So my vehicle has just hit 171xxx miles. I love my vehicle and really dont want to purchase a new one. Against my wifes wishes i believe i am going to fix it. I have the dreaded timing chain tensioner issue. My question is would you guys just fix the timing chain or find a used engine with lower miles on it. The vehicle is a 2004 which i know is older but i love the benefit of not having a car payment. My old lady drives a lexus rx and thinks i should just bite the bullet and purchase a infiniti fx.

 

Id say fix it! Im in the same situation with my 01. Im having a slight over heating issue and am thinking its the water pump (hopefully). Ive been contemplating getting a newer maxima, but my heart is saying to replace the water pump and save off getting into a newer maxima....although the new ones are FREAKING BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!

 

Even if you go with a new engine, all VQ35DE from 04-08 have defective tensioners which will wear out eventually and cause noise. If you get a new engine, you shoudl replace the tensioners with updated ones.

 

IIRC, not all VQs have the tensioner issue. It was addressed and Nissan started to use chains that are less sharp, as well as a different material for the tensioners.

OP, I would just get your timing chains replaced, as well as change out the tensioners/guides. Expect to pay a pretty penny though, it's a fairly large repair job.

 

Screw all this advice, get a race built LS1, squeeze it in, convert to RWD and have the best maxima in the world.

 

ha, don't tell him that.....

not a bad idea though. I recommend just getting a used 3.7 and installing it. I am pretty sure you can find one out there. No issues with timing chains and should fit right under the hood with no modification. Just my 1/2 cent.

 

how much would a 3.7 go for though. I'm hopefully going to be keeping my car pass 200k so tryig to see exactly what the chanes of that happeneing are

 

...and how would he fit a 3.7 in a FWD car?

All 04-08 VQ35DE have bad quality secondary tensioners that go bad as miles pile up. Its not the chain, its the tensioner material.

The main chain tensioner guide was fixed 06 and on.

 

Hmm...did not know that. The Nissan tech that fixed my chain whine issue said the chains were too 'rough'...and Nissan have changed to a chain design that's not as rough on the guides/tensioners.

 

my bad totally messed that one up. Meant to say VQ35HR, was thinking of a 370 at the time lol

 

Ok so I have a 2007 M35X VQ35DE and I'm also on the Infiniti forumes I havn't seen any post about guides/tensioners could it be a different setup? I did ask an Infiniti tech he siad he doesn't see much of that at all on the M's

 

HR is still a RWD.
How will he fit RWD engine into a FWD car?

 

I thought the new maxima came with the HR engine. I guess not. Seems to be the DE engine.

 

find a low mileage engine and be done with it. You can swap out the chain and guides with the replacement engine as an added insurance. IMO, this would be the least expensive route.

Personally, I would never replace the chain and guides on a motor with close to 200k miles unless i'm doing a complete rebuild. Seems pointless to sink a couple grand into a motor and have to worry about worn piston rings or valve seals in the near future.

 

This, unless you had that engine from mile 1 and babied it with oil changes within its intervals.

 

our engines with 60k is no better than one with 200k

 

I've heard of people fitting longitudinal engines in a front wheel drive car. Would probably cost more than the engine on the maxima lol

 

Acura legends have longitudinal engines and they are front wheel

 

why dont you just purchase an infiniti fx to able to brag like your wife with her lexus and stop bothering us?

do we care what car your wife drives or what she thinks you should drive?
my wife thinks I should drive an suv, do you care?

jesus

 

[/find a low mileage engine and be done with it. You can swap out the chain and guides with the replacement engine as an added insurance. IMO, this would be the least expensive route.]

Last summer I did like nsnrider was saying, found a 2005 engine with 50k. I replaced the chains, tensionners and water pump myself. Not an easy job but well worth the effort. Its been one year now, it runs smoother than ever and I have all these extra parts.

 

I'm pretty sure there's nothing wrong with the engine so why replace the whole thing? The chains and tensioner rarely go bad it's usually the guides but if you're in there you might as well change everything so it's good as new again. The VQ35DE engines are very strong and there's a reason why nissan put them in most of the newer cars so to change it when it's not broken will be due to prefference. But i'll be happy to take it off of your hands if you do....

I would really like to buil an engine on the side, add some cams, bigger pistons for when the one in my car dies.

 

Yeah, but I forgot to mention that my original engine with only 85K was sucking one quart of oil every 1000 miles and the trend was increasing. Last winter I found some time to strip the engine completely and confirm that the problem was coming from the weak bottom oil rings on the pistons. Even though they were still loose in the groove, they did not expand at all, zero pressure against the cylinder walls. The other rings were fine. I measured the timing chain against the new one and could see it had expanded slightly, probably from all that slapping on startup because of the broken main guide. Finally, swapping the engine was the best thing I could do at the time.