My question has to do with the dreaded rear timing gasket leak.

I have a 2011 Journey sedan with 58k on the clock.

My question is does anyone know how prevalent the rear timing gasket leak problem is?
I know it's a possibility with my model year (and an expensive repair), but is it something I should be losing sleep worrying about?

 

My 09 has 87k miles, if I'm not losing sleep you shouldn't either That said, installing an oil pressure gauge is about all you can do and keep an eye on it. This failure will be more common as the number of vehicles in that affected year range get higher in mileage.

The failure isn't inevitable but not the best feeling knowing that yours might be next

Other than the weak oil pressure & the CEL code there's no warning, and this has happened on Gs w/ lower miles but seems most common when you hit 70k on up. As far as how common this is, that's the million dollar question, many have probably had the code, went to the dealer, and were luckily under warranty and may never have known what really happened to their car. Owners that don't know about this issue probably wouldn't decipher exactly what happened to their Gs just by the service order, as long as it's fixed and back on the road that is good enough for those that aren't as informed as most of us here.

It's just a shame this covered so many years and the factory isn't doing the right thing.

 

I'm thinking (and hoping) the percentage of cars with gasket failures is on the lower side.

If it was a common problem, you'd think (naive of me?) there would have been a factory recall.
Or if enough owners were hit with this problem, maybe a class action lawsuit demanding compensation for the expensive repair.

Anyway, thanks for the info and I'll try not to worry about it for now.

 

Nobody knows how prevalent it is because Nissan/Infiniti won't say. It's not widespread. But I wouldn't call it rare either. Should you be worried? No because there's absolutely nothing you can do to prevent it unless you want to pay for the repair preemptively.

 

I spoke to the parts guy at my local dealer and he said it is not common.

Sometimes the internet forums can make a problem appear to be VERY common when it is not. How many people post about have normal oil pressure or that there car doesn't have any issues.

If it is a concern for you, install an oil pressure gauge and keeps tabs on it.

 

That's right, Sonic. It's exactly how my local Infiniti service department responded regarding the Clutch Slave Cylinder failure on the 6MT. And yet if you follow the car forums, it feels like a certainty it's going to happen to you, because it happened to me.

This gasket failure problem, however... we're talking about ALL G's before 2012. So like the OP, I'm hoping probability is in my favor, forum fears notwithstanding.

 

The design w/ the two dissimilar metals w/ different expansion/contraction properties seems to be the main culprit w/ this failure from all I've read. It's one of those failures that you really have no idea what the condition of this gasket is until it tears and breaks loose. I'm a bit pessimistic and think most of the gaskets w/ higher miles are in some state of fail. I hope I'm way off in my thinking, but from the pics of the failed gaskets it looks like it's something that is hard to prevent based on the design alone, and the metals involved.

As far as how common this is, no one knows, maybe it is indeed a rare occurrence. Maybe those that work for the company aren't told to divulge how common this is, but ????.

 

I wonder if high oil pressure stresses the gasket over time. High RPM at low OIL temperatures results in VERY high oil pressure:

During the summer, I put on an oil pressure gauge and started my car.
The outside temp was about 30C / 86F and at idle the pressure was 60 PSI.
With the engine fully warmed up (oil temp: 81C ) I revved the engine to 4500 RPM and the oil pressure was 108 PSI!!!

350/370 folks report cold start (in winter) oil pressure MORE THAN 120 PSI at idle.

Since that test, I keep the RPM below 3,000 until the engine coolant temp is at normal then wait 10 minutes more.

 

This happened to my 08 last month and i have 120K. $998.00 fix but luckily i have a year left on my warranty so i was covered. You should drive and be happy. LOL i think you will be fine.

 

What was the symptom?

 

Was that the total cost?

 

That's at least half off, nice deal.

Sonic, my oil pressure gauge had similar readings, took awhile before it got under 100 psi at higher rpms. And like I said, I've got a hunch that the solid paper gaskets all end up getting partially saturated w/ oil. Maybe cold temp/high pressures would help in pushing the oil closer to the outer portions of the gasket that results in these issues of the gasket tearing and being forced out under that plate

And yeah Bdub, just drive it, be happy and deal with it if & when.

 

isnt the vq37vhr used across the entire line up? G/Q,ex,fx,jx.. If this were certifiably a wide spread issue, wouldn't we hear about it across all infiniti models?

 

It seems to only happen to a small percentage of engines, but the forums make it sound like it happens to everyone everyday. I am not worried.

To quote Mr Z "Enjoy the ride"

 

Sooo similar to blown ringlands, and spun bearings on the EJ257s then? Probably even less prevalent!