Hey all.
Been reading all I can to get some a solid plan of attack on this 06 g35 coupe that my son bought ($5600 with 160k). The short is that this is the first time he bought a vehicle without someone more knowledgeable with him. It happens.

Car seems to run ok, but:
- three codes P0011, 0014 and 0021. I not home to see the codes; but I think these are correct.
- there's pink marks on the engine in two places indicating this engine has had work done; one under the driver's side valve cover.
- there's a lot of oil leaks. Tested after an oil change the other day; we'll be checking oil level again today.
- Infiniti dealership wants 11k for new engine.
- my mechanic says the cam (adjusters?) are shot; and that's just the beginning. He doesn't recommend it, but he can get a used engine with 18 month warranty for 6k.

Neither my son nor I are mechanics to consider doing serious work. So I'm asking about options given my scenario.

Thank you
John

 

Manual or auto? And where are all of the leaks coming from?

 

Manual

Well. I'm kinda hoping the leaks are valve covers. Oil is definitely just below drivers side valve cover.
Put a large sheet of wood after oil change (and one quick trip to grocery store) - oil stain majority on wood is drivers side ; but some splotches toward front and barely on passenger side.
iirc, there are about 6-8 splotches of oil.

John

 

Valve covers are easy to replace. Don't know if you pulled the spark plugs yet, but there's a good chance they're leaking oil in some of the plug tubes as well.
2 of the codes you posted were "Intake Valve Timing Control", I can't say much for that though.

 

Thanks dude.

 

Yikes! 6k for a used engine?! Even with the warranty that's a bit much for an engine that's more than likely gonna burn oil if it's not rebuild and the rings haven't been replaced

 

More than the car's worth for sure.

 

Exactly, you would be better off getting a used engine from a local yard for about 800 and swapping it in yourself. It's not really that difficult and you can have it done in a day or two with a set of extra hands.

 

Whoever is giving you these quotes is trying to screw you up the *** with a spiked baseball bat. You can get a used low mile (like, 50,000 mile) JDM VQ35DE on a number of websites all day long for $1300-1800, or you could find one locally with higher mileage for 800ish.

Make sure it's either a Rev-up motor or you've purchased whatever you need to put a non-revup motor in your 06 (Use Google to figure out the difference between revup and non and to figure out what you need). Do a cost-benefit analysis between the two motor types including the cost of wiring conversion parts. Non-revup motors are cheaper to buy used, slightly cheaper to maintain, and don't have oil consumption problems like many of the revups do.

Engine swaps on this car are not that hard to do, and there's YouTube videos/internet writeups covering the entire process. You and your son could embark on a learning experience together and put a refreshed drivetrain (New engine, new clutch/flywheel if needed, engine/transmission mounts) into the G, taking care of everything that can fail at once so your son will be able to drive the G for years and years without problems. Doing the work yourself would save money you could put towards the clutch/maintenance.

If you don't want to go through that, you should be able to find someone willing to do it for you for around $1000 if you post on your local car enthusiast Facebook groups and look on Craigslist for shade-tree mechanics.

 

Sell it for what you can, cut your losses and move on. Neither one of you know's squat about cars and unless you're willing to invest in tools and the time to learn, you're wasting your time and $.

 

Yah. That's my son's thought.

But. Would a $2k motor with a $1k install be a plausible solution? This scenario would cost us $8600 for his 06 coupe with 160k. (initial cost + engine)

It just seems strange that the car seems to run fine; but the engine is considered toast. I guess when it fails, it will be fatal.

Thanks for responding all.
John

BTW, after the oil change a week back, the oil is still pretty full.

 

The best solution would be to kick your son straight in the ***, and make it count. Then, go find him something else for him to drive, like a nice Huffy. That'll help the lesson sink in. Then. get some engine degreaser and clean the hell out of the engine, including the bay. After it's clean, (CLEAN!), then get a dye kit from auto whatever with the black light. Pour that in the engines oil and follow the directions. That'll tell you where you're leaks are coming from.
Fact; mechanics and especially dealers mechanics are either morons, thieves or moronic thieves. Some are good but good luck getting one. Put your problems into your own hands and control the situation while learning some valuable skills.

 

A better solution? Even though I agree with the poster above lol. Enjoying the bonding time with your son while installing another engine and learning valuable information about the car you plan on keeping for the future. It's not as daunting as you think and the members here (including myself because I did my own swap in my driveway last year) will be happy to help you out with any questions you have. Total cost? 1000 bucks max.

 

Thanks guys. I'll talk with him tonight...see if he's willing to go on an adventure.

John