So my car breaks down the other day, and i have it towed to the closest nissan dealership. I havent heard from them in about a day, so i called to see what was going on - the engine is shot - suppossedly caused by an improper installation of a motordyne plenum spacer, they said it looks like abolt got loose and dropped into the engine, so its not covered under warranty. 0 compression in all but one cyl. They quoted me $9000 for a new engine and labor. Thats more than I still owe on the car. So what i need is a new or almost new engine, or where to get one, and some advice.

 

I'm curious, did you have just the plenum spacer or did you also install the iso thermal gasket? If it was just the spacer, all the bolts are outside the plenum so I don't see how one could come loose and get inside the engine.

 

brutal, good luck with that

 

I guess the question is, who installed the spacer? A bolt may have fallen into the plenum while being worked on. $9K, ouch!

 

that must be a magic bolt to screw up 5 cylinders. ouch man very sorry to hear!

 

Damn that sucks big donkey diick! Make sure you take fingerprints on the bolt, maybe it's form one of the guys at Nissan 9K? OUCH!

 

I Doubt That You Drove Around With The Screw Loose Then It Just Fell Out And Messed Up All Your Cylinders. Nissan Gives Bs Excuses Bc They See That You Put Aftermarket Parts On. Nissan Said That My Exhuast Broke My Timing Chain. I Would Fight Them And Ask For Something In Writting Saying What Happend And How It Happened. If You Just Installed The Spacer And Put All The Screws Back In Then Its Not That. Good Luck Homie I'm Right There With Ya.

 

Get it out of there and to a reputable shop. The BS flag is flying high! I once had a Nissan dealer tell me my 280Z needed two new heads and had no compression(that's supposedly why it wouldn't start). It didn't make sense since it was running fine when I shut it down. I called them and told them to button it up, and I'd tow it home. It turned out to be one loose injector wire.

 

If you torqued the bolts down to tight..I can see where it could snap and get into the engine. We can speculate all we want but your the only one that knows what really happened(if you did the install at least). I wouldn't be surprised if that was what actually happened.

Either way I'd get it to a reputable shop for a better look and get a second opinion. You can get a new block in the classified around here occasionally for much cheaper so just be on the look out.

I would've taken off the spacer and then gone to Nissan...might have saved 9k

 

Man that sucks I would take it a reputable shop and get a second opinion for sure you only have $9,000 riding on it.

 

Damn bro that sucks big time i just help a friend install his MD plenum spacer and iso -thermal ect.. and i wonder how could have that happend? seems odd to me! Man i hate Nissan they are the worst when it come to taking ur Z in and giving you the worst Efffing answers! giving you BS to rob your money cant stand it !!!!! sorry im just ranting now but sorry for your loss.

 

Replace the Whole Engine.. I Dont think so.. Take it to a reputable shop and have the damaged parts replaced... It may cost you 2 or 3 grand, but its much better than 9k..

 

Thanks guys, i really appreciate all the help. To answer some of your questions:

Me and two of my friends did the install in a garage, and followed the instructions to a T. I fear though, since I personally did not tighten down the bolts, that one may have not been torqued down enough.

I thought there were 6 or 8 long screws inside the lower plenum? I thought they were kind of long though and didnt really think they could come out.

They were not really clear on what happenned, as they are still looking through it. I'm giving them 30 more mins and then calling them to tell them to stop.

I am going to have it towed at the first of the week to a different shop so that I can at least get another opinion. Even when i contacted the owner of the shop i'm towing it to he said that they were full of crap, there's no way I could have been driving around with a bolt jumping around to ruin 5 out of 6 cylanders all at one time.

He is going to do a diagnostic for me for free and let me know what is really going on.

Thanks again everyone, I will keep you updated.

(i'm on spring break, but it hasn't been much of a break)

Mike

EDIT: I did install the thermal gasket as well. I don't understand how a bolt or screw or nut could have done that either, but we'll see.

 

*subscribing and hoping for some Dealer Service Dept. Ownage*

 

I have a GREAT shop in Central WV that only charges $30 an hour that you could have it towed to. The Guy is ASE Certified and a Retired Porsche and Audi Master Mechanic that Also likes Asian Imports..

 

Michael,

Its good to see you are taking it out for an independant review. What they are telling you doesn't make sense. One bolt taking out 5 different cylinders? And how did they come to the conclusion it was a bolt? Are they offering any real evidence or just throwing out a lot of junk to see what will stick?

When you noticed your car was having problems what were the symptoms and time frames?

 

+1, lol.

 

Maybe its a sign? If they dont pay, built motor time?

 

What they said never really made any sense to me either. They kept saying they were still looking and trying to determine what the actual cause was. When I called a few minutes ago all they said was "yeah i'm afraid its definately going to need a new engine." So no, they are not offering any real evidence here. So, this is what happenned:

I went to missouri for 4 days and let my fiance take my car home with her (for spring break) because I didnt want to leave it sitting in an abandonded college town for 4 days with a bunch of locals who would do ungodly things to it. I drove it normally for the entire week before she was leaving just to make sure it would be ok (i had an SES for a code P000021 and P000011 and a bad main crank seal leaking oil) otherwise, it had no problems. It did not stutter, shake, rattle or anything while I was driving it for the past couple months.

So I get back from missouri on monday and drive back to my fiance's house tuesday to pick up my car, and when i am halfway home she calls me and says "the tcs light and slip light are on and the car is catching at about 4000 rpm's, what do i do" so i figured it was nothing much, and told her she probably just hit the button with her knee, and to pull over and restart the car. So she does and everything is fine so she starts driving again to meet her mom. About 10 minutes later she calls back and tells me the car is completely dead. She said she was going about 40 mph (it was on a main road in richmond) and it started "catching" or stuttering and then the accelerator would not work, but the car was still on, and both the lights were on.

I eventually get there and start the car, it levels out at about 1500 rpms... higher than normal.. and then i hit the gas... goes up to 4k drops to almost nothing, goes up again, and then levels at 1500. Turn off the car and have it towed to the dealership. The next morning i get there right as they are trying to pull it in the bay. I hear them try and start it and it does nothing.

The independent mechanic i talked to is going to do it right and really find out what is going on. I mean, I would love to own part of a nissan dealership, but right now I just want my Z back... and not pay 9k for it.

 

LoL i was thinkin about that... i'd rather not though until i have something else to drive daily... since the Z is all i have right now