Blown M45 engine.

[sameerbd93]

Hello guys. I am brand new to infiniti and this forum. . Just got my Infiniti M45 the other day. Well today I heard the loud rod knock and screaching noise. After further investigation I found out that I am gonna be needing a new engine. The car had 227k miles.

Found a few 2002 and newer Q45 engine for cheap but not any cheap m45 engines. Being they are both vk45de , can I put Q45 engine on my M45? Or any other VK45de?

Please guys help me out.

[EdBwoy]

Welcome to the forum, and sorry to start out your Infiniti ownership like this.
Unfortunately, using the q45 and earlier m45 engines is not a direct swap. Biggest issue is that the starter is on the wrong side and as a result your transmission bellhousing won't fit the replacement engine.
Best bet is to stay with the y50 m45 engines or stray into the fx45 engines (fx45 Power rating on the books was different but it's generally accepted to be the same by owners)

Some engines do show up on ebay and craigslist in some cities. Where are you located?

[Ilya]

Welcome to the forum, sucks it's under such circumstances though.

I'm not familiar with that motor that much so I can't give you any advice there, but I'm sure someone else will soon.

[sameerbd93]

Thank you so much for the welcome and quick reply. I am located at Atlanta.

When I looked up for the replacement engine on rockauto.com for 2007 M45 , 2005 Q45 and 2005 FX45 They were exactly same and listed as the starter located on driver side for all of them. I am really confused now. I dont think people like rockauto is gonna list something incompatible as compatible.

[EdBwoy]

You're probably right. There were very few 05 and 06 q45s, and those were slowly morphing/introducing the 06 m45s. I wouldn't be surprised to see the same engine at the end there.
But the listing you're seeing indicates the same engine for at least the m45 and fx45, right? I'd say go for it.

If I may ask, how many miles did you drive between buying the car and damage occurring?

[sameerbd93]

50 whole miles from the dealership to my house. anyone know where can i buy a rebuild kit for this motor?

[Ilya]

50 whole miles from the dealership to my house. anyone know where can i buy a rebuild kit for this motor?

There has to be some kind of lemon law that can apply to this thus relieving you of that car and getting your money back. I'd look into your state lemon law if you got it from a dealer and not a private sale...

[EdBwoy]

50 whole miles from the dealership to my house...

Oh hell naw! That can't be right. I've known some sellers to pull tricks and I'd encourage you to dig a little deeper with the sellers before tackling the engine issues. You're looking at sinking around a minimum of $4,500 for a shop to get your car running again. I'm going to ask a lot of questions, but I want you to trust that I am on your side.

1. Was the seller an Infiniti dealership or any major brand name or just a random used car dealer?
2. Did you buy it for way below reasonable book value?
3. Have you by any chance reported this to the dealership that sold it to you?
4. Do you have a carfax for the vehicle? This will tell you where they sourced it, how long they've had it etc...It might also have some maintenance notes.
5. Ask your friendly Infiniti dealership to run your VIN and see if anything has been reported on this specific issue in the service records
6. Has someone checked the oil since you bought it? If yes, what was the level and did it look new?
7. If you haven't changed the oil yet and bad gets to worse, grab a sample of the oil and send it for analysis. They can tell among other things, what the oil viscosity is. One trick some people use to mask engine noises is to run a very thick oil - trust me, it works... for a while.

To play devil's advocate, to my knowledge yours is the first declared 06+ M45 over 200k. I don't want to say that the 06/07 vk45de was high maintenance and finicky, but I'll say that in my opinion these engines needed a little more tender care. A little aggressive driving with inadequate lubrication ends in a sad story. So yeah, things could happen with an old m45, but something just doesn't quite feel right.


Why am I here? I like to spend time figuring these engines out and to help other owners keep them on the road. Sample thread: so-what-happened-to-your-v8-engine-vk45de-t604162.html

[Ilya]

50 whole miles from the dealership to my house...

Oh hell naw! That can't be right. I've known some sellers to pull tricks and I'd encourage you to dig a little deeper with the sellers before tackling the engine issues. You're looking at sinking around a minimum of $4,500 for a shop to get your car running again. I'm going to ask a lot of questions, but I want you to trust that I am on your side.

1. Was the seller an Infiniti dealership or any major brand name or just a random used car dealer?
2. Did you buy it for way below reasonable book value?
3. Have you by any chance reported this to the dealership that sold it to you?
4. Do you have a carfax for the vehicle? This will tell you where they sourced it, how long they've had it etc...It might also have some maintenance notes.
5. Ask your friendly Infiniti dealership to run your VIN and see if anything has been reported on this specific issue in the service records
6. Has someone checked the oil since you bought it? If yes, what was the level and did it look new?
7. If you haven't changed the oil yet and bad gets to worse, grab a sample of the oil and send it for analysis. They can tell among other things, what the oil viscosity is. One trick some people use to mask engine noises is to run a very thick oil - trust me, it works... for a while.

To play devil's advocate, to my knowledge yours is the first declared 06+ M45 over 200k. I don't want to say that the 06/07 vk45de was high maintenance and finicky, but I'll say that in my opinion these engines needed a little more tender care. A little aggressive driving with inadequate lubrication ends in a sad story. So yeah, things could happen with an old m45, but something just doesn't quite feel right.


Why am I here? I like to spend time figuring these engines out and to help other owners keep them on the road. Sample thread: so-what-happened-to-your-v8-engine-vk45de-t604162.html

This. There is no way I'd replace that engine myself at this point...I'd be chasing that dealer to get my money back and I'd do everything in my power to make it happen.

[sameerbd93]

I got the car from a local used car dealer for 1k under the book value. Checked the carfax and everything was good. Had good engine oil and filter. Test drove it like 20 miles and it was all good. Engine was smooth was butter. Well next thing you know I am hearing the damn rod knock.....Looking online, There are many reported vk45de engine failure so i guess it was bound to happen. The only reason I got this car was the damn interior looked so nice........btw the dealer finally took care of the problem. But I learned my lesson. I had 3 lexus. The last Gs300 had 273k miles.....Sc400 had 200k. Current lexus Gs400 has 190k. Never gave me any engine trouble.

[EdBwoy]

...btw the dealer finally took care of the problem...

That's good news, do you mind telling us how the problem was taken care of - returned the car, rebuilt the engine, replaced with used engine?

[sameerbd93]

The dealer took the car back gave me another one.

[Ilya]

The dealer took the car back gave me another one.

Nice. Glad it worked out!