Greetings all. This may be a stretch getting some advice due to the limited information I can give you but I will do my best.

Life long friend has a 2005ish G35 for sale that has had a lot of recent work done, it was driving fine until one day on the way to work. I am considering possibly buying it but only if it's not a total loss on the motor and I am 100% clueless so far but getting ready to go look at it tomorrow or the next day.

He states: It started running rough and died so he had it towed home. On the way home or just prior to the running rough he had a code reader show problem with variable timing solenoid. He "thinks" he hears the pistons making contact with the valves from bad timing or some other metal noise and says from his research it sounds like all it needs is two VTC solenoids to fix the timing issue. He also "thinks" the car was one quart low on oil at the time it died but maybe not since it looks too full now.

He really doesn't want me to start it since he is worried about possible damage to pistons. He said it would barely make it onto a trailer if I wanted to start it and try (after I bought it). He is a good friend, definitely not a scammer one bit, just not a mechanic at all either.
He financed a new car and is done throwing money into this one. That is all I know.

Thoughts on the matter and possible problems would be greatly appreciated.

Usually I wouldn't signup and post something like this but have limited time on this one and I like the car.
Thank you.

 

If the battery hasnt been disconnected, Im sure it still has a chrck engine code stored. Read the code with a scanner and thatll give u a few clues as to what it could be.