I have a 35th anniversary edition so obviously this entails that it's equipped with the rev-up motor. Honestly, I would've avoided this thing like the plague if I had done more research about their reliability before I bought the car but live and learn, whatever.

There's a pretty loud ticking coming from the valves. I've spent hours reading through posts and anything else google could help me find on this issue. From what I'm hearing, it could be some worn out valve seat buckets? Apparently, these valves sit in some sort of bucket seat and there's a sort of nipple on the bottom of them that's actually the part that comes in contact with the cam. This part is softer and thus wears out. I took it to a guy and he pretty much told me to sell the car... what an ***. I like my car. He then told me it would be upward of $2k to do the job. Looking through a few DIY's, I can kind of understand why. I'm not sure if the heads have to be pulled to replace those valvetrain components but if they do, pulling the timing chain alone looks like a real B.

So what I'm thinking is just swap in a new motor. They can be had on ebay with lower mileage than mine (122K) pretty commonly. The only thing is, apparently they like to double that price if the motor came from a manual transmission car. I'm trying to do this on a budget, I just want my car to have a quite engine bay like most other 350z's I see. Will I be able to take a motor that came on and auto, and just bolt it up to my manual tranny without there being any wiring issues or codes thrown?

Thanks for all your help on this, guys.

 

you would have to get another rev-up motor, or replace the ecu and wiring harness with motor

 

As long as it's the same year or similar (meaning rev up engine), it'll bolt right in and run just fine. Mechanically the engine is the same auto or manual. Reuse your existing computer and wiring harness and the car will never know the difference.

 

But the replacement motor can be from an auto tranny car or does it have to be from another manual? I don't know why but everybody on ebay wants to charge a lot more for a motor that came from a manual car.

 

Yea that's kind of what my reasoning was. just pull the motor and bolt it up to everything I still have and the wiring harness should plug up just the same, right? I wouldn't think there are sensors or anything just on the long block that would need something from the auto harness.

 

Ticking in the head? I wouldn't even worry about it. I've driven 30k miles(only did one initial oil change on a 125k motor car) then turboed it that had head tick.

 

Yea, that's actually a pretty common reaction for this problem too. Nissan's are all pretty notorious for developing a noisy valvetrain over time. I just think its pretty annoying. It's loud enough to hear with the windows up so you can imagine what a wonderful symphony I hear every time I drive through my apartment complex and im surrounded by tall buildings. The car runs fine and doesn't throw any codes, soooo... just say "F it, thug life"?

 

Where are you in TX?

Also I'm at 165K with the same tick, and I spray nitrous through mine. So far so good.

 

No the automatic versions of the 35th anniversary editions as well as the auto versions of the 2006s used the DE engine not the rev-up engine, so they will not just bolt in, use the same sensors or computer etc. (there were no auto versions of the rev-up engines)

Buying a used engine is a bit of a crapshoot. If your engine runs well, doesn’t burn oil, and has been reliable consider fixing it instead. A proper mechanic familiar with Nissan V6 engines will use a mechanic’s stethoscope to diagnose exactly which valve/valves is noisy. This can be followed up by removing the cam cover and checking valve clearance.
The bucket you’re referring to is a simple cam follower and can be replaced with out removing the engine from the car. It’s a big job, but to an experienced mechanic it’s a fairly routine work.

Shop for a better mechanic who can diagnose this properly and give you an estimate of the costs involved. My dad was good at knowing exactly what was ailing an engine, so he rarely ran over his cost estimate.

 

As usual, Jennifer hits the nail on the head. Rev-up engines only came on manual versions of the Track and 35th anniversary model in 2005, so an engine from an auto Z (regardless of trim) is a non-rev-up. In 2006, all the manual Zs had the rev-up engine, regardless of trim.

 

Hence my disclaimer of being a rev up.

 

ah... I knew the revup only came out for 05 and 06 but I never knew they only came out with manual tranny. Now I get it... that explains why i go on ebay and feel like everybody mislabels their motors when i see pics of the back and don't find 4 cam positioning sensors. They might be 06 motors but that doesnt make them revup. yay, I learned something today. Thanks all.

To who asked, I live in Austin.

The motor does burn some oil but not unless Ive been getting on it. If i drive like grandpa, Ill be missing a quart in 3k miles... Spirited driving can have me burning a quart every 1k. The noise is more an annoyance than anything else and if I've got the general consensus that it's not the motor about to totally grenade, then I guess that's comforting. As advised, I guess I'll take her somewhere else for a second opinion. I tried the screwdriver to the ear thing but it always felt like the sound was further in than I could easily get to. It mostly sounds like its from the passenger side head. Before anybody says anything, I've already replaced the fuel rail damper that's supposed to make noise. I like to do stuff at home, but i guess ill get some pro help for a diagnosis at least.