[motocopter]

These look very similar and have the same prices. Remarkably, the chain guides look to be the same even though the views are slightly different.

I was hoping to find a beefier chain guide in the Z and GTR. So, then this has me wondering if the GTR and Z owners will have this chain whine.

 

[HKYStormFront]

i'm on boards for both the GTR and Z34 and i haven't heard of anyone having these issues with timing chain guides as of yet. most don't have that many miles on them yet tho. highest mileage GTR i know of is will taylor. he had 64k miles on his car when the engine went out (before anyone jumps to conclusions on that statement, his car has been over 800 awhp for over a year and he raced in and WON the one lap of america this year in it along with plenty of other track days, he said he had over 15k miles of actual track driving miles on it so that's saying something!)

 

[1stNISSAN]

when i had my timing chain whine, with my internet research i found the 3.5VQs had some problems too. I think the last generation maxima and altimas had the whine issue also... dunno about the new 370z or gtr.

 

[Clint]

As I was told it was sharp edges on poorly cut chain links that was the problem. Which is why they didn't reuse the old chains.

Clint

 

[colin123]

As I was told it was sharp edges on poorly cut chain links that was the problem. Which is why they didn't reuse the old chains.

Clint

correct the chain itself is the main culprit with the problem. on my z i noticed the whine around 95k miles but we must remember these chain guilds are supposed to wear and be changed about the time that you need to change the chains themselves. for me 95k-100k was definitely about time for new chains on my z. with twin turbos and over 400 whp and lots of track time it saw alot of mid to high rpm much more than the average daily driven car does. the Zs and GTRs are actually made 100% in japan where are trucks and maximas and all that are not

 

[HKYStormFront]

^^ yea i forgot about that, being in japan they probably have a different parts supplier for the chain guides that is local

 

[00 FRONTIER]

Here is an assembly question for you. I've read on a Tacoma forum that their engines are assembled in Japan and shipped over and installed in their trucks once the body, chassis, etc. gets put together.

Please tell me our engines are assembled there too? It would be nice for at least a portion of our trucks to have been "built" in Japan.

 

[nuts4nissan09]

Origin of VQ40

Sorry to be the one to break the news, but the VQ40, VQ35 (Altima, Maxima and Quest) and the VK56 are built in Decherd, Tennesee. I happen to have both VQ40 and VQ37VHR (Frontier and 370Z). They are very different engines, but they both produce a liitle chain wrap slap if they have been sitting awhile. I use Amsoil 5w30 in both (used factory fill until 3,000+ miles). The synthetic helped some, but it's just a result of the secondary chain design. I'm not worried about the tensioners in either engine. I fully expect to get 100,000 on them or better.

 

[1stNISSAN]

Here is an assembly question for you. I've read on a Tacoma forum that their engines are assembled in Japan and shipped over and installed in their trucks once the body, chassis, etc. gets put together.

Please tell me our engines are assembled there too? It would be nice for at least a portion of our trucks to have been "built" in Japan.

i have all the stickers that came with my truck, and mine says engine is assembled in USA, transmission is Japan.

 

[HKYStormFront]

^^^ yea that's what i was thinking from the literature i got when i first purchased my truck. this might explain why or at least let us hypothesize why some VQ's have issues and some don't. apparently the US made ones don't have as good of a quality in timing gear compared to the VQ's made in JP (350z, 370z, and VR engine in the GTR)

 

[motocopter]

...apparently the US made ones don't have as good of a quality in timing gear compared to the VQ's made in JP (350z, 370z, and VR engine in the GTR)

Could be an unfortunate truth. That being the case, it sounds like one of reasons Americans started buying imports in the first place - ultimately leading to the stumbling of US auto makers.

I would be satisfied if the guides make it to 100k miles.

Another thought. Why did the engineers feel it would be better to put tensioners on the inside of the short chains when the top side of the chain has a smoother surface? Besides, when the chains are at speed the slack side grows away from the center line of the two cam gears.

 

[00 FRONTIER]

Sorry to be the one to break the news, but the VQ40, VQ35 (Altima, Maxima and Quest) and the VK56 are built in Decherd, Tennesee. I happen to have both VQ40 and VQ37VHR (Frontier and 370Z). They are very different engines, but they both produce a liitle chain wrap slap if they have been sitting awhile. I use Amsoil 5w30 in both (used factory fill until 3,000+ miles). The synthetic helped some, but it's just a result of the secondary chain design. I'm not worried about the tensioners in either engine. I fully expect to get 100,000 on them or better.

Terrific, oh well. Not sure if there would really be any difference in quality anyway. Toyota still has their engine issues regardless of where they are built.

 

[colin123]

Could be an unfortunate truth. That being the case, it sounds like one of reasons Americans started buying imports in the first place - ultimately leading to the stumbling of US auto makers.

I would be satisfied if the guides make it to 100k miles.

Another thought. Why did the engineers feel it would be better to put tensioners on the inside of the short chains when the top side of the chain has a smoother surface? Besides, when the chains are at speed the slack side grows away from the center line of the two cam gears.

with the tensioner instead of the chain moving outward on both sides (top and bottom) its controlled only moving farther out on one side. it keeps the contact with the gears predictable instead of it potentially slapping around.

 

[colin123]

Terrific, oh well. Not sure if there would really be any difference in quality anyway. Toyota still has their engine issues regardless of where they are built.

i'd say its pretty obvious that there is a difference for nissan's since the motors made in japan don't have this premature failure problem. over in japan the motors made for the Zs and GTRs are made by very small teams of people (pretty sure the team that builds the GTR's motors is only like 8 or 16 people) which also helps eliminate discrepancies between motors.

 

[FitzIngarage]

... Toyota still has their engine issues regardless of where they are built.

In thier quest for fuel economy, low emissions and horsepower, maybe some of today's engines are too complex. Over on the Chevy Colorado/GMC Canyon forums, owners have been victimized by expensive head failures and as you wrote, other manufacturers have had issues too. I could write a book on the piece of dung that sits in the engine bay of my wife's Subaru. (My Frontier's 4.0L has the startup clatter and cold engine rattle.)

 

[00 FRONTIER]

I could write a book on the piece of dung that sits in the engine bay of my wife's Subaru.

I assume you've had head gasket issues? I buddy of mine recently picked up a 00 Legacy GT with fairly low miles (100k) and had overheating issues. He ended up having both head gaskets replaced.

Did Subaru ever fix this issue in their current lineup? Considering one for a replacement in a few yeats to replace our Matrix.

Back to the timing chain guide issue. Part of Nissan's sales pitch is that their engines have chains vs belts. I personally would rather have a nice quiet belt that I know has to be replaced every 100k or so at a reasonable cost vs a chain that if your lucky the guides make it to 100k. Even then it cost way more to replace those vs a belt.

 

[Zero Six LE]

I assume you've had head gasket issues? I buddy of mine recently picked up a 00 Legacy GT with fairly low miles (100k) and had overheating issues. He ended up having both head gaskets replaced.

Did Subaru ever fix this issue in their current lineup? Considering one for a replacement in a few yeats to replace our Matrix.

Back to the timing chain guide issue. Part of Nissan's sales pitch is that their engines have chains vs belts. I personally would rather have a nice quiet belt that I know has to be replaced every 100k or so at a reasonable cost vs a chain that if your lucky the guides make it to 100k. Even then it cost way more to replace those vs a belt.

The chain issue was a good selling point until recently. The chains in my 92 Maxima 3.0 dual twin overhead cam engine and the chains in my 95 Hardbody 2.4 were durable. It seems that a bad manufacturing process has caused the recent problems IMO. I still have confidence in my chain driven engines. The 3.5 is a Japan made car with 81,000 miles on it.

 

[colin123]

one of the best points of the guides is that they are designed to wear out roughly about the time that they would recommend a change of timing chains anyway. instead of normal systems with both belts and chains where you really have no sort of indication to remind you that its about time to change the belt out chain out, with our set up you will notice the supercharger like sound which will get even the most ill informed non mechanically inclined soccer mom to know that something is not right and some service needs to be done. this effectively limits the amount of sudden failures of chains that tend to happen due to people trying to shoot for the stars on chain mileage which with an interference motor like ours can be catastrophic. even the chains that have been poorly made here in the USA aren't failing prematurely its just that their poor finish of rough edges is going through the guilds much faster than it should in these cases its not like the chains themselves are failing. when they system has the parts that are constructed to the original intended specs then they do a great job of letting you know when you need to change out your chains. while it may cost more to service over a belt system you have to look at all that this system does that could not be achieved with belt driven systems as reliably as a chain system can do it. when it all comes down to it the biggest mistake nissan made was letting the USA build the motors that would be used vehicles here with parts made here and not more closely regulating the production of these parts

 

[FitzIngarage]

... I assume you've had head gasket issues? ... Did Subaru ever fix this issue in their current lineup? ... >

Subaru re-engineered the gasket material beginning with the '03 MY and it did reduce the number of failures, but visit any Subie forum and an inordinate amount of coolant loss posts continue to appear even with newer models. Ours is an '04 and sucks coolant despite head gasket replacement. Engine oil tests confirm there's a significant amount of coolant in the oil. Subaru has lessened the problem, but not by any means eliminated it in newer models. Be forwarned.

It's a shame, because my wife's Forester has been a good car otherwise. It's one of few SUVs still available with a manual tranny, so remains on our list of potential replacement vehicles. (My wife loves to row through the gears too!)