HELP M45 Sport down again! Knocking engine

[bikepatrol]

Looking for info on engine knocking. So far, I have had to replace the battery because it left me stranded twice. Back to the dealer when the check engine light came on. Back again when the driver seat started moving when I hit the brakes. Tonight, the engine started knocking like crazy. I didn't hear it initially. A man flagged me down in a parking lot to tell me about it. Opened my window and I heard the terrible sound. Parked it and called a tow truck while me and my family stood in the parking lot and waited for a ride. Embarrassing! Some of the comments were't so nice as some people walked by and saw my $60,000 car on a flatbed! I am fairly upset, to say the least. Has anyone else had a similar problem? I am worried about how this will be handled at the dealer. I only have the maintenance records since 18000 miles to current (23000).


Modified by bikepatrol at 9:29 AM 1/12/2008

[Mark Linkous]

Hello,Sorry to hear about your problem. With that few miles, you are under warranty. The only reasons this would not be covered are previous owner did not do oil changes within 7,500 miles. This needed to be documented with date, mileage, Vin number,etc. All dealers do this as do most Jiffy Lube type places. The other reason would be if it was a salvage title. Wreck or water damage. Once declared, the warranty is no longer applicable. I would guess you are covered as most people who buy cars this expensive new go to the dealer for damn near everything. Also, you have been to the dealer where they have performed warranty work already.Call the dealer and go from there. Should be fine regardless of damage. Having such engine issues at such low miles is very rare.Sorry,Mark

[Q45tech]

Besides changing oil and filter your are required to maintain all lubricating and coolant fluids FULL at all times which means you must measure them frequently. You must add fluids as necessary to keep them full.

Letting any component run low of lubrication voids warranty!

Not Checking levels is a common destructive fault!

Even if engine uses oil you are required to keep it full until it is proven by Nissan to be out of spec by dealer measurement tests and a new engine approved by Nissan.

[Mark Linkous]

Wow. I was afraid to ask if he checked his oil. Glad I check my fluids, but, wow warranty compliance is very demanding.M.L

[bikepatrol]

Thanks for the info, guys. I Had it at the dealer last week so that they could install the new seat since it was loose. They did their 75 point inspection which included all fluids and other checks. Guess it can'd hurt. The first owner had it serviced according to him. I guess I'll have to get ahold of him and get the records if I can. I had it serviced at 18000 and a couple of months ago at 22800.

[DaleHeller]

It's ironic, but when I was at the dealer a couple of months ago, I was asked to pull my car out. No big deal, right? As I was driving out slowly, I noticed two other M cars with the engines pulled out. Both appeared rather new. Since I only had mine for four weeks, I said to myself "Ut-ohhhhh, this is not a good sign.".

Best of luck to you. I wish I had more information on why those engines were pulled out for you...

[Q45tech]

Everyone asked for a serious power bump over the old 4.5 and Nissan gave you one 55 HP and 37 lb/ft...............unfortunately a few short cuts too many. Some don't last many do.

[bikepatrol]

The verdict is in!!!

CARBON BUILD UP!!?? Apparently there was excessive carbon build up in the throttle body and it is a common problem "for those who don't use high quality 91 octane fuel". I use 91, but maybe the previous owner did not. The repair is considered maintenance, so I'm out $230. At least it was minor. Sure sounded like my motor was falling apart, though. One dealer told me that the fix is two bottles of Chevron high octane booster in the tank, run the engine at 4000 rpm for 20 min. My dealer went further and physically cleaned it up (according to them). Anyway, I should be good to go for a while. Can't wait to see what that 30,000 mi service is going to run!!

[loanpimp]

Ironically, I wrote everything below before scrolling down to see "The Verdict"... Read my story. You were probably right above the sound... they just have their patented responses they are trained to say.----------------------------It happened to me once and I haven't driven it the same ever since. Luckily I was pulling up to my house at 1:00am, so I didn't have an audience, but I know what you mean about that feeling of... "Yes! It's a $60k car, and yes it sounds like a Model A Ford from the early 1900's right now!" I was really ticked off about mine because I had it in for oil change that day and had the 36K mile Service just a few months before that.

I know how dealerships are so I recorded the noise before I shut it down for the night... I headed out to the dealership in the morning and about half way there it stopped making the noise. Typical! But I had a recording of it to give to the tech. I even emailed the recording to the service guy. The first call I got from the shop, they told me they "couldn't get it to repeat the sound", but that they put in a fuel additive for spark-knocking. I promptly told them they were idiots if they thought the noise was from bad gas. After 7 days they gave up (right, after 2hrs they gave up), so I went to pick it up. I had the tech that had been working on it to ride with me.

I said look, I'll make it make the sound again... I hit play on my recorder and hit the starter on my M. Sittin in the car; hit the start button; clang-clang-clang... Now tell me what on this Earth could possibly make a car sound like that? He didn't have the slightest clue... and it was the first time he had heard the recording (even though a specifically asked the service rep to play the recording for the tech that would be working on it) So my M basically just sat there for a week because everybody knew it was something with the transmission and they are taught to steer clear of that... the techs aren't even allowed to work on them beyond taking readings from the computer.

It sounds like you had the same problem as me. Were you in the Manual Shift when it happened? Had you been winding out say 3rd gear while hot dogging it? And had you possibly come to a curve, slowed the vehicle down and took off again still in 3rd out of the curve... then went to 4th? As best I have been able to gather, this is what I did in my M.... and it basically caused the trans computer to antipate going to 4th and I think I may have actually gone to 2nd briefly then 3rd... I zigged when it thought I was gonna zag and caused one of the arms in the trans to Not fully disengage. The noise I was hearing were the gears slightly hitting each other. The normal driving the next morning reset everything... A glitch!

One good thing... Infiniti will readily replace the transmission in order to keep people quiet about the problem... because it is their pride and joy. Let me know how your experience turned out.

[bikepatrol]

I actually specifically heard it coming from the right rear of the motor. Recorded it on my phone as well. Definitely was not the transmission. Sped up as I accelerated too.