Dicky

My brain is now hurting very very much! Just realised this morning, having read several more threads on low oil pressure, that i didn't know which engine was in my daughters 2010 car. I'd been thinking it had a VQ engine and even though I knew it had paper oil gallery gaskets it was less likely to suffer the gasket blow out problem which appeared to affect the HR engines more.........WRONG !! I now know that all engines codes start with VQ and that it's the last letters which define the engine type IE hers is a VQ37HR. So making my gasket worries increase dramatically. Now back to getting them replaced rather than monitoring oil pressure. BUGGAR, BUGGER, BUGGER ! I'm getting old you know and I'm not well either

I obviously had the wrong parents, my first car was a clapped out Ford Escort. I was in the same boat but mine was an old Austin A40 Summerset that I had to buy from my dad ( tight sod) a ford escort would have been luxury

Not sure if you noticed my earlier post that Falcon Performance charge £686 for this job all in and have apparently done this job before. Spoke to three main dealers, Benfield motors (Lookers), Wylam Garage in Hexham, and Vic Young in South Shields. None were aware of the problem. Benfield "thought" it would be around a 5hr labour job at £120/hr plus parts but could be more. Vic young were thinking labour alone would be around £1000. So it's a no brainier that Falcon in Middlesborough is favourite. Spoke to the service manager at Vic Youngs. He said he would go for fitting a pressure gauge as hecdidnt see it as a likley problem having talked with Nissan engineers I must admit I'm going around in circles with this. One minute I'm all for fitting the gaskets next I'm for the pressure gauge and monitoring it. As far as i can tell the HR engines are most at risk, due to age, while the newer VQ engines are still at risk but not as risky due to being younger??? Who knows. To be honest im now changing my mind again. I've checked with my breakdown recovery company Britania who say that if I break down more than 10 miles from home then they will transport the car anywhere in the UK. So thinking of fitting a pressure gauge, stop as soon as the pressure drops, then have the car taken to Falcon. Finding a decent pressure gauge with the same red display is proving to be a bit difficult. If anyone has any info on fitting a gauge I'd appreciate hearing about it

Many thanks Rich and all others, "I now have a plan" I bought the car for my daughter,s graduation present and to be fair it's her first car and I can't rely on her noticing if the pressure drops so I've decided to get Falcon Performance to replace the gaskets. They've done this before and seem to have a decent reputation. As Rich said the route cause are the gaskets, so that's what needs to get fixed. The only bugger is that a pressure gauge may well save this expense for the duration of ownership, but who knows. But then again having replaced the gaskets will be a selling point. Once again thanks to all for your input.

Yep it's a real dilemma Rich. I keep going around in circles with it. It a staggering £700 job but then if your unlucky it's probably a £3K job. Piece of mind says get the job done but then greedy mind says it may never happen..BUGGAR BUGGAR BUGGAR Yep its around £700-£900 but a lot more than that for an engine plus fitting probably £6-£8k You cant replace the oil temp gauge with a pressure gauge , they work as a trio you would need to replace all three, any oil pressure gauge would need to be a standalone and would look a bit pony imo But truth be told its a matter of time , the gaskets are crap and they will blow out sooner or later , if you saw the stock ones and the revised ones you can see why they fail As I said before if it was my car I would do it as a matter of course How do you mean Rich "you can't replace the temperature gauge", and "they work in trio". Can't you just remove the temp gauge, fit a pressure gauge in its place and connect the pressure gauge to a sender unit mounted at the oil filter. I had thought I would fit a "T" connection in place of the pressure switch, then connect the pressure switch to one connection and the sender unit to the remaining connections?

Yep it's a real dilemma Rich. I keep going around in circles with it. It a staggering £700 job but then if your unlucky it's probably a £3K job. Piece of mind says get the job done but then greedy mind says it may never happen..BUGGAR BUGGAR BUGGAR Yep its around £700-£900 but a lot more than that for an engine plus fitting probably £6-£8k You cant replace the oil temp gauge with a pressure gauge , they work as a trio you would need to replace all three, any oil pressure gauge would need to be a standalone and would look a bit pony imo But truth be told its a matter of time , the gaskets are crap and they will blow out sooner or later , if you saw the stock ones and the revised ones you can see why they fail As I said before if it was my car I would do it as a matter of course Yeah unfortunately I think your right Rich. I say unfortunately because I've become friends with all my little cash pals in the bank, even so far as to give them names...Typically £1, £2, £3 and so on I'll be sad to see them go!

That's better now! You had me thinking this guy is cursing for a bruising (financially I mean £££)

Anyone fitted a pressure gauge yet? If so a little write up would be useful and I would certainly add you to my Xmas card list

Yep it's a real dilemma Rich. I keep going around in circles with it. It a staggering £700 job but then if your unlucky it's probably a £3K job. Piece of mind says get the job done but then greedy mind says it may never happen..BUGGAR BUGGAR BUGGAR

As far as I can tell it's a bit of a pain. Scant research to date indicates you will need to remove the oil pressure switch mounted at the oil filter and insert an extension T piece (if there's space to get in in), then connect the pressure switch to one of the tee piece outlets and a pressure sensor sender unit to the other connection (if there's space to get it in) Then, if you want to replace the existing oil temperature gauge with the new pressure gauge it looks like a ball break job to get to the three gauge pod. There are dual oil temperature and pressure gauges available I understand but are quite expensive. Otherwise the gauge will have to be mounted on one of the A pillars I guess?

Wow that would freak me out I'm afraid, waiting for one year seems risky enough never mind 3yrs. Its possible that the fault could develop as soon as you drive away from the garage.

Just wondering how many members are addressing this potential disaster. Just bought a 2010, 370 and noticed one of the "Pinned Post" above, by laytonanthony, regarding the potential engine damage caused if either of the two paper oil gallery gaskets, mounted behind the timing chain, blowout. Apparently this is a growing danger on pre 2012 HR and VQ engines. Apparently the fault only shows itself by low oil pressure but the 370 doesn't have an oil pressure gauge..see link to workshop manual section "Timing Chain" page 54 showing an exploded view below. The gaskets in question are mounted on the rear timing chain case, the top one looks like a right pointing gun and the other below it looks a bit banana shaped. http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/370Z/Coupe/2010/

This is the first car job that is threatening to defeat me in over 50 yrs. I'm afraid that old age and premature Rigor mortis have won the day. This just ain't a job for a stiff limbed old farts of 69 (even though very well preserved and devastatingly good looking) and have finally realised that limited space and an old men are mutually exclusive. The only course of action to give me have half a chance is to remove the drivers seat so I can lie down on my back and contemplate my next avenue of attack. I'm taking my mobile out with me and given the wife the fire brigades number in case I get stuck and need cutting out. Wish me luck lads cos I may not return from this clutch pedal encounter !!

Any one used this company before who can give a bit of feedback ref their capability. Thinking of getting them replace the two paper oil gallery gaskets that are prone to blowing out on the HR and VQ (pre 2012 engines)

What NONE!!

Probably have the 350z HR to thank for that , for Nissan its better to sell engines at £13500 a time than just replace the gaskets To be fair temperature is far more of an issue than pressure on the 370z Why do you say that temp is more of an issue on the 370 Rich? I'm not used to an oil temp gauge and can't understand what benifit it gives. With regard to this gasket problem I wouldn't have thought the temp would rise much until the cams etc where getting very dry and by that time the damage is done

Thanks for the input Tricky, I had read the post in your link but while the 350 & 370 share the same basic method of operation the assemblies seem to be different and access seems impossible and I've carried out lots and lots of awkward jobs in my time. I just can't see anyway of getting a spanner onto the nut and even then, being able to turn it. I've asked the stealers for a price unless someone who's managed to do it can offer some advice.

Any body ever attempted this ? Had a go this morning but can even get a spanner on the adjustment locking nut...BUGGAR!! theres just no room at all. Did you have to use an offset spanner of some kind because even if could get the spanner on the nut there's no space to even move it before it hits something.. Also does anyone know the correct size spanner, Ive it read its supposed to be 12mm ?***!!&**?

FYI......just had a price from Falcon Performance of £661 to replace these gaskets, which include new oil, filter and coolant and takes 2 days. Currently waiting for Tarmac and the local stealer to come back with prices.

Read some search results on this but get the impression non can be recommended. If you've got one that you like and it works please please share!!

Oil filter £7 ish Pollen Filter £3 ish 2 Air filters £25 ish Crush washer £1 ish Oil £45 ish The Stealer total £350.01 because 1hr to finish their morning coffe and read the paper before getting to the stores + 1hr talking football to the storemam + 1/2 hr chatting up the dolly receptionist on the way back to the job + 1/2 to trim broken finger nail caught on the filter housing clip + 1hr toilet break following morning coffee and a bit more read of the paper + 1hr additional lunch break cos he hadn't finished his paper yet + 1/2 ebreather following fitting the 2 filters, cos "their heavy you know"! + the standard job allocated time + 3hr to was hands, clean fingernails, change into clubbing gear, comb hair + 0.01p for another trip to the bog. Yep that sounds about right!! Only kidding all you hard working mechanics ha ha

Can anyone advise where to connect an oil pressure gauge to and best way to mount it in the cabin?

Thanks Rob, I'll see if I can get that done but thinking the only sure way is to change the gaskets, but it sounds as if it could be expensive. I was wondering if most members had gone for fitting an oil pressure gauge and keeping an eye on things or biting the bullet and changing the gaskets. Don't fancy sitting outside doing that job just now!!

I bought a spacesaver wheel, tyre, jack and brace of a forum member for £120. We travel abroad a lot so prefer that to the gunk. I understood space savers were'nt available for the 370 and that the only option was to use a 350 space saver using a 20 mm wheel spacer on the rear to clear the discs. Is that correct??

Just bought a 370 and read laytonanthony's 2015 Pinned report (at top of General forum) about gaskets potentionally blowing on VQ37 engines, hence causing massive damage (still need to get my head around this a bit more). It would seem the problem is almost invisible to the average driver and the only pre warning is a slight fall in the oil pressure. Now my 370 doesnt have an oil pressure gauge so I was wondering what others have done to counter this threat.??