[Refatb]

Hey man. Doing alright. So, yes, all the accessories bolt on. The alternator and the AC compressor are identical between model years, and the crankshaft pulley is also the same. The starter is the same as well. You can swap the alternator, compressor, and starter over with no issues. The transmission is also identical.

I'll need to track down the pinout diagram we've put together so far. I still haven't completed tracking down the pins for the evap stuff (time has been challenging for me and my buddy), but once you get to that step, you've got a running vehicle. It just doesn't complete the throttle relearn, and works only in closed loop. Not a huge issue from a functionality standpoint. I've driven it for a year as is, and it's served me pretty well.

That said: you'll use the DE harness on the DE. It will connect up in the junction box. The connectors are identical, but that's where some of the pinouts get hinky. Also to note, on the 17+, the MAF sensor connector is body side, on the DE, it's engine side. We turned that into a big grounding strap, and hooked it up to the frame, which resolved the residual electrical gremlins we were having at that time.

So, hopefully your shop in question has someone that's really good at board work. The EEPROM that the VIN resides on is tiny, significantly smaller than the size of my pinky nail. Fortunately, the hexedit is simple, if you can get it to that point. You'll replace the VIN on the pre-existing ECU with the VIN on the body. That'll allow everything to talk. NATS uses the VIN as the encryption key for the LAN.

Another point to note is that there is not a ton of space to work with as regards the body side harness. They'll have to get creative there. There's also only one spot that the ECU really fits securely, and that's the bracket where the VVT controller and TCM live. I got creative with a dremel and made that work.

I'll get back to you when I've had a chance to track down the pin out changes we've made. There's fortunately only a handful. Most of the harness changes were lazily executed by Nissan.

The new Shop got the VQ35DE in. Now waiting to do the wiring. Found someone else to do EEPROM management to re-vin the 2016 ECU/ECM. They had to replace the Altenator, a broken engine mount and Hose. They charged me $1,743 for the extra parts and labor. The ECU/ECM guy will charge me seperately for the EEPROM board work.

 

[Bravo64]

The new Shop got the VQ35DE in. Now waiting to do the wiring. Found someone else to do EEPROM management to re-vin the 2016 ECU/ECM

Hey man- I'm still tracking it down. My buddy may have it. I apologize, it's been a bit of a crazy couple of days. I landed a new job out of the blue and start Monday.

 

[Bravo64]

The new Shop got the VQ35DE in. Now waiting to do the wiring. Found someone else to do EEPROM management to re-vin the 2016 ECU/ECM. They had to replace the Altenator, a broken engine mount and Hose. They charged me $1,743 for the extra parts and labor. The ECU/ECM guy will charge me seperately for the EEPROM board work.

$1743 is a hell of a good deal there, all said.

 

[Refatb]

Hey man- I'm still tracking it down. My buddy may have it. I apologize, it's been a bit of a crazy couple of days. I landed a new job out of the blue and start Monday.

Congrats on the new job, good luck tomorrow.

 

[Refatb]

hey man i hope you're doing good.

quick update, so the ecu/ecm the junkyard gave was from a nissan maxima, i went back and exchanged it for a pathfinder. The shop guy opened it and in the process of removing the eeprom chip broke the pins, he said they were glued down. So my only option now is to shell out $604 for a brand new ecu/ecm from the dealer.

 

[Refatb]

$1743 is a hell of a good deal there, all said.

Hey how are you, I hope you're doing well. I have a big issue with the swap. The shop grounded the DD maf and programmed the vin to the new dealer DE ecu, they connected the DE maf. They said the ecu almost got fried due to the DD maf grounding, so they removed it. They got the car to crank but it's not starting.

They fried the brand new ecm, the DD maf that they turned to a ground had a purple power wire in it and it also blew a bunch of other fuses.

I mailed the ECM to florida to have it opened up and repaired. can't afford to buy another new ECM.

 

[Refatb]

 

[blaze2051]

Also, as mentioned: the salvage yard gave me the whole dang wiring harness with the DE. Figure it's worth a show.

View attachment 20238

what year DE did engine come out of?

 

[Bravo64]

what year DE did engine come out of?

2016 QX60.

 

[blaze2051]

2016 QX60.

nice write up and amazing work yet scary to tackle something like that

 

[Rusty81]

Additionally: things observed so far- definitely issues with the PCV hose. It was definitely collapsed. The interior of the engine is horrible despite regular oil changes at or between 5000-7500mi. I've had the vehicle since 2019. I wish that the sludge issue had materialized sooner- I wouldn't have bought the darned thing. Oh well. It's also shocking how closely the two engines compare. There have been a couple of moments where we took a look at the donor engine and at the one still in frame and gone, "Wait, did they sell us a DD on accident?" It's only when you see something like the oilcap being shifted over from centered to the side a piece that you realize that no, they did not in fact.

At any rate, feeling pretty positive about this so far. Wiring is going to be a pain in the ass, and we're planning to source an ECU from a '15-'16 to get around some of the programming, but that's where we sit. It's very fortunate that the DE has been worked on and worked over by a generation of tuners out there.

 

[Rusty81]

We're you able to swap the dd out for a de and if so I would like to ask about specifics mainly wiring

 

[PoManzPathy]

As much as I respect and commend you guys who are willing and able to do the VQ35DD to DE swap, will it work out long term in keeping the MIL off and at what cost?

Reason I ask this is, if you live in a CARB state like NY, you'll never get the thing to pass mandatory yearly state inspection if more than 1-2 monitors isn't set or the MIL is on. This is a royal PITA for the 6-8 CARB states these days.

 

[Bravo64]

As much as I respect and commend you guys who are willing and able to do the VQ35DD to DE swap, will it work out long term in keeping the MIL off and at what cost?

Reason I ask this is, if you live in a CARB state like NY, you'll never get the thing to pass mandatory yearly state inspection if more than 1-2 monitors isn't set or the MIL is on. This is a royal PITA for the 6-8 CARB states these days.

Yeah, I'm not in a CARB state. In general, it's been working pretty well, minus the usual junkyard motor woes. At present, it's a VQ35DE common issue- the spark plug tube seals wore out on two cylinders. Ran into an issue where I was blowing coil fuses last week. Should've done coils and plugs while the engine was out. Now doing them in frame. Hasn't been too bad, less that. Nissan, in their infinite wisdom, has decided that they want to press fit these gaskets into the valve cover. It's technically a non-serviceable, replace whole valve cover situation. I've found a couple options around it. Debating which way to go.

Beyond that is my long-standing issue with the evap solenoid. Because I'm not in a CARB state, I haven't chased it down yet. Was planning to chase it down, but hadn't gotten to it yet. I have an alldatadiy subscription, and have started to go back over the wiring diagram against what we re-pinned.

We're you able to swap the dd out for a de and if so I would like to ask about specifics mainly wiring

What's your specific question?

 

[Bravo64]

So- continuing update, mechanical, not electrical. As mentioned above, had worn spark plug tube seals. Nissan calls for a full valve cover replacement. This, however, would not be the Frankenfinder if I wasn't about to hodgepodge a solution (for now). This is apparently a common issue to the VQs, to the point that multiple people have come upon a solution- cut out the press fit blown gaskets, and replace them with a double stack of 2010 honda civic 2.0 tube seal gaskets, with a little RTV.

I'm in the process of that, but in the interim:

Have some pics from inside bank 1 of the Frankenfinder DE:

 

[blaze2051]

So- continuing update, mechanical, not electrical. As mentioned above, had worn spark plug tube seals. Nissan calls for a full valve cover replacement. This, however, would not be the Frankenfinder if I wasn't about to hodgepodge a solution (for now). This is apparently a common issue to the VQs, to the point that multiple people have come upon a solution- cut out the press fit blown gaskets, and replace them with a double stack of 2010 honda civic 2.0 tube seal gaskets, with a little RTV.

I'm in the process of that, but in the interim:

Have some pics from inside bank 1 of the Frankenfinder DE:

View attachment 22623
View attachment 22622

So- continuing update, mechanical, not electrical. As mentioned above, had worn spark plug tube seals. Nissan calls for a full valve cover replacement. This, however, would not be the Frankenfinder if I wasn't about to hodgepodge a solution (for now). This is apparently a common issue to the VQs, to the point that multiple people have come upon a solution- cut out the press fit blown gaskets, and replace them with a double stack of 2010 honda civic 2.0 tube seal gaskets, with a little RTV.

I'm in the process of that, but in the interim:

Have some pics from inside bank 1 of the Frankenfinder DE:

View attachment 22623
View attachment 22622

nice pictures, I currently own DD 17 PF, and i used my borescope to look inside via oil filler and it looked spotless, could not see any trace of sludge anywhere. I did use 5w-30 before but only for about 5k miles just to try it out but usually we use 0w-20 every 4-5k miles

 

[UpRockCreek53]

So- continuing update, mechanical, not electrical. As mentioned above, had worn spark plug tube seals. Nissan calls for a full valve cover replacement. This, however, would not be the Frankenfinder if I wasn't about to hodgepodge a solution (for now). This is apparently a common issue to the VQs, to the point that multiple people have come upon a solution- cut out the press fit blown gaskets, and replace them with a double stack of 2010 honda civic 2.0 tube seal gaskets, with a little RTV.

I'm in the process of that, but in the interim:

Have some pics from inside bank 1 of the Frankenfinder DE:

View attachment 22623
View attachment 22622

She's lean, mean and very clean! What rtv are you using since others will want to not use just anything out there.

 

[Bravo64]

She's lean, mean and very clean! What rtv are you using since others will want to not use just anything out there.

Ultra Black.

So, had a hiccup in that the valve cover cracked. Out on the new valve cover, now. Annoyed, but I'll still be using the ultra black on the indicated high corner points.

 

[Bravo64]

So: continuation of last update: grounds are gonna be the death of me.

Got everything bolted up after the valve cover swapover. All goes back in, and good. Go to start up.

No crank, no start. Start by popping over to alldata.

Look at the starting circuit.

Fuel pump looks wired different. Out goes the 16 fuel pump I installed, in goes the 17. Doesn't fix it. Starter relay is built into the IPDM. Get one from a salvage yard for $20. Doesn't fix it. Replace the starter with a salvage yard starter for $30. Still nothing. Replace the Fusible link, mine was looking rough and pitted. Nothing.

Finally, replace the 4 gauge battery to starter wire. Nothing. This goes on for about three weeks. I'm increasingly frustrated. I ask my buddy, "the negative battery cable probably won't cause this, right?" "You didn't mess with the engine ground, did you?" "Nope." So: I pull the battery tray, and take a gander, following the engine ground, which for reference, hasn't been touched since we installed the engine. It's worked fine for over a year.

What's floating loose on the bolt? The engine ground. Go to tighten the bolt. It's bottomed out. When we put it together, in a hurry we put the wrong length bolt in.

Go back to my drawer of miscellany, and find a shorter bolt that matches thread pitch. Romove, replace, and the Frankenfinder chugs right over.

Learn from me: check your **** grounds.


Anyway: after replacing the plugs and coils, the Frankenfinder is smoother than it's been since before I started having problems with the DD. I've also learned that the '22 fan assembly is identical, despite the parts fiche. I replaced the fan assembly and radiator at the beginning of summer, along with the right front fender and headlight, from when they were damaged in a fender bended. The radiator was gunked up, and the aftermarket fan assembly was not making the power needed to cool, to the point that I was getting intermittent overheating. I'm not, anymore. Big fan of that. (I'll see myself out)

The 17 Jatco CVT is still running like a top. No issues here. Now, I'm going to work on solving the final few hangups so I can get the MIL to go away. That's just "chase the wires".

 

[Refatb]

So: continuation of last update: grounds are gonna be the death of me.

Got everything bolted up after the valve cover swapover. All goes back in, and good. Go to start up.

No crank, no start. Start by popping over to alldata.

Look at the starting circuit.

Fuel pump looks wired different. Out goes the 16 fuel pump I installed, in goes the 17. Doesn't fix it. Starter relay is built into the IPDM. Get one from a salvage yard for $20. Doesn't fix it. Replace the starter with a salvage yard starter for $30. Still nothing. Replace the Fusible link, mine was looking rough and pitted. Nothing.

Finally, replace the 4 gauge battery to starter wire. Nothing. This goes on for about three weeks. I'm increasingly frustrated. I ask my buddy, "the negative battery cable probably won't cause this, right?" "You didn't mess with the engine ground, did you?" "Nope." So: I pull the battery tray, and take a gander, following the engine ground, which for reference, hasn't been touched since we installed the engine. It's worked fine for over a year.

What's floating loose on the bolt? The engine ground. Go to tighten the bolt. It's bottomed out. When we put it together, in a hurry we put the wrong length bolt in.

Go back to my drawer of miscellany, and find a shorter bolt that matches thread pitch. Romove, replace, and the Frankenfinder chugs right over.

Learn from me: check your **** grounds.


Anyway: after replacing the plugs and coils, the Frankenfinder is smoother than it's been since before I started having problems with the DD. I've also learned that the '22 fan assembly is identical, despite the parts fiche. I replaced the fan assembly and radiator at the beginning of summer, along with the right front fender and headlight, from when they were damaged in a fender bended. The radiator was gunked up, and the aftermarket fan assembly was not making the power needed to cool, to the point that I was getting intermittent overheating. I'm not, anymore. Big fan of that. (I'll see myself out)

The 17 Jatco CVT is still running like a top. No issues here. Now, I'm going to work on solving the final few hangups so I can get the MIL to go away. That's just "chase the wires".

Hey man, how are you? How's the new job going?

btw I gave up on my DD to DE swap, there's no real mechanics in NYC anymore, they're all just parts changers.

I ended up buying a new car a 2026 Cadillac Vistiq EV. 615 HP/650lb torque, haven't had it for a month already got a speeding ticket.