Broken piston rod!

Nissan showed me the engine (all apart on the service floor) and the damage the broken piston parts had caused to the cylinder #5-pretty banged up.

They are claiming I have 4 options, one is a short-block replacement, one is a long-block replacment, send out for machining, or engine swap.

I have always taken my car there and they know of my aftermarket parts, including nitrous (which I did take off before I took it in for this service). They have also turned my case over to Nissan NA to make a waranty decision-as I'm still w/ in coverage limits.

I feel I won't get warantee coverage, even though at the time of the incident, I was on the dyno and my nitrous A/F was right at stock A/F-everything was working perfectly... until SNAP! So, I really feel it was a part problem.

They have estimated $6-$8K in repairs....I can't afford that!

Any advice to help me get this fixed cheaper?

 

try and find an old 4th gegn VQ30DE at a junk yard???

but I don't even know of any junkyards in the KC area...

where are they?

-vq

 

this predicament? The bottom ends on the VQs are nearly indestructible so....what happened???????

 

I was dyno tuning my nitrous setup. I was running a 65 shot and running plenty of fuel, A/F: in the 12's. We were at the end of the run and as he was just about to let off the gas, we heard a SNAP.

Then as it slowed down, alot of clanking (w/in the engine) was heard.

Now I'm looking at a $7K repair bill, that Nissan is going to claim in Nitrous related, thus is not warantee covered.

 

attempting to rebuild yours I would see what this web site comes up with for a used salvage engine...might be a lot cheaper...good luck

http://www.nissan-used-auto-parts.com/

 

Nissan just called and said they found a used 2k1 w/ 11,000 miles on it.

And they would do the total swap for $5,200 total, $2700 for the engine, and $2500 labor.

Is this a decent deal?

Anyone know where I can get a used 2k engine for maybe cheaper?

 

you can nicely ask them to double-check how many labor hours they show as being required for an engine replacement because even if their shop rate was 100 bucks an hour (which it cant be, no way) their labor quote comes out to be something in the range of 25 hours worth of work....three full days to do an engine swap?? Nahh...cant be

I would say if you can shave a 700 to a grand off the labor..get it into the range of $4000 to $4500 or so it seems like a sweet deal to me.

 

I think they charge u too much on parts. How about u get the parts for them to do the work?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=1876121417

this may not have all the necessary parts. but 750 is still a steal.

 

 

thx

happy new year, y'all!

 

How do they know about your NOS?

 

Holy crap. I am never spraying again. Seriously.

 

could this be part of the reason?

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?threadid=169142

 

That makes me feel a little better.......

 

Stikya... hope you are able to find another engine cheap.... sucks what happened

 

Stickya, here's something that can be of interest to you:

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....hreadid=177627


2k1 engine for sale

 

You could probably find somebody who would put the engine in cheaper than the Stealership and still do quality work. Just make sure they provide some kind of warranty.

You might also look at some junkyards here locally (there ARE some here in KC - I believe Frogs specializes in imports) or search the internet. Junkyarddog.com is a junk yard search engine.

email me if you need help finding a good reliable mechanic here in KC. I might know a few.

 

Seems to make a bit more sense in light of that post...

 

Why not do a 3.5 engine swap? See how much that would be.

 

oh yeah...have you tried State Line Nissan?...there service dept seems to be the best in KC.

You're not messin with one of the McCarthy dealers are ya?

"When it ought to be...McTrucks"---that commercial is SO gay...

how about "it ought to be "McFiretrUCK you so hard you won't know what happened..."

sorry, i don't like mccarthy...darn slime *****...

and O'Neil Nissan just has a horrible location...too far off the highway, too many stoplights...unless you live next door...

I think you should be going to State Line ...if you want it done by a Nissan shop anyway...otherwise...have you heard of a little shop called "Donovan's" in Shawnee?

sorry for the JoCo reference...

but they good!

-vq

 

Sounds to me like the ol' 20-1 A/F caused some serious detonation, and the dyno run just finished it off. I run a dyno for a living, and if I saw a 20-1 A/F I would end the run imediately, but even then, it's prolly too late. I would check a junkyard for a used motor, if I were you. And Andy, call me! Lets get that pig on the dyno, so we can make sure you don't blow it up

 

You might check around with other shops and see if you can find a cheaper labor total for the install. If so, talk to the dealer service dept. and ask them if they can meet or beat that price (I'd recommend something along the lines of "I know you guys, and would really prefer to use you, but these guys are a lot cheaper. Can you get down to their price?"). Even if they don't come all the way down, this has worked EVERY time I've had my car serviced. Good luck (and sorry about the engine!)

 

How about this...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=1876001676

or

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=1876121417

Good luck. Peace.

 

I concur - McCarthief is nothing but a bunch of idiots.

State Line rocks.

I've gone to O'neil a few times too, they aren't bad.

 

From the looks of it Nissan is rapping you on labor. I don't know if nissan engines are harder to swap out than say b18 honda motors but guys in charlotte are paying 750-1500 for full motor swap labor. Doubt this is helpful but might not hurt to try some privatly owned shops and see what there labor charge is. Matt

 

O'neil's all right, but they can barely manage an oil change in their service department...compared w/Stateline, they are chumps....

We bought our Pathfinder at O'neil...but get it serviced at Stateline...

Styka..

where are you getting quoted $2000+ for labor?

-vq

 

Because I've been taking my car there for a year now, to get things I couldn't get other shops around here to do, like my torque converter upgrade.

 

Yea, but we cut it off before it ran like this for more than a second. And this was a month ago, and my car has been driven hard since, including spraying a tuned 65 shot many times, with no problems.

You would think that if it was going to break it would have right then. Also none of the other pistons, cylinders, etc... showed any damage. So, that would suggest just a weak part, that finally gave out, to me.

 

Jay Wolffe (formerly McCarthy) Nissan

Only problem is that to get the car diagnosed they had to pull the engine and it is already on the shop floor in pieces. I'd have to pay to put it back together or for someone to come get it and tow it way, including all the parts and pieces.

Luckily, they did offer me a 10% discount, as they always have on labor.

But, they said it is a 28 hour job, plus the 4 hours they spent in diagnosis and trying a top engine clean first. @ 73/hour w/ tax you got 2,500.

I'm not very happy about it but it's already there... I'm kind of sutck... what else can I do?

 

Jay Wolffe (formerly McCarthy) Nissan

Only problem is that to get the car diagnosed they had to pull the engine and it is already on the shop floor in pieces. I'd have to pay to put it back together or for someone to come get it and tow it way, including all pieces. I feel kind of stuck there.

Luckily, they did offer me a 10% discount on labor.

 

have you joinedhttp://www.kcmaximas.org

not that they can help...but it's another place to get advice, from KC folk.

I don't think there is much you can do.

I was at MCRacing today, and the guy that did my dyno acted like you blew up your engine there. Because you were running lean a while back, and the engine finally gave out. Even though that was already fixed..is that the story? It may have been a different guy he was thinking of...

-vq

 

No, it's me. What happened was the place that put my nitrous on back in May, didn't do it right. So I was running in the 14's for a hole bottle. But, we fixed it and everything has been running well for months.

I did have one day, when we tried 100 shot that I ran in the 20's a/f; but we kept shutting it down, as soon as we saw this. Since then I've been running fine on a 65 shot.

Then Dec. 23rd, I was on the dyno, running fine, and SNAP!

So who knows???

To me deterioration doesn't seem logical. You would expect deterioration to affect more than 1 cylinder's parts. And I saw my engine apart, every other chamber looks great, except that one w/ the broken piston rod.

But, only GOD really knows!

 

Thanks to everyone for the advice.

I'm hoping this will all be resolved by Nissan and I won't have to pay. But, obviously I have my doubts.

I'm a little skeptical about buying an engine off Ebay, as I can't really tell what kind of shape it is in, or how honest the guy selling it is being. But, I'm going to look into the 2k1 I saw.

I'm under so much time pressure, to get my car back, and since it's alreay in pieces on their shop floor, I'm going to leave it at Nissan. I feel stuck there, and can't see a quick alternative. They are going to have my car done by next Wed.

Luckily, they have offered me a 10% discount on labor. Not much but it all helps!

Good news is, that in the down-time, I've sent my VB off for modding (Maximum Tuning), like I always wanted to. What's another $400 when your spending $5000.

Thanks to all for the continuing support!

 

Sounds like we need to put together a Maxima Dyno Day at your place. What shop is it?

 

Give me a call, and we'll set it up, 480-343-4293. The shop's in Mesa, off of Braodway and Center.

 

Will do!

Hopefully, we can get a few Maximas together before a night at Firebird soon.

 

Hmm...it's funny, I just blew a piston out of my VQ last week. Went right out the engine block (big hole the size of one's hand at the bottom front of the engine). Seems like a similar failure. I have a 2000 so basically the same engine.
Hmm.....
Luckily for me, Nissan is swapping in a new engine under warranty.

Food for thought...

I don't have Nitrous or any type of forced induction by the way.

 

Check out ebay.I've seen a couple of diffrent engines for sale.Here is one.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=1876787898

 

I think the dealer is going to overcharge you for the work. My recommendation would be to find a used engine on your own. You could probably find one for less than 2K. Typical engine swap should cost less than 1k and really more like 700-800. Then you will be out less than 3K.

I don't think I would rebuild the engine with the old block sinc you will have ongoing issues with the damaged piston (Unless you intentionally want to bore out the engine - but I know very little about this on the 3.0 liter Nissan engine.)

You could swap out the block, but then you will be re-using your old head which probably already has lots of wear and possibly damage on it from both age and your Nitrous experiments.

Your best bet is to get a certified used engine or a "factory rebuilt" engine which has a warranty and to let someone else (i.e. not the dealer) perform that work. I would only let the dealer do the work if it is all covered under warranty . . .

Also, since you are interested in improving your performance, you "might" look into getting a 2K2 or 2K3 engine and tranny and dropping that in . . . just a thought.

Good luck!