This is easily the most disappointed I’ve ever been in a teardown in the last 5+ years.
Today we have a 3.8L V6, known as the VQ38DD from a 2022 Nissan Frontier with 120K miles. This engine is built on the same VQ architecture Nissan has used for the last 25+ years. While having 120k over 4-5 years is a lot, 120K is still not high mileage for catastrophic failure, but here we are.
This failure is absolutely shocking to me, and really unfortunate for Nissan, Frontier owners and future owners. The culprit here will likely become an infamous failure, but the worst part is the overall cost to keep it from happening is over 3 times the price of that of its predecessor. This is absurd, and the bean counters have won again. Lets just home a revised version of this part is produced to make it a “permanent” fix.
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Every week I post a new teardown video of a blown up or suspected bad engine. Check out a few of my favorites!
RECALLED Nissan Rogue VC-Turbo 3 Cylinder: https://youtu.be/Wqccs9XjMKs
The best euro v8 is actually Japanese? Volvo B8444S Teardown https://youtu.be/pPhC5JmcYNQ
Toyota Tundra V35A “DEBRIS” LOL Teardown https://youtu.be/vL4tIHf_9i8
Why am I doing this? My name is Eric and I own and run Importapart, a full service auto dismantling business. Part of our model includes buying blown up and bad engines to dismantle for parts. We salvage the good, sellable parts and recycle rest. No, we don’t rebuild engines but we do sell parts to people who do!
As always I hope you enjoyed this video. I love all of the comments, feedback and even the criticism. Catch you on the next one!
-Eric
00:00 Intro
02:57 Pulling the spark plugs and inspecting
03:30 unbolting the lower intake manifold and checking out the cartoned up intake valves.
05:29 Zipping out the RH Valve cover bolts
05:59 YUCK, that’s not just oil 🙁
07:01 Removing the LH valve cover, ITS EVERYWHERE
08:28 The crank bolt isn’t tight when you have weighted sockets!
08:52 Unbolting just a couple timing cover bolts, the Nissan VQ way!
10:02 Prying off the timing cover and revealing the…
11:30 DUN DUN DUN! Here’s the problem and it’s gonna be BAD for Nissan!
12:55 A Closer look at what I hope isn’t a trend for the new frontier
15:54 Removing the inner timing cover
17:09 Cramming the cam crams loose on the LH bank, then inspecting the valvetrain
18:39 Cracking the LH Head bolts loose and lifting the head
19:27 This core engine was stored in Nature’s Outdoor Warehouse
20:09 Rusty Science, then camming more cam cramps loose
20:53 Inspecting the RH valve train and then cracking the head bolts loose
22:11 Rusty and untrusty?
23:01 Turning the short block over to drain engine juice and then removing the lower oil pan
24:40 Unbolting and removing the upper oil pan
26:08 Removing the disassembling the oil pump
27:20 Unbolting the bed plate nnnnnn
28:00 nnnnnnnnnnNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
29:40 NNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
30:15 MY PLAN IS NOT WORKING
30:43 ERIC THR BARBARIC
31:06 OH THE HUMANITY
31:49 WEEEE ON FIREEEE
32:15 yes? yes? Yeah? Yeah! YEAH YES YES! But that was just one
33:06 I am not a mechanic, but THIS is THE PLAN
34:21 THE FINAL POP OF SUCCESS
35:02 The bed plate, the mighty VQ Bed plate, is OFF
35:30 Cracking the rod cap bolts loose and removing the rod caps
36:15 Plucking the crankshaft out of the engine, then pushing the rods and pistons out of their bores
37:14 Full rotating assembly inspection, crank, rods, pistons, rings, bearings, bores and block
41:03 Summary
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Ok so it’s pretty apparent many didn’t watch the outtro.
A few points here.
1. The fact that the water pump is internal is NOT the problem. The VQ has been around since the 90’s and I’ve never seen a water pump fail this way. By the way, the angle of the chain on the pump has been the same for decades!
2. This truck was neglected for sure. Easy to see. However, vq’s have been neglected and abused their entire life and again, I’ve never seen this.
3. The water pump in the vq38 is NOT the same pump in the earlier vq’s. They changed it. It looks similar, but they changed it.
4. I see more broken stuff than most people in the industry so it’s often I see failures in their infancy.
5. The biggest gripe I have is the increased labor time for repair, or even to be proactive.
Thanks for coming to this ted talk.
Please compare the VQ38/VQ40 water pumps; I have a ‘17 Frontier V6 with 110,000 miles and am curious on the quality of the water pumps. Being an OEM quality manager, I can definitely say automotive manufacturing quality took a nose dive during / after COVID and is taking a loooong time to recover!
24:17 chile con queso dip
I didn't know Adam Sandler had a side job tearing down bad engines.
I'll never agree with an internal water pump. When you park your car in the garage at night and catch a whiff of coolant you know to pop the hood and investigate. Not going to get that clue with an internal pump. Shame.
This engine it’s really reliable lol you’re just hating on Nissan this is most a owner problem he didn’t do maintenance
Nice video,,,,,, reminding me why l don't buy Nissans. l will stick with the good-old 1GR in the Prado.
well, if the water pump bearings are roughly the same size as the other VQ engines, then it would be a simple solution for them to go back to the good bearings that they were using. let's hope they have already done that. The lack of the access panel still suck though.
This is stupid. You take a core engine with no history. Mileage, maintenance, where used and by whom. The reason this engine is in this shape was that the owner was a total Wad. No service at all. To say Nissan has problems with their 3.8 is BS. It’s like taking a junkyard Buick engine sitting in the dirt and saying Buick has a major problem. You’d be better at a YouTube cooking show.
if it isnt locked or block inst cracked.. y not let them try to run.. ? i dont get it
What's wrong with you Nissan Engineering?? it will problem like same as CVT transmission huh?
Well that is dumb as a Subaru, way over complicated engine with a time bomb water pump, simplify the front cover use an electric or belt pump, sure glad I don’t own one. Never saw a a 231” engine take up that much volume, sorry I think engineers are setting customers up for disaster.
Moral of the story:
DON’T BUY ANY NEW CAR
I almost bought a used 2025 Pro-4X a week ago. That would have been my third Frontier. I traded my 2010 Crew Cab in at 179,000 on the 2018 I have now with 185,000. Starts and drives almost like new. The AC has never even been serviced. The 4.0 liter VQ engine and old school 5 speed auto transmission are extremely reliable in this. Thanks to this teardown I'm going to wait a bit and see what happens with this 3.8.
just simply spit something. doesnt need to be profound. "oh look, that crack!" will give many, MANY, a means to delve further. 🙂
The one thing i could never get from you is the way the Oil and Transmission pans work. not coincided. but simply how the machinations work to NEED those two. ❤
Nissan is a design flaw
Boxer engine
It's okay. Needs a flush and water pump only
Remind us all not to use welding on brake fluid. Stay safe!
hay blow hole it has a new parts on they tried to find the noise
Water pump must cause engine failure
The Car Care Nut warned of this issue….
the 45+k price for most new vehicles aside, that manufacturers/engineers think putting the water pump internal, and other ridiculous, non DIY fixable items, is the reason i would i will just keep fixing my old, 300k+ mile vehicles.
would be interesting to know the brand of bearing that was in that pump
Can someone explain what single benefit direct injection provides over mpi.
I feel like it's possible that unbolting the bedplate before loosening the main cap bolts may have lead to the main cap bolts being more stubborn to loosen. That was wild to watch them not budge and just twist the bolt heads off.. It certainly didn't help that the bolt heads were so small.
26:51 Giggity.
In the 80's and 90's Nissans were great. In the 2000's they merged with the French automaker Renault and the downfall began. And that downfall never stopped, it is still going on