Kinda thought that, thanx for clearing the air.

:tiphat: yep, I just put my cats back in, LOL

Here is an update guys...

The new short block from Japan arrived to my dealer last Tuesday (03/26/13). They said it would take two days to put it into the car and provided me with a 2013 Altima 2.5 as a rental. On Thursday afternoon, I called the dealer only to find out that the tech just finished installing the motor. My service advisor said the tech was not happy because it took him three days to put the motor in and Nissan's warranty would only pay for two days. My advisor went on to say that the tech would bring him into the shop periodically to show him how much labor was involved and that he should be paid for more than 16 hours of labor. Finally, my advisor said they were test driving the car now and that they needed more time. He said not to come in without calling. I said "okay" and hung up the phone but I had this uneasy feeling in my stomach.

On Friday morning, I decided to just stop by the dealer and see how things were going. I wanted to see if I could catch the tech test driving my car around or he/she pulling it in/out of the garage. I didn't see anything but I had a face-to-face conversation with my service advisor who said that the car's engine was not running right and having timing issues. He said they would need more time and to keep driving the rental car.

On Monday morning (04/01/2013), the service advisor called me to say that the engine still was not running correctly in my car because of timing issues and that they needed more time. Today (04/02/2013), I called my service advisor again to hear the same thing about the engine not running correctly because of timing issues. He said that he would call me back tomorrow or Thursday about the car and that it should be done by then.

Everything is being covered by warranty but I am worried because a job that was suppose to take two days has taken more than week now with hiccups. Will keep you guys posted.

Bad install caused by an inexperienced tech, IMO. Don't settle for anything less than perfect with this engine. They have a step-by-step to follow with a breakdown of how much time is expected per process which adds up to the overall hourly total which Nissan reimburses.

Give them as much time as they need to get it right, but stay in touch with the service advisor. The rental is on their dime, so don't sweat it.

The car should not throw codes, hesitate on acceleration, or do anything out of the ordinary. Don't accept the car if it exhibits any symptoms whatsoever.

:iagree:

You have the normal flat rate and then warranty flat rate which is less than normal. I can see why the tech is pissed. Lets say the actual flat rated is 32 hours, nissan reimbursement for warranty may only be 24 hours.

There should have been a red flag instantly when he said don;t come without calling. I would have drove there right then.

Either the timing is right or it is not. He probably had it one tooth off either on the primary or the secondary chains. I wouldn't be surprised if you had bent valves. Even if they get the timing right you might want to do a leak down to make sure none of your valves are leaking.

I received a call today at 3pm from my service advisor saying that the car was ready for pickup. I picked it up around 7pm from the dealership. The car seems to drive fine and I smell the engine being burned in similar to when you install an aftermarket exhaust on a car and drive it through the first couple hundred miles. I noticed that the dealer put an additional 164 miles on the car from the time of the original paperwork last Tuesday to what the odometer read as I drove away today. In 1,200 miles, I am going to take it in for an oil change. Will keep you posted guys.


P.S. - I popped up the open hood before I left the dealership and checked the oil level so I had a reference point. Everything looked good except that the plastic bracket which holds the hood rod in place was broken. My service advisor said that they would fix it when I came in again. I am not trying to be that annoying customer who complains about everything but it wasn't broken when I brought it in a week ago. :)

I would change it in 100 miles, then 1000. Do this to get any dirt or crud that may have gotten into the engine when it was open and they were working on it.

IMO, changing the oil at 100 miles is excessive. I would change it before 1500, though. You'll see a lot of metal bits in the oil when it drains.

Also, it's not uncommon for an engine to burn oil during break-in. Half a quart over the first couple of thousand miles is not unheard of. After 4k or so, it shouldn't consume any excessive amount of oil.

Best of luck.

Probably, but this engine most likely wasn't rebuilt in a nice, clean assembly room by techs that do it every day. It was probably rebuilt in a corner of the shop by someone who rarely digs that deep into an engine.

500-750 miles, maybe even 1500, would probably be be good enough, but oil/filters are a lot cheaper (at least less inconvenient) than another engine rebuild. YMMV

Trust me change it at 100. All of those metal shavings, any dirt that fell in, lint from wiping parts ext will clog up that oil filter in no time and you will be running in bypass let anymore crud right through the engine unfiltered. You are also getting any of the assembly lube that they used out of the engine. Your not hurting anything by changing the oil more but you can hurt the engine by not changing it enough. Just run conventional for the break in period. This is the most critical period in the engines life, give it clean blood!

I am a professional engine builder (what I do for a living). When we build engines the oil change routine is after about 30 min of running (warm up cycle), 100 miles, then 1000 miles, there after normal intervals.

You need to remember also this is not a sealed engine when they get it. The tech doesn't care about cleanliness as much as he does about making flat rate.

Looks like I was wrong. Great post. ^

I drove the car into work today which is about 25 miles from house with 90% on the highway. I had parked the car and been at work for about two hours when my dad calls me to let me know that there is a puddle of green fluid (coolant) on the garage floor. This completely caught me off guard because I drove the car at least 50 miles from the time I picked it up on Wednesday night to when I drove into work this morning, and I didn't notice the temperature gauge spiking or any warning lights.

Anyhow, I run outside to my car in the parking lot to find another puddle of green fluid under the front right corner of the car. I open the hood and check the reservoir which is dry. I called the dealership and I am unable to get a hold my service advisor but instead I get his boss's boss (the director of the service department). I tell her what happened and we talk about how we can resolve the issue. I can either pour coolant into the car and attempt to drive it back nearly 40 miles to the dealership or they can pick it up on a flatbed truck with a rental on the truck for me to drive while they repair my car. She says that they can't just put a rental car on a truck and deliver it to me. However, she says that I can rent a car on my own and they'll reimburse me. In the meantime, she tells me that the two techs that worked on my car will be coming in a few hours to resolve the problem.

They show up around 3pm in one of their personal vehicles with a bunch of tools in the trunk and get to work on my car. They quickly diagnose the problem to be a coolant hose with a bad hose clamp. This coolant hose sits under the right intake filter box (as you face the car from the front). They don't have a hose clamp on them so they go to nearest car parts store and come back. Meanwhile, my car is sitting in the parking lot of my workplace with the hood open. Lol. A couple people who saw the car out of their office windows thought that either someone was attempting to hotwire my car or that I had called one of those mechanics that comes to your workplace and does service on your vehicle.

Finally, after speaking with the director of service at the dealership, we agreed that one of the techs should probably drive the car back to the dealership and keep it there overnight to make sure all of the issues have been resolved. One of the techs said that he would completely flush and refill the coolant at the dealership tomorrow and put a "Nissan clamp" on the hose.

Now, I am driving a Chrysler 200 as a rental car. 370z > Altima 2.5 > Chrysler 200. I miss the car even more now. :(

what kind of ghetto *** dealership did you take this car to, jesus

Hahaha. All of this has made for one heck of a story but the dealership and the technicans have taken full responsibility and owned up to everything as they should. I am picking up the car this evening after work. I'll probably take it in for its first oil change in 500 or 600 miles.

You had mentioned that your 350z and 370z both ate some oil during the initial break-in period. When did this stop for you?

For my engines, around 4-5k miles. The first couple thousand miles its the most apparent. After that, it slows down and should even out.

About 600 miles on the new motor now and everything seems okay. No oil loss on the dipstick yet and trying my best to keep the revs under 4,000 RPM. The first oil change is in two weeks...I'll report back then.

:tup:

glad to hear it! keep an eye on it, hopefully you'll be good to go. :)

I was driving home from work yesterday and the clutch pedal kept sticking on me. When I would depress the clutch pedal and release, it would come back up halfway and then get stuck for a second and pop up. I drove straight to the dealer where a tech diagnosed the problem as a bad slave cylinder. They wanted to keep the car overnight so that the guy who put my new engine in could look at it also. They are still testing it out as we speak. I was told that my clutch was in great shape when the new engine was put in.

So what could be the problem?

1. air in the system? bad fluid? (34k on the clock)
2. bad slave cylinder?
3. bad master clutch cylinder?
4. bad clutch pressure plate?

I hope this is covered under warranty. :( Sigh. This car is starting to depress me.

Could be slave cylinder. Could be the pressure plate too. The tech will have to take a look though to make sure. I doubt its air though

There's tons of thread on this. Like the other poster said, could be air, bad slave, bad master or cooked fluid (needing a flush).

If I was in your shoes I would be livid.

to red2010Z,

I am an extremely patient person but I feel like Job right now (if you are familiar with the biblical reference). They want to keep it over the weekend and look at it more on Monday. If I have to end up paying money something on Monday, then that would be the last straw for me.

- Sheebu

I hear ya boss man. But I am the type of person to raise hell over something like this. I understand stuff happens. But back to back is uncalled for. In my profession mistakes can cost losing peoples life. So I guess I just take major mistakes like this to heart.

Best of luck and hopefully they cover the bill.

I just got the car back and all seems well again. I decided to contact the mechanic directly instead of dealing with the service adviser because I had left the car at the dealership on the evening of May 2, 2013 and still wasn't really hearing anything about it's status. When I called the tech, he said that he had driven it a bunch of times and that he couldn't duplicate the issue. He was keeping it there longer to observe it but that he didn't want to hold me up. So then I explained to him what I was experiencing with the clutch pedal becoming sticky and not returning to the "rest" position. He said that the service adviser had not explained the problem to him like that. Furthermore, he immediately quoted the technical bulletin which says to bleed and replace the system with GTR fluid. I ended up just paying for the fluid but he wouldn't charge me for the labor. I hope this is the end for now...

Good luck. When I flushed my clutch fluid and replaced it with Ate Blue, the pedal feel greatly improved.

Quite the saga.

When they pulled the engine who knows what they disconnected. They may have disconnected the clutch line to get it out of the way. If you let it go dry it can be a bitch to bleed thanks to the hydraulic slave trapping air.

Anytime the clutch disc is pulled Nissan recommends replacing the slave since it is sensitive to contamination. Since they had to pull the clutch off the old engine in theory they should also replace the CSC (which is mounted to the transmission). This rarely happens though.

During the first 1.2k of mileage on the new shortblock, the motor didn't eat any oil probably because I kept the revs under 4K (following break-in procedures). After 1.2K, I had the oil changed and for the last 950 miles, I've been driving the car normally as I would with no reservations. Unfortunately, I am noticing oil consumption again. I told the tech about this and he added a BG additive.

Hopefully, the oil consumption will decrease and then stablize between the next few oil changes.

1) If you need an additive, something is wrong and needs to be fixed. Additives are only a temporary "fix."
2) 99% of additives are snake oil and either do no good or make things worse.

If this were an old engine that was on it's last leg, some type of additive might be beneficial and possibly get you a few more miles out of the engine. For a new engine, additives shouldn't be needed. The additive will only mask the problem (if it does anything at all).

:iagree:

:facepalm:
OP, you need a crate motor...

My replacement engines consumed oil until around 5-6k. Give it a little more time and keep an eye on the consumption. You should notice it get smaller and smaller with regular driving.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...lock3137mi.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...ckdipstick.jpg


- at 36,394 on the odometer right now
- it has been 3,137 miles since the short block was installed
- first oil change was done after 1,200 mile break-in period

1) 881 miles after the second oil change, I told the tech that I noticed oil consumption again and he put in some kind of BG moa additive which brought the level on the dipstick back up to full again.
2. Another 1056 miles has passed and this is where the dipstick reads now.

I called the tech and told him that I was bringing the car into the dealership to have it looked at again. He said he would give the Nissan hotline a call to see what they recommend.

I know cheshirecat that you said you're new motors ate oil for the first 5k-6k and then settled down and that I am only 3k in but this is the last year of my powertrain warranty and I want to get this resolved before it is too late.

P.S. - I am thinking about having them add an oil cooler? Maybe if the temps were brought down, it wouldn't burn any more oil?

You have a warranty on the engine (1yr/12k miles) that persists regardless of what state your powertrain warranty is in. I had mine changed at 58k and it was covered until a year or 70k, whatever came first.

Don't think that once you tick past that powertrain warranty period that all of your coverage expires. The parts and labor are individually warrantied by Nissan beyond your car's coverage. :)

The reason I'm advocating that you hold off on declaring the motor a failure is because you have that year/12k miles to evaluate the engine. If it's still an issue past 5k, you should absolutely follow up and get another block. There's no reason the engine should be consuming more than 1qt every 5k miles at that point. I'd say that "normal" oil burnoff is .5-.75qt per 5k.

I was unaware that when I bough my z used with 10k on it the motor was replaced less than 500 miles before I bought it, I learned this when I took it in for a OC complaint. Keep in mind I am a service advisor for Honda, so I know the guys there and most of the techs personally, one of their tech worked for us a one time, and is an old guy and knows his s*$t. He told me these VQs do not break in well on the the crap Ester oil or synthetics, he had me use regular dino oil for 2 oil changes, it drank 3 qts of Mobil 1 in 1800 miles, thus why I took it in. Now it may have used .5 qts in the last 3000k on Valvoline synthetic.

Dropped her off at the dealership last night. Tech said this morning through some investigation that oil was seeping past a bolt for the VVEL right cover. He tightened it down and put liquid gasket around it.

Let's see if this fixed it.

Mine is at the Dealer getting replaced right now. Same deal, was supposed to take 2 days.. "problems with the Timing" ..then a wire related to the Timing was broken during install. been a week. supposed to be done tomorrow.
I have never tracked it or even ridden it hard. Every 1k miles the oil is COMPLETELY dry.. yes Oil does not even register. sad story...

I'm sorry to hear that bro. Keep an eye on them and try to establish a relationship with the tech.

Man, after all the problems I am reading about, Oil consumption at 32k, clutches with the life span of a butterfly etc. I am wondering if I made a mistake buying this. (2013 6mt+spt) I love the car but after reading all the stuff on this forum it seems like a time bomb.

I guess the question is how much of this perception is based in reality vs the total number of cars out there and who posts about issues? Are we talking 50%? 2%? 100% on the clutch issue sooner or later or what?

I would like to have rock solid confidence every time I am pulling my Z out
but not inspired by what I read. My gut feeling is this is just perception because you read about specific events and the majority have no issues.
I hope at least.