Cracked Cylinder and Head?

The Gas and Diesel Engines - VQ40De, VK56DE, YD25DDTi, V9X, Transmission, Transfer Case, Oil, Differentials, Axles, Exhaust...

Moderator: volvite

Random2k
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Feb 14, 2018 9:35 am

Cracked Cylinder and Head?

Postby Random2k » Wed Feb 14, 2018 9:42 am

Hey everyone, I have an interesting first post.

I recently bought another vehicle to replace my wife's 2008 Nissan Pathfinder. We ended up selling the Pathfinder to a family friend. Before that friend bought it, he took it to the Nissan dealer to have them look it over. It was throwing codes for the camshaft position sensors and I reduced the price accordingly so that he could have them replaced.

Fast forward two weeks and he takes the Pathfinder to the dealer to have the sensors replaced. By the end of the day, they are telling him that it has a crack in the cylinder wall, a crack in the head and low compression in that cylinder.

The buyer isn't mad at me but he keeps asking if I knew that there were issues with it.

My wife has been driving this Pathfinder for four years and we haven't had a problem with it other than replacing a wheel bearing. The engine ran smooth, didn't make any noise, didn't burn any oil, and never lost coolant. It had 115,000 miles on it when we sold it.

I have a fairly extensive knowledge of engines, and also spoke with an independent mechanic about the issues. Both of us agree that there is no way the vehicle was driven to the dealership with the mechanical troubles they are telling the new owner it has.

I believe, during the course of the sensor replacement and when the intake manifold was removed, the tech working on it inadvertently knocked something into the head. Once the engine was buttoned up, they tried to start it and heard all sorts of racket prompting them to do their compression test and bore scope inspection. After all, why are they checking compression on an engine that came in for a sensor replacement?

I'm hauling the Pathfinder to another mechanic on Thursday for them to inspect it as well as get away from the ridiculously high prices that the dealer charges.

So, in everyone's opinion, would we have been able to drive the Pathfinder for any length of time with a cracked cylinder wall, cracked head, and low compression in a cylinder without noticing it?

Thanks


triplesnake
Posts: 36
Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2015 12:15 pm
Location: TX

Postby triplesnake » Wed Feb 14, 2018 2:19 pm

I'm not a pro mechanic, but from what I know about motors, I'd have a hard time believing that one with the troubles they are telling you that one has would run smoothly, if at all. And, I'd think it would be throwing more codes then just a cam sensor.

User avatar
smj999smj
Site Admin
Posts: 6054
Joined: Sun Jan 22, 2012 11:13 pm
Location: Prospect, VA

Postby smj999smj » Thu Feb 15, 2018 4:25 am

It sounds awful "fishy" to me, as a former Nissan Master Tech. I've never heard of a cracked head nor block on one of these engines except in cases where the timing chain jumped and it ate one or more of the valves, but you wouldn't have driven it in if that were the case!

Random2k
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Feb 14, 2018 9:35 am

Postby Random2k » Thu Feb 15, 2018 4:22 pm

We met with the service manager at the dealership this morning. His story is that they replaced the sensors and took it for a test drive. During the test drive, a misfire was detected and threw a DTC.

Once they had it in the shop, their first order of business was to diagnose the misfire by doing a compression test (I'm not sure if this is protocol or not). When they noticed the #5 cylinder was only holding about 107 psi, they decided to remove the intake manifold and look inside the cylinder with a bore scope. This is when they noticed the foreign object and extracted it from it's impacted area in the cylinder head.

The engine now has a noticeable tick and is hard to start.

We trailered the Pathfinder to an independent shop to get a second opinion. We showed them the foreign object and his forst words were "this hasn't been in there very long."

The piece of steel, about half the size of a quarter and folded like a taco, did not have any heat marks on it nor did it have any carbon deposits on it. In his opinion, anything that would have been in there for a long period would have carbon deposits similar to what is on the head.

The independent mechanic is going to remove the intake manifold and try to get a piston height reading to determine if the bottom end of the engine has been hurt and to see if he can determine if the foreign object came from engine internals or was introduced externally.

Stay tuned...

User avatar
palmerwmd
Site Admin
Posts: 2343
Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2017 4:45 am
Location: Mid Atlantic

Postby palmerwmd » Thu Feb 15, 2018 4:33 pm

Sounds like a shop screw up to me also.
I believe they are insured if they are a dealer for such screwups.
They may owe your friend a new engine!

User avatar
smj999smj
Site Admin
Posts: 6054
Joined: Sun Jan 22, 2012 11:13 pm
Location: Prospect, VA

Postby smj999smj » Thu Feb 15, 2018 6:30 pm

That's what it sounds like to me, like something fell into the intake when it was off. The shame is that you really don't have to remove the upper intake in order to replace the cam sensors. It's tight, but can be done.

User avatar
palmerwmd
Site Admin
Posts: 2343
Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2017 4:45 am
Location: Mid Atlantic

Postby palmerwmd » Mon Feb 19, 2018 4:30 pm

I look forward to an update on this.... :P


Return to “R51 Engine, Driveline and Powertrain”