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17 Pathfinder 36,500 needs new engine

23K views 60 replies 20 participants last post by  UpRockCreek53 
#1 ·
So I’ve owned this piece of junk for 4 months, haven’t even put 3,000 miles on it. Took a 375 mile trip and in the last 10 miles got a low oil pressure light. Parked it for the night started back up in the morning to a check engine light. Plenty of oil and such. Had it towed to the only dealer in 150 miles they are telling me the engine is completely full of sludge and has to be replaced but it’s my fault and Nissan isn’t going to cover it.
thankfully my brother in law is taking mercy on me and coming down to tow it back to the home dealer. I called the dealer I bought it from and they are running scared of a lemon law suit and telling me they have all the records from 1st owner and will fight Nissan for me. Was wonder what the collective thoughts would be
Thanks all
 
#2 ·
Jules, this is the second 2017 I've heard of now that had an engine sludged up and damaged to the point it needed an engine replacement. The first was from someone who bought it as an ex rental. He ultimately got the rental company it came from to foot the bill.. and easily too. They didn't fight it at all.

I've mentioned it a ton here and own a 2019 that was an ex rental. 2017 was the first year for the all new VQ35DD direct injected engines that our PFs have. Motor oil turns jet black almost instantly on them. My theory is if you go much beyond 4000mi between oil changes, it's going to lead to trouble. If you do lots of short trips I wouldn't go beyond 3000mi or 3 months between oil changes.

I wish you luck with this and keep us posted. It sounds like your original dealer is going to make things right.

FWIW, I use 5w30 synthetic oil in my 2019. Usually Supertech high mileage synthetic and I don't go beyond 4000mi.
 
#6 ·
thanks for the replies !!
so the dealer in Maryland where I was stranded has already had Nissan deny the claim on the power train warranty and cancel it because she was just a piece of work. At this point I’d be happy to allow it to sit like the overpriced paperweight it has become for 30 days lemon law it and get something new because even with a new engine how can I ever trust this car again.
My dealer is running absolutely scared, wants me to bring it to them an hour away instead of having it at the local Nissan where I can check on it anytime I want.
the dealer has all the paperwork dude changed the oil about every 3,000 miles, Nissan is in for a ride with me
 
#7 · (Edited)
If one dealer has completely shut you down at this point for what ever reason and the other is willing to make it right so you can at least get out of the vehicle if you choose to, this is a no brainer IMO. It's all a big pain in the butt and I feel for you, but schidt happens.

Not really sure how lemon law would apply to this. It varies from state to state, plus it can be a long and drawn out process.

It typically only applies after repeated attempts to fix something in conjunction with a number of days it was out of commission because of the issue.

If this vehicle truly had an oil change done every 3k miles, there's other issues going on.

In reality, even if it only saw 2-3 oil changes in 36k miles, no engine should sludge to the point of destruction.

For reference, read this thread. It's not a Pathfinder, but basically the same vehicle, same engine: 2017 Engine Sludge= New Engine?

Here's the other thread I was referring to above: 17 nissan pathfinder warranty issues

Hope this helps.
 
#8 ·
I agree with you pomanz, I was out of town and being treated like **** at the pit of town dealership, I called the dealer I bought it from and due to laws in my state it only has to sit for 30 days to be considered a lemon as it is within 1 year and 12,000 miles of purchase. The owner of my dealership knows this and knows if I go that route they will have to pay off my loan and possibly either replace the Pathfinder with a new one or another brand new vehicle of my choice.
this would be the reason they are so very willing to fight on my behalf. my dealer already knows that all replacing will be done at the dealer close to me so I can check on it at will and that it will have to gone over with a fine tooth comb before I will take it back
 
#9 ·
Just out of interest what state are you in.
 
#10 ·
I posted this thread up in a very busy automotive forum I've been active on for many years. No real activity on it. All I can assume is very few people own this engine and those that do, don't post their experiences.
 
#12 ·
I am not a lawyer but I believe for the 30 day lemon law rule to kick in, Nissan must first acknowledge that the burden of the repair is on them and have not taken care of it.
Do you have physical records of all the oil changes? If so, I'd scan and send those to Nissan demanding them to explain why would they deny the repair under warranty. Do it in writing, stop making phone calls just in case you need to get a lawyer involved.
 
#13 ·
Thanks for the input jman, I have thoroughly researched the lemon law in my state as my state is what I have to go by. As I said in the op I have to get the records from original owner and the dealer I bought it from is making that happen for me. Paperwork is easily thrown away or “lost” by companies that’s why it is mostly phased out for big corp in favor of emails and scans
 
#14 ·
I know from my 2003 I purchased used the dealer could pull up the build sheet and all maintenance and repairs done at another nissan dealer in the 15 months and 23000 miles before I purchased it.
Why not ask the service people nicely to give you a copy.
Also the carfax reports often list service done at dealers and other shops although I admit its spotty
Good luck
 
#17 ·
I know from my 2003 I purchased used the dealer could pull up the build sheet and all maintenance and repairs done at another nissan dealer in the 15 months and 23000 miles before I purchased it.
Why not ask the service people nicely to give you a copy.
Also the carfax reports often list service done at dealers and other shops although I admit its spotty
Good luck
Thanks for the veiled insult I’m not a moron, I have the carfax, they stopped taking it to the dealer because the dealer was 45 minutes away from them. There is no blame to that I wouldn’t want to drive 1.5 hour round trip for an oil change. Reporting oil changes isn’t mandatory anywhere
 
#24 ·
I appreciate the insight on that.

I too have used M1 and have used RP, amsoil and various other expensive boutique oils over the past 35yrs or so.

Having been an active BITOG forum member for almost 18yrs, I've been through a lot of it and have seen a lot of oil analysis reports. Supertech is a decent oil for the price. I wouldn't do extended drain intervals on this particular engine and therefore don't want to waste an expensive oil.
 
#25 ·
Reading all this , it make me feel ok about my 2017 pathfinder, I bought new 2017 currently 41K on it , done all oil changes to dealer just for the safe side and even done before even hit 4500 k between oil changes , and I’m so glad I purchased 2400$ Extended warranty till 120 K bumper to bumper , so far is running ok , they just perform the ABS Module recall ,I guess time will tell
 
#29 · (Edited)
I know you all have been waiting with bated breath to find out the end of this story. Turns out Nissan and my dealer both sold a sludged engine my dealer coped to it and replaced it and I got it back this evening. Infortunetly it sounds like utter **** like the timining is off or something and my rpms at idle when it’s first started are straight up wild so back to the dealer it goes to have the brand new engine looked at again
 
#30 ·
I know you all have been waiting with bated breath to find out the end of this story. Turns out Nissan and my dealer both sold a sludged engine my dealer coped to it and replaced it and I got it back this evening. Infortunetly it sounds like utter **** like the timining is off or something and my rpms at idle when it’s first started are straight up wild so back to the dealer it goes to have the brand new engine looked at again
Appreciate the update. Hopefully it's something simple with the new engine. Keep us posted.
 
#31 ·
So I’ve owned this piece of junk for 4 months, haven’t even put 3,000 miles on it. Took a 375 mile trip and in the last 10 miles got a low oil pressure light. Parked it for the night started back up in the morning to a check engine light. Plenty of oil and such. Had it towed to the only dealer in 150 miles they are telling me the engine is completely full of sludge and has to be replaced but it’s my fault and Nissan isn’t going to cover it.
thankfully my brother in law is taking mercy on me and coming down to tow it back to the home dealer. I called the dealer I bought it from and they are running scared of a lemon law suit and telling me they have all the records from 1st owner and will fight Nissan for me. Was wonder what the collective thoughts would be
Thanks all
 
#34 ·
To the OP, your experience is why I NEVER buy a used vehicle without being able to confirm its maintenance history and what type of motor oil was used. I once bought an Acura TL on eBay from 900 miles away only because I was able to research the VIN, determine the selling and servicing dealer and obtain all of its service records from an Illinois Acura dealer.
 
#35 ·
So I’ve owned this piece of junk for 4 months, haven’t even put 3,000 miles on it. Took a 375 mile trip and in the last 10 miles got a low oil pressure light. Parked it for the night started back up in the morning to a check engine light. Plenty of oil and such. Had it towed to the only dealer in 150 miles they are telling me the engine is completely full of sludge and has to be replaced but it’s my fault and Nissan isn’t going to cover it.
thankfully my brother in law is taking mercy on me and coming down to tow it back to the home dealer. I called the dealer I bought it from and they are running scared of a lemon law suit and telling me they have all the records from 1st owner and will fight Nissan for me. Was wonder what the collective thoughts would be
Thanks all
I've had the same problem. Any suggestions for what you have done?
 
#37 ·
I have a 2018 Pathfinder. Would you guys recommend adding a crankcase cleaner and running that for 10 mins before an oil change? Just want to ensure that this doesn't happen to mine. Looks and drives fine. I haven't noticed any smoke except for this one time I pushed it hard on the highway once. I never saw it smoke again.
 
#38 ·
@jhanbhaia Have you owned your 2018 since new and have not exceeded 5000 miles between oil changes?

I wouldn't recommend any type of engine flush unless it was a last ditch effort to try to get some additional time out of a failing engine.

If you're concerned, I would do as I do and change your oil/filter every 3000-3500 miles. I use synthetic 5w30 as opposed to the recommended 0w20 as well. I'm assuming all these sludged up engines used 0w20. I've never heard otherwise.
 
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#39 ·
Just dumped my 2017 for this exact reason. Dealer tried telling me sludge because my window sticker showed 15k mile interval when I told them I change my own oil 90% of the time.

Ill never own another Nissan that's for sure.

The one thing I will say is that these motors run hot from experience and the direct injection and hotness requires very very frequent oil changes.

My guess with your motor is that if it's not sludges, the tensioner loosened and timing jumped a tooth...not enough to shatter the engine but enough to cause problems.
 
#40 ·
That does suck. Sorry to hear about your issues.

Did you own your 2017 from new? How many miles on it? Do you figure you did oil changes about every 5000 miles?

Sorry about all the questions. I've been trying to tabulate data on this issue for about 3yrs now.
 
#43 · (Edited)
@tronious I am not having any problems thus far with my 2019. It currently has 76K miles on it and I bought it used as an ex-rental in Oct 2019 w/ 24K miles on it. I did an oil change a few days after I got it home, even though the dealer had done it, because the oil looked dark to me. I did some digging online and found the situation you ran into. Since that first oil change, I've been running full synthetic 5w30 as opposed to the recommended 0w20 and I change it every 3000-4000 miles religiously. My engine looks spotless based on what I can see through the filler cap, even though the oil drains out black @ 3500 miles.

I also do drain/fills on the CVT every 10K miles or so and have drained/refilled the transfer case 3x and the rear diff 1x.

If something fails on my pathfinder, it is NOT going to be from lack of fluid/maintenance. LOL

Where you screwed the pooch was going 10-12K miles between oil changes on a direct injected engine. GDI puts more contaminates in the engine oil than port injection does. Lots more. The fanciest boutique ~5quarts of liquid gold in the world won't hold up to that.
 
#44 ·
@tronious I am not having any problems thus far with my 2019. It currently has 76K miles on it and I bought it used as an ex-rental in Oct 2019 w/ 24K miles on it. I did an oil change a few days after I got it home, even though the dealer had done it, because the oil looked dark to me. I did some digging online and found the situation you ran into. Since that first oil change, I've been running full synthetic 5w30 as opposed to the recommended 0w20 and I change it every 3000-4000 miles religiously. My engine looks spotless based on what I can see through the filler cap, even though the oil drains out black @ 3500 miles.

I also do drain/fills on the CVT every 10K miles or so and have drained/refilled the transfer case 3x and the rear diff 1x.

If something fails on my pathfinder, it is NOT going to be from lack of fluid/maintenance. LOL

Where you screwed the pooch was going 10-12K miles between oil changes on a direct injected engine. GDI puts more contaminates in the engine oil than port injection does. Lots more. The fanciest boutique ~5quarts of liquid gold in the world won't hold up to that.
Yeah I hear you but I didn't go 10k-12k. I went 7500-10k

Just a difference of opinion here...but I disagree that going 7500-10k is going to cause an engine to sludge. Not with fully synthetic Mobil 1 or Royal Purple.

The VVT systems in these cars rely on the correct weight oil to operate correctly so take that for what it's worth. I wouldn't run anything but what the manufacturer recommends and Nissan will probably so "sorry" when it comes to anything motor related if they find out you didn't run the recommended weight.

I could be wrong...just speaking from experience.

Good on you for the maintenance dedication. I think that's overkill but more power to you 👍

I also don't think I screwed the pooch. My issue was most likely the tension weakened and the chain jumped a tooth.

I replaced on of the VVT solenoids mine in the hopes the screen was clogged or something (which hmif I'm being honest I would have been very surprised if it was) with no luck.

Sounds like you know your stuff with the engine. Good luck with it
 
#45 ·
Also at the end of the day I would simy say that Nissan does have an inherent flaw in this motor.

It runs hot and no modern engine should require oil changes every 5k miles direct injection or not.

I know enough people with direct injection who are certainly not very dedicated to their car maintenance and they don't have their engine "sludging" as the dealer calls it after 66k miles (as they claimed on mine)

Also in terms of proving sludge, my dealer popped the crankcase cap, looked at the inside of the cap and no said "looks like some sludge on the inside of the cap" and put in my record engine sludge.

Didn't drop the pan, didn't pull the valve cover and actually look.
 
#48 ·
@tronious There is another curious aspect of the 2017+ that I recently discovered with my 2019.

Because of the absolutely ridiculous design of the dipstick "tube" on these engines, dirt, grit, grime, etc build up on the stupid guide chute as you drive. It's like a little shovel waiting to scoop things up. When you pull the dipstick to check oil level, what ever debris has settled on that chute comes out on the stick, making the oil look like it's got crap in it.

I honestly believe this is one of the factors dealer service says "sludge".

The only other thing in my mind is these engines may have some inherent PCV problem, causing the oil to contaminate quicker than it should.

I haven't run a scan tool with live data on mine, but my 2019 does not seem to run too hot or too cold.
 
#49 ·
Totally agree about the dipstick. The dipstick who came up with that design was high that day.

As far as running hot, I admittedly have never run a data grab on it. I'm being that solely on the fact that my coolant levels always went down over time and the rad fans ran...A LOT.

That was something I noticed after probably two months of ownership. Nissan is too big to ever admit a flaw in that motor but (while I can't prove what it is) way to many people experiencing similar issues with the motor.
 
#52 ·
Very sorry to hear about this.

What year Pathfinder and did you own it since new? What oil change interval did you use?

How did the dealer determine the sludge issue? Reason I ask that is, it could look like sludge on the disptick because of the design of the dipstick tube.
 
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