Looking at picking up a 2002 SE 6M with 206K on the motor. Car has a pretty good service history. Should I be concerned about the Oil Gallery Gasket issue?

 

my 02 6 speed made it to 330,000 miles and still ran strong, even when ECU was flashed and reved to 7,200 RPM. i heard the 09-13 had the oil gallery issue. my 02 had timing chain noise as start up since I got it in December of 2012 with 175,XXX miles but never got an engine code for the engine being out of time.

 

Thanks for the replay! That's good to hear! 330K that's a quite commendable achievement in terms of VQ reliability.

 

Yes, they do.

I bought my 03 with a rod through the upper oil pan. It had 192 000 kms on it. Failed while idling at a red light, this is when the pump produces the least flow and the oil gallery gasket leak was too great to provide lubrication to the end of the crankshaft.

Teardown showed tears in the gallery gasket, though it was still present.