2012 Maxima 100k miles - engine knocking LOUDLY
 

I bought this 2012 Maxima for my daughter a little over a year ago. It has been a serious pain in the *** from the start and I'm just ready to set it on fire.
In the last 6-8 months I've replaced: water pump, timing chain, all 4 wheel hubs/bearing assemblies, brakes, alternator, AC compressor, MAF, and more.
Tuesday she calls me and says the engine is making a loud clanking noise and said she doesn't think she should drive it. I have it towed to my mechanic (a friend of 20+ years) and he calls me to deliver the bad news. He said he isn't exactly sure what's causing the noise but that something internal in the engine has broken and it will not be worth the $$ to tear into the engine and fix it. He did drain/check the oil and said there isn't any metal in the oil, but he still doesn't think it's worth tearing the engine apart to repair it.
We've dumped thousands into this thing already and I'm just frustrated that a car with less than 100k original miles could have been SOOO neglected by the previous owner.

I'm in the Houston area, so if anyone has any recommendations for a 2nd opinion...I'm all ears.
Or, any idea what is a fair price to sell this for (with assuming a blown engine)? I do have the clear/clean blue TX title...not salvage.

Sorry to hear of the trials and tribulations you are going thru. These engines are pretty robust, but as you pointed out, poor mainteance = failures. I hope you get another opinion that has a better outcome but a noise so bad my bride wouldnt drive, i am afraid it is terminal.

Please let us know the outcome...good or bad.

It was loud enough that I could hear it through the phone when she called me. It wasn't a "slight" knock...it was slapping internally.

How many miles your family have put on that car? Did it always have enough oil in the engine? I'm curious what caused that immediate catastrophic failure for that engine. Even long time neglect wouldn't cause a snap failure it would be gradual. Unless it was burning a lot of oil and oil level wasn't checked for LONG periods of time.
THAT or it was SEVERELY neglected in the past, to the level you had noticed it when you bought it.