Hey guys

i have a 2008 g35X sedan. I have a code p0021. I'm having issues with the car. I was wondering if there's any symptoms known related to this issue of the oil gasket change.

thanks in advance.

 

wanted to thank you for your post. I failed my inspection on my '06 coupe with both those codes. Of course the tech there is telling me it's a failed cam and crank sensor, wanting to repair them. Thought I would research it a bit more since they told me there was NO oil in the oil pan when went to change that. Of course the oil indicator is now off, but am pretty sure I'm blowing oil past a blown gasket as you suggested. Wasn't even considered or brought up at the shop, and thinking I'd be throwing away about $300 to repair those sensors that's probably not going to fix the problem.
Thanks for sending this our way...I'll be pulling the cover off and check that gasket

 

You may go with Auto zone duralast brand sensors tbh. They have worked great on my car for over 3 years now.

 

Thanks, I will try it out. My 2007 infiniti runs great but the code p0021 will not go out

 

So I just bought a 2009 G37xS. 149k miles. I did some research on these cars, and came across this very informative thread. Therefore as part of pre-purchase inspection I checked the oil pressure.

I want to thank all for the detailed content in this thread. It really helped me make a sound purchase decision. Very grateful. Hope to be here a while and pay it forward.

I didn't have a way to verify the oil temp. My obd scanner live data doesn't even show coolant temp So I just felt the oil filter until it felt like it was 180 degrees-ish. At that point I measured over 90 psi at 2k rpm! Pass!

I also let the oil get fully up to temp, and even then it was still over 70 psi @ 2k, and about 25 psi idle.

I don't know if this car had previously had this repair done, or if it simply never had a failure yet. CarFax shows the PO had it dealer serviced for each and every scheduled maintenance, and also did all the suggested repairs (so maybe it was done during one of those).

I will try to see if a dealer will do a lookup on the VIN to see what dealer services the car might have had, see if this repair was ever done.

I bought the car from a used car dealer, something I never thought I'd ever do! Car needs a good interior detailing, and under the hood was a mess (parked under a tree). Front bumper has a few scuffs. Other than that, solid. CarFax shows single owner, no accidents, and the detailed maintenance records. Seems like they maintained it well mechanically, but didn't worry about appearance. I feel like I got a steal at $7K.

 

about a month ago my water pump broke. that got replaced along with the chain. after all that the car runs weird and makes this clicking noise when driving, if i drive far it starts to over heat and when i stop the oil light comes on. so before all this happened and parts got replaced i was drivings and the same stuff happened and the car would turn off and not start until the engine was cool again.

do you think that the oil pressure and codes come on cause of the gaskets? or do i need to do some other stuff for it stop?

 

No. It sounds like your car has way worse problems than these gaskets. None of the things you are reporting have been associated with these gaskets.Overheating, clicking noise, oil light. None of it has been associated with this gasket issue.

You should bring it back to whoever did the work. Sounds like they messed something up.

Please start a new thread though. Do not reply here. This thread is already long, and doesn't need extraneous stuff clogging it up.

 

Hello all! Long time lurker and finally joined since I've had the P0021 rule my world for the past week. I've been racking my brain trying to figure out this issue for a solid week and cant seem to confirm that is it the galley gaskets for sure. The 1 thing stopping me is that I have solid oil pressure. Here's what I've done and keep in mind I've searched this whole thread trying to find an answer

Symptoms/History:

Car pulled a P0021 code
I was VERY low on oil, about 4 quarts to be exact!!!
Without being 100% positive, I purchased 10w30 to get some oil in there asap.
Problem still persisted.
Researched and found out I should probably do an oil change anyway
purchased Infiniti OEM filter and 5 quarts of 5w30, performed oil change.
Reset codes, and took for a drive. Error returned
Tested, cleaned solenoid, showed 7.7 ohms and action looked fantastic
Tested cam sensor for basic terminal to terminal resistance via FSM troubleshooting
Connected oil pressure gauge to sensor location, let the engine warm up and pressure seemed good at idle, 2k and 3k.

So this is where I'm at, I read in the pdf that the OP made for this breakdown that if you have good oil pressure it's likely not the gaskets. I'm not sure where to turn as I cant get a clean look at the gaskets to examine for broken pieces.

What else could it be? I read somewhere that someone had this code and good pressure and the dealer replace the VTC only. how would I test or confirm ots the VTC??

I also read that the dealer removed the oil pan and they could visually confirm by looking up into the timing cover that the gaskets had failed. That sounds like BS to me.

Any help would be appreciated?

Thank you in advance.

Mike

 

Gonna assume you have a vehicle equipped with the HR motor. Yes you should he able to see the gasket from the inside of the block with the UPPER oil pan removed and an inspection mirror. Honestly though the amount of work required to do it you would be just as well to remove the timing cover since if.its damaged you would require it to be torn apart anyways so...

You won't necessarily see a drop in MEASURED OIL PRESSURE since the pressure sender is down near the filter and the gaskets/actuator you are talking about are nowhere near it.

If you suspect gasket failure (and by your troubleshooting steps it sounds likely they are failing) then just order up the gaskets and proceed with the repair.

 

Thank you for the quick reply and the additional info on specifying that its the upper oil pan. I was thinking I'd be able to look up the bottom oil pan.

I am a bit confused by this though...

I was under the impression (perhaps falsely) that the test for this gasket issue was in fact an oil pressure test at the sensor location down at the filter. The FSM does idicate that as part of the solenoid test the motor should be cranked to check for oil exiting the hole (although for the life of me I cant find that text now in the FSM).

 

I think that section of the troubleshooting steps is trying to rule out overall low oil pressure on the engine, you can just as easily plug in an OBD2 scanner and read the oil pressure values. Also if oil pressure IS an issue and you are running synthetic oil then switch back to conventional, synth runs at a lower (depending on wear it can be SIGNIFICANTLY lower) oil pressure than conventional.

Leaking oil past the gasket will not reduce oil pressure however.

This thread has some pictures of the gasket blowout inside the timing cover.

https://g35driver.com/forums/g35-sed...ous-about.html

Just to verify your vehicle is a 2007-2008 G35 sedan yes?

 

OK let me clarify a couple of things.

The car is a 2011 G37x Sedan
Never ran synthetic oil in the car, my first post here explains that I ran very low on my oil Car was always serviced at infiniti with OEM filter and oil.
After brand new oil change and oil filter with all OEM filter and OPEM 5W30 oil I checked the oil pressure.
I do not see any where in my OBDII scanner for oil temp.
I tried a custom PID in my torque app as well with no luck so I cant confirm I was at the correct temp however I waited until the car was up to normal temps which if it was too how or over the spec it would only make the pressure even lower due to the viscosity so it couldn't hurt for it to be too hot in my opinion.

I'm going to take off the bank 2 timing cover to check the o-rings and condition of the sprocket. maybe I'll get a peek or will be able to jam my endoscope from that access point to spy a broken gasket.

 

Yeah your issue is probably not the inner solenoid cover gasket in the timing chain cover. The VHR motor you have uses a different gasket and not the paper one that the HR's had problems with.

 

I'm trying to figure out which motor I have. I read somewhere here that all g37s after 2011 were ok and came with the new gasket. Can you clarity your findings for me please.

As for my findings today: I removed the cam cover on bank 2 and everything looked ok. I pulled the gasket off as it has stuck to the cover side and inspected the oil supply hole in the cover. I read in the FSM that there is an oil "screen" located here for each bank on each side. I suspected this screen to possibly be clogged even enough I read this no where. I pulled it out and a bunch of black particles poured out odd the hole. Interesting.. the screen is a tube and it looked ok but had metal particles on it. Also I stuffed a paper towel in the hole and it came out with a ton of metal particles on it. Larger than I'd expect for engine wear etc. I don't know but I put it all back together and was feeling confident I find my problem. But, no luck, the code returns...

Also, couldn't see any of the back galley through the opening fyi

I can't drive the car above 3500 rpm without triggering this Damn code.

Any additional thoughts?

 

VQ37VHR

2009-present G37 sedan
2008-2013 G37 coupe

P0021 bank 2 VTC error (driver side bank)

The error code occurs when the target cam advance angle is not the same as the actual cam angle, as positioned by the cam solenoid, as read by the cam phase sensor, as compared against the crank position sensor.

So basically, the engine knows where engine rotation is based upon the crank sensor, it sends a signal to advance the cams a specified amount which is controlled by the cam solenoid, it then verifies the angle is achieved based on the data sent back by the cam phase sensor. If either of the sensors (cam/crank) doesn't return the expected value the ECU disables cam advance on that bank and sends the DTC P00XX depending on which bank is having problems. The solenoid is electrically actuated and uses oil pressure to physically extend it's piston against the cam adjuster to advance the camshaft.

Errors can occur on any of those 3 components, all 3 could have an open or shorted wiring harness (probably not the issue you have, the code would be persistent and not just manifest at a certain rpm when advance target does not meet actual value), a faulty cam sensor (probably not your problem since a failed cam sensor tends to return the wrong data ALL the time not just at a certain rpm), a faulty crank sensor (probably not your problem for the same reason as the cam sensor, plus a faulty crank sensor causes a lot of fail to start the motor), a faulty solenoid (probably your issue since it only sends a DTC when the rpm's are up and the solenoid is actually being used). The solenoid itself could have simply worn out and isn't extending it's plunger as far as it should be, or maybe has a lot of resistance, OR it could be a lack of oil pressure that actually makes the piston extend.

-Remove the harness from the camshaft solenoid, use a digital multimeter and verify between pin 1 and 2 is 7 - 7.7 ohms, also verify that both pins to NOT have continuity to ground.

-Remove the solenoid, apply 12vdc to the pins and verify the plunger actuates, ALWAYS replace the O-rings when the solenoid is removed.

-Crank position sensor / Cam position sensors can only be tested by a mechanic with an oscilloscope (expensive tool that most people don't have).

FSM also lists the possibility of accumulation of debris on the signal pickup on the cam (part that the cam phase sensor reads), or a blockage in the oil groove for the solenoid, or damaged/failing timing chain.

I think the gasket issue was only a VQ35HR problem and they had switched to the metallic gaskets for the VQ37VHR.

It would probably be worth a dealership diagnostic fee at this point just so you don't waste money on a sensor or solenoid that isn't actually the problem.