2001 Engine Shot

[firemed55]

Hello,

I am just wondering if anyone with a Qx4 has had their engine completly fail which requires it to be replaced. I have a 2001 with 83600 miles on it. It has been maintained and had oil changed when scheduled. I was driving to work and after making a left hand turn, I went back onto the gas and my truck would not go anywhere. I eneded up coasting into a parking lot. Tried starting it again and it sounded like a bag of pinballs was dumped into the block. I had it towed to Infiniti and they inspected it. They checked the fluid levels including the oil which were all fine. When they drained the oil they found it to be full of metal fragments. They have not broken it down so a for sure answer has not been given but they think it may be a rod or piston. But nonetheless, my engine has to be replaced I have not received a price quote yet. I have called Infiniti Consumer Affairs to file a formal complaint and am waiting a response. I am not a auto guru but is it uncommon for a Nissan motor that has been maintained to fail at 83600 miles???????? My local dealership has told me they have yet to do a complete replacement of an engine below 100k miles. Please advise with any thoughts and suggestions because I am at a loss. Thanks

[Andrew224]

That's really dissapointing to hear. I don't think that it's normal for one of these engines to fail at 83k miles. But you have to consider that an engine is a machine made up of many mass produced parts. With any mass produced part, there are a few parts that are going to slip by that are not up to parr and will fail before 99% of all the other similar parts in other engines. There's no way to know for sure. Maybe a piston or rod came from a bad batch of metal 8 years ago. Maybe another part failed and lead to a blocked oil passage which lead to the failure of the engine. There's no telling for sure until you break down the engine and even then sometimes its a guessing game.

Hope this doesn't sour you on your truck. I don't hink Nissan is going to cover this unless you have an extended warranty, which it doesn't sound like you do, otherwise you wouldn't be so concerned.

Best of luck to you.

Andrew

[pathfinder9035]

oh man i am sry to hear that man...

i think it could have been the power valves screws that probably came loose and destroyed your engine. ITs a must do for the 3.5's there is a thread on it that is sticky on the top of the forum. THats the only thing i can come up with for a failing engine at only 80k miles.

[Lars]

I was thinking the same thing... You may be able to get some goodwill from Nissan if this is what happened. BUT, that may be a longshot too. Never hurts to ask.

Good Luck!

[screwinitupagain]

My 3.3 failed after 185+K & that was due in large part to the fact that I sank if in mud & water. Sorry to hear your troubles man.

[SnowSurfLax]

I'd have them take a look at the power valve screws. It doesn't take much to tear that down and they'd know if the screws got sucked in or not. They should have to replace the engine if you can force them to.

You're most likely looking at an ugly battle regardless.

[W O T]

Ugly and expensive, I dont even wanna know what Infiniti would charge for that. Personally, if they arent warrantying it, I would pull the car out of there and bring it to a mechanic, probably much less expensive.