Canadian

I got the covers off but the pump is just set to far back to try and fill the engine and watch it leak, maybe if the front end of the car was off and the ac condensor and rad was out, but the pump is just to far set back. I got the tensioner out and the chain properly slacked around the water pump. I need to go find some 50+mm M8 bolts though, off to the store I go, wll post pics when I get the pump out!

I might just do that, a water pump and tensioner is about $150 online, or $200 local. I just priced it on courtesyparts online, and then ofcourse I added new oil cooler hoses, rad hoses, new corbin clamps everywhere... $330 shipped.... yikes! Better than a headgasket I suppose, but my water pump never leaked out of that weeping hole as far as I ever knew, which makes me skeptical of this amazing second option Would an O-ring just obviously be broken and I could feel confident this was the problem? The way buddy says it in the video he makes it sounds common, but after an hour of searching I found nothing of the water pump failure causing milkshake

And look at this video I found of a seemingly professional mechanic doing a water pump job on the VQ, skip to 3:40 where he talks about the blown seal and people thinking they have blown headgaskets http://infinitihelp.com/diy/common/infiniti_vq35_timing_chain_tensioner_water_pump_replacement_procedure.php What are the odds this could be my problem? Even though a water pump job doesnt seem like any small task either!

Someone pointed this service bulletin out to me for the VQ http://airtexwaterpumps.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Infinity-Nissan-Coolant-Leak1.pdf Im not positive if Im reading it right, but its saying when the water pump seal fails it will fill the crankcase with coolant BUT also leak out a weep hole? I did not see an external engine leak when filling the coolant before I noticed it was mixing with the engine oil

I do indeed have an oil cooler on the passenger side, I actually just changed the 0-ring gasket on that last summer because it was leaking. Would the o-ring be the source, or do you think the cooler has failed internally?

Does anyone have insight on the intake gaskets, does coolant pass through them? Mainly the bottom gasket that attaches the intake to the block, it was the sturdiest gasket and each port was rubber oringed. But I dont remember seeing a coolant passage. The ammount of coolant it will drink into the engine is just to fast for me to think its guzzling it through a small head gasket failure, when i was filling it when this first happened it swallowed 3 gallons in a few minutes before I realized something was severely wrong and pulled the dipstick.

Pulled all of the ignition coils, all 6 spark plugs everything at once and did the compression test cold and these were my numbers. 2- 185 1- 185 4- 185 3- 180 6- 180 5- 180 Pretty consistent. There was also no oil or milkshake on any of the plugs (mind you the engine isnt filled with coolant right now)

Whats the bypass? on a VQ? I might have done anything lol... beer fridge is only 5 feet away

All the intake manifold gaskets were steel and in good shape, but yes I was definetely being hasty reusing the gaskets. But does coolant run through the manifold anywhere that one of those gaskets not sealing could allow coolant passage into the engine crankcase? Thats the worst part, I dont even know how hot the car got exactly, I was standing inside the store just 30 feet away and left the truck idling because I was supposed to be 2 minutes. As soon as something let go and HEAVY steam started pouring from my hood, someone noticed, and her face was :cry: So I ran out to the truck, thinking I possibly had an engine fire on my hands. (didnt notice the coolant lake around the tires) and I opened the driver door to get the keys out and pop the hood to find a mess of coolant from the radiator tank exploding. So ibought a new rad and installed, went to fill and noticed a coolant leak under the bottom intake manifold, took the intakes apart, fix hose, put it all back. Now when I fill the coolant from the neck it pretty quickly fills the engine oil with coolant The truck currently sits flushed with new oil, and the rad completely empty, it runs and starts as normal, no white smoke (but theres no coolant in there to smoke mind you) ive only started it twice to flush the oil and move it into the garage. I dunno why I have it in my head something is connected wrong and may not be headgaskets, How fast it fills the crankcase surprised me, I dont think a small headgasket failure could drink coolant that fast, its like it has a more clear path... make sence?

Hey guys, I am finally back and settled in my house and able to work on my 2001.5 with Vq35de. I put it away about a month ago when I believe the headgaskets blew, but I am not positive, and would like to be more sure before going balls deep in this project as head gaskets seem like a huge job on this truck. When the truck overheated, the radiator basically exploded, aswell as a hose under the intake manifolds that connects the crossover tubes to the block. I was hoping I was lucky a month ago and changed those parts by taking all 3 pieces of the intake manifold off, and put it back together. The truck starts and runs PERFECT, but I noticed when filling the rad up, the coolant seeps right into the engine and fills the crankcase/oil pan with coolant as you are pouring it into the radiator neck. Is this a sure sign of a blown headgasket, or could it possibly be a hose SOMEHOW connected wrong, maybe somehow a coolant hose is plugged into a vacuum port.... or possibly one of the intake manifold gaskets didnt seal properly? As I did re-use the gaskets, only sprayed them with permatex copper gasket spray, but I dont believe there are any coolant passages through the 3 piece intake manifold, but I didnt take a very good look... How would you guys go about diagnosing this?

I do have a compression tester, I will do that when the wife goes to work. I dont have a coolant system pressure tester though, pretty sure my truck would fail that test since coolant goes into the engine without even being pressurized so might be a moot test. Only hose I can think of that I cannot see anymore is the pcv hose which I now connected to the right barb, and the large coolant hose that burst. So I dont think there is much hope I simply have a hose connected improperly, nothing is jumping out at me anyways

How amazing would it be if I hooked a coolant line to pcv? Im staring at the engine, and I dont see anywhere I could have done that though, all hoses seemed inplace while installing it to, didnt question anything. I left the engine oil drain plug out all night to get as much milkshake out as possible, then this morning filled id with oil, started the truck and let it idle for about 20 seconds, it ran completely normal to, no sounds, just normal cold idle. Turned it off. Drained the oil and changed filter. Then I just filled it again with oil and started it back up for 20 more seconds, ran perfect again. I figured that would help wash away any coolant to save the motor and leave it in as good of condition as possible. Guess I'll go stare at the engine seeing if I hooked up a hose wrong, but am I just dreaming? Reality is blown headgaskets? Im slightly happy it just runs, so I can move it if need be in short bursts

Theres no way coolant could get into the head through the intake manifold right? I mean no coolant hoses run through it, and there were no holes for coolant passage in any of the gaskets I had to install. Just trying to rule out stupidity on my part sealing all the intake manifolds back up I just dont get how good it ran. Trying to rule out maybe I have a coolant hose somehow feeding the crankcase.... but I dont see anywhere on my engine where that is possible, all hoses went back together easily and nothing was changed Gotta be heagasket right?

An engine would probably go for 1200-1500, but thats iffy if its in good shape, no warranty Id imagine if I install it myself Id love to be able to keep the transmission attached to the engine if I were to try and pull it out myself, but the engine cant come out the bottom can it? I think the frame rails are to narrow. Dont think I have the room in my garage to pull it whole out the top. A shop would probably charge a stupid ammount to do the swap to

I didnt notice any smoke out of the tailpipe when it ran, havent run it since discoverring the milkshake. Pretty bummed at this point, after just putting 2000 into a new transmission and less than 500 miles later this happens.... Headgaskets might be do-able, but Ive never even seen the exhaust manifolds, those cant be easy to take off at all. Luckily as you said this isnt my dd, only my winter car. But Id hate to invest 40+ hours getting the heads off ( I work slow ) only to find the block is warped aswell. It defientely got hot when it burned down in that parking lot, the gauge was half way but probable because it was completely out of coolant. I dont know what to do here guys, shucks.

Well I ran it for about a minute earlier today after I got it back together, thought I was golden as I seen no leaks and it ran perfect. But I only had about 5 quarts of mixed coolant on hand, so I just filled it until I ran out, ate dinner, went to the store and bought more coolant, then she guzzled and I came down from my high Im not sure if I should try and save the engine or not. Kind of want to, as I know it ran well, but it does have pretty high mileage. Possibly get the heads rebuilt as I have a semi hookup there. But Im just a shadetree mechanic, this engine is a beast. I have never even seen the bolts for the exhaust manifolds. Might be over my head. Wish it was as easy as my Hondas

Oh man oh man did I ever speak to soon. Engine is cooked. Must have blown the headgaskets when the hose failed. I was just topping up the coolant and noticed it just kept drinking and drinking, looked under the truck... no leak... where could it be going..Pull the dipstick... Milkshake Fudge, time to source a new engine

All fixed up and running great! Pretty happy not one problem on startup to, that was alot of connections, manifolds, bolts and hoses. More than Ive ever had to keep track of. Getting that hose that burst back on was a hour long PITA, as you can see from my pic the two necks are very close to eachother, pulling the old one off was easy as I just cut in half and pulled in pieces. Getting the new hose was the fight of my life, especially with the corbin clamps cutting the crap out of my palms while wrestling it. Now to service my rear diff and hopefully thats all the maintenance for a while please!

Ive never heard the term re-core. It is just a regular part store replacement radiator. Core thickness and dimensions are exactly as stock, only difference I noticed was the PLASTIC drain plug on this one faces the ground and uses a phillips head, vs the oem which faced the engine and used a wing style drain plug. I pulled the drain plug and coated in antisieze and re-installed, would hate to have that seize in the future, the phillips would strip oh so easy

Since we got 10-12" of snow here today I didnt get anything done, but mounted my e-fans to the new rad. Used threaded rod and rubber washers instead of those cheap chinese square zipties that come with the fans Wire wheeled up all the corrosion on the 25+ bolts that hold the 3 intake manifold sections to.

Thanks for the link! Bought

Thats brutal that knowone got back to you

And to think after researching leaks I am actually VERY lucky to have the source be this hose burst and not one of the ends of the crossover pipe, as that requires pulling the transmission, and seems quite common ! The confusion with the thermostat is there are actually two of them on the engine, and a water control valve. The 2nd thermostat is under the water neck coming out of the middle of the space between the cylinder heads, and the back water neck on the crossover pipe just behind it is where the water control valve is. My local Nissan dealer was kind enough to take my order even though it was after hours tonight. And the parts manager was very experienced with the extremely confusing exploded view of the cooling system and its million hoses. I just showed him a picture (same I have above) and told him it general location and he made the order alot easier than expected. Parts wont be here til thursday though. I'll install the new rad tonight while the wife is sleeping

I think I dodged a bullet and the crossover pipe may still be good Definetely the biggest job Ive tackled on this truck to date. After near a full case of beer and having to use a step stool to do half of the work. I managed to get all 3 sections of the intake manifold off, and the fuel rail, and all the little bits and pieces that go along with it. Presume I found the leak, hopefully its the only one down here!! Look at the burst! I didnt touch it before this pic So now Im trying to figure out all the parts I should replace to reassemble, and fix while Im down here. And I believe Ive heard there is a second thermostat? Also a water control valve. Should either be replaced? Does anyone know where the back thermostat is? This hose that popped was connected 2 housings that in my head both could be a thermostat, but I dont want to crack them open and destroy the seal on something I shouldnt and make life harder. Anyone know if its the one on the crossover pipe or the one on the engine. And incase anyone was wonderring what the VQ looks like with all the manifolds and fuel rail and such off. Here it is You can see the 2 shiny water necks at the back where this burst hose used to be.

Im all ears! Any pictures or anything? On this tube that crosses over, is there a gasket or an o-ring? Im going to go start pulling the intake manifolds after a coffee