My car came to a grinding halt just under a week after my 'engine knock' thread. It seems like my piston rod bearing went, and caused a some pinging/knocking at first. That turned into ping at high RPM, and 4 days later into my engine grinding-screeching...and basically dying.
Can I just rebuild the engine(without boring the cyls), or is the grinding noise means that cyl walls are damaged and the core is no good? I'm in nyc area, does anyone know a good place to go for a swap/rebuild? Can I use 2004-2007 VQ for my 2003 maxi?
Anyone have any clue to as what to expect as far as the price goes? I know some people here have more nismoledge then most auto shops, if you are interested in doing a swap, please let me know. Otherwise anyone with any tiny bit of info on this, or someone who's been through this, reply!!! BTW, its a 2003 SE-TE, auto 140k.

 

That grinding and screeching was more likely your rod or main bearings....I would look for a wrecked Maxima cause you know it was running b4 it's life ended.....I was able to find a $141.00 (4 cyl ) engine a few weeks ago at a Lafayette, La. junk yard and I sure you can also find a VQ30/35 for under $250 if you pull it yourself.......Rebuilding an engine is nice but very time consuming and expensive without a warranty.....Buying a crate engine is very economical and I believe provides a quicker turn around for most DIYers, plus it comes with a warranty.....A core engine is just that....no need to worry about if it locked up or not,....just as long as it's not blown to bits!!!!!

 

Having just replaced the engine in my car (I bought it needing an engine, so I knew *nothing* about these cars until I proceeded to replace the engine) I'll say it's not that difficult to do yourself. Check my other posts for tips I typed up.

I went with the "used/low mileage" no warranty option, comfortable with all the issues. The used engine I found was $400, I get a wicked UPS freight discount through my employer, so it cost me $100 shipped in from TN.

Like Cmax says, rebuilding my existing engine would have cost upwards of probably 3 times what I paid for my used engine, and taken a decent amount of time, when you could probably yank an engine in one day and replace it the next.

I'm plenty happy with the decision I made, fwiw.

 

open up...

http://forums.maxima.org/5th-generat...o-5-5-gen.html

In your situation, it will be better to just drop a new motor in. You can swap in any FWD VQ into your car. It doesnt matter the year. Cost depends soley on the shop you get it done at. Ask around town. Expect to pay anywhere between $500-$1500 for the engine alone. The swap is not hard if you have ever pulled a motor before or have pretty decent wrench turning skills.

 

Do you remember the website/contact info for the engine place? And you said comfortable with all the issues, so did the engine have any issues?

 

www.car-part.com