GlennM35

Awesome, thanks for the info Adam!

My rebuilt turbo should be arriving from Hypergear sometime next week and I've just called my mates who removed the busted turbo to organise a time to refit it. They're still taking my calls which is a good sign! My friends told me to source some replacement gaskets for the intake/turbo/dump/exhaust, but some ebay and google searching hasn't turned up anything for me unfortunately. This is the second turbo replacement on my M35 (this one is due to oil starvation - totally my fault) but I can't remember the first replacement requiring any new gaskets... So my question is do I need new gaskets and if so how/where do I get them? Thanks! Glenn

Cool. Well I think I'll probably go ahead with getting my mates to do it at my place, thanks for the info Scotty!

Thanks for that. I'll go see the guy today if get time and suggest to take the sump off and have a look. The diagnostics so far seem to be based off of talking to people rather than actually looking.

Thanks for the referral, I'll give him a call this week. He didn't mention any findings in the oil. It sounds like he's talked to a few people that have said what MAY happen in a worst case scenario. Surely if you replace the oil line, flush everything out again, remove whatever bits from the old turbo that are laying around the piping, and prime the new turbo properly, you shouldn't have any more risk than normal? I'm in Canberra, probably a bit far for you to come and look!

...... 3 months later and my mechanic has managed to procrastinate about this job the whole time. The ticking noise has gone away after flushing some oil through the engine and topping things up. The theory is it might have been a stuck lifter due to low oil levels. So that just leaves me with the busted turbo. I've organised for some mechanically minded friends to do the turbo swap in my backyard but when I rang the mechanic today he started on about how he's spoken to 3 workshops about the car, and all advise against replacing the turbo, saying that it's a gamble that the second turbo could blow up due to oil contamination/loose fragments left from the old turbo, and that the car was running with the lifter problem for so long etc so who knows what other damage has been done etc... He advised sourcing another motor and swapping the lot, or selling as is. The question is, does this sound right? There has to be plenty of other people that are as hopeless as me with checking oil and servicing that have blown up turbos from oil starvation and I'm pretty sure they don't chuck the whole motor because of it. Any advice? Ultimately looking to sell the car as I already have its replacement. Thanks for your help guys!

It's on idle, becomes less apparent once the car is moving along at speed, very hard to hear if it's still there or not. The 2 people I've taken the car to have both thought it sounded like a chain noise of some sort. Coming from the front side of the engine. The car is still at the mechanic's yard so I'll let him know what to look at if I think it's all worth fixing up.

My mechanic said it probably was a lack of oil supply that did it, but I think it was probably me to blame because he also mentioned there wasn't much oil left when he flushed it, like only a couple of litres. I know it's extremely bad ownership on my part for not keeping up with checking the dipstick regularly but at the very least I've never had the dash light on for low oil. Yep it's silver and a Hypergear turbo but the guy I'm dealing with now is the same guy that fitted the turbo 3 years ago. He had a lot of trouble back then getting the old turbo off and swore he'd charge me an extra $30 an hour next time he worked on my car! Has anyone come across any issues with the ticking/rattling noise before? I can't remember exactly what the mech suggested it could be but he gave me 3 options to do with the variable cam timing and chains and transfer???

It's a rebuilt turbo, from Hypergear a few years ago. Standard bearing, not ball. I'm pretty sure it's gone because there's this kind of cruching kind of noise whenever it gets on boost, plus some intermittient random crunchiness at idle as well. Power seems lower too. The mechanic also said it abrubtly lost power when driving up a hill yesterday, like it had just siezed up.

I'm in Canberra which isn't helpful, and driving it to sydney wouldn't do me any favours! I guess I could get it towed/transported though but my wife is about to murder me already over what this car is costing and I'd have to convince her it'd be worth spending more on it before doing that

Long time reader occassional poster here! So to make a long story short: I've been a bit lazy with the upkeep on my M35 and let the last service go nearly 4 or 5000 ks overdue (I hardly drive it these days and my brain tricks me into thinking I'm not racking up any ks and never pay attention to the odo). Shortly after the last service a sort of ticking/clicking noise appeared from the engine bay somewhere. Didn't think anything of it, thought it must have been something the fan was hitting or something (read: me stupid). Fast forward several months later and now my turbo has blown up, again. Not sure if related... Now my dilemma is do I get a new turbo or is this ticking noise a whole other can of worms? I'm happy to shell out a couple of grand to get it up and running, but if it's a case of getting a half cut and installing that then I might be better off selling as is for some crazy low price I've taken it to my mechanic, but as good as he is he's not really that familiar with VQ engines. He sent me off to research because he can't use computers Thankyou stagea gods Cheers Glenn

No not a silly question at all as I was trying to get it off while the sensor was still in there I'll have another crack on the weekend, properly this time!

Well I've worked out that 0345 is referring to the passenger side sensor (pretty confusing looking at G35 forums when they're left hand drive) and had a quick go at removing it... the instructions I found tell you how to take the connector clip off, but it's like it has been glued on! I'm pushing the little clip in while pulling the connector out but no go Any tips? Also went to Nissan in Phillip today, and the parts guy was actually quite helpful. We had a bit of a yarn about the M35s, he really likes them which I think helped! Anyhow I got a quote for both sensors, the drivers side is ~140 and passenger side ~210 plus GST. Does that sound right? The drivers side is listed as "Sensor assy" and the passenger as "Sensor A-Crank", which might lead one to believe that it's the crank sensor, but the part number is right (23731-AL61A).

Hey Cam, Is this what you're referring to? There are two little silver dots on the right hand side of the plate, smaller than a 5c coin. One of them is blank and the other has "R186" printed on it (sorry about the blurry phone photo). Just to make sure I have it right, the 2 sensors are at the bumper side of the engine, and they're located just below the level of the plastic engine shroud, and mine are blue in color. Where is the 3rd sensor? If it's a case of a bent connector, is that pretty straight forward to see and fix yourself? Thanks again Glenn

I'm in Canberra Wow thanks for the info guys! Man this forum is so helpful. I'll have a look at the strut tower later today for that silver sticker, but I'm hoping it is just the sensors going bad. I'll take the part numbers and VIN to the dealer, but I just remember last time I dealt with them they weren't particularly interested in dealing with imports. Ouch for the $400 though! But what can you do.... Thanks again!