First Track Day - Hard, Fun and Engine Blowout

[spitalul2bad]

Of course, buying a BBK for a track day is a bit extreme. But if you plan on doing a lot of them, it's a wise investment. And I was just pointing out that a brake kit is far better than a turbo or supercharger, if you plan on track-ing the car.

I ran into a whole heap of trouble on the track day, but I did have my fluids recently changed, inspected and learned the best part of the track before I got to it. And, until my brakes would overheat and I'd have to stop, I did hold my own against M3s and 911s. Of course, those guys actually had slicks and BBKs, but still.

I waited so eagerly for this year's track season to start, and to have such collossal engine failiure right off the bat, it's frustrating. I have a month, even more, until I can drive the car again, let alone go for another track day.

So, I guess I will be investing in a StopTech ST60 front and ST40 (or 45) rear big brake kit as soon as I have the money.

I went to the dealership again today, and was told to wait some more. They said that the head office wanted more details as to what I did before the engine failed. I gave them "almost" the right details. I left out being on a race track, of coruse, and told them I was on the highway next to it. Hope it works.

I will have an update and maybe some pictures tomorrow.

[JETPILOT]

Honestly... I wouldn't invest in a big brake kit yet. What is the rush. Your not listening to the advice that is being given here.

Let me run over it again incase you missed it....

1. MOTUL RBF600 brkae fluid2. HAWK DTC-70 brake pads3. SS lines for better brake modulation4. Get an instructor out there on the track with you

I can guarantee that a driver new to road course HPDE like yourself are not using your brakes correctly. You have A LOT of work to do on your driving than you have to do upgrades on your car. It takes years to become even just a good driver. For most it takes a lifetime to become great if ever.

Do the upgrqades I mentioned and you will be fine. You're using street compound tires there is now way you are putting those brakes through any workout with street tires.

BTW.... you don't need to change the rear brakes. the OEM Brembo rears are fine for anything you can throw at them. That's what I use and I have 565 whp.The only upgrade you may eventually need is the ST40 front. The only benefit of an ST60 over an ST40 caliper is the ST60 has a larger pad for endurance racing. They will nto stop any better than the ST40 and are heavier.

[spitalul2bad]

Well... I didn't miss all that advice, and though it is good, I plan on tracking the car further, so an investment in a BBK seems only natural in the long term. Although I won't have the cash to do it until the end of the year, it does seem like a good investment.

I did run the Hawk Brake Pads, only the street version. I did not have braided brake lines or the MOTUL fluid. Those I will be sure not to miss next time.

If anyone's curious, the dealership let me have a full, long, good look at the car and the engine. They had it removed and fully opened on the side. A full piston head had completely melted. Its rod then proceeded to punch a hole through the engine block. There was further damage to the nearby pistons. It's a mess. The cams are unbalanced. The crankshaft is damaged as well. I need a whole new engine.

Unfortunately I was not allowed to take pictures. They expressly forbit me to do it. Also, they said that no other 350z in Romania had this problem. Such engine failure. Ever.

I am still waiting word on if they'll cover it fully under warranty. God I hope so. Please wish me luck.

[JDMZ32]

Please wish me luck.

Good luck .

[bmike818]

Good luck .

+350

[spitalul2bad]

The last couple of days, I've been hard at work on the car. I talked to the guys at the dealership and they seemed pretty good, especially when letting me take off all the aftermarket parts I got on the car and putting the OEM parts back.

Why?

It seems that Nissan thought enough of this engine failure that they don't believe it. The do not believe a VQ35DE would've melted its own piston, killed its valve, rod, messed up 3 others and punctured the block in two places. Although it did.

So, they are sending a specialized comission to look over the engine and determine if they'll cover it under warranty or not. They are actually paying for a round-trip FLIGHT for an entire COMISSION to see what went wrong.

And I'm sitting here asking myself... WHY?

I think there's 3 possibilities:

1. They simply don't believe my dealership and think they're covering up something. Which they are - my mods and being on a track when it happened.

2. They think I supercharged or turboed the car, and want to inspect the engine to see if I am lying to them AND the dealership with my mods and making them pay for my new engine.

3. They are worried that this will happen again, or it may HAVE happened and they think it's a build-quality problem on all VQ blocks. Maybe they are gathering data for Nissan, for an eventual recall on something.

In any case, I took down my mods, got them home, car is at the dealership, they won't blab about anything, hopefully I'll get a new engine under warranty. The Nissan comission is coming tomorrow. Hope it goes okay.

P.S. If I'm doing bad by keeping you all up-to-date with my engine stuff, just let me know and I'll stop.

[ldstang50]

Keep it going, we want to hear this stuff!!

[Retired Chief]

Good luck spitalul2bad. I hope it all works out for you.

[uprev]

The last couple of days, I've been hard at work on the car. I talked to the guys at the dealership and they seemed pretty good, especially when letting me take off all the aftermarket parts I got on the car and putting the OEM parts back.

Why?

It seems that Nissan thought enough of this engine failure that they don't believe it. The do not believe a VQ35DE would've melted its own piston, killed its valve, rod, messed up 3 others and punctured the block in two places. Although it did.

So, they are sending a specialized comission to look over the engine and determine if they'll cover it under warranty or not. They are actually paying for a round-trip FLIGHT for an entire COMISSION to see what went wrong.

And I'm sitting here asking myself... WHY?

I think there's 3 possibilities:

1. They simply don't believe my dealership and think they're covering up something. Which they are - my mods and being on a track when it happened.

2. They think I supercharged or turboed the car, and want to inspect the engine to see if I am lying to them AND the dealership with my mods and making them pay for my new engine.

3. They are worried that this will happen again, or it may HAVE happened and they think it's a build-quality problem on all VQ blocks. Maybe they are gathering data for Nissan, for an eventual recall on something.

In any case, I took down my mods, got them home, car is at the dealership, they won't blab about anything, hopefully I'll get a new engine under warranty. The Nissan comission is coming tomorrow. Hope it goes okay.

P.S. If I'm doing bad by keeping you all up-to-date with my engine stuff, just let me know and I'll stop.

Generally speaking they as an OEM are responsible for their vehicles under all types of conditions. They want to check it and make sure there isn't a problem with the motor under local conditions (ie regional fuel). If there is they can adjust the tune on cars for your region with a ROM update.

Unless there was a mechanical reason for failure (bad metalurgy in the piston) it was probably something to do with the factory tune running lean with your mods. Even if they do warranty your motor and you get the car back, you'd be best served by getting a solid and safe tune for your car.

Under hard abuse, you need to make sure you're not only running a safe AFR, but you also need to make sure you're running enough fuel to keep your cylinders cool. Two things you can do are add octane (above the recommended octane for your tune), add fuel, or add both.

Obviously we offer tuning and datalogging for your car, so I'm a bit biased. But we also support through Nismo, all the north american independant SCCA and NASA race teams.

JETPILOT is also very knowledgable and is pointing you in the right direction on your brake modifications. You don't need the ST60's unless you're doing endurance racing, the extra weight isn't going to help your handling any, and the ST40 has plenty of surface for a car in your weight range if you're using your brakes properly.

Let us know how it goes!

[spitalul2bad]

Actually, there is one reason I fear the engine blowout was my fault. Or my own doing. After getting my mods on, I did a reflash of my ECU. It may have been WAY too much for the car to handle and my piston melted when it couldn't take it anymore.

Anyway, here's the newest update:

HAPPY DAY!

Nissan Germany and Nissan Japan approved my new engine! They are replacing my VQ35DE REV-UP with a brand new one. Although the one that failed had only around 13-15.000 miles (17.500 km) it will feel good to have a new engine to break in again.

I have to wait 4 to 8 weeks, but my car will live again... and not on my dime! Although I checked eBay and a VQ35DE from Germany (less than 30k miles, great condition engine) is about $3000 - $5000, Nissan has calculated a WHOPPER of a PRICE for MY new engine.

So, bearing in mind that my benchmark, the Injected Performance 4.15L fully built motor costs around $10.000 + shipping, Nissan has factored in shipping, installation and everything to (be ready) $22.429 + VAT (19%) to get my car going again.

THAT'S HUGE! I could've bought another 350z with that money! Anyway, it's Nissan's dime and I'm not complaining. But $22.429 + 19% for a new engine seems like ANOTHER WORLD!

So... I'll keep you posted as things go on. Maybe now, after they said "yes" to doing it under warranty, they'll let me take pictures.

[bmike818]

Happy day indeed!

[uprev]

Actually, there is one reason I fear the engine blowout was my fault. Or my own doing. After getting my mods on, I did a reflash of my ECU. It may have been WAY too much for the car to handle and my piston melted when it couldn't take it anymore.

Anyway, here's the newest update:

HAPPY DAY!

Nissan Germany and Nissan Japan approved my new engine! They are replacing my VQ35DE REV-UP with a brand new one. Although the one that failed had only around 13-15.000 miles (17.500 km) it will feel good to have a new engine to break in again.

I have to wait 4 to 8 weeks, but my car will live again... and not on my dime! Although I checked eBay and a VQ35DE from Germany (less than 30k miles, great condition engine) is about $3000 - $5000, Nissan has calculated a WHOPPER of a PRICE for MY new engine.

So, bearing in mind that my benchmark, the Injected Performance 4.15L fully built motor costs around $10.000 + shipping, Nissan has factored in shipping, installation and everything to (be ready) $22.429 + VAT (19%) to get my car going again.

THAT'S HUGE! I could've bought another 350z with that money! Anyway, it's Nissan's dime and I'm not complaining. But $22.429 + 19% for a new engine seems like ANOTHER WORLD!

So... I'll keep you posted as things go on. Maybe now, after they said "yes" to doing it under warranty, they'll let me take pictures.

Wait so are they giving you the money so you can get the stroker motor or are they just replacing the factory motor?

This time you should look into doing a proper dyno tune, and not just a base flash. Where are you located again? We have 2 new Pro Tuners opening up shortly, in UK and France, and we already have a shop in Germany. Generally we set the tune up for best efficiency and if you're going to be doing track events, we have a secondary tune from that dyno tune that just adds a bit more fuel and retards the timing slightly. makes for less power but also helps control the cylinder temps when you're on the track.

Thats one thing no other flashes offer currently is track ready tunes. We work with Nismo USA, they use our software on all the SCCA and NASA track vehicles that they sponsor.

[spitalul2bad]

They are just replacing the original engine. A brand new VQ35DE REV-UP I think. I wish they'd just give me the money, I'd make the Z a reliable 500whp monster.

I am in Romania, about 1 days' drive away from France or Germany, day and a half from the UK. We're all in the European Union so there's no visas, passports or things like that required. Just valid ID and you can go anywhere. No borders, customs or stuff like that.

I would be willing to go to France or Germany for a good tune. Depends on what it would cost me. Where can I get in touch with someone in Europe who could direct me? I can GPS in the address and get anywhere, so that's not a problem.

However, I won't be able to make it in the near future, since they have to ship the motor and install it, so it's gonna take a while. Still, I'm just glad I'm not paying for it.

[uprev]

They are just replacing the original engine. A brand new VQ35DE REV-UP I think. I wish they'd just give me the money, I'd make the Z a reliable 500whp monster.

I am in Romania, about 1 days' drive away from France or Germany, day and a half from the UK. We're all in the European Union so there's no visas, passports or things like that required. Just valid ID and you can go anywhere. No borders, customs or stuff like that.

I would be willing to go to France or Germany for a good tune. Depends on what it would cost me. Where can I get in touch with someone in Europe who could direct me? I can GPS in the address and get anywhere, so that's not a problem.

However, I won't be able to make it in the near future, since they have to ship the motor and install it, so it's gonna take a while. Still, I'm just glad I'm not paying for it.

Yeah it's nice when the Manufacturer steps up and covers the bill.

MONSTAKA _ SIEA Allée F.COLI Bat 8D PA de la Siagne 06210 MANDELIEU FRANCETel : 04 93 48 29 58 Fax : 04 93 47 04 50 [email protected]

Charles Delaleu at Monstaka responds quickly to e-mails and speaks fluent English if you don't speak French.

[spitalul2bad]

Great. Thanks for the info. I'll contact him as soon as the car is fixed.

[killeroo7]

Beautiful Pictures!!!!

Sorry to hear about your trouble.

You think you're unhappy with Nissan for not paying your towing bill.. Wait til they tell you they aren't going pay for the engine repair. Since you were on a race track, you will most likely be told that you were abusing the vehicle, and they will probably deny your warranty claim.

I really hope I'm wrong about that though.

[spitalul2bad]

Yes I was very unhappy for Nissan not paying the towing bill. Why? Because I kept from them the fact that the car was on a race track.

Also, If you had read the rest of the thread/topic, you would've found out that Nissan has already agreed to replace the engine under warranty. So it worked out okay.

For the others who are still interested... here's another update. Nissan Romania has taken up Nissan Japan on their request. They officially requested that the damaged engine be sent to them for further inspection. They are flying my blown engine (which is currently in pieces) all the way to Japan! Damn! What do they think they'll find? I'm already getting a new engine, what could they want with the blown one? Enough as to spend shipping the heavy lump of metal all the way there?

[aris_unlimited]

My guess is they might have some of their engineers check it out and see what made it fail. That way they can maybe protect against it in the future.

[JDMZ32]

good to hear they're replacing it. i guess with the old one they want to research what went so horribly wrong and why.

[Fibre guy]

I smell a conspiracy!

[Eikon]

Nissan doesn't want news of bad engines to get out into the public. The more stories (especially with pictures of engine carnage) get out, the worse the collective public opinion will become.

So naturally, they don't want pictures taken and posted all over the internet.

[spitalul2bad]

My original blow engine has now been sent to Nissan. I was still not allowed to take pictures of it... Sorry.

However, Nissan Timisoara (my local dealership) expects my NEW engine to arrive next week! WOOOOT!

So, they expect to finish by the end of the week, or the one after that if they get into problems...!

I'm gonna be driving my Z again!

HUZZAH!!!!

[spitalul2bad]

new engine has arrived! huzzah!!

it's being installed right now, should be done by tuesday.

the dealership is taking their time... they wanna "get it right". they said there's a lot of stuff to mount and they wanna clean it all up (I'm guessing cooling pipes?) and present me with an almost-new car

p.s. the engine came pre-assembled

[NSRsheets]

Glad to hear you are getting it fixed. Post up some pics after it gets done.