2017 Infiniti Q60 Red Sport AWD - 6-yr/70k mile Powertrain Warranty Comes Through in a Big Way!

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Apr 20, 2012
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181
Location
WA
Brief history - leased my '17 Q60 Red Sport AWD w/3.0L V6 TT (VR30DDTT) in November 2016. When the 39-month lease term ended in February 2020, I bought the Q60 from Infiniti Financial for a favorable residual-based price. Throughout my 6 years of driving it, my only warranty items had been both inner driver's and passenger door seals were leaving smudges on the glass, so the seals were replaced to address the issue.

With 33,500 miles on it, last month I noticed a slight whistle occurring under moderate to heavy boost. Since the Powertrain Warranty was expiring on Nov 16th, I made an appointment on Nov 10th with my local Infiniti dealer to identify the whistling under boost. The next morning, I was given the prognosis - the whistle is from one of the turbo impellers that is rubbing on the center housing of the Central Housing/Rotating Assembly (CHRA), and the dealer is recommending replacement of both turbos AND the engine. Why? Well, the metal bits from the housing are likely getting into the combustion chamber(s), so to eliminate a future engine issue, the engine is replaced, too.

After 2 1/2 weeks at the dealership, I picked up my Q today. I simply signed the dealership copy of the WO and drove off. $0 out-of-pocket. When I got home, I looked over the WO, and the revised retail estimate (if out-of-warranty) would have been $37,122.60! Yikes!

Going forward, the new engine and revised turbos have a 1-yr/12k mile warranty.

Note: It's a real shame this engine had to be replaced due to a turbo bearing failure - the engine still ran good, quiet at idle (for a DI engine!), and it had excellent Blackstone UOA results since new. The 5k OCIs with Valvoline Modern Engine just couldn't overcome a poorly-designed Garrett CHRA, apparently.
 
Question, did the dealer know the vehicle was still under warranty when making the suggestion to replace the engine?

It’s VERY rare for any manufacturer to replace an engine “just to be safe”.
Yes, it was an Infiniti dealer that performed the warranty work.

According to the SA, in past cases when they have seen the impeller has rubbed the housing, they take pictures, including pictures (boroscope) of the intake tract, send the pics to Infiniti Warranty, and will wait for the go-ahead to replace the customer's engine, too. My engine showed evidence of metal particles where they shouldn't be.
 
Is it just me or does $37K sound like a lot for an engine - even the twin turbo kind.

Glad the OP isn't paying. Hope you got to drive it like you stole it for the last 2 weeks!
$37k retail includes the engine, both turbos, oil feed lines, gaskets, bolts, nuts, etc., + 17H 30M of labor.
 
You're very, very fortunate in the timing. $37K doesn't surprise me in the least for parts and labor (and the cost of such a replacement will climb significantly in future years). The turbos were one of two major weak points in the otherwise stellar VR30DDTT through the 2018 model year. You've got a great car now for the years ahead!
 
I spent five minutes looking up Infinity parts on dealer websites, and even at 17,000 MSRP for the engine, two turbos at 1400 each, and figuring 200/hr for 17 hours of labor, they are still about $14,000 out of their minds. Someone is cooking the books with this one.

Apples and oranges but I was involved in a warranty claim for aircraft parts and the number of dollars we showed on the customer invoice as being written off to warranty, and the dollars we actually spent satisfying the claim, were catastrophically different. I would say not even in the same ballbpark, but it wasnt even the same city. Or state. Or dimension in time.

Anyway.... a Q60 with a new engine and turbos... yea I'd be happy!
 
The real question is are you keeping the car beyond the 1 year warranty???

Stuff like this out of warranty is what sent's lots of cars to the grave.
 
I spent five minutes looking up Infinity parts on dealer websites, and even at 17,000 MSRP for the engine, two turbos at 1400 each, and figuring 200/hr for 17 hours of labor, they are still about $14,000 out of their minds. Someone is cooking the books with this one.

Apples and oranges but I was involved in a warranty claim for aircraft parts and the number of dollars we showed on the customer invoice as being written off to warranty, and the dollars we actually spent satisfying the claim, were catastrophically different. I would say not even in the same ballbpark, but it wasnt even the same city. Or state. Or dimension in time.

Anyway.... a Q60 with a new engine and turbos... yea I'd be happy!

That 17K is just a long block right?

If so this means the shop would have to de accessorize the old engine then put everything back on the new one.

Still doenst seem right.
 
It is very likely that the intercoolers stopped any debris from entering the engine. Make sure to carefully clean them out.

I'm of the belief that the aluminum compressor "dust" won't hurt a thing, and the engine can easily be inspected for damage with a borescope, compression check and UOA.
 
It's not unusual for turbo's to go- if the manufacturer starts replacing the engines because of that- there is a problem. As mentioned the intercoolers should settle out most of the debris- alum anyway so it will blow out by itself.
 
I spent five minutes looking up Infinity parts on dealer websites, and even at 17,000 MSRP for the engine, two turbos at 1400 each, and figuring 200/hr for 17 hours of labor, they are still about $14,000 out of their minds. Someone is cooking the books with this one.


Anyway.... a Q60 with a new engine and turbos... yea I'd be happy!
They probably changed the wipers and cabin filter too and maybe a brake flush lol
 
It’s VERY rare for any manufacturer to replace an engine “just to be safe”.
Nissan has to have encountered instances involving the turbochargers where they didn't replace the engine and the issue of "metal bits" getting into the engine did occur, so better safe than sorry.

and the revised retail estimate (if out-of-warranty) would have been $37,122.60! Yikes!
On warranty jobs, I have to wonder why they print/include any price or cost information. On the customer side, it's irrelevant. Unless they do it to make the customer feel gracious that they covered that amount.
 
That 17K is just a long block right?

If so this means the shop would have to de accessorize the old engine then put everything back on the new one.

Still doenst seem right.
Correct - bare block. All the accessories on the front of the engine (i.e., alternator, A/C compressor, WP, etc.) were transferred over, including the serpentine belt.
 
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