Can someone tell me what happened???

[QE86]

Ok so my Q has gotten this problem:

One day i was driving home the Q and right out of the fwy the engine stalls. I started the car again and stalled right after it started. I figured it might be the MAF so I started the car + a lil gas so the car runs and did not stall with my right foot staying on the gas a lil bit. So after a few blocks the car stops again and this time when I am starting the car, there is a lot of cranking sound coming out from the engine.....

I had the car towed to a mechanic around, they drilled the engine oil for me and they told me the coolant and the engine oil mixed together.....

What are the possibilities of this problem?? Can someone please help??

I am located in So Cal if anyone can help me out with it I will greatly appreciated.

[CrimsonQ]

guides done?

[maxnix]

Not necessarily a guide problem yet as the head gasket must have blown.

[CrimsonQ]

Had at one time a 94 3.8 cougar that blew hg. Was puffing like a steamroller down the street.

[QE86]

guides done?

Mine is a 94 so chain guides is not a concern.

Had at one time a 94 3.8 cougar that blew hg. Was puffing like a steamroller down the street.

There is NO SMOKE whatsoever, just some weird cranking sound when I am starting the engine....

Not necessarily a guide problem yet as the head gasket must have blown.

So here is one guess, head gasket, any other possibilities??

[Q45tech]

Have the dealer look at it. Head gasket failure [without a serious overheat] are so rare as to be a nonexistent problem.

I wouldn't trust any mechanic that doesn't work on them weekly!

[Aus94Q45]

Without more, it sounds like a burned up starter from repetitively cranking it after it dies. Seriously doubt water and oil issue.

As for the MAF connector (which is the cause of the stumbling with a 95% certainity) it is pointless to keep cleaning them. As stated many times the initial install has a crimped wire connection inside of the connector. It fails -- period. No amount of cleaning fixes the loose connection that develops over the years. You must buy a new plug and pins, cut off the old one, solder on the pins to the wires and plug in the new connector.

I was a hard head for months and drove my car around, getting out at stop lights and wiggling the plug for temporary relief. I cleaned, filed, squeezed, etc. All a waste of time. Get the new plug and pins ($20) and solder it on a new one. It takes 20 to 30 mins.

You can drive it like it is, cursing at the stumbling and maybe burning up a starter, take it to the dealer who will charge you $800 for a new MAF, or spend $20 and 20 mins. to fix it once and for all.

[QE86]

Oh, they found a HOLE on the 4th cyl on the right side......offically engine is blown....

how often does this happen?!?!?!?!? geez I am so disappointed

[Aus94Q45]

Wow! Truly very sorry to hear that. Did it throw a rod or bust a valve? In the years of participating in this forum this is the first I heard of this. Sorry.

[QE86]

I know I have never seen this ever happen to someone's Q too......

[Jesda]

What the F...

[maxnix]

So sad, but I wonder how that would mix lubricant with coolant. Wonder if head gasket was not leaking before, but white smoke should have been obvious.

Hope you can get another engine since you are in JDM import heaven.

[JedCoop]

Oh, they found a HOLE on the 4th cyl on the right side......offically engine is blown....

So sorry to hear this.

But you probably don't know if the hole happened before the coolant leak, or because of the coolant leak.

My father blew a hole through a piston in old GM 454 cubic inch engine. Water got into the oil, water gets trapped in rings and essentially explodes. In this case the cylinder was still fixable.

[PopPop]

You have water jacket passages all around cylinders and under the head so wouldn't be hard to get a mixture of both fluids!

[redmanfx]

Sounds like a blown head gasket, but like Q45tech said I've never heard of that happening with a Q before. I would take it to someone who works on infiniti's to be sure because your stalling issues don't sound like symptons of a blown head gasket to me. Are you blowing white smoke out the exhaust?

red

[QE86]

As I have said, there was ABSOLUTELY NO SMOKE whatsoever just some weird sound when i try to start the car....

[Q45tech]

Pretty safe to assume the coolant mixed with oil AFTER the engine slung a rod from oil change habits in the previous 10 years.............did it get the required 40 oil changes [4 per year]?...........since it only has 95K unlikely.

Not really worth the cost/time to tear down to determine the cause.

[BlackBirdVQ]

As I have said, there was ABSOLUTELY NO SMOKE whatsoever just some weird sound when i try to start the car....

Alright, was it by any chance raining hard and you ran through a huge puddle of water ? Hydrolocking the motor and throwing a rod....

I doubt the head gasket POPED all the sudden that sever to dump lots of coolant right into the cylinder and hyrolocking the engine.

My Q45 had 2 blown head gaskets, but the problem was that the person before me overheated the motor a few times and warped the heads really bad. I had the machine shop check them out and I was told they where junk- but they could fix them for extra 200 dollars. They torqued them down to a big metal plate and stuck them in the oven to heat them up- this flattens down a warped head CONSIDEREABLY. After that they milled the head bout 2 thousands of an inch to make it perfectly flat. My engine would eat coolant at a fairly good rate, and at the same time it would pressurize the cooling system to the point that the radiator that the previous owner had installed- burst. I would have to add bout a gallon of coolant a week in order to keep it runing OK. At the same time engine would missfire and run rough due to coolant getting into the cylinder.

I didn't want to buy a unknown condition JDM motor, or spend even more money on a US motor, so I rebuilt mine. I still don't have it runing as the header project is getting in the way. I have to put the intake manifold on along with all the new hoses under it, install the exhaust manifolds, belts and fire her up for the 1st time in almost 5 months. It should be a beast

Good luck on your Q.

[texasoil]

curious as to HOW they determined it was a hole in the cylinder wall? Not too many shops have bore-scopes--but they are cheap now and SO handy for things like this.

I bought a use medical instrument (an Olympus OSF-2) used for internal inspection of intestines and other areas--a good 4 ft of usable insertion length, fantastic clairty, detail, light, flexible, steerable, etc-originally cost over $20K!! for less than $300 including the light source. The instrument failed the requisite pressure test after sterilization and would have to be rebuilt for medical use.