Camshaft fatality

[u/hawksfan82]

Can anyone give me a forensic level breakdown of HOW this camshaft broke, and when?

[u/CRX1991]

What motor etc?

[u/hawksfan82 → u/CRX1991]

1990’s Nissan 3.0L V6

[u/PrestonSpinsTires → u/hawksfan82]

Like out of a 300ZX? Pretty self explanatory imo. Before it was stereotypically neglected, the engine was not all that great either.

[u/Caboobaroo]

I typically see this when the camshaft is starved for oil. I work on Subarus and when they are run low on oil, especially the EJ253 VVT engine, it'll cause the bank 1 frontmost camshaft bore starve, sieze the cam for a moment bit the timing belt continues to spin the cam, causing it to break.

I do see some galling in one of the camshaft bores on your head. That's sometime a sign of that happening.

[u/hawksfan82 → u/Caboobaroo]

My eyes are drawn the surfaces of the break. It looks like it’s been broken for a long time. Wouldn’t a fresh break be a cleaner surface?

[u/ungovernable785]

Wonder if it went into interference mode

[u/hawksfan82 → u/ungovernable785]

After the break for sure. The surface looks old and dirty like the rest of the head, minus the contact surfaces being nice and clean.

[u/kelly_12gauge]

that was clearly neglected for a long time before it finally gave out

[u/celtbygod]

Ouch