Hey guys new to.the.maxima.world.
I have an 02 maxima and recently it has started.making an awful noise. At first I was told it was a pulley but the sound was coming.from inside. now its just loud and im afraid to drive it. Makes a sound like a.lifter knocking but when you give it some gas the sound goes away amd you jear what seems to be a belt whining. The car runs fine, no over heating starts right up, no weakness, pulls just fine. Im thinking its the oil pump. I checked my oil this.morning and theyres metal shavings in the oil, smells a little burnt, but the oil was all the way up the dipstick. i love this.car and dnt wanna get rid.of.it or junk it, but im not in a place to be just throwin parts on it. Hopfully someone.has had.this experience and.can help. Thanks for your time.fellas.

Just wanna add the sound comes.from the passenger side bottom end. I read about the timing chain issues bit when I start the car you get an.instant smell of.burnt something. So I feel the.chain is out of.the question bit im not a hundred percent on this

 

Sounds like a spun bearing to me. Time for a rebuild.

 

did you search?? we have this nifty little search bar at the top of the screen, comes in quite handy.

 

Metal shavings in oil means engine swap time.

 

Wouldnt it make a clunking noise real bad if it was a spun bearing, had a mazda spin a bearing and that thing clunked baadd. Got.it. from a ****ty dealer so I was expecting.it to break down eventualy. And I did search, nothin is.coming up.that sounds famailiar, so being this is a forum to discuss issues thougt I would ask as well as keep reading on. My bad.

 

I have had metal shavings in my oil once. That engine has been retired for a while.

 

Metal shavings? New engine time. Sorry bro

 

Mazda rotary engines are a bit different than our vq. New engine time buddy, metal shavings = self destruction

 

Sorry but the Metal shavings pretty much does it. Swap or rebuild

 

Ya, something similar happened to my 02 Maxima, I think the oil pump went a few winters ago when it was super cold, i was on my way home from work and i was so close, i decided to push it, wrong move on my part, engine blew on it.

Whens the last time the oil was changed?

 

Is it possible to save the motor before it's too late?
The OP says the oil level was full. So maybe the shavings shows that the rings are just starting to disintegrate.

How about:
Removing the Y-pipe
Checking the condition of the pre-cats to get an idea how much damage may have been done.
Gut the pre-cats, or much better yet, install an aftermarket Y pipe.
Change your oil and filter to get rid of all the shavings of course.
Re-install and hope for the best.

He may be able to make the best of a bad situation.

 

I would be willling to bet that your oil pump went because your oil level was low for a very long time, and that was because the piston rings went due to the pre-cats distintegrating and being sucked back into the combustion chamber.

In other words, your oil pump failure was a symptom, not the cause.

 

Ya, I should have just parked the car and got it towed, but it was in the negative degrees with the wind chill and I just wanted to make it home. Instead, I wind up having to buy a new car. What pre-cat does the most damage? Is it usually the bank 1 or bank 2? both?