My plastic guides were perfect at 164,000 when I replaced them, but there was CLEAR evidence that this was not the first set . . . conclusion, they had failed in the first two years and been replaced with plastic. ('92 Q45)

I was pretty surprised when I heard about the guides problem on this forum - well, the pre-cursor forum really!

I bought my 91Q in March of 1991 and traded it in in August of 1998 at over 100k miles without any guide problems of any kind. And I used to drive pretty hard - including a number of long runs at over 120mph over the years.

Of course, I have no idea what happened after I traded it in! I guess I could find my old VIN and see if it is still in Infiniti's records as being on the road.

Z

Good afternoon,

This guide thing is scary!! I called the dealer in Salt Lake City, they had never heard of the problem! The Service guy told me they have Qs with over 300K and no problem..is there any way to tell if they have been done? I think if I can get this car to run right I'll replace them.

Blair

Print out this and otehr threads and show it to him.

Fred..

1 my '90Q changed at approx. 100K, both sides grooved but complete. Always Delvac 5w-40 at 2.5 - 3K 2 dads '90Q changed at 110K -same as above. 10w - 30 3 - 4KMine has never seen winter duty in Wisc. only summer. #2 spent 6Mos. in northern Fla. for 7 years over winter.Replaced both Q -guides only.

Drivers of typical US cars [even BMW and MB] hearing us talk about 14 year old V8 engines [and what the factory should have done] would think we are mentally deranged.After all most cars made in 1990-93 had a maximum 3 YEAR/36,000 mile warranty!

My 90 is now pushing 164k with the original guides. Took it out last night and hit the red line in first. It's mainly used by my son now for short trips. We did hit it with a can of BG 44k a couple of weeks ago as part of preventive maintenance.

It truly is a beautiful engine.

My guides cracked, broke, and pieces rattled around inside for who knows how long. However, it had been driving beautifully with no indication of damage. The only way to know was to remove the front cover and look.

I had the guides done at about 185k.

http://www.q45.org/guidereplacement.html

-Jesda

'92 with failure sometime before 140K mi. and April 2003. Car continued to run. Spent all life in N. Alabama. Guides on both sides failed, passenger partially, driver fully. Some guide parts in oil pan., others loosely in place in pieces. Snout of oil pump was cut 2/3 through by loose chain. VIN JNKNG01CNM202032.

I bought my `91 with a bad engine (jumped time) off of Ebay for 1k I had no idea what I was getting into lol. The shop I bought it from started to put a used engine in it but found a chain guide problem and sold it to me as they did not want to tackle it. I bought a engine from the east coast did not like it (bad compression) and sent it back. I bought a engine from Ca. installed it and it was clattering badly, pulled it apart and the valves were in to the pistons so I sent it back. Got the new engine in and tore it apart this was a very early engine serial # 1200 or so. Found broken guides and engine had jumped time by one tooth. Replaced all guides and hoses under the plenum resealed and installed the engine.I spun it over for 30 seconds or so and then fired it off. Very noisy quieted down a bit after the tensioners filled up but the lifters were still very noisy. Finaly after 20 miles it smoothed out and now purrs like a kitten.

About a third of the replacement engines we get now have broken or cracked guides, thus the additional day charges for reguiding and oil pan cleaning added to all the rest of the swap charges.

Members should think of these JDM [$1400] engines as really $3500 engines by the time they are ready for reinstall.