I have a 1998 Maxima, that blew it's engine last night (broken rod), and now, I need a replacement motor.

On car-part.com, I found a 1997 Infiniti I30 engine with 84,000 miles for $750. I also found a 1999 Maxima Engine with 98,000 miles, offered at $700, from a local Japanese salvage yard. Due to mileage, the Infiniti engine seems more appealing.

My question is, what can I expect from the Infiniti engine in terms of fitment, and will I need to swap parts from the bad engine onto the Infiniti motor, in order to work properly? I haven't done such a swap before, and wish to know if somebody can point me in the right direction, here on this site.

I need to get this done quickly unfortunately, so any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you all in advance.

 

The I30 engine is exactly the same. It would be a direct bolt on swap. If everything is included with the I30 engine i.e. Intake manifold etc then nothing will be needed from the bad engine for the swap. Do a little searching on the org and you'll find the info you'll need. Lots of threads on swaps with guides and pictures and anything else you'll need. Good luck.

 

infinimax96, thank you very much. I will search around more. One other thing, might be silly, but does it matter if the Infiniti had a different type of gearbox, or anything? I have an auto. Thanks again.

 

may i ask what you were doing in order to break a rod?

 

the 1999 and 1998 are not the same. Sure the engine will fit in the engine bay and most electricals will be easy to transfer over. But the 1999 has swirl valves that will need to be deleted and immobilizer and im not sure about emissions.

If u can find a 1998 then get a 1998

EDIT:

Oops my bad i misread lol. The infiniti is the 1997. That should be direct fit with no problem. U might need the ECU and harness tho.

 

yeah, if putting different year in then most likely you'll need a replacement ecu to match. ie,a 97 and a 99 are gonna be different.

 

you dont need that 97 infiniti's ecu or anything. everything plugs right up exactly the same as your old blown engine

 

Where you located?

 

go with the older 1997.. all 99s are cali-spec with different emissions/pollution control like others have said

 

i would also like to know lol

 

Revving the pee out of it or running it out of oil no doubt. If Im wrong, and it was a freak thing than I appologize. Unless it was organized racing, i wouldnt sell him one. These arent hondas, needlessly blowing up motors is stupid.

 

Freak thing, not sure. I don't rev it up, race it or anything. I was pretty sure it was a blown engine as soon as it happened, just by the sound and the rest, verified by my local shop. Anyway, it would help tremendously to address my original question, rather than the accusatory "I wouldn't sell him an engine" attitude.

It's my daily commuter, I'm an average guy, I need a replacement engine... is this enough to know?

 

@ Maxima Joe - I am in Los Angeles.

 

I'm going to look at the Infiniti '97 engine in a few minutes down in Orange County. The replies on the '99 Maxima engine were helpful, thanks guys.

I hope the EPU is the same as my '98 Maxima. I suppose I can cross reference this w/ the two vehicle VIN numbers w/ the dealer? Apparently, what's left of the Infiniti is still on site, however the salvage yard won't trade EPU's, since they cannot verify mine is in working order, or something to that effect.. sigh.

 

It doesn't matter if the Infiniti was a manual or auto. However, if you are going to do the swap and the Infiniti does have a 5speed Manual; I would recommend swapping the tranny with it. The 5speed in the Infiniti i30T has VLSD which = good.

 

i wasn't trying to dog on you just curious as i was under the impression these engines are bullet proof!

 

Yea the 99s are def different cali emissions sucks..i got a 99 with a 97 fed emissions engine and i got a ton of codes to deal eith

 

I'm in LA, parting out my car. Lemme know if u want my engine, 1997
Dr J

 

Well, bad luck on the I30 engine @ the salvage yard. The guy emphatically states the engine has 84,000 miles, and in fact, I can even see the Infiniti I30 carcass it was pulled from. He walks away, I climb up onto the vehicle crushed below it, and lo and behold, 157,xxx is the odometer reading lol. He then goes on to say, well, who really knows, I'm not sure, well, we've sold a few others in the past month, blah blah blah. Wasted trip down to Orange County LOL

FWIW, Costa Mesa Auto Dismantlers was the place. Avoid like the plague.

 

PM sent

 

@ ThurzNite & Boneebone, pvt messages sent.

 

How do you blow a VQ??? Their one of the toughest consumer grade motors you can get. Did it have like 350k on it or something?

 

Does it really matter?? The man needs an engine, plain and simple

 

folks, quit asking how it blew up, no engine is "bulletproof"...things happen, either help with the replacement questions, or stfu...

 

The VQ30DE and -K won wards auto awards longer than any other engine in history. Even the newer VQ35s and 37s look back at the 30 with envy because even though they have more power, and that they do have on droves, they cant match the NVH of the original.

Yeah. I'm curious too. How do you kill such a well designed motor?

DW

 

 

what part of stfu did you not understand?

 

You're quite a piece of work.

DW

 

PPPPLLEEEEEAAASSSEEEE tell us!!!

 

i would think you can get a motor for much cheaper than $750. such a motor is not hard to find like $300-400 around here (chicago) and you're in an even bigger metro area than I am.

 

YES!

 

inbeforegreenybansbronzforaskinghowheblewtheengine

 

Hmmm mine has 239k on it and i beat the crap out of it. It does not miss a beat.

 

must of not had any oil and spun a rod bearing and all problems started their or maybe u drove it to slow and never opened her up lol cause mine see's redline daily and 100 miles minimum daily and shes strong at 230k miles thanks to mobil 1 oil!

 

Hey OP. Have you tried these guys? http://www.ebay.com/itm/1995-00-Maxi...item56401279b1

They're right down the street from me, you can sort of haggle with them if you have the cash at hand, let's say 50-100 bucks off or something, and their engines are straight from Japan. And for 40-60k miles on them... I say do it! It's honestly where I'll be getting my new engine from come next year when I swap out the heart of my car.


Hope it helps and don't pay attention to the old farts. Just getting mad that everybody is switching over to my4thgen

lol, jk jk

 

I beats ya by 20k and still romping!