5th Generation Maxima (2000-2003) Learn more about the 5th Generation Maxima, including the VQ30DE-K and VQ35DE engines.

Blown 02 Max Engine

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Old 05-14-2008, 10:56 AM
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Blown 02 Max Engine

Red lined car when shifting down to 4th gear Car died on highway Towed to shop. Car started and was drivable around the lot. Mechanic said hydraulic lifters were effected when red-lined. Mechanic changed oil saying that would bring back preassure to lifters.

Drove home could not get power beyond 2,500 RPM.

Brought back to Mechanic and pulled codes P0111 & P0112 for Intake Solenoids. Replaced both. Drove out the lot and car started blowing white smoke. Limped back Mechanic who then said Cat needed replacing. Bolted on new After-market Cat.

Car drove better except continued blowing smoke and would stall in 1st gear. Mechanic said smoke is from the new Cat and car needed to build pressure for the lifters. Felt car miss-firing while driving home.

Took off engine cover and saw oil all around valve cover under plenum. Noticed bolt was missing from the valve cover and gasket was pertruding. This was the probable cause for the intake solenoid codes. Mechanic fixed and said car was running bad, claims to have drained oil and found metal shavings. Latest diagnosis is when car red lined the timing chain tensioner broke and the motor is blown.

Car is home, continued to blow white smoke and I get a P0340 CAM Sensor code before it died. Drained oil and found no evidence of "metal' and car stalls when I attempt start. I do not see coolant in the oil or anything leaking on the ground either.

Car has 136k miles with oil changes ever 3k miles and no symptoms of anything before it died on the highway.

Help!


Bob
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Old 05-14-2008, 11:01 AM
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wow that sucks, sorry about your car, but i just wanted to say it sounds like you have a really sh1tty mechanic and i wouldnt ever go back to him. Sounds like he is just pulling out diagnosis' out of his a$$. especially when he told you to put a new cat on.
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Old 05-14-2008, 11:16 AM
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Although he was good in the past, I've kicked this mechanic to the curb
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Old 05-14-2008, 11:29 AM
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are you plannin on fixing or selling
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Old 05-14-2008, 02:55 PM
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I don't think a red line will kill an engine except you put 8000rpm+ on it.
white smoke? piston rings?
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Old 05-14-2008, 03:10 PM
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white smoke is usually coolant.
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Old 05-14-2008, 03:18 PM
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Mother of God, I hope that mechanic wasn't charging you for all of this.
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Old 05-14-2008, 03:24 PM
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^^ word..good luck with w/e u do
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Old 05-14-2008, 03:31 PM
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I'd suspect a blown head gasket.
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Old 05-14-2008, 03:35 PM
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Originally Posted by jasonmax
I don't think a red line will kill an engine except you put 8000rpm+ on it.
white smoke? piston rings?
Wait, so, the OP has an extended rev-limiter on it? I'm kinda concerned, because on the highway, I get pretty close to redline occasionally. Can this happen to somebody with stock rev-limiter and internals?
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Old 05-14-2008, 06:15 PM
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Originally Posted by wyche89
Wait, so, the OP has an extended rev-limiter on it? I'm kinda concerned, because on the highway, I get pretty close to redline occasionally. Can this happen to somebody with stock rev-limiter and internals?
the rev-limiter only limits the gas which means if you put in 2nd and floor the car, the rev goes up until to the limiter kicks in. but if your doing 100mph and put in 2nd by mistake, the engin will be dragged over the rev limiter by speed not by gas.
another example, if your running speed is 10mph, you can't run faster than that, right? but if you jump off from a car doing 15mph and start to run, your running speed will be 15mph but you can't handle that speed, then you fall.
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Old 05-14-2008, 06:41 PM
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Yea your old mechanic was a moron. I also say the white smoke is a head gasket or possibily something else the guy ****ed up when he put the motor back together. Next step in this saga is to go find another mechanic have him verify the prev. mechanic's work then go about doing a compression check on the motor. Find out which repairs were utter bull**** and demand your money back from the previous mechanic.
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Old 05-14-2008, 09:15 PM
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Originally Posted by jasonmax
the rev-limiter only limits the gas which means if you put in 2nd and floor the car, the rev goes up until to the limiter kicks in. but if your doing 100mph and put in 2nd by mistake, the engin will be dragged over the rev limiter by speed not by gas.
another example, if your running speed is 10mph, you can't run faster than that, right? but if you jump off from a car doing 15mph and start to run, your running speed will be 15mph but you can't handle that speed, then you fall.
yeah.. i was just wondering if it's possible to blow an engine like that without something like an upgraded ECU which gives you an extended red-line... so to blow his engine in 4th gear, he must have been going over 100mph during the downshift... the top of 4th is about 100 right?
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Old 05-15-2008, 06:43 AM
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to the OP: shifted down to 4th.. explain that more.. like u were going 130 in 6th and went down to 4th? or u were in 5th and went to 4th THEN brought it to a redline and thats where it crapped.. im knda confused.. the first example is understandable how u broke something the second not so much... g/l with everything and look into a new head gasket
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Old 05-15-2008, 12:07 PM
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I was doing maybe 95 mpg when I down shifted to 4th from 5th. Nothing crazy. I think it may be a blow head gasket but there is no coolent in the oil and the car never demonstrated any symptom before it died on the highway. Is there any one out there that has had a blown engine or head gasket that can share their experience? Does any have the procedure for resetting the ECU? Probably won't make a difference but I'd like to try.l

Bob
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Old 05-15-2008, 01:03 PM
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Originally Posted by rbourne
I was doing maybe 95 mpg
Best MPG in history.
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Old 05-15-2008, 02:40 PM
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Originally Posted by rbourne
I was doing maybe 95 mpg when I down shifted to 4th from 5th. Nothing crazy. I think it may be a blow head gasket but there is no coolent in the oil and the car never demonstrated any symptom before it died on the highway. Is there any one out there that has had a blown engine or head gasket that can share their experience? Does any have the procedure for resetting the ECU? Probably won't make a difference but I'd like to try.l

Bob
Blowing white smoke and being down on power sure point to the head gasket as the most logical cause.
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Old 05-15-2008, 03:26 PM
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do a compression test on all cylinders. might wanna do engine leak down test as well. most likely blown head gasket. white smoke and runs crappy sure sounds like head gasket.
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Old 05-15-2008, 05:35 PM
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The car stalls now. When turning on it reves normal and then dies out. Can I do a compression test this way? A side from telling me the car has no power, what will a compression test tell me?

Thanks,


Bob
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Old 05-15-2008, 05:57 PM
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it will tell you wat cylinders are dead and not holding. it will also tell you if there is valve damage and leaks. you need a compression tester to test. pull the spark plug out of each cylinder. install tester and have someone crank it over without starting, the tester will show how much pressure are in the cylinders. low compression can mean the piston rings are leaking, valves are leaking/burned. google compression test - it will tell you how to do it and all and what to look for. a quick way to check for blown head gasket is to remove the radiator cap and crank. if coolant blows out or you can hear/feel air coming out - then the head gasket is shot.
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Old 05-15-2008, 06:09 PM
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Originally Posted by dizmax96
it will tell you wat cylinders are dead and not holding. it will also tell you if there is valve damage and leaks. you need a compression tester to test. pull the spark plug out of each cylinder. install tester and have someone crank it over without starting, the tester will show how much pressure are in the cylinders. low compression can mean the piston rings are leaking, valves are leaking/burned. google compression test - it will tell you how to do it and all and what to look for. a quick way to check for blown head gasket is to remove the radiator cap and crank. if coolant blows out or you can hear/feel air coming out - then the head gasket is shot.
A few additions, if you want to do it properly and try to get the most accurate readings:
  • Normally you would block the throttle wide open, but I wouldn't recommend that on your DBW TB. Put it in gear and hold the throttle wide open.
  • Hook up a battery charger
  • Remove all plugs to do the test, not just one at a time
  • Clear the fuel pressure, and keep the fuse for the pump out.
  • Do one round dry, and a second round wet to determine rings vs valves, HG, etc
  • Make sure to write down cylinder by cylinder your results, wet vs dry. Don't rely on your memory (might work okay for a VQ...tried it on a V10 once, confused the hell out of myself and had to do all the tests over again).

Other than that, spot on
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Old 05-15-2008, 07:27 PM
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indeed thats much cleaner than what i said hehe. try the radiator cap off and crank. air puffing out means cylinders are pushing air into cooling system and out the radiator fill hole. im not baller like pmohr haha
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Old 05-17-2008, 02:11 AM
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That happens when you redline engine... next time don't do it and car will run fine.....
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Old 05-17-2008, 09:50 AM
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Mine is fine

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Old 05-17-2008, 12:20 PM
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Originally Posted by NmexMAX
Mine is fine

Great Pic...!!!
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Old 05-17-2008, 12:23 PM
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kinda scary..
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Old 05-17-2008, 06:41 PM
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How much did old mechanic charge you for all this work? you can p/u a junkyard motor for around 800 and drop it in
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Old 05-20-2008, 04:54 PM
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Still not sure what wrong with the car but I price out an engine replacement and my options are a junkyard engine w/a 1 yr warranty for $3.400 or a re-man for $4.800 w/ a 5 yr warrranty. Can anyone reccomend some in the Danbury, CT areas who might be cheaper?


Bob
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Old 05-20-2008, 05:17 PM
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I have one sitting in my shop. only 35k have paper work with vin. If you wanna pick up let me know. Pm me if you wanna purchase the engine.
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Old 05-22-2008, 10:13 AM
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I tried to pm you on that engine but got no response. Give me some details on the engine. Where are you located? How much? Warranty?

Bob
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Old 05-22-2008, 10:26 AM
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car-parts.com is a life saver
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Old 05-22-2008, 10:35 AM
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i went to the site and put the info in 2002 nissan maxima put in ct no zip and found one for 850 on car-parts

Last edited by sergey85; 05-22-2008 at 10:38 AM.
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Old 05-23-2008, 08:18 AM
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Great web-site! Still gotta find someone to put the engine in. In looking at the manual it does not seem too hard but I've never done an engine swap. Can anyone advise how difficult and how much time?

Thanks,

Bob
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Old 05-23-2008, 08:47 AM
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Originally Posted by NmexMAX
Mine is fine

I don't have a pic of that quality.. but I think my 8,500 RPM accidental downshift wins all (no motor damage)
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Old 05-27-2008, 05:20 AM
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Anyone out there that can reccomend a good mechanic to do an engine swap in the Danbury, CT area?

Regards,


Bob
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Old 05-27-2008, 06:54 AM
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I know someone really good in the Dallas area, but I guess that doesn't help you much.

Typically, book time to R & R an engine is 10-12 hours so you are looking at $600 to maybe $1000 depending on the hourly rate.
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Old 05-30-2008, 05:21 AM
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I really need a reccommendation to do an engine swap in CT. Is there anyone out there that can advise?

Bob
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Old 05-30-2008, 08:04 AM
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Originally Posted by rbourne
I really need a reccommendation to do an engine swap in CT. Is there anyone out there that can advise?

Bob
http://forums.maxima.org/forumdispla...aysprune=&f=11
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Old 06-17-2008, 01:38 PM
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UPDATE: A friend listened to my car and said it's a bad rod. To fix I gotta go through the oil pan. Also, looking at the oil I drained some 2 or so wks ago, I see a grey mud like substance around the magnet I put it. My friend says it is metal though one does not feel any chunks but it should not be a problem. I'd appreciate any comments anyone has on this.


Regards,


Bob
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Old 06-17-2008, 01:40 PM
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A soundlcip would be nice.
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