next to my body shop) do the stock motor swap.. I bought a motor from a local motor junkyard and had it delivered sight unseen. When it got to the shop it had a crunched oil pan( it was dented in about 3 inches....and no intake on top (all six intake holes open to the elements) The man said they took the intake off to pull the motor.. i still dont understand that 1 but anyway they pulled the motor out and loaded it into the truck and brought it to the mechanics shop about 30 miles away with an exposed intake.... I wish i knew right then but i didnt really think much of it....Anyways bottem line is they got done the install this morning and when started it sounds like its full of marbles basically... Horrible idle and banking knocking all sorts of trash.. I about lost it i was sooo mad.. I asked the guy if the timing was right and he said it was... All i had him do was swap the water pump timing belt and oil pan from my locked vg to the new 1 since i just had all of those installed on mine before the head gasked ruined my motor so they didnt do anything to the inside of the motor at all....By that time i reaaallllyy wanted to talk to the motor yard so i called them, got ahold of the owner and he said the motor ran fine when they pulled it but he would be on his way into town anyways so he woudl stop by. By the time i got off work and walked over to the shop they guy was out there talkign tot he mechanics and basically he is takign responsibility for everything and he offered to take it up to their shop and swap in a new motor free of charge, so i really cant complain too much only that its going to be anoother week atleast and i still have to pay the mechanic that did the work in the first place but owell thats life i guess...

 

My condolences

 

Never a good idea to overheat any engine, especially to the extent you described. That's when you warp blocks and heads. Sounds like a nightmare, hopefully the 2nd engine works out.

 

Thanks guys, im also hopeing the second engine is a better one. I also hope that the guys who took the motor out arn't the same ones doing the swap this time....The guys at the shop said that the car started up and ran nicely for about a minute then all of a sudden it just lost idle and started knocking and sputtering like a bolt or nut or something fell into the intake while the upper intake manifold was off...Its a shame too because the motor looked fresh inside of the timing cover.O and they only charged me 500 for the complete swap including oil pan replacement waterpump and timing belt swap from 1 to the other and clutch swap so i think i made out ok seeing as the motor yard is covering all expenses on the next motor swap and they are also transferring all my new parts over so hopefully next week ill be up and running
again!!

 

What could possibly go wrong now?? you might say... Well ill tell ya i called the motor yard today a day after i was supposed to receive my car back. The Owner wasnt there so i just asked what the status was on my maxima and the guy said " wellll umm i was under the impression we were just getting you the motor..... So i was liek noooo you were supposed to be putting it in and i was supposed to get it back yesterday wtf is going on....I got nowhere with the convo so i said screw it and took off work early to take a ride up to the place to see if i could catch the owner in person... Of course he wasnt there so i talked to the front desk and basically they told me there was nothign they could do for me and they couldnt release the car to me because im not the motor shop who installed the motor... BS the guy even called the owner and he said he didnt kno when he could do it but it wouldnt be for another couple weeks... This shyt is getting rediculas now... Ima call up there tomorrow and see if i can get ahold of the owner and remind him of the promiss me made me at the mechanics shop... i dont know what else to do other than get some 1 involved that has the law behind them..

 

Welp i got ahold of the owner again and he says that it was his intention the whole time to swap the motor and his son whom i talked to in person knew nothign about the situation so he said i should be getting it back in a few days.... we'll see

 

Just another dissapointing update.. still havn't gotten it done... it shouldnt take this long to do the swap especially when your business specializes in motors....maybe this week ill get it back but who knows anymore... People just dont give a shyt about their responcibilities anymore.. After all is said and done i believe BBB will be getting a call...

 

Hell you should have done this yourself with all this time wasted. Even if you were strapped for time you would still be done by now.

 

Sounds very unfortunate, personally I would have swapped the engine myself because I don't trust anybody. I'm curious on how much your spending and is it worth it or could you just buy another Maxima. If I ever had to replace a motor in a Max I would just rebuild entire motor and upgrade everything/replace all components with brand new ****!!!! Hopefully you get her back soon and most importantly they did an excellent job installing, I know some horror stories, good luck, Shiloh.

 

Exactly what I did.

 

Yah I went thru the same thing when I got my tranny replaced. It took a whole month for them to install the tranny. The next time I will try and do it myself with some help of course.

 

Alright guys i got the call this morning that i was waiting for he told me it was done and rdy to pick up... so i took off work early and went up there to get it.. The guy who worked on it said it runs good but it feels dead in low rpm but he said he didnt knwo how much power the motor should make so i said alright and went out back to get it..It started right up but when i hit the gas it shutters then climbs rpms really slowly........ It feels liek im in 5th gear in allll gears theres absolutly nooo power at all wdf....So i drove it home anyway because i didnt want it there any longer..Whats could be the reason for absolutly no power at all in the motor.. i could barly get to 75 mph thats frikin crazy! Could he have messed up the timing would that cause no acceleration power and slow rpm climb??

 

Just changed my oil and messed with the Distributer cap trying to see if turning it either way of what the guy had done and where he has it is the best spot even tho its still not good.... It fumbles when you hit the gas then it will climb in rpm but not as close to as fast as the old motor did... I just took it down the road after the oil change and i got about an 1/8 mile down the road and i think i was creeping up on 55 mph its soo slow.. There feels liek theres no torque at all when i take it up to 5k and bang the gear it feels like i easily slipped it into gear at 2k rpm its rediculas...

 

Definitely...

Either that or the "new" motor they swapped in is a POS.

It sure sounds like you're dealing with a bunch of fools. Are these guys even real mechanics? Or are they parts swappers? There's a difference, and you'll find that too many shops are really just full of parts swappers...

 

does it actually shift, at all?

 

yea it shifts fine and the guy that did the swap is DEF. not a mechanic he looks to me about 26 and he's the motor yard owners son so he drive around in a turbo evo and doesnt give a fluk about no 1 elses shyt... im leaning toward the timing belt not being installed properly... the oil in the new motor was black already and the new plugs i bought for the 1st motor were never installed in the 2nd motor... the $60 i spent on oil pan gaskets went to waste because they didnt swap over the pan...

 

The most likely scenario is the timing belt is installed improperly. I mean, if a timing belt is ever replaced and then the car seems to have no power afterwards, that's a classic symptom of the install getting fcuked up. The belt is probably off a tooth or two

 

If the timing belt was not installed properly, that may be a place to look...

 

I just took it over to the origional mechanics shop and they pulled out one of the plug wires while it was running and it didnt seem like it was fireing constently they were pointing to the dist cap plugs n wires as the possible cuplrit but honestly i believe liek you guys are saying the belt was put on wrong.. the guy at the motor yard that did it last said he had a hard time getting the distributer to line up right so if he had problems with that then who knows what else he had problems with...I wish i had enough courage just to get in there and do it my self i mean the tranny wasnt hard to replace i just struggle with motor work i guess its not my cup O tea.....But since that fool didnt put my new plugs in this motor and im sure he didnt put my wires and or cap on either so i might aswell go with that first...The dam thing idles smoother than ive ever heard a vg idle tho thats the other thing.. if the belt wasnt aligned properly wouldnt i have trouble with idleing and starting and such..??

 

Man alot of self induced problems........GL

 

Cmax, believe me i kno this appreciate it tho.....anyway the car has been at my family known and well trusted mechanic whom put the waterpump/timing belt on in the first place to see if he could track down the problem why it wasnt running right. Its been there for 3 days and they still cant seem to figure out what is going on. They checked the timing belt and said it was put on correctly and they checked my injectors and dissy and all checked out. They are leaning toward the ecu being messed up. My question is would putting in another motor make the ecu go crazy and make it not run right??? Like i said previously it started up fine and idles smoooooooooth and quiet, suspiciously quiet honestly and my exhaust doesnt seem to be as loud....any chance the exhaust is clogged up creating a very sluggish(almost like pulling a truck with my car) feeling or could it be the computer????

 

Such a pity after all the effort.................

1. Remove upper intake plenum and check for obstructions (rags/bags etc that could have been inadvertently sucked up into the manifold) - also check the whole of the intake plumbing for the same

2. Do a proper compression test - all plugs out, throttle wide open

3. With the motor warmed up, remove the valve covers and actually measure the valve lift for every valve (cam lobe hight at its highest point minus cam lobe hight at its lowest point).

4. Drive the car till its properly warmed up. Lift the front of the car and support both sides on a trestle securely - chock the rear wheels and connect a timing light to the motor. What is your static timing at idle? If you now select 3rd (D if you have an auto) and accelerate hard to only around 4000rpm what is the timing doing.

5. If you set the timing to 20 degrees and drive the car, is the engine pinging at all when you accellerate hard in 2 nd gear from 1500rpm?

6. What is the cold and hot oil pressure at idle and under load? ..................

7. Was this engine "redone" or is it original?

While I feel for you, its should really be pretty simple to confirm the motor's wellbeing by being methodical and following a logical route.

 

Welp the ecu got swapped and that still doesnt seem to be the problem, leaning back towords the injectors, i know when the motor was first changed the "newer" motor had different shaped plugs on the fuel rail, my old motor used rectangle plugs into the rail and the new ones were oval so he had to change out the whole fuel rail, im not sure if that other guy put my origional rail in the newest motor or not but regardless im taking my whole old motor to the mechanic tomorrow so he can get the injectors and any other parts he may need....hopefully that will be a success..

 

You know, people that don't want help should say so in their topics - you obviously are a masochist and are only here to moan about your miseries.

 

are you serious??? first of all i read all of your advise and took it into consideration but i dont HAVE my car at my disposal right now to check all the things that you mentioned, the car is at the shop who is trying to solve the problem...im just trying to get some adsvise and info just incase they cant get it runnign right so that when i bring it home i can go at it my self. Thank you for the info you have put forth but there is no need to be a d1ck..

 

I don't think he's being a ****.. It's just that you keep trusting it to these "shops" and they don't exactly appear to be in the least capable IMO.. So it's kind of like why keep letting them just swap parts and otherwise NOT solving the issue

 

I just figured they knew more about it than i and they had all the equiptment needed to successfully do the job right and figure out why it isnt right, but in the mean time i dont have to deal with doing the major labor....It isnt costing me much at all the mechanic is a family friend and its a very reputable shop... Like ive said before i am a total rookie when it comes to motor work and it basically just overwhelms me. I wouldnt mind having the car at home so i can take your guys advice and tinker with it my self but the car is in good ahnds and i trust he will find out whats wrong with it...

 

**** here again .....................

So the trusted guys is sitting on the car fro 3 days+ already and they are none the wiser? .................... go on and pull the other one!

**** here once again - do print the following and give it to the trusted bunch and come back with answers here if they don't know what to do with those - it shouldn't take them more than 15 minutes from start to finish