I need engine help
 

Hey guys, i need suggestions, last night i was on the highway and my car was making some weird noises so i pulled off to the side got off the fwy and it turned off on me, then i turned the car back on and it really struggled, took a few button press' to turn it on, then i finnaly got it on and i hear knocking, when i drove it home i couldnt really hear it knock in 6th going 65 mph on the hwy, my oil temp was about 240 so a little higher then usual, when i got home, no coolant in the car, some in the tubes but not the reservoir tank, added some, and today i woke up and still hear it knock, although its different because when i hit the gas, its syncing with how much gas i hit, basicly i have rod knock im pretty sure, if not then my clutch or flywheel is toast for some reason, but long story short

Ive got this car from copar smacked up and worked hard for 6 months to get it looking right and running, im good at the basic stuff and even know how to replace a clutch if i need to, should i
1- buy a used motor

2- rebuild the one i have with stronger internals

3- buy a built motor online and if so witch vendor/what motor would you go with

3- LS swap
The reason why 2 and 3 is an option is because i want to be FI in the future
If 2 is in your.opiniom the best choice can you link me a thread that you.think is most useful in building one/putting one together, the fact of compression ratios and all that stuff freaks me out because i dont want to do somthing wrong

You mentioned the coolant, what about the oil level? If it was low too, you may have done some serious damage to the internals. Having low coolant and/or oil should not have affected the clutch, so I would worry more about the engine at this point.

How many miles are on the car, and are there any major mods to it? Maybe someone else can chime in as well...

Keep us posted as to what you uncover.

So the oil level was fine thats the weird part to it, and i dont ******** when it comes to oil, i have royal purple in it.and just hit 3000.miles sense my last change, the car has 75k miles, the reason why i think it might be the clutch is because when i run the car a decent amount the clutch goes completely soft and sometimes feels like it rattles, but the car engage's and gets into gear just fine

And nothing major, just a fast intentions exhaust and K&N CAI (aka hot air filters, came with the car from copart with them) wish i had stillen long tubes but glad i didnt buy thoes yet

You need to tear down the engine and determine the extent of any damage before deciding what to do. If your oil temp stayed below 240*F, there's a chance that the engine didn't get too hot - but you won't know until you take a look at the inside.

Yes begin a tear down of your engine and go from there or have a reputable shop you trust diagnose your Z for you. Odds are if your oil temperature did not get extremely hot 245+* you may not have internal engine damage.

While cold; I’d fill coolant reservoir & perform a pressure test on the coolant system.
It had to go somewhere & should show up.

So my thing is i dont no any good shops that deal specifically with my engine, i have a shop that does good work and i take all my cars to him so i trust him, but he specializes in dodges, all he does is dodge, i was thinking of taking it to dynosty in Kentucky but thats a 6 hour drive, and im scared to drive a car with rod knock that far, i was thinking of putting a Z1 built lower end on the car and hoping it would fix the issue, i drained the oil and found only 1 quart of oil in the car, so im scard if i pay 3000 for a built lower, my upper block is messed up, thats were im lost, do i take it 6 hours away to dynosty or to my shop down the road? And if soemthing needed to be replace i was trying to put better internals, bearing etc etc, lower wise, but i dont no if i would have to have the shop tear it down completely just to replace something like that, or if i would have to replace a whole set not just one peice with aftermarket parts that can hold more power, thank you guys for ur response im totally lost and miss my z );

What would this accomplish exactly? Not trying to be an A hole but i was wondering what this would do beneficially for me, does that have anything to do with what to fix?

I just double checked it and had 1 quart of oil in it 😬 if it makes it any better it was royal purple, but to burn through 5 quarts in 1000-2000 miles?

Time for a rebuild or a new to you engine. These engines are not cheap to rebuild either. So, you can a new long block from Nissan, Buy a low mileage engine from the junkyard, buy a built engine (Be very careful who you buy from, lots of folks will build you junk), or find a reputable place to rebuild yours.

Your coolant leaked out somewhere. A pressure test where tell you where. That will give you a clue as to the condition of the engine.

If you need a new built engine go to IPP. They’re built to order so you are going to wait a few months.

And not to be an *** but if you heard knocking and couldn’t barely get it to start, why the hell did you drive it home, especially at 65 on the freeway.

We can only guess at what damage may have been done. Tear the engine down and inspect it - that's the only way you are going to get the correct answer to "Rebuild or scrap?".

A borescope exam of the of the cylinder walls is a relatively cheap & easy way to tell if you damaged the cylinders beyond repair but will tell you nothing about bearings and other internal parts.

Was this a salvage title car? What problems did it have before this incident?

In my experience if you are going to choose a shop to bring your vehicle to they need to have experience or specialize in the VQ37HR engine as it is a complexed engine that requires knowledge. Your missing motor oil or coolant went somewhere it would be a good idea to get a leak down test and compression test to find out the health of your engine or begin tear down and replace your engine it is your choice and your diagnosis should determine this. In my experience I have used Royal Purple motor oil in a 4.6L 2V V8 engine and at 99k miles it had three internal rod bearings fail. After doing my oil research I found that Royal Purple is a snake oil and from the oil analysis tests I read the four ball bearing test and metal shearing test was high on wear which led me to believe the lubrication properties in Royal Purple motor is thin and does not protect your engine well at all comparing to other motor oil brands on the market. My decision was to never use Royal Purple motor oil in any of my engines again as I found there are other motor oil brands that will protect your internal engine parts a lot better. Also not changing your motor oil and filter on time can be detrimental to your engine. If you search there are reputable engine builders out there. In my experience MA Motorsports and Import Part Pros are excellent choices as they both have experience with the VQ37HR engine.

I had to get it home that night, there was literly no other option, also the knocking occured randomly, it wasnt a build up of any sort, the car was fine the entire day untill i was about .5 miles away from my house, also wer is IPP located?

It was salvaged befor but i replaced everything that needed to be replaced, i dont think i replaced the radiator, but it wasnt leaking to my knowledge befor hand

This is good information to know because this is the first time ive used royal purple in ANY car, and this is the first time ANY of my cars have died like that... Redline it is next time, my only thing is i live in MI, and the onyl thing remotely close to me is 6 hours away... So if i went with import parts pro or MA motorsports i would literly pay probably thousands just to ship the engine there and back lol

Also lets say i buy a used engine for the time being, and send mine out in the future or slowly start building the one i have, do i have to have a certain vin number letter for a used engine? I guess my question is, is an engine from a g37/ q40/q50 the same engine as my Z's, i dont want anything underpowered lol and dont want inertchangability issues, a friend of mine told me it goes by the 4th letter of my vin

The 4th character in a Nissan VIN indicates the engine type. It will be the same for all 370Zs (whatever the code is for VQ37HR). Maybe someone else can tell if a G37, etc VQ37HR is the as a 370Z VQ37HR.

True the fourth character in the Nissan VIN# does indicate the engine type. All the 370Z VQ37HR engines are all interchangeable/universal. If you are going to choice to run synthetic motor oil I highly recommend Redline 5W30 or Motul 5W30.

Side Note: Check your engine fluids weekly,,,I have a couple high mileage vehicles & even do it on the newer ones.
Actually have a notebook that I record mileage,oil changes...or any other repairs.
Just a simple weekly checklist can save you a potential headache!

So should i buy a used engine with the vin number ending in A for the 370z? I guess my question is, is the Z and G motor the exact same thing in terms of internals, power, how it fits, etc etc, because a G motor is literly half the price of a Z motor... Maybe im overthinking it

Are you sure? There are several guys with major issues that seem to be related to their IPP build :ugh:

Who are those people? You read more threads than I do but I haven’t heard any issues with IPP.

The VQ37HR engine in the 370Z and G37 is the same engine the only difference I know of I talked to a Nissan engineer before about the differences between the 370Z and G37 models and Nissan made the tuning parameters and values more aggressive in the 370Z and slightly more conservative tuning in the G37 other then that it is the same. Be careful purchasing a used engine as you want to purchase a used engine from a reputable source and know the last recorded mileage before the engine was removed from the vehicle and the possibility of determining the history behind the engine. Try to find a used engine with some what lower mileage would be recommended. Others I know and myself have purchased short blocks and long blocks from IPP with success. IPP has a lot of experience with the VQ37HR platform. There are also a lot of other vendors out there as well if you search.

Off the top of my head I think member ReflectingG0d(sp?) recently had his stage 4 motor pop during break in and they said to pound sand and wouldnt warranty it. Please take this with a grain of salt as I have no idea on the story behind it, just remember reading about it in a for sale thread of all places.

Late to the game but I vote LS SWAP :tup::tup:

You can have all the power you want and stay NA. I think the engine is smaller than the VQ too. Much more aftermarket parts available too.