Did the shop mess up my engine?

Tiny
KDK241
  • MEMBER
  • 2018 NISSAN PATHFINDER
  • 3.5L
  • 6 CYL
  • 4WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 87,000 MILES
Hello I'm looking for advice. 2018 Nissan Pathfinder LS, 87000 miles, 3.5l.

Sorry this is going to be a long post. We are the second owner but it has always been maintained when needed and has had no problems in the 3 years we've owned it. Until Jan when it needed a new timing chain. We brought it to the shop and this is what they replaced:

Pulley assembly-valve timing control x4
Bolt VTC pulley x2
Bolt - Camshaft x2
Camshaft oil seal x6
Timing chain set
Water pump
VVT solenoid
Timing cover gasket set
Cam phaser cover gaskets
Valve cover gaskets
Plenum gasket
Oil pan gaskets, filter and put some seafoam in. Grand total was $5707.15.

Now we don't drive it far and rarely take the highway so a week later when we got on the highway for a 30 min drive by the time we got to our destination it smelled like burning rubber and would randomly blow a bunch of white smoke every 10-15 min. It was throwing a random/ multiple misfire code so we parked it and brought it in on Monday. They replaced the spark plugs and said the smoking was from the sea foam.

It was still randomly smoking and about 2 weeks later it had a low oil pressure warning so we brought it back again, told them it was doing the same thing and they changed the oil and still said the smoking was from the seafoam and to keep an eye on the oil. Continued to drive it short distances, still occasionally smoking some and misfiring while playing phone tag with the shop to figure something out.

Finally the end of April it made a noise and the rpms dropped to zero. We towed it home and called them again. I spoke to another shop and told them everything and it was their opinion that they made a mistake and were trying not to fix it. After a week of phone tag I told them what the other shop said and they said they would come pick it up on May 14th. They did but it sat in the parking lot for 3 weeks and when we called and they said they had a mechanic out for 2 weeks. A few days later they called and basically said the lower half of the motor is gone, the camshaft (or crankshaft), pulley and rod or rod bearing are shot and it needs a new motor. They said a used one would be $9000 or a new one $17,600 but they would give me a $3000 credit from the previous repair. The last offer was that we owe them nothing and they'll put it back together and tow it back to our house for free. Then when I called back a couple days later because I couldn't remember if they said camshaft or crankshaft he said it was the rod or rod bearing because I had metal in my oil pan.

Now I do know some things about cars and do most of my own repairs but generally leave engine stuff to people who know more than me. If they replaced the VTC pulley assemblies and cam shaft bolts shouldn't they have been able to see if the parts were going bad? Or had some indication? When we brought it in it had no misfires, never smoked, never needed to add oil, it drove great and the only issue was the timing chain noise. It came home driving a 10x worse than when we brought it in.

If I'm wrong I'm wrong but I feel like they messed up. I just don't know enough about engines to say for sure and I'm not sure what to do now. Again, I apologize for the long post.
Sunday, June 15th, 2025 AT 5:13 AM

3 Replies

Tiny
JACOBANDNICKOLAS
  • MECHANIC
  • 110,141 POSTS
Hi,

The rubber burning has me a bit confused but bear with me. I suspect you were seeing the white smoke from the exhaust. Engine coolant burns white when it gets into the combustion chamber.

If I had to guess, and this is only a theory, I suspect engine coolant entered the oil pan when the water pump was replaced. If that gets into the oil, it will damage bearings. And by the way, camshaft bearings and rod bearings usually don't fail at the same time, and certainly, not overnight.

If engine coolant gets to the bearings on the engine, it will cause this to happen, and low oil pressure will the more the bearings wear. Please understand that this is a theory. However, in my mind, it makes sense. I would love to see the oil that was drained, but I'm sure that is gone.

I attached a pic below and showed the water pump and highlighted where the oil pan goes. You can see how easily contamination could occur.

Let me know your thoughts and questions.

Take care,

Joe

See pic below.
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Sunday, June 15th, 2025 AT 9:37 PM
Tiny
KDK241
  • MEMBER
  • 4 POSTS
Thank you so much for your reply. Rubber burning probably isn't the best way to describe the smell but it smelled a lot like an overheating engine, but it wasn't overheating if that makes sense. Like that extremely hot engine smell.

If there was contamination in the oil, would it still smoke after they did the oil change?

It would run fine and then about 30 minutes later would feel like the engine was misfiring, the truck would jerk once or twice and then a bunch of smoke would come out of the exhaust and it would be ok again for another 20 or 30 minutes and repeat. It would also take longer on city streets than if taking the highway.
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Monday, June 16th, 2025 AT 7:14 AM
Tiny
KEN L
  • MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
  • 52,298 POSTS
Yep, to me it sounds like you have a blown head gasket and when they did the repairs, they allowed gasket material inside the engine which then clogged the oil pump pick up which then lowers engine oil pressure and ruined the engine. I would not take it back to them. Can you take a short video of the engine cranking over? Or running? That way we can tell for sure.
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Wednesday, June 18th, 2025 AT 2:38 PM

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