>>>>My camshaft failed one month after the dealer changed the timing belt.
>>>> The dealer is saying that the cause is from a build up of wax from
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> It's not their fault. The engine oil passage feeding oil to the cam bearings
> plugged up and the cam seized in the engine.
>> It's not their fault. The engine oil passage feeding oil to the cam
>> bearings plugged up and the cam seized in the engine.
>
> Right, makes you wonder what the oil change interval was.
I'm sure it missed a few. One thing people don't consider are the hours an
engine runs. In stop and go - traffic jam type use, 3000 miles is WAY too
long to go between oil changes.

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Steve
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JimV - 20 Aug 2004 15:48 GMT
>>>It's not their fault. The engine oil passage feeding oil to the cam
>>>bearings plugged up and the cam seized in the engine.
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> engine runs. In stop and go - traffic jam type use, 3000 miles is WAY too
> long to go between oil changes.
I always thought cars should have an "hours" meter. Some of the european
cars use a variety of ECM data to indicate when to turn on the "change
oil" indicator. That's probably more reliable than a static # of miles.
Greg Crowley - 20 Aug 2004 16:48 GMT
>
> >> It's not their fault. The engine oil passage feeding oil to the cam
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> engine runs. In stop and go - traffic jam type use, 3000 miles is WAY too
> long to go between oil changes.
The car had the oil changed every 5,000 miles or less when I used both
Mobile 1 Synthetic or later regular Quaker State oil. If my memory is
right, the manual says to change every 7 or 8000 miles. Is lack of
oil the only reason the camshaft would fail? Normally lack of oil
would cause the bearings to fail and stress would cause a shaft to
fail. This is in the aerospace world - perhaps different in the auto
world. Camshaft failures on the Maxima engine are rare so if it was
oil related I would expect to hear about more of them. I'm favoring a
rebuilt factor engine rather than repair the existing one.
BuddyWh - 22 Aug 2004 14:24 GMT
>oil the only reason the camshaft would fail? Normally lack of oil
>would cause the bearings to fail and stress would cause a shaft to
>fail. This is in the aerospace world - perhaps different in the auto
>world. Camshaft failures on the Maxima engine are rare so if it was
>oil related I would expect to hear about more of them
When you say the camshaft failed... are you saying it broke? as in two
pieces? if so... hard to see how an oil failure could cause that...
seems much more likely to be a residual fracture in the cam that was
aggravated by the mechanic as he replaced the belt, changing loads and
stresses in the process.
BuddyWh