2006 G35 Coupe - 85K Miles - Motor is Toast

[Yankeydog]

HELP!!!!!
Recently, i was driving down the highway at about 60mph when I feel a "Clunk" and the engine quits. Take it to the dealer and they tell me that the timing chain broke, and since my warranty ended at 70K miles, for $10.5K, they would be happy to replace my motor!
Called Infiniti of America, no help there either. I bought this car new, and it has been extremely well taken care of, with 95% of the miles being highway miles.
Everyone (Including the Dealer)I have talked to have told me that the timing chain shouldn't have broken, and yet are not able to explain to me why the timing chain broke! Anyone else out there have this happen to them? Anybody have a suggestions as to an alternative to paying the Dealer $10.5K for a new motor. I really don't want to throw a rebuilt in it.

[telcoman]

HELP!!!!!
Recently, i was driving down the highway at about 60mph when I feel a "Clunk" and the engine quits. Take it to the dealer and they tell me that the timing chain broke, and since my warranty ended at 70K miles, for $10.5K, they would be happy to replace my motor!
Called Infiniti of America, no help there either. I bought this car new, and it has been extremely well taken care of, with 95% of the miles being highway miles.
Everyone (Including the Dealer)I have talked to have told me that the timing chain shouldn't have broken, and yet are not able to explain to me why the timing chain broke! Anyone else out there have this happen to them? Anybody have a suggestions as to an alternative to paying the Dealer $10.5K for a new motor. I really don't want to throw a rebuilt in it.

Sorry to hear what happened.

How often do you check and change your oil.

Mine has used oil ever since new. Not enough to get the engine replaced as I went thru the consumption test years ago.

I generally have to add a qt of oil after 1000 miles or so and by three thousand miles it is down another quart which is when I change my oil.
51 oil changes so far.

Perhaps you could sell your vehicle to someone who has the facilites to rebuild/repair your engine?

Good luck

Telcoman

[audtatious]

This is the first occurrence of a timing chain break I've heard of (or remember) via a VQ35. The VQ is unfortunately an interference engine, thus, if you lose the chain you trash your valve system.

10.5k to replace is absolutely retarded. You could have a completely built high-hp motor for less than that.

[kmckis1029]

wow... and just out of warranty... idk i say push a little harder and see if they will replace the engine since you're just out of warranty. they even admit thats very rare for a timing chain to break.

[Yankeydog]

Thanks to all for your feedback!
Fyi, I was religious about my oil changes (Synthetic), and the oil checked out as full when this event occurred.
Due to Infiniti's refusal to stand behind this vehicle, I now find myself in the unfortunate position of having to do battle with them. Essentially, I have a car that up to about three weeks ago was in immaculate condition worth around $20K, that today is now only worth about $2-3K!

[RED_DET]

Do you want to sell the vehicle as is??

[Yankeydog]

My wife and I worked hard to in order to "Step Up" to buy this "Infiniti", and considering that we just paid it off (7 months ago), it would be pretty tough for us to just sell it for bottom dollar and just walk away. It's just unfortunate that we now find ourselves in a position of having to do battle in order to get Infiniti to step up.
Currently, I have a fleet of Ford trucks that perform allot harder work (loaded down with materials, hauling trailers, etc...) from which I experiance a much higher level of reliability, and far less issues. No, if we are unable to get a fair resolution from Infiniti, then we will probably try and find a used motor with low miles, perform a remove and replace, and then sell it before we have any more wonderful suprises. This problem flat out should not have happened, and every professional (Including Infiniti) agrees! To all of you Infiniti drivers out there, I wish you luck, and sincerely hope that this doesn't happen to you. I'm pretty mechanically inlined, and never saw this problem coming. As for me, it looks like from here on out, i'm going to stick with the long term reliability of a Ford. In my own experiance over the last 15 years of owning a number of Fords, Ford has consitantly stood behind their product.

[audtatious]

No, if we are unable to get a fair resolution from Infiniti, then we will probably try and find a used motor with low miles, perform a remove and replace, and then sell it before we have any more wonderful suprises.

I would do the same. In the vehicle realm there are always some cars that no matter what you do they are going to be a breaking-down POS. I've been lucky enough to not own one.

[daman858]

I have a similar story with a good outcome. My brother is a Mercedes nut and has a 2010 E350. The engine is similar to the G35...dual overhead cam V6. He had the same problem, a broken timing chain at about 75K miles. Car was out of warranty and had no extended warranty. Mercedes sent a factory rep to look at the car and he said "No, should not have happened, almost impossible, but we won't cover it." My brother raised enough stink with MB of America that they finally replaced the engine.
I think if you keep at it and move up to the next level of corporate responsibility, you will get your problem solved but you must be persistent. I wish you the best of luck.

[Yankeydog]

Thank you all for your replies and your support. I'm still in the fight, and I don't intend to quit!

[audtatious]

Keep us updated!

Good luck

[Benmccardle]

Our infinity had the same problem 2003 g35 80k miles we were driving down the highway and the front right tire blew out we put on the spare tire started the car and could not move in drive or reverse we called a tow truck and towed it to a shop and they said the timing chain has broken and it would be 9000$ to put in a new motor long story short we now have a broken down infinity in front of our house

[telcoman]

I had a similar problem a long time ago.
I bought my first VW (1966) while in the Army in Germany
I shipped it home and with about the same mileage a valve broke in 1969.
I had it towed to the local VW dealer.
They gave me $500.00 towards a brand new 1969 beedle that had a sticker price of $2050 dollars
So for $1500 I ended up with a new 1969 VW that I had until 1991.

I would visit a few dealers and try to get the best price that you can.
Only then tell them you have a trade in that stopped running and how much will they give you for it
They can send that vehicle to a wholesaler that can do the engine repair much cheaper than you can and resell the vehicle
Good luck

Telcoman

[audtatious]

I had a timing belt on a old Corolla slip and allow the poor 4GA motor to eat itself while sitting in a driveway being cranked. Stuff like that always seemed to happen when I was broke back then.

[joe603]

Any update? This was my fear with my 05 coupe.