dschrier, I know exactly how you feel. My mother's Sentra experienced the same thing as the chain broke, the engine revved hi and tore a hole in the sprocket cover I believe. Just like you said, it cost $1,100 to fix. I guess both jobs were done by the book on the amount of hours to fix/replace the parts. I did read once on the forum that this can be prevented by regular oil changes, as in 3000-5000 Miles, since the chain, guides and tensioner are properly lubricated to prevent failure.
The same thing is happening to my Sentra so it's sitting in the driveway until I can afford to fix it. I'd like to replace the parts myself and save $800 but right now I'm waiting for my brother's garage to be free.
smithsil, are you noticing an extreme loss in power? Once again, my mother's car had a slight oil lead that wasn't fixed either and it went down about 2 qt. at one point, considering the car only takes 3.8. The 5 main crankshaft bearings ran dry and scored the shaft. Even after the oil leak was fixed and the level was topped up, the damage was done and it also made a rattling/tinny sound. If you're noticing power loss and sudden gains it could be a bearing. Both problems I described have similar symptoms so it's difficult to pinpoint although they're more distinguishable after 15-30 minutes of idle/driving as the noise reappears as the oil viscosity changes.
You might want to test the
ECU codes and see if that reveals anything.
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