Jump to content

VQ35DE Engine Differences?


starbai
 Share

Recommended Posts

I bet he found the same things we've been talking about. Looking forward to your updates. Even when you get your next new engine, hopefully from an 02, please dont forget to share your findings. Are you paying for both motors or are they taking it upon themselves to swap this replacement for the new replacement?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My brief understanding is that this 1st engine is going back. Apparently they have another, I guess Ill have to wait on its back story. I told the mechanic there were several other guys in my situation who would be interested in his findings & he seemed good with that. Consequently, I hope to have something to report back later today or tomorrow. As an FYI, no core on these engines so Im keeping my original.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My brief understanding is that this 1st engine is going back. Apparently they have another, I guess Ill have to wait on its back story. I told the mechanic there were several other guys in my situation who would be interested in his findings & he seemed good with that. Consequently, I hope to have something to report back later today or tomorrow. As an FYI, no core on these engines so Im keeping my original.

Lucky you have the option of sending it back. Thats great news.

 

Unfortunately for me, me buying it on ebay and having it delivered to my garage means a few weekends of work for me and if I get it wrong, I'm SOL.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

OMG this is killing me!!! The day after Thanksgiving we went out to get a Christmas tree and I heard a tapping I'd never heard before. No performance problems, other noise or smoke. I pulled it over & had it towed to a shop. They were sure it was lifters and, after wresting with differences between early '01 and late '01/'02s we finally decided to do the heads. I told them I was worried about the Power Valves (I just learned of them from TowndawgR50 when I called him from the side of the road with the noise). They more or less considered this an afterthought and pushed for me to get a used engine. However, when we opened it up heres what we saw:

Power_Valve.jpg

 

That's 5 screws gone & the #4 butterfly valve in the #6 position. The rest of my engine appeared pristine but they couldn't find the screws anywhere & essentially refused to put it back together with any sort of guarantee. Again they pushed for a used engine but could only produce one with 118K on it. This pissed me off as I knew my engine was otherwise in excellent shape (I've had it it's whole life). After much back and forth over parts cost (Thank you Courtesy Nissan for providing me leverage) they suddenly found an import with 50K on it. It arrived yesterday and goes in today. Now I read all of this & I'm worried if it's even the right engine! Oh boy!

 

Here are the shots of my "new" engine. They sure as H#!! better have the right engine.

Import_Engine-_Front.jpg
Import_Engine-_Rear.jpg
Import_Engine-_Side1.jpg
Import_Engine-_Side2.jpg
Honestly, this whole Power Valve thing has really shaken my faith in Japanese reliability. I have to eat sooo much crow. I'm going to end up spending more than it would cost to buy my Pathfinder just to end up where I started. It's really disheartening!

 

 

 

RainGoat, by any chance do you have an update? I'm almost ready to pull the trigger on this new motor. One I found online. And I'm struggling to determine the differences between these motors.

 

You and I have 2002 Vehicles.

 

We can safely eliminate 2003 and 2004 engines. I know how to distinguish against these because they will have drive by WIRE and only one cam sensor per bank, no front crankshaft position sensor, and the flexplate will be different.

 

 

This leaves us with 2001, 2001.5, and 2002 Engines as possible replacements.

 

I know for sure you can tell a 2002 by its black plastic valve covers vs the aluminum valve covers.

 

The new engine you have shown in your pictures is most assuredly NOT a 2002 motor because it does not have black valve covers.

 

What I can't figure out is, other than the valve covers why won't it work on a 2002 vehicle? The camshaft sensors and crank sensors are all there according to your pictures. I can't see the flexplate, but I do know its drive by cable because I can see the cable hanging onto the floor.

 

The question is, why the heck didn't it work? What differences did they find between this motor and your original 2002 motor?

 

I've been pouring over the differences in the service manual and I cannot figure it out. It's bothering the hell outta me because I'm starting to worry that black valve covers may not only identify 2002s, but perhaps also 2001.5s. And if that's the case, then what changed between 2001.5 and 2002?

 

Your engine pics here are clearly 2001 engines so maybe I shouldn't worry about it, but it'd really make me more comfortable to understand why they decided it would not work so that I could zero in on those areas of the service manual to ensure I choose the correct motor.

 

I don't mean to be a pest, but I'm balancing waiting patiently for your reply and the concern of losing out on the motor if someone else decides to buy it before I do online.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Starbai, Sorry for the delay, I've been working alot of nights and it's been really taking it out on me during the day. Add the stress of this and the fact that I've got 2 small kids and it's been both physically & emotionally exhausting. MicahFelker is in town & prompted me by text tonight to make sure I got to you. My apologies.

 

Apparently, the mechanic had been about as thrilled as I was with the oil pan. He said the varnish didn't worry him but it made him examine the engine extra closely. Ultimately he found some rust in the cylinder & at that point, his confidence in the engine was ruined. After doing a fair amount of stripping they sent the whole thing back but were able to have another arrive that evening. I haven't heard the back story on this 2nd engine but was vaguely told JDM, 50K. Since that's what I heard about the last one, I'm a little dubious about the accountability for miles, etc. on these engines, especially the JDMs.

 

Anyway, the oil pan & the rest looked a fair amount better to him and he was comfortable installing it. He took off the timing chain cover to have a look and did notice a little wear in the guides, which he showed me, so he had already gone ahead with the replacement. They said that was the decision we had made that morning, which is actually the opposite of the decision we had made, however, it looks like it was the right call for this engine so I'll just eat it and be glad they did it.

 

I gave the mechanic a double sided, double spaced, big font, easy to read, summary of the important topics we discussed and suggested it might be usefull though I would defer to his judgement. I also told him there were others like me who were looking at having this done right now & they would be very interested in his findings due to these compatability concerns. He nodded and seemed to say something affirmative but I think he just does that with everything.

 

When this all started, I gave them a cleaned up, succint version of the wonderful Power Valve Repair write up but I don't think they looked at it, despite my suggesting it might be the cause of all of our problems. I say this in part because they all seemed a littel surprised at the power valve findings later when that's what I had lead with. Consequently, I'm not too certain we're going to get usefull information out of him. There also seem to be notable communication issues between the front office and the mechanic as well.

 

All that said, the mechanic did put a halt to the first used engine's install and the manager went to work finding another one without questioning the mechanic's decision. I think I have a good mechanic who takes pride in his worksmanship but I suspect he would prefer to be left alone. He told me that his plan was to use my original engine's equipment for essentially everything except the engine itself as he knew it had run fine and looked to be in pretty good condition. We are changing out all the accessable seals and even the variable timing solenoids to be sure everything is as new & reliable as possible. I will definitely ask but I'm not sure I'm going to get more comment than the fact that he just changed out all the electrical stuff. We'll see, I really will try. Both myself & the shop found these engine version variances when looking at lifters. The part numbers I had acquired locally ultimately seemed to be for the up to 2001.5 engine. My production date is 2/23/02.

 

I think the truck will be done Friday but I work until 7pm. Consequently, I think it will likely be Monday before I'll be able to go in, retrieve it, hear what story I can and pay the excruciating fee to have my truck functionally just like it was back at Thanksgiving. All VERY PAINFUL but at least it should be reliable from here on out. (Of course, I would have told you that on Thanksgiving). I'll put a 2nd post with the 2nd JDM Engine Pics in it.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's my original engine! TowndawgR50 & I both think that it probably was fine and possibly it was only the loose #4 power valve sitting on top of the #6 power valve that was making the tapping from that location but we'll never know. No evidence of any of the missing screws were found and the machine shop thought my heads were fine. The shop was worried the screws were in the short block or that they would just put it all back together and the noise would still be there so they wouldn't do it since the labor is so immense. I mean everything from my radiator to my engine to my tranny to my drive shaft were all out and on the floor of the garage. I just wish they had opened the manifold first & fixed the Power Valve screws to see if the noise went away. Retrospectively, I suppose I could have done it myself. I've definitely learned alot in this misadventure. I'm sure as H3!! not going anywhere anytime soon now that I've invested all this time, money and heartache into my baby.

 

Incidently, I'm keeping my original engine. TowndawgR50 & I figure it can be a good learning tool, a possible scavenge source for parts in the future and maybe I'll even rebuild it and have it as a spare. My Wife is Going To Love It in our 2 car garage (not even the truck gets to park in the garage anymore but I'll have this big a$$ paperweight).

 

ALSO, I OWE a HUGE DEBT to TowndawgR50 for fielding my emails, texts and calls throughout this ordeal. He helped me with the inner engine discussions with the shop and reassured me I wasn't going insane when the answers I got back didn't always seem to make sense to me (it was very reassuring to have him agree that I was right to be confused with the answer I was getting). I'd say he experienced a little trauma from this as well. My deepest gratitude to you TowndawgR50 and of course, to the NPORA forum family as well!

 

IMG_0227.jpg

 

 

Edited by RainGoat
  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

RainGoat, first off let me say thank you for taking the time to give me all of these updates. Its extremely helpful. And thakn you to MicahFelker for reminding you as well. I can respect that you've got a lot going on and so its extremely appreciated that you took the time to write all that out.

 

That said, its a shame we won't learn more from your experience.

Unfortunately, I am also dealing with an eBay seller who is just extremely unresponsive. I've called, emailed, sent eBay messages, even messaged the facebook page for the business. I've gotten one response. I initially asked for pictures of the front of the oil pan to make sure that it had the appropriate places to attach the crankshaft positions sensor. It did, but what I also noticed ist hat the pictures show a motor that looks like its got oil all over the oil pan and is extremely dirty like it was literally sitting int he dirt. So I asked if it was the same motor as pictured on eBay, because that motor on eBay looks like it was detailed or something, it looks pristine enough to eat off of. I don't know if they were offended by the question or what but they've now gone unresponsive again.

 

The other problem is that looking at the pictures I don't see an oil cooler. Now it's possible that the oil cooler was removed for transport and isn't included with the engine. I'm okay with this, I can reuse mine. But its hard to see the side of the oil pan from the pictures. So I am now worried that perhaps the JDM motors simply don't have a port for an oil cooler. I'm trying to pour over all of the pics of a JDM VQ35DE on eBay and no one seems to take a pic at a good angle that would show this. (1) So if there is any way you can ask your mechanic if he noticed a port for the oil cooler on the side of the oil pan on both JDM engines? If I can simply confirm that all JDM VQ35s had oil coolers just like USDMs did, I'd be satisfied enough with this answer?

 

My other problem is that I'm aware that I'm going to have to swap my water pipe from my existing motor onto the new one. Okay I'm fine with this. But the water pipe isn't only connected ont he back of the motor, its also connected to an outlet on the front, drive'rs side of the engine above the exhaust manifold as well. I'm worried that on the JDM motor this port on the driver side may not exist? If it does, then I have no problem swapping it. But if it doesn't, what does one do? I feel like it HAS to exist. I mean you're the only one I know so far that's going to attempt to use a JDM motor and may be successful... but other than you, I haven't personally spoken with anyone else that's successfully done this. So, (2) can you please ask your mechanic if he sees or is concerned in any way with swapping the water pipe from your right-hand drive vehicle onto the new motor? If he simply says, oh yes that's just a bolt off/bolt on a concern I'll be 100% satisfied with the answer.

 

These should suffice as my last two items to check off before I'm ready to go ahead and pull the trigger... that said if there is any way you can get me some info on these two points. OR if ANYONE else has any ideas/insight/guidance. I'd sincerely appreciate it!

 

All that said, again, thank you for the reply and pictures!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

starbai, I stopped by the shop on my way home from work this morning and had a pretty good talk with the mechanic. Unfortunately, I didn't have your specific questions to ask him at the time. Without prompting, he did say he had read the summary I had given him regarding the different engine preferences. He noted that he couldn't speak much to the first JDM engine other than the aluminum valve covers as he stopped working on it once he saw the rust. He is essentially using the best of the parts from my engine & the JDM as well as the manifold he still has from the 1st JDM. He noted the plastic vs aluminum valve covers but otherwise hasn't seen any real variances. Because the condition of my parts are so good he says he is primarily either using new parts or the parts from my engine and he hasn't had any problem with the switch over. I need to get some sleep now but I'll post my pictures from this am. This afternoon I'll try and swing by the shop & specifically ask your questions if I can.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Again thanks RainGoat.

 

At least one of my questions were answered by your pics here. I clearly see the oil cooler on this engine. To be 100% sure though, did he take the oil pan from your original motor or is this the oil pan from the JDM engine in these photos? I'm hoping ifs the JDM oil pan. if it is, my second question above is sufficiently answered.

 

2-1-2018_1-31-56_PM.jpg

 

 

 

The first issue I raised above was the water pipe. This motor in this picture clearly has a port for a water pipe (circled) on the left hand side (USDM Driver's side) of the motor. I'm not even seeing the equivalent port on the passenger side of your JDM motor, so honestly I have no idea how the heck this even works on the Japanese engine. Long story short, I do see the water pipe port on the driver's side and that should be good enough to satisfy this question. So thank you again.

 

2-1-2018_1-31-20_PM.jpg

 

 

 

So all I really need to know is, is it the JDM oil pan in these photos or did he put your USDM oil pan on? If he did swap your USDM pan on to the JDM motor, why did he do so? Is the oil cooler port missing on the JDM oil pan (which I'm assuming is just sitting around somewhere in the shop)?

 

Thanks again!!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Again thanks RainGoat.

 

At least one of my questions were answered by your pics here. I clearly see the oil cooler on this engine. To be 100% sure though, did he take the oil pan from your original motor or is this the oil pan from the JDM engine in these photos? I'm hoping ifs the JDM oil pan. if it is, my second question above is sufficiently answered.

 

The first issue I raised above was the water pipe. This motor in this picture clearly has a port for a water pipe (circled) on the left hand side (USDM Driver's side) of the motor. I'm not even seeing the equivalent port on the passenger side of your JDM motor, so honestly I have no idea how the heck this even works on the Japanese engine. Long story short, I do see the water pipe port on the driver's side and that should be good enough to satisfy this question. So thank you again.

 

So all I really need to know is, is it the JDM oil pan in these photos or did he put your USDM oil pan on? If he did swap your USDM pan on to the JDM motor, why did he do so? Is the oil cooler port missing on the JDM oil pan (which I'm assuming is just sitting around somewhere in the shop)?

 

Thanks again!!!!

 

starbai, I believe each engine still has it's original oil pan. This thread has pictures of the inside of each oil pan. A post on 1/30 has my original '02 pan compared with the JDM#1 engine and the JDM#2 oil pan is above. At one point all 3 were lined up and I didn't notice any differences except for cleanliness (albeit I wasn't examining them under a microscope for differences).

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

ALSO, I OWE a HUGE DEBT to TowndawgR50 for fielding my emails, texts and calls throughout this ordeal. He helped me with the inner engine discussions with the shop and reassured me I wasn't going insane when the answers I got back didn't always seem to make sense to me (it was very reassuring to have him agree that I was right to be confused with the answer I was getting). I'd say he experienced a little trauma from this as well. My deepest gratitude to you TowndawgR50 and of course, to the NPORA community

 

 

You dont owe me anything. Im glad I could help. The support and information that Ive received from this forum has helped me tremendously. Amazing community of people.

Looking forward to some adventures w you and the rest of the local members!!

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, guys, I've been stalling as long as I can to buy this motor I found online.

 

I'm trying to wait to hear the good news that @RainGoat's truck is all up and running with the new appropriate year motor. Otherwise, what complications I need to look into before I decide to drop yet another $1k into this truck.

 

That said, how's it Going @RainGoat? Getting close to getting it back?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, guys, I've been stalling as long as I can to buy this motor I found online.

 

I'm trying to wait to hear the good news that @RainGoat's truck is all up and running with the new appropriate year motor. Otherwise, what complications I need to look into before I decide to drop yet another $1k into this truck.

 

That said, how's it Going @RainGoat? Getting close to getting it back?

Im told its up & running. They finished it on Friday but I was working late and unable to pick it up. I was going to go in today but stuff came up. I am also figuring out how to transport the original engine home & how to store it. The shop gives a 2 year warranty on their work & a year warranty on the engine. I felt the mechanic was vested in the work. I have faith everything should work though I do expect a difficult conversation surrounding parts prices. I should have it by Wednesday and will let you know.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Im told its up & running. They finished it on Friday but I was working late and unable to pick it up. I was going to go in today but stuff came up. I am also figuring out how to transport the original engine home & how to store it. The shop gives a 2 year warranty on their work & a year warranty on the engine. I felt the mechanic was vested in the work. I have faith everything should work though I do expect a difficult conversation surrounding parts prices. I should have it by Wednesday and will let you know.

 

Excellent. Thanks.

 

good luck on transporting. as far as storing in the garage I went and got a shipping pallet from my office's loading dock. I put an old tire on top of that and my old H22 from my prelude is sitting there on top of it. I suspect i'll line up another one for my Original pathy motor as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Harbor freight has some engine mounts for $40-$60 but I dont see how I can transport it mounted. Currently its upside down on a furniture dolly at the garage. I have an identical dolly I dont use & can likely get the shop to transfer it. I can then roll it onto the trailer via the ramp & roll it off at home by myself. Unfortunately, I dont know how I can then mount it on the engine mount. Might just leave it on the dolly until its dry this summer & then use my 3/4 ton long haul rope puller & a tree branch to hoist it (my garage is finished & I dont trust the span-plus Ive got enough sheetrock cracks from earthquake damage).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Honestly, if I were you, I'd either buy yourself an engine hoist from harbor freight or go on craigslist and buy a used one. It's just a lot more safe and less stress. I think I bought my hoist and stand for like $200 brand new with the appropriate coupons when they have sales.

Someday I'll sell it back for $100 and be happy with all my use of them for $100 total.

 

If you're lucky maybe you'll find someone selling one on CL just to make space in the garage.

 

Edit:

 

One more question... do you think its worthwhile for me to wait to hear your report from your mechanic? Or do you think he must have had an easy enough go at it once he got hte new motor and its all good... (as a result I should just go ahead and pull the trigger)?

 

I'm mostly interested in how much he needed to dive into the new motor to swap things. I know the water pipe is going to have to be moved and likely many accessories bolted to the engine, I just REALLY REALLY dont want to have to crack open that oil pan or timing chain cover...

Edited by starbai
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, this whole process has taken me about two months so I'm clearly not one to rush things. That said, I'm not entirely sure the mechanic will be there. He was supposed to move on to another location but had stayed to do my truck as they didn't have anybody else comfortable with the project. I think last Friday may have been his last day at that location. I'm going in Wednesday and will ask him if he's there. When I last saw him he had already stripped down the new engine and had started transferring things over. He didn't seem concerned at all though he planned to move essentially everything over from my old engine. He billed an additional 4 hours to do this plus another 4 hours on the timing chain. Initially, I had planned to hold off on the chain given the engine was supposed to be ~50K miles but there was miscommunication and he had dived in anyway. He did show me some wear on one of the guides (it looked like it but could have been for my mental benefit since he had already started the chain). That said, I don't remember him showing me wear on my own chain. I tried to verify the mileage on the new engine and asked for a VIN from the shop or some other sort of assurance. In the end, I was only told that it's a Japanese Export rule that all the engines have to be <60K to be exported & that their shop had faith in the company they received the engine from (not withstanding the first engine which had water in it I guess). Personally, I'm a little dubious about the mileage claims on these JDM engines but at this point it's probably best for me to try and stop thinking about it.

 

They've billed me over 41* of labor, plus the parts (which I'm disputing as I calculate >40% markup compared to Courtesy) & the engine. Frankly, it's dumbfounding but I definitely realize it would have taken me a year to get it done in little bits and pieces, far more than 41 hours I'm sure. I also don't really have the garage space for it and it only rains nearly daily here except for July and August. At least nearly everything has been replaced and the engine should be essentially fresh and new. Part of the decision to go ahead was based on my thorough examination of the body and no evidence of any rust anywhere (well, a bit on the exhaust & surface on the drums). The first 10 years of this truck's life it was mostly garaged and did 3 of those years in Arizona. It does look nearly like it did when I bought it. I'm putting the horror of the cost and all the back and forth with the shop behind me and trying to look at is as buying a "new" used truck. For what I paid, I certainly couldn't have bought anything used that I could have trusted as much. (I did entertain a late 2000s Xterra, a GX470 and a 2010+ 4Runner but they all would have costed several fold more and the first two would have had nearly equal miles to my own truck but with an unkown history).

 

I'll let you know if I'm able to talk with the mechanic. Best of luck in your endeavor!

Edited by RainGoat
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, this whole process has taken me about two months so I'm clearly not one to rush things. That said, I'm not entirely sure the mechanic will be there. He was supposed to move on to another location but had stayed to do my truck as they didn't have anybody else comfortable with the project. I think last Friday may have been his last day at that location. I'm going in Wednesday and will ask him if he's there. When I last saw him he had already stripped down the new engine and had started transferring things over. He didn't seem concerned at all though he planned to move essentially everything over from my old engine. He billed an additional 4 hours to do this plus another 4 hours on the timing chain. Initially, I had planned to hold off on the chain given the engine was supposed to be ~50K miles but there was miscommunication and he had dived in anyway. He did show me some wear on one of the guides (it looked like it but could have been for my mental benefit since he had already started the chain). That said, I don't remember him showing me wear on my own chain. I tried to verify the mileage on the new engine and asked for a VIN from the shop or some other sort of assurance. In the end, I was only told that it's a Japanese Export rule that all the engines have to be <60K to be exported & that their shop had faith in the company they received the engine from (not withstanding the first engine which had water in it I guess). Personally, I'm a little dubious about the mileage claims on these JDM engines but at this point it's probably best for me to try and stop thinking about it.

 

They've billed me over 41* of labor, plus the parts (which I'm disputing as I calculate >40% markup compared to Courtesy) & the engine. Frankly, it's dumbfounding but I definitely realize it would have taken me a year to get it done in little bits and pieces, far more than 41 hours I'm sure. I also don't really have the garage space for it and it only rains nearly daily here except for July and August. At least nearly everything has been replaced and the engine should be essentially fresh and new. Part of the decision to go ahead was based on my thorough examination of the body and no evidence of any rust anywhere (well, a bit on the exhaust & surface on the drums). The first 10 years of this truck's life it was mostly garaged and did 3 of those years in Arizona. It does look nearly like it did when I bought it. I'm putting the horror of the cost and all the back and forth with the shop behind me and trying to look at is as buying a "new" used truck. For what I paid, I certainly couldn't have bought anything used that I could have trusted as much. (I did entertain a late 2000s Xterra, a GX470 and a 2010+ 4Runner but they all would have costed several fold more and the first two would have had nearly equal miles to my own truck but with an unkown history).

 

I'll let you know if I'm able to talk with the mechanic. Best of luck in your endeavor!

 

Thanks again for the reply. I do know that the rule is that motors have to have less than 60k. This isn't my first time purchasing a JDM motor as I recently put a JDM H22 into my Prelude. The motor I bought was clean enough to eat off of... But that was a local supplier who doesn't have any VQ35s of the vintage I need...so it is what it is.

 

I'm personally hoping I can knock this out in a few weekends. I've never pulled my motor from the pathfinder but I've gotten it up on a hoist and separated from the subframe 3x now with all the repairs I tried to do my existing motor (just for it to end up dying on me anyway). So I figure this time it can't be that much harder to just hoist allll the way up rather than stop at only a few inches up to do the rear main seal.

 

The good news for all your expense is you've got a warranty after it all. For me personally, I'm going to save myself probably about 2000-2500 at least to do this on my own...but at the expense of no warranty.

 

Honestl, I'm going to start daily driving that prelude I mentioned. As soon as the Pathfinder is running its going up on craigslist. I'm glad you have confidence in your truck, I simply have never owned something that was this 'fickle'. I new motor or not I just don't personally trust it.

 

I was going to wait to hear from your mechanic but since it doesn't seem like we'll get that I'll just take comfort in the fact that it "can be done" since yours is running. If he can do it, I can do it lol. I'll likely drive it around for a month or two till someone picks it up on craigslist. I'm not going to give it away either.

 

All said, thanks for everything bud, please keep us posted on how it feels/runs/any CELs, any other issues as time goes by.

 

Cheeers!

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think my entire problem was due to a power valve screw. That error is admittedly inexcusable on Nissans part. A simple notice from Nissan would have been enough to have given me warning to fix it for a couple hundred or a few hours of my time. Otherwise, Ive only done routine maintenance (oil & filters) & never had any issues in 106K other than the pesky O2 sensors. It actually looks like she swallowed 4 screws previously without any problem. Sure wish I would have known! No Pathfinder owner I run into in the future will ever leave me without fair warning.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well if your screws are missing it must be in there somewhere... so yea it sounds like the case. I will be pulling the IM off mine to see if thats what happened as well.

I'll be sure to make sure the powervalve screws on this one motor are secured as well with loctite before I wrapp up this install as well. Wish me luck gentlemen. I'm about it hit BUy it Now.

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I picked up my truck & original engine & a whole bunch of parts today. The truck runs fine-just like she did the morning of the day after Thanksgiving. Really weird to go through all of this just to kind of end up back where you started (actually the new engine isnt quite as shiny & clean as my original). This whole power valve thing has definitely tarnished my opinion of Nissan.

 

I was able to very specifically ask the mechanic about any differences in the JDM & the original engine. He said they were identical. No differences that he could tell & everything transferred over just fine. Best of luck!

Edited by RainGoat
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awesome, this is fantastic man, I took a leap of faith and ordered the motor on ebay on Tuesday.

 

Def from an 01 or 02 as it had a throttle cable. Black Valve covers, and seemingly all the correct ports for the sensors... so I'm fairly certain its from an 02.

 

Supposedly getting to my buddy's shop on the 14th. Then I gotta go pick it up and get it home. They would only deliver to a commercial address.

 

That said, I cant tell you how appreciative I am for all your help (and everyone elses).

 

I'm going to start a new thread with updates of the swap when I'm ready. I likely wont be starting the actual work until Mid March. Next few weekends are just super full for me.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

WEll guys here it is, pushed it into the garage tonight... the swap begins this weekend

Raingoat how is it going? Running well I hope? Any issues I should be worried about or look for?

 

28958686_10107708640768951_3215264916386

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...