Long time lurker, first time poster. Appreciate all of the information this forum has to offer.

2009 G37 Journey Sedan RWD - Motor locked up at 220k, she had a great run, guess is the motor became oil starved and main bearing locked up. I am wanting to replace motor with a used unit. I want to put a parts list together for items that need to be replaced on the "new" used engine. What should I attack while I have full access to the motor?

CZP Rear Timing Cover Oil Gallery Gasket Set w/ replacment bolts.
Nissan OEM Timing Cover & O-Ring Seal Gasket Kit

Would you guys replace water pump, timing chain tensioner, oil pump? Any other must-do's while motor is out?
500 miles before the lock up, I replaced the entire front suspension, brake calipers, rotors, and pads all the way around. Thanks for any input!

 

Depends on how many miles the donor engine has on it and what year of VQ37VHR you are using. If using the first gen VQ37 you may go ahead and change galley gaskets and water pump. If it is real low mile newer gen I wouldn't change anything myself. If you are anywhere close to Missouri I have 2x very low mile VQ37 engines (under 50k miles) one short block and one long block

 

Donor motor is from a 2010 G37 with 98k miles. Local pickup asking $900, $50 core. From what I understand, gaskets were not updated until 2012, so I will plan on galley gaskets. I am familiar with motor tear downs, just not the VQ37, so I am comfortable with the process. Would it be a good idea to pick up a top end gasket set? I do not plan on pulling head, just having a set of all the gaskets for intake, exhaust what not.

 

From the date, i am guessing you've already done the swap. but some information for others.

2015+ VHR motors have newer designed headers that is better flowing. Not confirms but widely accepted, 2015+ motors also are said to have better heads that flow better. Most of the dynos from Jon at Z1 and Moncef with admin tuning for the new motors put down more power with less mods compared to the older motors.

 

Lets hear how it turned out.

I once avoided replacing a Timing Belt Auto Tensioner on an H22A4. Everybody on the forum knew, that the way to do it, was to use the manual tensioner from previous year - or - put a new auto in there, but never to re-use the auto. Well... I reused the Auto (which is different than leaving the old one in) and... 30,000 miles later I ran pistons into valves.

It is a very tough decision
* Leave it all alone, do the minimum, stick it in there, see what happens
* Do as much as you can while the engine is out of the car

I know for certain I would
* Carefully inspect for leaks and address those with engine out. Sooo much easier.
* Clean the crap out of everything, sparkling
* Replace cooked out (embrittled) plastics, hoses, etc
* Add any major modifications like Oil Bung's

Common Long Block issues I have ran into
* Sensors get broken while it bounces around in the truck
* Harness gets pinched, rubbed, may need some patching
* Check the oil pan!

I once did a complete longblock swap with turbo into a Civic Hatch, only to find out... the motor we were dropping in had a blown head gasket (omfg, sigh...). It sucked beyond bad. All we had to do in the beginning was check the oil, and we did not. So... check the state of the fluids*

Another interesting thing you can do is a Leak Down Test
* Compression test measures actual compression pressure
* Leak Down Test induces pressure and measures leak by the rings

I have always found that getting consistent results can be tough. Best first to hone in on a consistent read
* Dry cylinder (or presumably dry)
* Cylinder wetted with WD40 or the like
* Cylinder wetted with 5-30 or the like

Spin it a few times, put it at TDC, test again
Try again
Test again...

Find some process that gives you the same (relative) answer back to back. Does not really matter what the leakage is (for your method) just make sure the test is Scientific. Then... repeat for the other 5 cylinders. That will tell you a ton about the shape of the rings, valve seats, etc. Takes a while, but worth while. If a single cylinder has a burnt valve etc, you will see it*

and
When (not if) you find one cylinder running low... you are going to - r e a l l y - want to have a good, consistent, method down ... that gives consistent and reliable results. If the engine is laying on its side, or if one cylinder leaks a bit more than the others thru the valve seats... it can read different. So... Figure out how to get them all to read the same.

That is the best I have on that
Lets hear how OP did with the swap.

-methods

 

Correction:
I was thinking out loud about what I would do. I have never actually done a leak down test on a 6cyl out of the vehicle. May well be way more work than it is worth... I am just ... trying to think of ways to find
* Jammed intake valve
* Burnt Exhaust Valve
* Cylinder with ring to cylinder seal issues

I am also used to working on 4cyl engines where it... is not that much work. 50% more time to check 2 more cylinders may well be too much of a time investment. I dont have a feel for how long it takes to
* Prep the engine bay
* Drop the engine
* Affix drive components
* Do all the wiring etc

For this platform - what does it take?
* 4hrs or 20hrs?

I suppose that depends on
* Manual vs Auto
* Year (so how much other junk is in there)

I guess in the end, what is important is how good your relationship is with the person supplying the motor. If it is from a known-good-wreck... well... I would just drop it in there and see!

-methods

 

Leakdown is a piece of cake on this car, all the spark plug wells are easily accessible with a couple things removed.

The HR typically gives better leakdown readings than the DE so you'll probably have 5%-8%. DE you'll probably be 10 (or maybe even more... those rings man...)

 

Good datapoint. Thanks.
Building my mental database (ahhhhhhh!)

Reading that as
03-06 eats oil
07-08 eats less

Ok, good to know. I am currently down-selecting on a G35 or G37 Sedan.

Off Topic
In college I ran a Toyota Tercel that drank 1qrt of oil a day. Dont ask! OMFG I must have blown 600 quarts of oil into the air. In the end it was a jacked up valve that was pouring oil into a cylinder.

Later, working my first job, I had a built block that would drink oil as well. Not a quart a day, but a quart a week for certain. Blew a wicked smoke screen under heavy load...

The stink, the smoke... but... worse... the realization that the red OIL LIGHT is flashing when you pull G's around a corner - lol... I have roached so many motors over not staying on top of oil. My first car saw a total lockup over running it dry on oil. Since then (over the last 30 years of driving) I have probably found a dry dipstick... eh... 75 times? ... Lol ... I am a big fan of over-sized oil carrying capacity. Buys you some margin, keeps the oil cooler, less chance of frothing out.

Final Thought
For 20 years I thought "Changing the Oil" meant adding more when the dipstick got dry :-) Nothing like seeing the stick come back with a mix of black tar and new gold. I... was having the engine out of the car so often... that I did not bother with "regular oil changes". I had "regular engine overhaul" - DOH!

I now use strictly synthetic oil. That stuff seems to hold up better than conventional petroleum. I dont worry about mixing, flushing, etc (but I am no expert). I... Just start pouring Synthetic into whatever I am driving. Call it "Custom Blend" - lol - ... The only oil related failures I have recorded have been complete lockup. So... Keep er full and not overfull.

The reason (I understand) for not over-filling oil is ... that the rod-ends will splash and aerate the oil, creating a froth. So... A little extra may be ok, but dont go pouring 3 quarts extra in there - LOL.

-methods

 

https://www.myg37.com/forums/g37-sed...must-do-s.html

 

Under normal driving there's quite a bit of extra room between the top of the running oil level (since a lot is currently sucked up into the engine and flowing down). Drag use our rule of thumb has always been no more than 1/2qt overfull, typically you're 2stepping a launch and revving beyond normal driving so you keep the crankcase fairly low so it's a non issue, the extra is just insurance in case you aren't checking the level plus turning the motor 7500rpm or more you're really emptying the crankcase.

AutoX though you can slosh forward or side at a much lower rpm so keeping the oil at the high mark on the dipstick is recommended.

If you want the extra crankcase capacity you can get a lower oil pan spacer for under $100 which will add another 3/4qt or so, it's a good mod if you rev high, it's practically mandatory if you own a rev-up, mine drinks a qt every 1000mi.

And yes if you are overfull it can get oil past the windage plate and drag the crank through it.

I have seen one engine in my life that was laughably overfull, a Honda CRV (first gen) and there was probably 20 qt of oil that came out of that thing. Guy had a small leak and was basically just adding 1 qt per week because he didn't want to run low, did that for months on end, someone had broken off the handle of the dipstick so he didn't even know it was there and had assumed it came without a dipstick...

Kindly explained the correct way to do things and went to Honda and bought him a new dipstick. It's a good thing he only did city driving and never pushed the car past like 2500 rpm.

 

That's a useful link above.
Why do I see this being my future?


EDIT: To be clear, not my pic!

Oh man... it has been a while. That is sorta hot, but ... eh... raunchy too. You know you are committed once you get that far. No turning back :-)

Well..
Today is the day..

I down selected on a G37 in Manual.
I set the budget, looked at what came back.

Currently there are two cars within driving distance (5hrs round trip! ACK!)

One is the Sleeper of Sleepers - probably a safe bet.
One is pretty flashy - but has many mods I will no doubt end up doing.

Ok - less talk from methods, more buying the car... so we can get this started. Thanks for sharing so much information guys, I am sure it will come in handy.

-methods

 

If the car already has the mods you want and it's the chassis you want then you're probably better off going with the one that's already built. It's almost always cheaper than buying one bone stock and doing the bolt-ons yourself.

Just be sure to thoroughly inspect the car or take it to Nissan/Infiniti and pay for a pre-purchase inspection just so there are no surprises (or at least fewer surprises, it's a used car after all).

I know that isn't your picture but in case anyone else comes across it I really don't recommend pulling the engine by the manifold to plenum bolts like that, those are some pretty small fasteners. On the front of the engine in the very middle are these two very large bolts that are used for the motor mounts when the engine is mounted transversely (Maxima, Altima). You can remove them and bolt on tabs to attach a sling or chain. To support the rear of the engine I prefer to sling the header at cylinder 5 and 6 unless you're pulling the engine/tranny assembled in which case you remove the top two engine/tranny bellhousing bolts and bolts tabs onto that location.

For slings I absolutely recommend Herculine 2500 mule tape. It's rated 2500 lbs, it's very thin and easy to work with, holds a knot well, you can adjust for rotational play by merely untying the knot and readjusting it.

There's a lot of other options for the Herculine, just look up "pull tape flat rope mule tape". It's normally used for electrical to pull big wire into conduit.


Mule tape won't scratch up components like a chain will.

 

Do you still have one?

 

I have the complete one left with under 50k miles. I'll PM you

Can't PM you since your account is new.