Broken Crankshaft at 100,000 miles

Feb 10th, 2003, 09:26 PM

Driving home in my 94 Pathfinder heard a strange engine noise then coasted to a stop...towed the truck home and viola! a snapped crankshaft.I have taken incredible care of my Pathfinder since I bought her in 94 but now I am gonna drop a re-built engine into my warhorse.Anyone with any feedback would be appreciated as I have never switched out engines before..will she be the same old reliable or better?I am spending 2,000 on engine new clutch etc.My trustworthy mechanic told me this Nissan engine has had this bad crankshaft reputation but now I am gonna move on cause I cant afford a new Nissan.I own a 94 Pickup also.Thanks for the feedback!

currykid3 · Feb 11th, 2003, 10:29 AM

$2,000 in parts sounds about right. If youve never done it before take pics (lots) this helps. ive swapped engines before and I still take pics before and during when I pull something off and might need to kow exactly how it gos back on. If youve got the time anyting is possible. Ive never owned a nissan V6 so I can't say anything about the crankshaft breaking, although thats a new one for me, never heard it before.

Feb 11th, 2003, 11:32 AM

Thanks for the feedback!How did your vehicle run after the engine transplant?I hope to be done by next week and will report on the results.

jadcock · Feb 11th, 2003, 08:26 PM

Swapping engines, same for same, is pretty easy -- just time consuming. "Easy" meaning that you don't have to fab up any new brackets, fuel lines, wiring, etc. "Time consuming" mean you should go through and mark everything...everything...and take lots of pics as suggested. I doubt it'll take you more than 8 hours for the swap if you have the right tools already. Plan for a long weekend, though, especially of you don't have to rent tools or anything like that.

Good luck!

2000SE · Feb 12th, 2003, 01:06 PM

I've never seen a VG30 kill a crankshaft unless heavily modded. You're not running turbo/SC/N20 are you? I wouldn't trust a mechanic that says that this is normal for this engine. It isn't.

It could've been just a defective one from the factory.

Also, overtightening the belts can put a load on the front of the crank. With low oil pressure, excessive RPM.... this could cause a crankshaft to break.

As long as you break in the new engine(or grab one from the recycle yard), it should perform exactly as well as it did before.

Remember that ALL hoses, belts, normal wear components(fluids/filters/thermo/tuneup/clutch/bearings/) should be new/replaced with that new engine.

Feb 12th, 2003, 07:20 PM

My mechanic did not say this was normal but he did say that he has seen it before from that engine.And nothing was modified at all.As far as belts everything was done by a well respected shop in Miami.I guess I just got the bad one!Thanks for the feedback!

Centurion · Feb 12th, 2003, 07:43 PM

I don't know if it's the same engine as the Quest, but there was a problem a while back where if the "techs" overtightened the belts the pulley can snap off. There was a right-up on this in the ASE newsletter quite awhile back.