Well tonight is officially one of the WORST nights of my young life.

I blew up my VQ.

A word of warning to guys out there running Nitrous on a older motor....REPLACE ALL THE INJECTORS....I had two injectors go tonight while I was on juice....and I blew cylinders 2 and 4.

I pulled out the plugs...and cylinders 2 and 4s plugs looked like they had gone through a meat grinder....so I did a compression test....and sure enough, what I had guessed was true. I got 90 psi in cylinder 2 and 60psi in cylinder 4....all other cylinders were between 205 and 210 psi....

So I guess I'm looking to you guys to help me out....do you think I need a new motor...or just new piston rings??

I'm really bummed...I just don't know what to do.....

help me out guys....

 

That sucks sooooooo bad man! I feel for ya. To get your answer, I think your gonna have to pull it apart and check out the damage, that's the only way to really tell. Were you running the FPSS? Wow, hope everything works out okay for ya. If you end up needing any serious parts, check out www.car-parts.com you can get used parts pretty cheap if you shop around. Good luck

 

Sorry to hear that dude. If you have the ability to tear it down and the time, then why not, the worst thing that can happen is you waste your time. But I'd be a little skeptical and it's in this case that the DOHC and V6 is gonna be a real pain in the ***. I know one of my former friends had the misfortune of having a DOHC Volvo from the early 90's and there were special tools needed to hold the tension on the timing belts and hold the sprokets (I'd think it'd be the same for chains) and he actually never got the thing back together again. .

I believe the VQ goes for just under 7 grand new, so maybe a used one could be had for 3500?? But in that case maybe you should pick up a used SE for 10 grand and keep yours for parts. Then you could tear down the motor and not worry about it. Take your time and good luck.

 

Look on eBay, some haven't even been bid on and they are going for like 300-700 dollars. Good luck man, I feel for you.

 

Ebay had some VQ's for sale ... check there....

 

sorry for the bad luck...


you are the 2nd person to toast there engine with a 100 shot

 

sorry man.

Untuned 100-shot?

Time for a DE-K or VQ35 swap

 

damn that sucks man, yuou can get VQ30DE's for CHEAP like under 1000 bucks, get a lowere mileag one and just drop it right in and go like nothing happened, unless your gonna build it up it's not worth it to rebuild a VQ because they are so cheap. damn i'm glad i was lucky with my 100shot, i pushed my luck with it all the time but i ran fuel injector throught every oil change too.

-steve

 

Sorry to hear about that Bri...

What happened when it blew? Smoke? Noise?

Does the car still run (allbeit, very rough with no power)?

I agree with Steve, used VQ's can be had for little money. It sounds like your best option. I plan on keeping this car for 4 more years, driving 600+ miles a week (~50k/year with 72k now) and spraying (or blowing some day) at the track, which I visit frequently. I've already figured that I'll have to replace the engine at some point in time.

 

Sorry to hear that Brian, I think you should pick up a used VQ engine, or just buy a new car. Rebuilding the engine you have is not worth it. If you need any help call me up man!

 

if you love your car put a used VQ w/ low mileage try to get the same year motor as well so you don't have problems or annoyances like Mardigras had. I think getting another engine is well worth it rather than buying a new car altogether just think how many normal maxima's there are in the country and how many have been in wrecks from the rear, a VQ is definitley not hard to find for $600.

 

Wow..I wouldn't get too bummed out. Buy a used VQ and just do a swap. This way you will have a low miles VQ that you can beat on for more years to come.

 

Damn, there goes Brian's oil analysis results and long term testing of NOS effects on engine oil.


Hang in there man and pick up a low mileage VQ and swap it out.

 

Brian, how many miles were on the engine?

 

Thanks for all the support guys....

I was looking last night...and it seems like there are PLENTY of VQs for 800 or cheaper....

Would it be ok to put a 96 VQ in my 97???

Now I just have to decide if I want to try and take this swap up on my own or if I'm going to have a shop do it...

 

k...EJ...here's the answers to all your questions:

when the engine went there was no indication besides a loss in power...and then when I let off the gas...it just died completely. I pulled off to the side of the road and turned everything off and waited for a few seconds...then it started right back up...but ran rough....and it probably has about 70-80% power now.

I had 95,000 miles on this engine

 

95k on the blown motor, it was time for a new one any ways Allways look on the bright side of life!!! (wistling)

Swap in a used one. 96 will work. Besides hand tools you will need a shop crane their ~$250. For what you will pay a shop you can do it your self and end up with some more tools. But most importantly the reassurance that it was done right!

FWIW? What fuel pressure were you running? Were you doing back to back runs?

 

Thanks.

I hate to be the one to suggest this...but is there any chance you could try to sell the car? Take you mods off, clean it up really good, and sell it for a "good deal". You may find someone who doesn't know what a stock Maxima should feel like for power, and fall in love with the car.

Again, I hate to be the one to suggest something like that...but it happens...

 

I don't know if I could do that to someone....I'd feel REALLY bad.

Selling the car isn't really an option considering how much $$ I've already put into it.

 

sorry to hear that man, let me know if you need any help.

 

I'm sorry to hear that too Bri!! You got my help if you need it as well. Just give me a buzz!

 

As would I. I was just throwing it out there as an option. Sad to say, but it happens every day I'm sure.

 

Thanks Josh and Greg.....you guys wanna help me rob a bank??



I FOUND A MOTOR....and ordered it

it's from a 97 maxima and has 45K miles on it.
The place I'm getting it from has a 90-day warrenty and they do compression and oil pressure tests on the engine before they sell it. Price is $750 to have it shipped to my mechanic.

Does it sound like I got a good deal???

 

Yeah, it does. You know, while the engine is out would be the perfect time for something like a supercharger install.

Here's a question...does it matter if you get an auto tranny engine or 5 speed engine? I see that people on car-part.com list the transmission type all the time. You can just strip the transmission off the new engine and use your current one...correct?

 

the engine doesn't come with a tranny...I just have to swap the tranny over...

 

BUILD THE MOTOR!

I wonder how long I have till my motor blows up. I don't run NO2 though.

 

If you have a 5-spd and your new motor has an auto, the flywheel won't bolt up perfectly....you will need to do some drilling to get everything to bolt up.

 

How about a lightened flywheel since you're doing a swap?

 

Um... Don't autos have flexplates instead of flywheels?

 

yes you will be replacing all that too so it will fit fine, esp since it's the same year, should be all good brian. good luck with the swap, keep the old engine though, maybe you can do something with it or it's parts. (tap intake manifold for DPI NOS ) shouldn't be hard to switch over, $200 or so worth of parts plus the time.

=steve

 

Or ship me your exhaust manifolds

 

Why?

 

hey man

that sucks dude. My engine blew before and i swapped in a built motor. then had probs so we pulled it out again and fixed it then swapped it back in. then had more probs but fixed it. Another one of my friend's was supercharged and shop blew his motor. we swapped a used VQ in for him. Dont feel so bad!! heheh

anyways, myself personally i would pick swapping a used one in over rebuilding your current one. Less downtime is one thing, and youll prolly end up spending less money. Youll also have a spare VQ you can take as much time as you want to build up. Good luck. let me know if you need any help.

ps. shop time to swap a VQ is about 15 hours.

 

NOS = evil

 

engines that come stock with auto tranny have a spacer where the pilot bearing should be for an engine that came stock with manual tranny. so if you did happen to get an engine that was previously mated to an auto tranny, you have to pull out the spacer and replace it with a pilot bearing. you'll know because the pilot bearing won't go in if the spacer is there.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Badaxxima


Why? [/QU

so he can amte them up to his 53k3 engine and engine and use an aftermarket y-pipe

 

Man... sorry to hear. Good luck with the motor swap.

 

Brain that really sucks, it looks like both of our weekends sucked .

 

Holy schmoly is that cheap. that former friend paid $900 for a 91?? Volvo 4-cyl with over 100k, it was a 16-valve.

If your motor is that cheap I'd be willing to pay another $750 to get it installed. That way the install labor is covered under warranty. Sometimes you have to take it in and out more than once. They usually install heat tabs so if you cook the motor the tabs melt and the warranty is voided. The warranty should be on the block, cooling and lubrication systems. I don't think it covers fuel and valvetrain, I may be wrong. And wow, a "buy it now" VQ with 34k on EBay for $550? WTF that is crazy cheap!!

I can't get over how cheap everything is on the Maxima! You can't even get a motor that cheap on a 89 Camry!