so i was having choppy starts for a lil while and was getting money together to see a mechanic then i accidentally red lined my baby racing a grand prix.... ( my fault not payin attention) it ran and started the same for a like a day and a half. then i stopped to get gas dropped 30 in the tank went to start it and clank clank clank so i called a tow truck got it dropped of to a mechanic they ran some tests and called me sayin i threw a rod i guess i need to swap the motor but can u guys freakin believe that. i died a lil inside that day my VQ only has 94,000

 

that sucks man, sorry to hear

 

What year? 3.0 or 3.5L??

 

2002 3.5 automatic don't see how this could of happened I think I'm the first

 

how did you red-line an automatic? Good luck with a new engine and repairs.

 

you know the 1 2 3 on the gear selector i have an se so i would shift with that but only when racing other wise i would leave it in drive i redlined 2nd

 

I dont see how you can redline an auto anyways. you dont have extended rev limiter do you? i think the mechanic is b.s'ing. I have left my car in 1st gear by mistake at the track while launching on 75shot, or even 50shot + few pounds of boost and bounced of limiter, and nothing.

 

Id like to see pictures of this. Hard to believe that redlining an auto was the reason why.

 

well i thought the rev limiter would kick in too cause it did a previous time but i specifically saw it go to about 6,800-6,900 rpms and smelled a smell i never smelled on a car before but i'm not mechanically inclined well they never said that that was the reason i'm just sayin there was that plus previous starting problems and they're tellin me to swap the motor

 

our tachs are off a bit, mine normally says a little above 6800 when i'm actually at the 6600 redline.

 

I've bounced mine off the rev limited at least a few times, no problems to report.

Did you buy your car used? Could be the original owner didn't change the oil regularly and that led to your problems.

What do you mean by "choppy starts"?

 

I think u just spun a bearing.

 

redlining will not throw a rod unless you have other issues that are causing it to happen. unless you were doing something that hurt a rod before that day, its unlikely that is what happened, although still possible. the redline is there to keep you safe, normally you can bounce off that all day without any issue. shoot, i bounce off my 7100rpm limit way more often than i would like and there sure isnt any issue coming up, certainly no thrown rods here

 

so....
you were abusing your car
and
street racing

the outcome seems about right

 

so....
you put him down
and
have no helpful comments

seems like par for the course

 

was i supposed to be sympathetic

like a true newbie, you dont see what i have contributed in my 5 years here

 

oh no, here comes big man 5 years to take the newbie's down. so what youre trying to say is that since you have contributed in the past that you no longer need to contribute? it seems like youve posted something worthless every thread ive seen outside of advanced understanding threads, which you dont participate in because (just a guess here) you dont have advanced understanding. thats ok though, ill just ignore it from here out

 

i dont have "advanced understanding" try me

and i dont still contribute?

newbie thread

User Name Posts
SoonerFan 541
NmexMAX 519

 

Did you have a puddle of oil under the car? Did the rod puncture the pan? thrown rods and spun bearings are like night and day! With a thrown rod you wouldn't been starting anything! But with a spun bearing you'll be removing the engine to get that crank rod journals undersized .010, .020, or .030" ... good luck.

 

i would think redlining it would only break the tranny severely if anything...

and what is a rod? like a piston? i dont know much about engines.

 

Mine sees this daily and 3.5 AT.

 

+1

 

Sounds like you did this to yourself knowing about the "choppy" starts and manually shifting an automatic to "race" a slug grand prix.....The choppy starts were probably a rod or main bearing telling you it's about to go, I also doubt you threw a rod but likely a bearing or bearings are gone. Good luck getting it repaired though!

 

I manually shift my auto everyday, so what does that make me? in order to take full advantage of my power curve, I have to.

 

Doesn't sound like you threw a rod at all. Trust me when it happens it's scarry. Basically you'll hear a snap, metal knocking around and if you are unlucky the rod will shoot out of the pan or the side of the block. If your at speed when this happens you'll be blinded by the oil smoke.

I had a 460 come apart on me on the freeway before. That's how I knew.


As for actual damage I'm almost inclined to say have your timing chain checked. Your tentioner could have given up the ghost.

 

the rod, sometimes referred to as con-rod, short for connecting rod, is what links the piston to the crank. it's not good if the rod breaks (or if anything breaks, for that matter).

 

I once did a 3-2 shift instead of a 3-4. As I let clutch out I knew I had done something wrong, I don't think I let the clutch out all the way. If I did, it wasn't more than 1 second. I saw 8K+ on the tach.

That was 4 years and 160K km ago. No problems at all.

 

so no one here has raced there max..... i doubt that. who wouldn't want to they're great cars and that don't mean i abuse my car i baby it. and it was a ssei grand prix supercharged not a slug but i didn't know he was super charged till he passed me, i was all ready doing 55 and saw him flying up on me thought i could take him but i was wrong i am just going to ignore sooner he all ways pulls that same bs. i read on hear allot not 5 Freakin years though I've only had my car for 2 1/2 and been on here ever since so if I'm a newbie so what u should welcome and help ppls on here for the love of maximas. No i didn't bust through the oil pan or nothing else for that matter, i am going to get a second opinion from another mechanic and i will continue to race if i feel like it. i got allot of wins under my belt because everyone underestimates these 5.5s for some reason well thanks for all the input though it's very helpful and any more is greatly appriciated.

 

I don't race my car. Certainly not on the street. If you want to have some fun go to the track. Street racing is stupid and dangerous.

 

at you posting about street racing. Perhaps you didn't read the rules when you first became a member?

 

What does this comment have to do with this thread?

 

Everyone seems to be beating on him for manually shifting his auto, nearly, indirectly blaming the manually shifting to be the culprit. Seems on topic with me, and when does a thread ever stayed on topic around here?

To the OP, there will continue to be useless flaming, etc on you racing on the street & manually shifting an auto, so in the meantime, get a compression test and UOA.

 

So is it a spun bearing or thrown rod?

 

Only 1 way to find out.

Crack it open.

 

+1 holding gears in his auto isnt going to cause catastrophic failure.

Also what were your oil change intervals and type of oil you used.

 

6800 rpm + bad harmonic balancer = not only throwing a rod, but twisting it 90 degrees and destroying the big end. Found 4 lobes of the cam, 3 pushrods and chunks of rod bolts and forged piston side skirts in the oil pan.

 

jesus christ....

 

Nnniiice.... BTW that photo looks like a nice piece of art.

I was kinda lucky on mine. The engine still ran. The only thing that blocked me from driving it was the big hole in the pan.

 

go to the junkyard buy a motor install it and forget about the rest

 

I was taking photography at the time.

Holed the block too.

I knew the harmonic balancer was bad after I kept blowing the splines out of torque converters. Finally figured out the balancer was bad and replaced it a week or so before the engine blew. I'd been down on Forest Lane in Dallas (where everyone used to cruise in the DFW area) and then down on Manana (street races) where I had annihilated a 1970 LS5 454 Chevelle (365 hp stock, I believe) with my 1971 Chevelle with a .030 over 350 (look at the cam lobes, that was one big Crane cam!) and was on my way home on LBJ freeway. Just messing around, running it up to redline 3rd gear and -boom- then silence. Walked to work that whole summer saving up the money for another short block.