Nissan VQ35 (VQ family, 2.0–3.8)
3.5 L · V6 · naturally aspirated · petrol · 1994–present
Also known as: vq35de, vq35hr, vq35dd, 3.5 v6, vq engine, 350z engine, vq25hr, vq25, vq25de, vq25dd, vq20de, vq30de, vq38dd, vq20, vq30, vq38
Nissan's 3.5-litre V6, and one of the most widely praised engines of its generation — the Maxima, Altima, Murano, Pathfinder, 350Z and most of the Infiniti range have carried a version, and it appeared on Ward's Ten Best Engines list for fourteen consecutive years.
The faults are age faults rather than design ones, with one well-known exception: early VQ35DE engines are associated with oil consumption, traced to the piston rings and to a PCV arrangement that draws oil under some conditions. As with the QR25, consumption is only half the problem — the other half is what running low does to a chain-driven engine, and to the catalytic converters downstream.
The later VQ35HR and direct-injected VQ35DD are substantially revised and should not inherit that reputation automatically. Across all versions, the transverse installations bury the rear bank against the bulkhead, so rear-bank service is the expensive half of any routine job.
This page answers for the whole VQ family, not the 3.5 alone. It carries the VQ20DE, VQ25DE, VQ25HR, VQ25DD, VQ30DE and VQ38DD as well, so the cars listed below run anything from 2.0 to 3.8 litres. The architecture is what the faults above belong to; the displacement is what a part number belongs to, so read the code off the block before ordering.
Cars fitted with this engine
27 generations, across 2 makes. From the authored catalogue — an absent car means the catalogue has not reached it, not that the engine was never fitted.
Infiniti
Nissan
- Maxima A32 1994–1999
- Pathfinder R50 1995–2004
- Maxima A33 1999–2003
- Altima L31 2002–2006
- Murano Z50 2002–2008
- 370Z Z33 2003–2009
- Quest Third generation 2003–2009
- Navara D40 2004–2015
- Pathfinder R51 2004–2012
- Maxima Sixth generation (A34) 2004–2008
- Altima L32 2007–2012
- Murano Z51 2008–2014
- Maxima Seventh and eighth generation (A35 and A36) 2009–2023
- Quest Fourth generation 2010–2016
- Pathfinder R52 2012–2021
- Altima L33 2013–2018
- Murano Z52 2014–present
- Pathfinder R53 2021–present
Information, not instruction
CarGeek is a reference, not a service manual. Its pages are written from public sources and from what other people have found, never from a manufacturer's own service information, so they can be wrong or incomplete for your particular vehicle. Some of what they describe carries real risk: high voltage, fuel under pressure, stored energy, hot and moving parts.
Have anything you intend to act on checked by a trained person against the manufacturer's own procedure for your vehicle. Nothing here replaces that procedure.
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