I was driving down the interstate today and was almost to work when someone jumped in front of me. I went into the left lane and tried to speed up when I hear a small popping sound and I instantly have no acceleration. Smoke comes up and a bunch of small metal pieces come from under my car and scatter on the road behind me. I pull off as soon as possible since at this point I am just cruising the car. After I am on the side of the road I look under the car and see smoke coming off of the Y pipe. I could not see where but there was obviously some hole right by the Y pipe that was leaking oil. I have had my car towed into a shop to be looked at and after getting it to the shop there was a huge pile of oil on the flatbed. Does anyone know what could be going on here? The oil did not appear to be coming from where the oil pan sits, it was coming from the opposite side of the car. The shop is supposed to call me later but if anyone has a guess on what is up please let me know, thank you.

 

maybe you ran something over and it punctured something on your car. was it motor oil? maybe like a broken axle

 

Mate ... sounds like you blew your engine. Maybe thru a crank rod from the sounds of it. Sorry to hear that. When you went to pass, did you punch it real hard? Was the car "knocking" before or anything?

Best of luck ... sounds like ya might need it.

 

just to confirm -- the engine quit running almost instantly, right? if so, you blew a rod out the side of the crank case. this happens when a rod bearing is starved for oil and the rod gets "welded" (for lack of a better term) to the crank. the momentum of the spinning engine (and power from the other piston) literally breaks the rod in pieces, and some of it can fly out the side right through the engine block. usually the engine dies almost immediately, but can in some cases continue running for a short while, but it will sound like a jackhammer under your hood. excess bearing wear, leading to a "spun" bearing babbitt can also cause eventual rod failure.

a new engine is needed.

curious --
what year?
how many miles?
oil change history?
driving style history (lots of racing, etc)?

 

Just got the call and a new engine is needed. I bought the maxima with 90k miles on it and from then on I have changed the oil religiously and with fully synthetic oil. The car is a 99 with about 120k miles on it right now. Driving style is aggressive but I have had no signs of any trouble until today
I tried talking to them about putting an 00-01 engine in but they said the engine management was a beast and would not go for it. Guess I have no good choices here, time to get the engine and eat it. They said about $1600
total. Anything else I should check or have changed while they are at it?

 

A 5th gen 3.5L engine will fit ... you may check with someone else on doing the swap. Have you looked for an engine, or is that what "they" priced you? I would look on your own and do some shopping. $1600 sounds a bit high, but maybe not for Az ... I dunno. Do you run a 5spd or Auto? If it's a 5spd, you may do the rebuild for the infomous bearing issue - while the engine is out anyway. I am guessing that the previous owner(s) gave the car hell, for it to drop a rod at 120k ... I had 214k on my 91 Max when I sold it, bought it w/ 165k - did the timing belt, and good to go. Sorry man ... that really sux!

 

a '99 with only 120k?? yikes!! that really surprises me, even with aggressive driving. something very abnormal happened to that engine at some point.

be involved in the selection of the new engine. inspect it carefully for sludge, varnish, etc. you are in Arizona, and even the VQ can sludge up in that hot climate.

be sure to get a warranty on the new motor, and do an oil analysis on it after the first 3k miles of driving (to check for blown head gasket, warped head, etc --- again, arizona heat). coolant in the oil will kill your bearings, and that may have been what caused your old motor's demise.

ask to keep the old engine (or take as many parts off it as you can before they scrap it). that is, unless they try to charge you for it, or are just replacing the long block (lower block and heads only) and transferring everything else.

I'd also tear down the old motor to find out what happened (sludge blocking the lubrication pathways, spun bearing, blown head gasket, etc).

 

^^^^^ Very good advice!

Cheers mate!

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ENGIN...mZ150116056290

You can do much better than $1600 ... are they including labor to do the swap too with that price?

 

The $1600 is the total for labor + the price of the engine. They were able to find an engine for $750 locally from another 1999 with about 90k miles on it. I would like to be involved in the motor selection but I need this car up and running asap. I have no other way to get to work. I really appreciate your advice sky jumper but I don't know the first thing about tearing down an engine. Where can I get an oil analysis done at? Oh yea and my max is an auto.

 

wish i was in AZ id do the swap for 700

 

http://www.blackstone-labs.com/

cost is about $22 or something, they send you a free kit. I buy them in bulk for $17ea.

when draining the oil, let a quart or so drain out first, then stick the sample bottle in the flow and fill it up. send it in, and about 1 week later you'll have a report like this...



Edit: the bottom got cut off. test results were.........61.2...400...<0.5....0.....0....0.3

 

It is federal law that they must give you back all parts taken off if you request them....that includes the engine.

 

It is still your engine, weather its in the car or not. The only thing they can charge you for is if they break the engine down for you or to get rid of it. Dont let them charge you for your own parts. Thats like me robbing your house and selling your stuff back to you on your driveway. Is the mechanics name Bubba?

 

not really. most places will sell you the new "long block" (block and heads only) and in theory transfer everything else from your old engine (intake, coils, injectors, belt driven accessories, etc, etc). in practice they usually just dump the entire motor in, charge you for the long block, and keep everything else for other jobs. this sucks if you had just put new stuff on the motor - and you could insist they transfer it, but you'll have a fight on your hands b/c it is much more work for them.

but since you are not paying for the "other stuff" they are under no obligation to give it to you free, and probably would not even if they didn't specify "long block only", at which point you'd have to sue them for it. these garage owners are crooks.

technically you could demand the broken long block if they don't charge you a core fee, but why??

 

http://ninfiniti.com/detail.asp?product_id=34 here is a 5th Gen for a $1000, they also have some 4'rs in there as well. They're in CA not too far from you. Good Luck, I know the feeling.

 

I was wrong...There will be a core charge of around 500 to get the engine back.

 

Just out of curiosity what shop did the max get towed to? And what freeway were you on? I'm guessing the 17 where all the idiots seem to collect :P.

 

ROFL!

Sorry to hear about your engine man...good luck and see if someone from here can help you. There's lots of good guys on here.