Any guesses why it left me stranded?
 

2014 garage queen. Only 42k miles. Never tracked. Driven pretty conservatively. Oil changed every 5k. Stock.

On freeway going with flow of traffic and heard loud pop, then a bunch of light gray smoke from tail. Engine died and coasted to the shoulder. She wouldn't even crank.

After being towed I looked under hood. No visible signs of damage. I checked the oil. Level looked a little high and possibly a little lighter in color. I'm hoping I'm not seeing water in there. If so, it wasn't real obvious and level might have been high because it was parked on an incline

Any guesses? It's at the shop now so I'll probably find out tomorrow.

Thanks in advance

To be honest - no idea since it sounds like you kept up with all the maintenance - but do us a favor and let us know what the shop said about it - that seems really weird. I'm sure other more experienced Z owners will be able to chime in with some of their thoughts.

were there any fluids leaking from underneath the car?

No fluids leaking. I did seem to notice what sounded like a light rumble or vibration about the time of the pop and smoke. The sound seemed to be right in front of me (on the driver's side under the hood).

The only time I've heard some's Z go pop and seen billows of smoke turned out to be a busted A/C compressor. He was supercharged though so idk. Seems unlikely given your car's history. Good luck with your findings

I am not sure what happened to it but it doesn't sound good.

:iagree:

The the pop followed by the light gray smoke is what worries me.

Please do let us know what the shop says. Your Z describes mine to a T but with a few more miles.

I don't have a good feeling about your issue, but best of luck!

Thanks guys. Hoping to hear something from the shop by end of day. Will keep you posted.

Gray or white smoke? My friends g37 has blown off its coolant hose a couple of times.

When you tried to restart. Did the motor turn over, tried to turn over, or it just locked up?

When tried to start, it never got to even trying to turnover - sounded locked up. There was current going to the starter.

I'm really thinking the engine is seized and i can't image why. This thing has never even been red-lined. Never ran hot. Oil level was normal. No symptoms at all. Hasn't been driven in the rain in years, so don't see how there could be water intrusion from outside.

Still waiting to hear the news from the shop.

What is the longest you typically let it sit without driving?

A slow coolant leak, eventually passed tipping point, overheated and melted pistons?

Nah. Overheat would seize a piston. Once it cooled down, it might crank over. It wouldn't melt a piston.

Usually only sits for at most 3 or 4 days at a time. Coolant temp gauge always read normal (just below half way point). Had only been running for about 5 miles when this happened. Oil temp was only approaching 180 degrees. Most of my trips are relatively short with max oil temps 180-190. Occasionally take for a longer ride to get oil temps around 200.

Shop didn't have time to get to it yesterday. Said they will look at it today.

Sounds like you baby it and maintain it so really no reason to randomly go pop. If something catastrophic really did fail it doesn't sound like it's through any fault of your own.

My friend's g37 left him stranded twice. First time the coolant hose popped off, white smoke behind him, and the car stopped entirely and wouldn't crank. Second time, the other hose popped off, big plume of white smoke everywhere, and the car basically stopped cold. Both times the fix was easy. The first time he hit the accelerator hard and it happened when the car down shifted. Second time, just cruising on the highway.

This is why I asked grey or white smoke since they can look similar.

Shop says engine seized. Coolant in oil. He said he's never seen such a well-maintained car at 42k mileage have a catastrophic failure like this. Will try to see if Nissan will come to my aid, but I'm 2 years out of warranty, so not optimistic.

Jeez, there isn't even 1 ding on the car.

Looks like I'll probably see what i can get for it as is.

That is really unfortunate. I'm sorry to hear that. Hopefully a local dealer might be nice and help out. Fwiw, I have seen quite a few vq37vhr going for sale for 1500-2k.

If you hang on for a bit I know of a low mile engine coming out for a built motor. Johnxxx's car is who it is. Cost to ship to you won't be too bad. You can also shop for a local low mileage junk yard engine. Expect to pay about 1600 to 2500. Depending on how clean it is.

Wow that sucks. I'm over here with serious survivor's guilt. My motor is close to 130K with tons of track days and abuse, and it is still working fine.

Good luck with whatever you decide. If you keep it, motors, as mentioned, aren't too expensive for the car. If you sell it, I understand.

Damn. Sorry to hear the diagnosis. Good luck whatever you decide to do with it.

Talk to Nissan for sure. They'll want to look at it of course, but get them to talk to your mechanic. And if they deny any help, ask specifically if they can look into "goodwill coverage" for you. If you use the dealer a lot you have a much better shot so leverage that; if not don't bring it up lol. If you talk to the right person at corporate they will have the authority to negotiate some sort of deal, maybe where you buy the parts and they cover the labor. It's happened before and you won't know if you don't ask. I got thousands of dollars in airbag labor and parts covered several years out of warranty.

Thanks all. I talked to Nissan corporate and he said based on my mileage, I was in the "green zone", which means that Nissan may work with me on the repair/replacement. He advised i get it towed to the closest Nissan dealership and have it diagnosed (which per the dealer is $150), and if there's no sign of abuse, Nissan may cover part or all of the fix. I'm cautiously optimistic, but trying not to get my hopes up.

If Nissan doesn't come through, I may be interested in buying a used VQ37 motor, but not sure how to go about it, nor how to find a trusted mechanic up for that kind of work.

I'll keep you posted. Goes to the dealer tomorrow. Damn, I miss my Z!

That's good to hear! Best of luck! If they really come through for you that will be awesome!

For finding a mechanic, I tend to trust those with the most experience swapping engines and that often ends at a proper race shop of some sort. You could try to find owners in your region that track their cars and ask what shops they go to. Dealer will likely quote out the work to you once they diagnose.

I'm going to bet the engine dropped a valve.

Coolant in the oil. Sounds like a head gasket let go. And was pumping a mix of oil and coolant through the oil passages. Coolant and oil will foam in the oil pump. Foam has no lubrication properties.

Sorry to hear this. :(

I would have never taken it to the dealership. It is gonna cost you an arm and a leg even if they cover only one part of it. Don't expect too much since you are out of warranty. They pretty much said that just to get you in and have a pay day. You'd be better off buying the engine and take your car somewhere else..

The only way Nissan would consider contributing some or all of a fix was for me to take it to a Nissan dealer so they could do their diagnostic. The diagnostic is $150 (regardless of how many hrs they put into figuring out what failed and the extent of the damage).

So, I figured it's worth a $150 risk to have a chance that Nissan would rise to the occasion on this. Even if Nissan goes south on this, if the dealer can ID what failed, it's worth $150 to me to know WTF happened.

At the dealer today ... maybe hear back by end of day.

Dealer report not much of surprise. Coolant in oil, engine seized, likely hydrolocked. Block is cracked. Guess it also took the torque converter with it. Estimated repair cost app $15k. So now it's in Nissan Consumer Affair's hands. Was told I should hear their decision by end of day Monday.

15 grand will buy you a nice built motor. Hopefully Nissan will step up to the plate.

OUCH!
Good luck with Nissan!

Yeah, I really hope nissan helps you out with a lot of that. I honestly expected more than 15k from them considering I've seen a blown up diagram of the vq37vhr (no pun intended) with a price list that summed close to 30k$ 🤪.

On the other end, I saw a used engine + tranny for 4k$ with only 40k miles the other day, so they're out there. Catch is, it was a 6spd.

Sheesh 15K? Like rusty said, I can get a built motor installed for less than that. Good luck!

Gotta be able to do a LS1 swap for $15k!! So ridiculous for OE replacement.

Car-part.com find a local used engine in the $2k range and probably about the same amount for install.

Ask JCHammond. I don't think that 15k would even touch it.

Yea, despite what the interwebz says, I have yet to see an LS swap that didn't go past 20k$ once the nuts and bolts are actually counted :). Last rx7 i saw with an LS the owner said it was 30k in all for the swap.

Official word from Nissan Consumer Affairs - no assistance will be provided. Can't say i'm surprised.

So, I'm going to dump the Z and get whatever i can for it. I don't want the hassle of finding a used motor and finding a reputable shop and dealing with it. Just want to put the whole nightmare behind me. 42k miles, meticulously maintained, never driven hard, never overheated (or even ran hot) and a blown engine.

Guys - advice on how i go about selling a Z that looks brand new inside and out but has a dead motor and possibly torque converter?

Thanks ...

Racing junk, you can try and sell the shell, but you won't get much for it.

Honestly, you'd probably get more by trying to part out certain things, but that would take a lot of time and effort.

To be honest your best option is to find a used engine for sale or just purchase a new engine for your Z and install it yourself or have someone install it for you. It is very possible to sell your Z with a blown engine and/or torque converter but be prepared to take a unfortunate loss on the price of the sale of your Z and show the possible buyer documentation of the diagnosis of why the vehicle does not run. If you do decide to sell your Z I wish you the best of luck with the sale. First I recommend trying www.ebaymotors.com and www.craigslist.org with the sale.

Man that sucks. Such a low mile motor - you really don't hear these things popping all too often.

If you have the time/storage, parting out will net you the most money.