? Valve Timing Control Soleniods

[ougoboy]

93 J30 has some valve chattering(rattle),Thinking it might be the soleniods,Has anyone had any problems w/these.

Thanks in advance

BJW

[95-J30tt]

never heard of a problem to the valve timing yet (or it is very very rare)... what is the milage, and when was the last time the timing belt was changed?

[ougoboy]

Hey J30tt, It has 125,000 on the clock not sure if the t-belt has been replaced, My freind picked up the car about 6 months ago, Looks welltaken care of and drives good, Can the belt stretch that much to causethis kind of tapping noise ? I do a lot of Honda,Toyota,Chryslers, Nevernoticed that much stretch ?

[Defiant]

Timing belts don't stretch. Either the crank sprocket shears off the teeth it's engaging, a tensioner bearing fails and causes other damage which includes the belt, or other mechanical damage which can break a belt. But they don't stretch nearly so much as chains, particularly on V engines.

[J30Guy612]

I am actually having the same problem. I spoke with my friend about what the noise could be and he told me that if it was my timing belt making that much noise, the car wouldn't be running anymore.

He also said that the old Maxima's had a ton of problems with the Valve Timing Control Solenoids, and that was most likely the problem with my car.

Where are the solenoids located? The noise seems to be coming from the upper area of the timing covers.

Is there a way to test them or see if they're working properly?

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

[driverdriver]

Valve timing solenoid failure is pretty common in northern climates. I had mine replaced years ago(and I know of other J owners having there's replaced too). It is labor intensive. Might as well get the timing belt done when getting it fixed.

[J30Guy612]

I am in Mass, so that is definately a Northern climate.

What did it cost you driver to have them replaced?

How did you know that they had gone bad?

Were all of your symptoms the same as ours?

Can these completely fail and kill the motor, or just create a lack of performance and some noise?

Thanks very much, any info would be great!!!

[driverdriver]

The engine clatter get louder and never goes away.

I honestly don't remember the cost, but it was labor intensive. While they where changing the Solenoids I had them do the timing belt (they where already there) and possibly they changed the plugs.

When I got the car back, it ran better than new (still does).

[J30Guy612]

Well I called my friend who works at an auto shop, really good mechanic, and he told me the best thing to do if you have failing solenoids, would be to just drive it until the J30 dies

Told me solenoids are going to run me around $1000, $450 for the complete T-Belt kit, and probably another $5-600 for labor. This looks like it may cost around $2k to completely fix everything...

What bad news, this may be my exit from the J30 world

[driverdriver]

I'm pretty sure my solenoid work did not cost anywhere near $2k. It may have been on the $800-$1k (Canadian dollar range) including the belt and plugs (Infiniti dealer only charged for the parts and not labor).

[J30Guy612]

Why did the dealer not charge for labor? There is probably a good 8-10 hours worth of labor there?

Anyone have any part numbers or prices for the solenoids? Looked on EverythingInfiniti, and couldn't find anything.

Thanks for all the help driver!

[driverdriver]

Why did the dealer not charge for labor?

Its called customer service, I've had the car since basically new and all the work has always been done at the same Infiniti dealer.

Besides labor wise to change the solenoids they had to essentially open up the engine. The timning belt and plugs where practically sitting in front of them.

I've found that in my experience with cars under manufacturers warranty(I've owned quite a collection), if you go to the same new car dealer for small things like oil changes, tire rotations, etc, when something big arises with your car, they'll take care of you.............except if they're a VW or Audi dealer (bad experiences with them).

[J30Guy612]

Alright thanks very much for all the info