My 1995 Nissan Maxima SE broke down on me this morning. I was driving down the highway around 70mph and all of a sudden the car died while going down the road. I pulled over and it would not start back up right away, while I was waiting on the tow truck, after about 20 minutes of sitting I tried starting it and it started but it was making some loud grumbling noises. Once I got the car home I tried again and it is making noises which sounds like its around the valve cover and pass. side engine area. I turned it off right away as I don't want to possibly do anymore damage to the car than has already happened.

There where no engine problems or codes before this happened. The accessory belts are in tact, and I don't see any leaks or anything visably wrong.

I was told at one time this car has a timing chain on it, if the chain is bad, would the car still start after it failed?

 

if the chain broke or skipped a tooth, then it would not start and make noise..

if the chain broke say good bye to the engine...

 

So I guess there is hope that the chain did not break since it will start.

Is there anything that commonly breaks in these engines that would cause it to make these noises around the valves or die like this?

 

Actually if the chain broke the starter can still turnover the engine but the engine will not "start" or run, though I haven't heard of a timing chain breaking before.

 

It will definately run now. But it does not sound pretty at all.

Video of what it sounds like when it starts:

http://s187.photobucket.com/albums/x...t=MVI_3203.flv

 

Never seen a VQ timing chain break, it would take an interesting series of events to do so.

Turn over == start/run, commonly.

If it ran, then the chain neither broke nor skipped too many teeth.

 

What does the oil look like?

 

It looks darker than it should considering I changed the oil a little over 2 weeks ago. And a friend looked under the oil cap and thought he noticed a little bit of a milky look. I can take a picture if that would help.

Coolant looks good and all fluids are at proper level.

 

 

Does it sound like it's coming from the top end (maybe heads, or timing cover) or bottom end?

 

It sounds like it is mostly coming from the valve cover area (at least I think thats the valve cover with nissan written on it, thing you can see in the video on top). I do hear a little bit of noise though on the passenger side around that cover which I am assuming is the chain cover. But doesn't sound like it is coming from too deep in there.

 

wow dude, what's ur mileage?

 

while the engine is running take a screwdriver and put the tip on the engine and the handle to your ear. move the screwdriver around and try to pinpoint where the noise is louder.

 

the oil doesn't look quite milky in the picture. but if it looks like frothy choco milk, then there may be an issue with the head gasket, but that's only based on whether the oil looks like chocolate milk, not on the noises.

 

The car has almost 180k miles.

A friend of mine was thinking of doing something similiar. We're almost certain its from the top half.

The oil just looks much darker to me than I think it should considering it was changed not long ago. And I think what he is refering to is it looks kind of creamy in a few places on the dipstick and oil cap. I am going to drain the oil soon though and possibly start taking things apart once we get a better idea what has gone wrong.

 

what i was getting at is that if it looks frothy. that indicates that the headgasket seal between where the coolant flows into the block, and where the oil passes has been compromised. If that's the case, your entire oil will have coolant in it, and when coolant mixes wtih the oil and temperature increases, it will have that discoloration. That migh be why the car runs rough.

 

man what are you talking about.. have u ever seen a car w/ a blown head gasket?? that dipstick looks perfectly fine....

 

depends where the head gasket breaks...do a search on the web, symptoms vary.

 

I have had a similiar incident with my 95 Max. I had just changed the water pump with the help of this board and everything went fine. The tensioner rattled like hell when I first started it but quieted down after a few days. I took the car on a 300 mile trip to Vegas. A couple times during the trip the oil light came on. The first time I pulled over and checked the oil level and it was fine. I watched the temp dial and it showed fine. Well, about 75 miles short of Vegas I was doing about 70 when all of a sudden the power dropped off but it kept running. When I say the power dropped off, I mean it cut in half. I limped it up the offramp and the engine stalled as the temp dial shot up. I opened the hood and saw radiator fluid overflowing back into the reserve tank and some squirting out from under the radiator cap. I determined this was a bad place to be standing and as I turned my back and got 2 steps from the front, the radiator exploded covering me and the front half of the car in nice, new antifreeze. It actually split half of the top of the radiator.

Anyway, I get the car towed to Vegas and a week later tow it home. I first checked the compression and got no more than 55 psi on any cylinder and 0 on one. My question is, "How can I tell if the valve timing is correct?" I think the chain must have jumped a sprocket on the crankshaft as the compression was affected on both sides of the engine. Any other help is greatly appreciated.

 

Also, does anyone know where I can download the FSM?

 

Sig, or phatg20.

 

I don't understand your post Pmohr.

 

You can download the FSM from my sig, or from phatg20.