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Firstly thanks to everyone in this community and all your wisdom on these awesome cars you guys have saved me a lot of dollars.
But I have a big problem and need some advise please.
I have a 2003 with 190,000kms
So my car has ben sounding terrible, initially it was only on cold start ups... really loud rattle for a few seconds but now it does that, and it will continue to rattle coming from the front of the engine.
After doing some research I saw some videos of ppl with the same problem and they were saying the timing chain or tensioner.
So I finally took it to Nissan this week scanned the the engine management and electronics and found no fault upon further inspection they found noise from the front and suspect it may need new timing chains.
Nissan have quoted me $4800 to change all the chains, Sprockets, guides and tensioner.
They said its the first time they have ever seen a chain go in a 350Z haha
I did put the wrong oil in it once about a year ago, the thickest and ran it for about 3 weeks before I realized and took it straight to Nissan to get it flushed out ( I know im a fool )
They have also suggested maybe putting a second hand engine in it which could work out cheaper which hopefully I get the price today.
I cant drive the car now till I figure out what to do for fear of skipping a tooth and wrecking the engine.
Can anyone please give me some suggestions or any advice on what they would do.
Or any advise on if doing a second hand engine is a good way to go.
whats wrong with you replacing JUST the tensioner yourself - surprisingly easy (whether you do it or a shop does it) and it may buy you some time to find a new engine.
Is there a private/3rd party autoshop that can do the work less expensive?
I'd second the low mileage engine from another Z if that's the route
I wouldnt ONLY go get the timing chain fixed ... if you go this route, go get a full engine rebuild.
whats wrong with you replacing JUST the tensioner yourself - surprisingly easy (whether you do it or a shop does it) and it may buy you some time to find a new engine.
Is there a private/3rd party autoshop that can do the work less expensive?
I'd second the low mileage engine from another Z if that's the route
I wouldnt ONLY go get the timing chain fixed ... if you go this route, go get a full engine rebuild.
Hi mate thanks for your reply,
Yeah they are saying that the chain might of been out to long an may have stretched.
If Nissan says this is the first time they have seen it then I wont have to worry about it happening on a second hand engine im just worried about what else could be wrong with an engine I have never used.
but then again im worried about what else can go wrong with mine haha especially if they open it up and say they have found something else wrong with it.
I dont disagree with what nissan is saying and even a new tensioner may not fix this - even short term. If it was me, and not that I'm some master mechanic, but I'd drop a new/newer tensioner in it bc it's pretty easy...Nissan made the tensioner easy to swap out to simplify a water pump replacement.
it takes 3minutes to expose the tensioner and a half hour to get it out & a new one back in...
Everything in life is a risk
Find a low mileage donor engine...$1000usd for decent engine and $500usd for install and you're back on the road. I dont know how it is in AU but here in the states some engine resellers will offer some type of warranty - might be smart to find one with a warranty.
what about a 3rd party garage? Call them and ask them to price out the same work Nissan proposes?
Mine literally did this Tuesday. I thought I threw a rod but then realized it was from the water pump/timing chain on the driver side area.
I haven't heard it since, I hope it was a one time thing. Really not looking to fix more crap. Especially since this cars only been driven for 30 miles tops all year and been on jacks almost the entire time.
I went by Nissans recommendation to get a second hand engine put in, they found one that has done half as many kms as mine has.
They have had the car for 2 weeks and I got to pick it up yesterday.
Everything sounded very positive the tech said the engine is in amazing condition and the car is running great. and it came in $600 less than they quoted.
He had me super excited!!
As with everything there is always a BUT.
So the car felt great and sounded really good again with out that timing chain noise, Hit the free way and that's when the problems began.
I can barley shift into 5th gear and it is impossible to get the car in to 6th gear so I pretty much only have 4.
Called Nissan instantly while I was driving and told the tech and he's like that's very strange.... it could be a linkage issue.
They said they took the gearbox out when they were replacing the engine so my question is could this be something they have created as I have never had this issue before.
I'm taking it back to Nissan on Monday
I don't want to be out of pocked any more money - I have already handed them $4000 for this fix.
You can skip or break a tooth and blow your motor. Also stop taking it to the dealership they will nickel and dime you until you've paid more than the cars worth. Most the time it's min wage kids who hardly passed auto shop doing the work.
Find a reliable 3rd party mechanic to run a cheap or free inspection to find the problem. Don't use a mechanic who fixes everything until the randomly find the issue. Aka basically what the dealership will do.
Its not the timing chain anymore - They have put a new engine in it.
Its my gears now, just wondering if its something they would have messed up when they were switching engines.
This dealer has usually been very good to me, I have taken my car to mechanics before and they always ended up costing me more money without actually fixing the problems.
Example - When I first got the car on take off I could here metal pinging sounds come from the rear wheels, I took it to 2 mechanics twice they took apart the rear of my car apart and charged me $900 and still couldn't fix the problem, I gave up and took it to Nissan, they re greased the axels or something - charged me $50 and its never happened again.
Been taking it to them ever since
The answer is yes, more than likely the dealership didn't properly install the gearbox and misaligned the 5-6 shift rail. It should be relatively easy for them to track this issue down and repair it for you. They really should be doing it for free, as you already paid them for the installation.
The answer is yes, more than likely the dealership didn't properly install the gearbox and misaligned the 5-6 shift rail. It should be relatively easy for them to track this issue down and repair it for you. They really should be doing it for free, as you already paid them for the installation.
Thanks mate,
Im not driving the car at all till I take it back so they have no excuses and try and lay it on me, in hindsight I wish I had of made one of the techs take it with me for a run before I took it, but they guy was saying everything is amazing and even on my report it says they took it for a run and its running good - Maybe they didn't even get to 5th and 6th gear.
01-01-2018, 03:28 PM
Timing Chain need help please
