Northwest U.S.For WA, ID, OR, MT, WY Maxima enthusiasts.
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Any suggestions on a shop, or qualified individual, who can replace the engine in my 98 Maxima? I found an engine for $650, plus shipping, but I am by no means equipped to handle such a job. I've read through the FSM and it does not sound like something I would have the time, inclination, proper location, or tools to do. On the other hand I'm not interested in spending $1500 in labor to have a shop do the job which I was quoted ($2600 total to replace the engine). I'm looking for within about a 25 mile radius from Portland Oregon. Any fellow Maxima owners interested? How much is a reasonable amount to pay for someone to do the work? Hopefully this information can make it into a sticky so that people in my position will have some resources to turn to.
p.s. - I've been told by both places I took my car to that the best course of action would be to replace the engine. The car has 180,000 miles but is in otherwise good shape. I have a loud rattling/knocking sound that is either coming from the timing chain system or is due to rod knock, or so I've been told. I will be looking at the car more closely, and pulling codes, on Monday once I have it towed back to my place.
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1998 Super Black 5 speed SE
Stock: 15.72 @ 92.4, With Budget Y: 14.98 @ 98.7 (G-Tech)
Over 175,000 miles and still averaging 26 MPG
To do: send fuel injectors in to be cleaned due to ticking noise
You say the rattling is coming from the timing cover? When the car is running do you feel the rattling thru the timing case? Likely it could just be a timing chain tensioner. It's a pain in the *** job, but the chances of it being rod knock is pretty low on these motors unless you have done nothing but neglect the motor.
If it was rod knock, than certainly replacing the motor with a used motor is the way to go. Finding a low mileage used motor for cheap is pretty easy, not too expensive and could potentially carry a warranty. As for labor, if you can provide the engine, it's reasonable to expect up to $1k. I personally think that $1500 is excessive personally, but there will be people who will beg to differ.
There is a guy up here in the Seattle area that can do the swap. He goes by mastercater7. He does good work, and only had one engine swap that didn't go so well...but the circumstances with the owner didn't allow him to finish the job. The more mainstream local guys praise him.
I could possibly do it some time this summer, however you would have to get the car and engine up here. I'm not going to try to move all the tools required 300 miles.
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98 SE - VQ35
2k SE - Stock... pretty much
Boost, juice, conversions, been there, done that.
What shop did you call for the quote? The guy at Nissan Specialties is really good and honest. He might charge a lot for a big job like that, though. He is about the only mechanic I found that seems to be really good with older Nissans.
I think you could do well by paying someone from NWMax a lot less to do the job (probably in the Seattle area, I don't know of any Portlanders except maybe Hectic). They will know the small details better than a mechanic that does a lot of different cars.
You could also source an engine around Seattle and maybe baby or trailer your car up there. I had Jeff do my 3rd gen swap and the place I got the engine from in the Seattle area delivered it to him.
I can't tell in the pictures, but do you have 5th gen rims? I saw a tinted black 4th gen parked at the Fairview (Wood Village?) Fred Meyer last night.
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Last edited by Cliff Clavin; 04-29-2009 at 07:09 PM.
You say the rattling is coming from the timing cover? When the car is running do you feel the rattling thru the timing case? Likely it could just be a timing chain tensioner. It's a pain in the *** job, but the chances of it being rod knock is pretty low on these motors unless you have done nothing but neglect the motor.
If it was rod knock, than certainly replacing the motor with a used motor is the way to go. Finding a low mileage used motor for cheap is pretty easy, not too expensive and could potentially carry a warranty. As for labor, if you can provide the engine, it's reasonable to expect up to $1k. I personally think that $1500 is excessive personally, but there will be people who will beg to differ.
There is a guy up here in the Seattle area that can do the swap. He goes by mastercater7. He does good work, and only had one engine swap that didn't go so well...but the circumstances with the owner didn't allow him to finish the job. The more mainstream local guys praise him.
S
Well, I was initially quoted $1500 by No. 1 Japanese Auto in Portland but I got another quote from Affordable Auto Repair, 503-875-5384, for $450 for labor and they found the right engine for $650. So, they did the job and a whole bunch of other stuff such as seals, belts, brakes, new clutch, new KS, and other miscellaneous items for a total of $1740. But, thanks for the suggestion on mastercater7. This shop agreed that it was likely a failed rod bearing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mtrai760
I could possibly do it some time this summer, however you would have to get the car and engine up here. I'm not going to try to move all the tools required 300 miles.
Thanks for the offer! Yeah, I did end up paying $80 to have it towed 25 miles to the shop that did the work.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cliff Clavin
What shop did you call for the quote? The guy at Nissan Specialties is really good and honest. He might charge a lot for a big job like that, though. He is about the only mechanic I found that seems to be really good with older Nissans.
I think you could do well by paying someone from NWMax a lot less to do the job (probably in the Seattle area, I don't know of any Portlanders except maybe Hectic). They will know the small details better than a mechanic that does a lot of different cars.
You could also source an engine around Seattle and maybe baby or trailer your car up there. I had Jeff do my 3rd gen swap and the place I got the engine from in the Seattle area delivered it to him.
I can't tell in the pictures, but do you have 5th gen rims? I saw a tinted black 4th gen parked at the Fairview (Wood Village?) Fred Meyer last night.
Thanks for the suggestions. I was initially quoted $1500 by No. 1 Japanese Auto in Portland but I got another quote from Affordable Auto Repair, 503-875-5384, for $450 for labor and they found the right engine for $650 that had good compression and 94,000 miles. So, I would recommend this shop but there were a number of items that they either missed, didn't do right, or simply didn't know about. A perfect example is the breather hose that goes to no where. They probably spooked when they saw this hose going no where so they kind of tucked it in such that I may not have otherwise noticed it. But, considering that they did a ton of stuff for me at just the cost of the parts and that I was able to deal with the resulting trouble codes it worked out.
Nah, I have the regular old '98 SE Alloy rims. If anything I would swap them out with lightweight ones to make my car ever so slightly faster.
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1998 Super Black 5 speed SE
Stock: 15.72 @ 92.4, With Budget Y: 14.98 @ 98.7 (G-Tech)
Over 175,000 miles and still averaging 26 MPG
To do: send fuel injectors in to be cleaned due to ticking noise
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