so i had a water pump leak that i didn't take care of yet.(major mistake) ive been carrying 3 gallons on water in my car for the past 3 weeks to refill it whenever it needs some water..i went to the IMPROV in Ontario to watch Russle Peters with my gf. car made it there fine. i refilled the radiator to the brim after the show, started driving back thinking it would all be ok.

wrong.. for whatever reason, my coolant temp gauge didnt move past the midpoint while driving. i was about 5 miles away from home when i felt some engine vibrations. i tried to make it to the next exit(mistake) to pull over and figure out what was wrong, but before i got there the motor lost compression and my car slowly died. im pretty sure my entire motor is gone, so many vibrations, think all the internals are bent to hell. .

RIP..vq

i know i f*** up bad..i loved my car. lesson learned is fix stuff asap!!!

 

Sad... tisk tisk. How many miles on the motor?

This is a good thread to actually know how these engines died. Anyone else have stories? I just want to know how a motor can fail with the exception of above and poor oil.

 

197k..almost 200k club..

i had the windshield defroster on air temp with set to red. i think when you do that, it confuses the coolant temp gauge somehow..after i stopped the car and moved the temp gauge to blue. and turned off the defroster. saw the coolant temp jump up.

 

wowowowo i got the same s**t whit my car it was about 300,xxx i was on the highway back home like 3mile before my exit 5mns after hard vibration on the fron car, car wen off completly, check motor was gone but shes fine now new JDM motor and s**t.

soooo the lesson here is dont let little s**t goooo by cuz after ill bee realy bad and the maximas doo last over 200 to 300,000 miles or more if you realy taker of it my boy's car has 400,000 something miles that s**t still kicking ball.

 

...do what?

No, the climate system has absolutely nothing to do with the ECTS. The only correlation you'll see is turning the heater on high to help an overheating problem.

Anyway, how do you know it 'lost compression'? Especially without a compression tester?

Did you get a CEL? It's possible the 'bad vibrations' was just a heavy misfire, I've gotten the same thing when running extremely hot in the VQ (mine has also died when extremely hot, just wait a few minutes and it'll start right up again).

Did you restart it after it died on you? You never mentioned that.

The temp gauge won't read the proper temp if you're very low on coolant, as there isn't enough to transfer heat to it.

I just find it odd that you could've driven a VQ30 to death with overheating, especially before it cutting off a few times, refusing to restart, etc. I think it's safe to say I have beat the royal hell out of my engine while the temp gauge was spiked, and she still runs like a top. Just can't really imagine overheating a VQ30 to death...

 

overheating a "well maintained" VQ to death is impossible !!!!!

i had to drive my 96 with the temp guage pegged and it finally just started slowing down than stopped. went back the next morning with a couple gallons of water, started it up and drove it home for the waterpump. your car should be just fine...+1

 

i need some help and im thinking someone on here can help me out i have a 96 maxima. it was my buddy he was driving it home from work and it was fine. he parked the car then came back out to start it and drive it once again but it didnt want to start. so what can be the prob other than a starter, someone told me it might be the timing chain please someone help me out please

 

Ok, I think the dude Is scared and He thought he killed his VQ. How would you know that you have a low or no compression on your engine When you did not even start the car again since It cut off on you. The way the engine was designed It's quiet impossible for death to even happend. To kill It I believe there has to be more than one problem to kill it. Try to fill it up with 50/50 mix and start it up and see what happends.

 

There as so many options, it's impossible to tell without more details. As in, ANY details.

Use the newbie thread, don't derail this one.

 

well..if you guys are right about it being impossible to die from overheating in the situation i had last night...id be pretty happy..i got the car towed to me gf..and she took me home after..ill try starting the car when i see it again and we'll see whats up..

what you said about "not being enough water" to give the coolant sensor a good reading makes alot of sense..il get back to you guys once i try starting the car again..

 

that sucks..

i used to have a focus and one of the coolant hoses blew open while i was driving and I didn't know until i was in my friends neighborhood..

the temp gauge only read slightly above normal so i thought it would be ok.

when i stopped i noticed steam coming from my hood. i turned the car off and then turned the key to the on position and all of a sudden the temp went past the maximum reading. needless to say it never ran very well after that.

 

just tried to start the car. wouldnt start, i could hear the starter trying to spin but the motor refused to crank. thought mayb the car battery was low on juice cause the light and hazards were on for about 40 mins the other night. used some cables and hook it up to a camry. still no cranking.


should i try push starting it..

 

What kind of noises are you hearing? Trying to spin?

 

to the OP: Sorry to hear about your loss. I'm parting out my 97 gxe, if u want the engine.

 

im pretty sure i hear the starting working..trying to work anyway. the motor is not turning or cranking at all. there is also a bunch of fast clicking.

thanks for the offer thurz..im still not sure what i want to do with my max yet..but ill send you a pm if i decide to keep her.

 

Well, it's possible the motor seized up, but not likely IMO.

Try turning the crank , see if you can turn the engine at all. If you can, then the starter or wiring could be at fault.

 

The fast clicking could be a lack of power. Try jumping it again. Its possible you killed it, i know my moms car had the needle pegged a few times without my mom or dad notcing it for atleast 5-7minutes, this happened a couple times, the car still ran fine, til the day we sold it, it had no issues.

My first VQ30 died on me at 7800rpm on a miss shift going into 4th (3rd to 2nd lol). Oil pump went, when i was like 5-6 miles away from home, lol just drove home on it anyways, made it home fine.

 

that fast clicking means your battery is dead

 

RIP.

 

yeah..thought that too.that's why i cabled it up to a camry for about 15 mins. still wouldnt crank. i pushed it into my gf's drive way for now. gonna get somes doods over there tomorrow to try and push start it, take a listen to the motor and hear how it sounds. hopefully its not like metal in a blender. ahha

 

I cant belive it, but my car never over heated, I took it through sh**, I'm still driving it without a knock sensor hooked up (it broke, and I almost got enough money to get it fixed). When my car makes one noise I dont understand, I'll keep picking at it until I figure it out and or fix it.

Sorry about your motor though.

 

sad

 

Reminds me of a test drive when I was looking for my first car. It was a '94 Camry LE V6 and its coolant tank was leaking like no other. During the test drive the temp needle creeped up and I put the heater on full blast. We then stopped at a gas station and bought a gallon of water to fill it back up. Sorry to hear about your VQ

 

scan it, there has to be another reason for it dying on you. i overheated mine into self preservation mode twice (rev limits at 2000 RPM, top speed ~56. sucks). patched the radiator, filled with coolant, cleared the codes and all was well.