Hello!
It's humbling to have to post this, especially because the issue I'm sharing is due to a failure to do simple maintenance on my vehicle. I own a Nissan NV 3500, a 12-seater passenger van. With 7 kids, this vehicle was the best option for us. It has about 55,000 km on it. Unfortunately, I neglected an oil change for about 30,000 km (18,000 miles).
Last month, I started experiencing a couple of issues. First, I heard a metal buzzing sound that I initially thought might be a heat shield, but now I'm not sure. I continue to hear this sound when I'm accelerating Second, when I would accelerate to get on the highway, the truck would sometimes misfire; I would lose power and feel a bit of a jolt. It would usually happen only if I tried to accelerate more aggressively. I took it in, thinking it was a transmission issue, but they told me there was sludge in the engine. They tried flushing it twice, but it hasn't fixed the problem. They said I probably need a new engine.
The truck is still drivable. I can mostly avoid misfires if I don't accelerate too quickly, but the performance isn't great even when I try to accelerate more quickly anyways. Another thing I've noticed is that when I take my foot off the gas, there's a bit of resistance, similar to when you downshift in a manual transmission. The vehicle slows down slightly quicker than it should. It's almost unnoticeable, but I do notice it.
The check engine light is on, and the codes are:
- P0024: Exhaust Valve Timing Control B2
- P0019: (Refer to OEM repair information for code description)
The dealer said that because of the sludge, it's pointless to chase codes since the sludge could be causing any of them.
My Question:
Should I just replace the engine? It's looking like at least $20,000 CAD. If not, what would you suggest be my next step to diagnose the issue? Any suggestions on where I should start based on the symptoms and codes? I will replace the engine if necessary, but I'd like my kids to go to college. I feel like the dealer suggested a replacement awfully quickly; I do realize however, that we could get in there, do thousands of dollars work trying to diagnose... only to realize we chased the wrong rabbit trail... I think this is what the dealer was trying to avoid in suggesting a replacement. Anyways, let me know if you have any suggestions.
Crazy... Nissan suggested a $25000 engine replacement... They told me because of the sludge it would be a waste of time to chase error codes... I saw an independent mechanic today, and his answer was "That sounds like a sensor issue" We reset the error codes, and immediately performance improved and the misfires were gone... The mechanic will keep the truck to remove the sensors, clean them, and put them back. 2 hours max.
I just saved $24,750
The dealer said that because of the sludge...
Get a second opinion from a good independent mechanic. A dealer is the last place to take a vehicle for other than warranty service. If you do need a replacement engine it should cost a lot less if you decide to go that route.
Welcome to the forum. Doesn’t sound good. But I am with @chucktobias that you should go to an independent shop. They can almost certainly fix it cheaper than a dealer, especially if it does need a new/used engine.
I wonder if it is worth replacing the engine; probably so because I have heard those are decent vans for big families.
Crazy... Nissan suggested a $25000 engine replacement... They told me because of the sludge it would be a waste of time to chase error codes... I saw an independent mechanic today, and his answer was "That sounds like a sensor issue" We reset the error codes, and immediately performance improved and the misfires were gone...
Thanks for letting us know. This is a classic case of why we advise people to stay away from dealers for everything but warranty repairs and recalls.
However, going that long without oil changes was definitely not a good thing. You might want to do a few short-term oil and filter changes to clean out as much sludge as possible.
