[00 FRONTIER]

Stumbled across this when I Googled "Nissan VQ timing chain guides" and it shows some good pics of a VQ engine out of the car.

DIY Attacking the timing chain - MY350Z.COM Forums

When I ended my search it looks like Altima's and Maxima's are having quiet a few issues with theirs as well. Nissan really needs to step up with this issue, they are going to lose a lot of loyal customers. A tech on the Maxima forum said that this will eventually happen to all VQ engines...

I should probably stop looking into this issue, everytime I read about it makes me ill and regret my purchase.

 

[rdrfronty]

Those are nice photos, however, note that they are showing the primary chain tensioner, which we are not having problems with, plus it is a different tensioner than our VQ40's have.

 

[Clint]

Stumbled across this when I Googled "Nissan VQ timing chain guides" and it shows some good pics of a VQ engine out of the car.

DIY Attacking the timing chain - MY350Z.COM Forums

When I ended my search it looks like Altima's and Maxima's are having quiet a few issues with theirs as well. Nissan really needs to step up with this issue, they are going to lose a lot of loyal customers. A tech on the Maxima forum said that this will eventually happen to all VQ engines...

I should probably stop looking into this issue, everytime I read about it makes me ill and regret my purchase.

Don't sweat it until it happens to you, it may never be an issue and you worried for nothing. Years ago I had a Ford that everyone else was having recalls on theirs. My serial number never was included and that car NEVER had any mechanical failures, let alone issues. It was a great car.

Clint

 

[frankobates]

They may not be the same type of tensioners but look at the photos of the secondary tensioners they are almost worn to the metal too.

 

[colin123]

Stumbled across this when I Googled "Nissan VQ timing chain guides" and it shows some good pics of a VQ engine out of the car.

DIY Attacking the timing chain - MY350Z.COM Forums

When I ended my search it looks like Altima's and Maxima's are having quiet a few issues with theirs as well. Nissan really needs to step up with this issue, they are going to lose a lot of loyal customers. A tech on the Maxima forum said that this will eventually happen to all VQ engines...

I should probably stop looking into this issue, everytime I read about it makes me ill and regret my purchase.

thats correct it will happen to every vq ever made and this is because the tensioners were only designed to last untill it is roughly time for the chains to be changed. with my 400+ whp Z that saw much more high rpm from days on the road courses and drag strips it was about 95k miles before i noticed it and with the way that motor was used i'd say about 100k just under is a very good mark of when i needed to changed my chains. many others with Zs had over 100k miles and had yet to notice the tensioners going out. the problem is in the american made VQs the chains are being made here and had a much less polished finish on them, in fact they had some pretty sharp edges left on them that eat through the tensioner guilds much more quickly. the true design of the system and its execution on the japan made engines is a very good one. This isn't an engine design flaw like most people think its the cause of poorly crafted american parts. the only mistake nissan made was letting VQs to be built here with parts made here