is my engine doomed? (rentals, vehicle, salvage, truck)

[blue_water]

had a mech did an inspection of my 01 pathfinder, he said there's clunking sound coming from engine, which is usually big issues and advised me to get rid of it sooner than later.

is it pretty much doomed? anything I can do as a diy'er. I'm pretty handy.

uploaded couple of videos on youtube here.

video of engine bottom
https://youtu.be/k4ciXwqXKUU

video of engine bay
https://youtu.be/jDriCptH5hk

thanks in advance.

[trckn4life]

I can't help but you may want to take it to another shop and see what they tell you.

[Coldjensens]

Rod knock?


If so, it is not doomed, it is already dead. You cold take it out and rebuilt it. A mechanic would charge about $2500 - $3000 for that, so that gives you an idea of how much work is involved. You eventually can do it with a good book and some advice from the counter guy at the machine shop, but figure on 50 or more hours of work, plus maybe $600 in parts and tool rentals, plus maybe $300 for the machine shop work. Oh and about $60 for a good book.

[Hemlock140]

I have to agree, it's pretty much dead, and will leave you stranded very soon if you keep driving it. I have done a lot of work on cars since a teenager in the late '60s, and would not recommend an engine rebuild as a DIY project, nor would I try one myself. Using the plastigages for exact rod bearing tolerances and getting everything seated and torqued properly is possible, but one small mistake and the rebuilt engine will be as bad as the original (or worse). I have done engine exchanges a couple of time, but buying a used engine is a gamble.

[blue_water]

any oil additive I can add to help temporarily?

[kapikap]

I would recommend having another mechanic check it out, an independant mechanic.
If the vehicle has treated you well, maybe it is worth investing a few hundred dollars to repair.

the v6 in your pathfinder is a well built engine with good forged internals parts. even getting a used one as a replacement could be worth it, but see what another mechanic says first.

that truck is made to run beyond 300,000 miles.

[headingtoDenver]

Did you take it to an actual mechanic or some neighborhood guy who sometimes tinkers with cars? I highly doubt any reputable shop out there would tell you "there's clunking sound coming from engine" followed up with, 'you should get rid of it'. They would have given you more specifics on what they believe the 'clunking' is and an estimate of repair.

[Arcenal813]

That's a rod knock... Unfortunately, I'd say it's dead.

That said, while I don't recommend rebuilds, I am a solid believer in engine swaps from junkyards. There are lots of these engines sitting around at junkyards in good condition, salvaged from totaled vehicles. I actually bought a VQ35DE for one of my old Maximas years ago for a swap project I was doing for something like $700. As stated above, they typically last forever. Seems like you're just experiencing bad luck here, or the engine was severely neglected at some point in the truck's lifespan.

[M3 Mitch]

Actually if you quit driving it, if you can get the oil pan off with the engine in the car, it's possible to replace the rod bearings just by taking the caps off. Work carefully so as not to ding up the crank any worse than it already is.

Sometimes replacing the rod bearings is enough to get the engine running close to normal. There will always be some damage to the crank itself, but, if that is not too serious, new bearing inserts can sometimes salvage the situation.

If you have to pull the engine to get at the rod bearings, I agree with Arcenal that an ex-boneyard engine might be worth getting and put in. Or you could go with a rebuilt like a Jasper, which would come with a bit more of a warranty.

[ukrkoz]

Well.... Does that have timing chain?
Nissan had ill designed chain tensioners resulting in loss of chain tension and chain slap.
Of course, this might as well be rod.... But dem chains make very similar sound....