Good afternoon fellow 350z owners, I have a quandary for you all and i'd appreciate some advice.

A little while ago I was driving along and I would get the oil light flash up but just for a moment. I didn't pay too much attention as I don't drive it much. Then being the careful Z owner I am before I came to drive it again I checked the oil level and it was alright, even with the most ridiculous oil dipper design I have ever witnessed I checked it a few times and then decided just to put a little top-up glug or two in and see if the light made any further appearance. It didn't.

Then, a couple of small drives later, i've got in the car, driven for a bit, nothing too speedy but you know how it is when you're sat behind the wheel of a Z. I gave it a little.

Anyway i'm now getting a noise when under load but when I come off the accelerator, it's a bit of a whurring noise and it's coming from the engine bay. Also my oil gauge is sitting low when on idle and that's obviously not good.

After chatting with my mechanic about it and him having a listen we suspect something has happened with the oil supply to the engine and that's screwed the bearings and now i'm done for and need a new engine.

We are planning on draining the oil and checking the system this week to see what we can see but he reckons it's wiser just to get a new engine ordered and drop that in. That's gonna cost about £600 in labour and maybe £1500 on an engine, so not the best expense!

Before I do so thought I thought i'd ask you lot as i'm sure you've all got many items of sage wisdom to offer. What do we reckon?

Also this is the engine I was looking at buying from eBay - Any thoughts?

Engine Option 1 - With warranty - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ENGINE-NI...elZWr#viTabs_0

Engine Option 2 - Without warranty but a bit cheaper - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nissan-35...sAAOSwc1BenwXu

I'd appreciate any input anybody can offer and if it helps or saves me a few quid then I will happily donate a few beers to someone!

Thanks in advance, Ben.

 

Any mechanic that recommends ordering a engine before even taking an oil sample on an engine that is currently running is not a mechanic that I would trust. Unless there is a window in the block, I would recommend doing a oil analysis first, especially since it seems that you are not in need of having the car back on the road asap. 600£ also seems VERY low for a shop to pull and replace an engine. If I remember correctly when mine was swapped it was 20-30 hours of shop time. I wouldn't trust my car to a shop that is paying their technicians 10£ and hour when it is typically closer to >20.

 

Hi GreyZ, you're absolutely correct and apologies perhaps i've not been too clear in my wording.

The car is going in tomorrow AM to be checked out, oil samples taken, checking a bit closer for diagnosing it.

In regards to £600 that was a quick estimate for the engine swap and he's a one man band not a big garage. However he's good. He has an immaculate workshop and right when I was chatting to him he had a customers other 350z in that had an engine swap and it was running nicely, so he knows what he's doing I guess.

My optimistic hope is that we can flush out the oil system and get it flowing properly with fresh oil and filters and then the supply to the engine will be okay and maybe there won't be so much damage. But if the damage is already done I guess i'm screwed and will just have to order an engine.

What did you swap your engine for if I may ask?

Cheers,

 

That sounds like a good plan.

My first Z was a high mileage 03 that had been abused and had oil consumption issues. I was not on top of the consumption as much as I thought, and spun 2 of the bearings due to losing oil pressure. It was replaced with a pulled DE motor that was in fantastic condition until the car was totalled by a Silvarado that crossed the centerline.

 

I have a feeling it's gonna be a bearing issue for some reason. The fuel gauge inside is low on idle, picks up a bit but not so much. The noise isn't when sitting idle though, it's mostly when driven and it's after I let off the accelerator.

I'll make a video when I start her up in the morning and see how she is. I'm going to risk driving a mile down the road to the garage and then once it's there I guess we will see.

If there's bearings and crap in the oil then I plan on ordering one of the motors I linked straight away for a swap. I was just starting to get her ready for this summer!

 

Okay folks, i've managed to get a quick video of the engine noise, around 0:17 you can hear it clearly. Notice the oil goes up when started at first, then it drops and the noise starts when in gear.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFNZ...ature=youtu.be

It's in now for the engine to be drained and checked, I have an engine out of an '04 350Z ready to order at £1250 with a 3 month warranty.

Let me know your thoughts, any input appreciated!

 

Unless you have a desperate need to drive this Z, I'd advice waiting for the UOA results to come back before arbitrarily replacing the VQ.

 

I'm waiting to find out how the oil looks after being drained and checked today. I'm not sure how he's got on yet but waiting to hear.

Do you think it needs to be analysed fully by a lab or should we be able to see how it looks and look for metal in filters etc?

Any thoughts on the noise in the video?

Cheers,

Ben

 

Yes- you're not learning anything unless you have a lab analysis done. That is, unless you find engine chunks in the sump pan, or a holed block...