I bought my car in August 2006 with 122K on it. In the time I've owned it, all 3 O2 sensors have been replaced, 2 coils have been replaced, the alternator has been replaced, the timing chain replaced, the blown struts-shocks-and-saggy-springs were replaced with KSport coilovers, the rusted-through-and-dragging-on-the-ground exhaust was replaced with an Apexi World Sport 2 cat back, the useless OEM cat was replaced with a Random Technologies cat, the y-pipe with umpteen leaks in it was replaced with a XS Power polished ss y-pipe, dozens of SES lights, and multiple ECU resets....



None of it really mattered when, on my drive home, the motor grenaded on me.


How it happened: I make the same drive every day, so I sort of have a routine to my commute. Nothing was different today, nor tonight. I get off from LaGrange Road north, exit 276A onto I-55 north, on my way back home into the City.

I make a 3rd gear pull to merge with traffic, get into the left lane, and then, I saw a flash of fire come out from under the hood, the tach dropped to 0, smoke everywhere, and dozens of fireballs out of the exhaust. Get pulled over to the shoulder, and there's ALL of my oil, metal shrapnel, and a lot of smoke. I popped the hood, and the smoke went away quickly, but to see everything about my car just dead in the water literally broke me down.


I ain't afraid to admit it. I cried like a *****, for about 5 minutes, until I got my **** together and started making the phone calls I had to. First call, 911, "we'll be there in 20 minutes"-- never showed. Second call, mom and dad-- they're pissed, but comforting. Third call, AAA-- they send out a tow truck... 3 hours later.


The Lady got towed to the shop; I'm REALLY hoping my warranty covers a blown motor. It's not like the car was neglected, either... 2000 miles between oil changes, 93 or 94 octane gas ALWAYS, and general pampering, with an occasional romp with the gas pedal. That car is my BABY.



I don't know what caused this, why it happened, or how it happened. If someone could possibly shed some light as to this situation for me, I'd appreciate it.

--Evan

 

Yowch. I only really remember one other VQ unexpectedly throwing in the towel.

Look at it this way:

1) it's just a car.
2) everything else is fine. Now not only do you have an excuse (if you have the funds) to swap in a 35 or a DE-K but you'll have an engine with a LOT of life left in it when you do, and the rest of the car is in perfect working order.

The engine's a pretty good portion of the car, but it's not like your car's totally ruined. It's not like someone broadsided you doing 80 and it's one mangled piece of metal, leather and glass.

**** happens, you were unlucky. Move on and drop a better motor in that sucker.

 

^^^what he said. a motor isn't that expensive and then you'll have the reassurance of a longer lasting motor once you drop one in. it'll also be a learning experience.

 

Swap it!! 3.5 FTW!!

 

you didn't have any engine noises before? Sorry to hear about this. Get a DE-K and call it a day.

 

damn thats one unlucky day, but on the bright side engine swap time!

 

Can a Nissan dealer do a DE-K swap? Because that's where it is right now...

 

Your first mistake was taking the car to a Nissan dealer.

I doubt that you have any warranty on the car. Granted you have owned it for less than a year, but you have put 16/17k on the car and I doubt they would have put a warranty on it for any more than 12 months/12,000 miles.

Post in your regional forum. Someone can recommend a better place to take the car to for an engine transplant.

It sounds to me that the car was a POS in the first place. You should have bought an out of state car that isn't exposed to the winters in your area.

I question why the timing chain was ever replaced. That makes absolutely no sense at the mileage on your vehicle.

Has the stealership shed any light on why the engine blew up?

 

warranty is 45 months/45,000 miles.


I don't know any shops in the area, as I only recently moved up here. The dealer was the only place I could 95% guarantee would to the warranty work.

I posted it over on chicagomaximaclub.net, so hopefully I can get some bites.... we'll see.

The car wasn't a pos... just had some gremlins that were all taken care of. 130+K on a winter-in-the-midwest, nearly-only-highway-driven car is expected to have at least a couple gremlins.


Nissan dealer said the timing chain had to be replaced, out of spec. Didn't cost me anything.


And the stealership is closed on sundays. This happened at 1am saturday night/into sunday morning. I didn't even get the car to them until 5:30 this morning (sunday).


After looking at my warranty, it SHOULD be covered.

 

That's an amazing warranty!

Replace the engine with the best VQ30DE available. I doubt that the warranty will cover a switch to DEK or 3.5.

I would be inclined not to replace with the 99 engine given the coilpack issues.

 

Looks like they will cover your car with the extended warranty package that you purchased. They will drop in a brand new VQ30DE for you, they won't give you a junkyard motor. Make sure that they simply give you a new motor and call it a day.

Look at it this way, you'll probably get a new motor out of the deal, and the money you spent for the warranty will be well used. This is why extended warranties are a good thing to buy for the powertrain.

Also, most VQ's will run forever, there are very few that throw a rod, etc...I know of a few in my area that this has happend to.

 

3.5 swap that *****. perfect time !

 

All A32 long blocks are the same. The long block only comes with completely assembled short block, timing equipment, heads and valve covers, and oil pans. No coils, manifolds, or external emissions equipment like EGR stuff.

 

Hey chef. coming from a former tech at the dealership go down there when you can and speak to the general or service/sales manager about this, because when something like this happens #1 it gets put off for aleast 1.5 weeks before things get started. #2 you will have most likely a junkyard motor from LKQ/ maybe Soko if they deal with them. I know LKQ has dealership connections, so go down there and tell them you do expected a new motor. But they can give you the excuse of no more VQ30 new motors and you had 120k on your old one and you should be happy with a 50k motor.

The coilpacks will be transfered over as they dont ever come with engines. If you need anymore help PM at CMC.net, after all i did work for one of the shady dealerships out there, so i've seen them play other tricks.

 

Sorry to hear about waht happened to your engine, that sucks. But you were just unlucky. Perhaps the previous owner neglected the living out of it and it jsut so happened to finally die with you as the owner. Its swap time!

BTW, GoalieKeg's old 3.0 had about 236k miles on it when he swapped it and it was just fine. Also gtr_rider's current motor has about the same amount of miles, and its running just fine as well. IIRC a few years ago there was a thread about the highest milage VQ out there, and there was one guy that broke the 300k mile barrier on a perfectly running motor.

VQs last alot longer than what you say meng, just just got bad motor

 

My dad's original motor had 276,000+ miles before a freak accident caused it to overheat.

 

sorry to hear, but i hope u get a nice engine now man,

everything God does is for the better, somehow

 

Good thing you have a warranty, free engine for you. Normally they don't die so this is not a common problem.

 

There was a member who posted about 2 months ago that he had 385,000 miles on a VQ and the car was still running fine.

 

Yeah it could ALWAYS be worse.

On a side note, I was at the junkyard the other day getting some parts off of a 4th gen, I looked at the odo and saw 311K!!

 

It was a freak accident but it can happen, engines are pretty precise and any small thing can mess them up. A tiny peice of metal ingested by the motor can make it go bang pretty easily. http://www.streetrodstuff.com/Articl...ne/Detonation/

 

99's are crap, not surprising.

 

thats just your opinion and my opinion is 98's are crap

 

i think 98s are the best, and i drive a 97, so does that count too ^|^

 

psssssh 138k my ***..256k here on the stock original slipping clutch...spraying a 75 shot every weekend....and a semi-built 3.5 in the garage waiting to go in...vq ftmfw

 

thats why i have 2.

 

i have the same mileage you do and drive on the same streets you do, my car is a 96 and has always been around chicagoland, through 12 winters. mostly not highway miles, either, since i have 135,000 miles on a '96. in the almost 7 years i've owned it, it has been relatively trouble free. in fact, if i had not let a shop talk me into seafoaming, the engine would be completely trouble free.

it sounds like you just suffered the misfortune of getting a problem car. as a few people have suggested a 3.5 swap may be in order. does your warranty allow you to pick your own shop or are you limited to their approved shops?

if you can pick your own, find a highly recommended shop, get friendly with the owner and slip him a few hundred to drop in a 3.5. it's hardly any more work than they would do for a 3.0 swap. plus a low mileage 3.5 would certainly be cheaper than a brand new 3.0, just tell the shop owner he can pocket the difference.

there is an excellent shop in mundelein that has a lot of nissan experience. i think it's called car medics. a lot of people are very happy with them, they do good work for really fair prices

 

Continental Nissan STILL hasn't called the warranty company.


If I don't hear something by noon tomorrow, I'm having it towed somewhere else.


Honestly, if this was your only means of transport, would YOU take YOUR CAR to this Car Medics shop for a 3.5 swap? Would they know how to wire it all up, and get all the timing stuff right? How long would I be out of a car?


If you can, gimme a call anytime tomorrow if you have some options or ideas for me. 312.714.5174

Warranty is not specific to any shops. I just had it towed to the dealer because it was the closest, and I don't know any shops here.

 

Kind of sounds like what happened when my friend blew his motor on the freeway. Oil pump died, spun a bearing, hole in the block, smoke and oil everywhere.

 

172k on 9psi... not bad for an old tired motor with 108-115 compression results. That was last summer though. This year is 16psi + water meth or bust, maybe both.

 

Sucks to hear your pain man. I know how it is to even have your car down for 2 days. I just wanna go jump in a VQ and drive the **** out of it. Good luck with the warranty issue. Techs hate doing warranty work but some love it. I've got 147,xxx with 145 PSI for the compression test and 5% leakdown across the board.

 

Sorry bout the mess mate! Great warranty tho ... put it to use, get a new engine and you have a great car for a long time to come.

Did Nissan ever say what caused the mishap? You said you were doin a 3rd gear pull ... what @ like 7000 RPM's? lol Wish you all the luck getting her back on the road and soon!

 

4500-5000-ish... nothing higher, as my clutch is toast.

 

the swap is very well documented and AFAIK no more complex than swapping another 3.0L in. you can find full info here:
http://forums.nycmaximas.org/showthread.php?t=19270

there is also someone locally that has done this, perhaps you can talk to them if you have questions. you can find a full list of owners that have done the swap here:
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=520886

I only recommend car medix because i've heard nothing but good things and have had good luck with them personally. if i had an opportunity to have a 3.5L professionally installed for little or no money, I would certainly do it.

unfortunately my car is an auto, so it would be more difficult and problematic. as far as how long it takes, from what i've read many people have done the swap themselves over a long weekend. for a professional shop with several certified mechanics and air tools it should be quicker. it all depends on the shop, though.

as far as transportation, check to see if your warranty provides a rental car for the duration of the repair.

the bottom line is that you should do what you think is best. i have not done the swap and do not plan to. i will be selling my car shortly because it is getting on in the years and i would like to get something different. that said, if I were presented with the golden opportunity that you have right now, I would certainly take advantage of it.

 

Timing chain REPLACED?????? I'm sorry but that was a dead maxima walking. Not your fault at all. Previous bad work. VQs are SOLID.

DW

 

Just approaching 300,000km on my 99. She's running well...although I have noticed that she's a little more expensive this year.

I'm in the shop as we speak having my AC replaced (compressor blew out, took the drier receiver and condenser with it)...

But outside of that...I've replaced the alternator...and that's about it...everything else is regular maintenance. Nothing else to speak of...so spending $1500 on her is in my best interests...not bad for a 8 year old car at all in my books.

My mom and dad also have a 98 Maxima with 410,000km on it...and they have spent NOTHING on it. Maxima's are solid man...and unless you drive them like we do...I suspect they'd last even longer than they do for us.

VQ's are UBER-SOLID...there's a reason why Nissan has the VQ across their vehicle lineup.

 

Look at the silver lining. You now can empathize with Ford owners!
{/jk}

On the real,its not that bad. At least your car is still intact and in functional order with a new motor, unlike the poor soul who got totaled by a DUI with no insurance last week........

 

Sorry to hear about your engine. Anyway, you've got great warranty to cover it.

The (dead) engine might be abused by previous owner(s). Or the previous crappy repairs caused the engine blown. It's not your fault.

Enjoy the new engine. It will last forever.

 

the shop hasn't even LOOKED at it yet. I need to have the car done by friday at the latest... and they are in no hurry to get it all done.

 

at 160K I hope my engine does that...perfect excuse for a 3.5...