Wanted to inform the group that after completing the driver side flapper gear fix about 1 month ago, and using the roof many times since, guess what happened yesterday? Passenger side flapper died! I'm so glad I got both gears from Guy. Will proceed with that fix very soon. IMO this is a manufacturer DEFECT and they should take responsibility for fixing these. I feel bad for people who are not in this forum and wind up paying $3K or so for each side.

 

For the convertible top issue. I will let you know how I make out. Currently, the top goes about halfway up and stops. The trunk open light comes on. One of the wings does not come out. I have to shut it off and turn it back on to close it only. If I pull out the Wing by hand it will open. Obviously, I do not want to keep doing this so I am not using the roof until this is fixed. Don't want to get stuck with the top down!

 

That is absolutely the flapper gear issue. Good luck!

 

if the car is no longer under warranty and you need gears, just email me at guy.menard305@videotron.ca . Got couple pairs in stock at the moment.

 

That's exactly what's happening to mine. The dealer wants to replace the flipper arms on both sides.

 

Having the dealer replace the arms will be very expensive (assuming they are not doing it under warranty). You can do the fixes yourself by replacing just the gears for far less, just a couple hundred dollars. You can read several threads here, and watch a couple YouTubes to see what's involved and decide if you are handy enough to do it yourself.

 

The dealer wants $6,300 which is not going to happen. My old mechanic in Quincy, MA could do it but I live in FL now. I'm seriously thinking of shipping the car to him if I can't find a guy to do it close to FL.

 

A large part of the cost is the price of the flapper units, which wouldn't be alleviated by going to a small repair shop. They are something like $2K each. You may be able to have a local guy perform the gear-only fix and that may be a reasonable price.
(FYI, I grew up in Quincy!)

 

I'm interested in the steel gears and how to install them. Do you have a link to a video(s)?
Thanks,
Tom

 

Here are 2 that I watched. The first one is long, it goes over every step in detail. The 2nd one is shorter and gives you a good idea of what's involved.
You can also review this thread, and there are a couple others that are helpful, just search on 'flapper'.
If you buy the gears from Guy, he will include some notes and advice. He will also help you along the way if you need it. The hardest part is removing the rivets. The rest is pretty easy, but you do need to be somewhat handy.

 

Quick comment on the beeping. The short story is, my infiniti dealer told me that the roof had to be reprogrammed. In a total design flaw, the convertible top has a memory that is tied to the main car battery. This means, if you disconnect the regular main battery cables, and the roof goes with out power, the roof will deprogram and not open or close, or will be out of sync. And this is what the beeping signifies. It was $200 to have it reprogrammed, and beep has not reappeared. Dealer tried to charge me $650 for a new battery, which can be gotten at Autozone for literally $250, but I was there for other reasons. I do have to do the flipper repair also, and once I get it done, I'll be selling it. Such a poor mechanical design for a nice car. My BMW 4 series convertible never ever had an issue with the roof.....ever. Lastly, be careful with the all metal gears. The OEM ones are designed to break, so if you forget something in the trunk, you don't destroy the roof. The only sensor back there is the one that allows you to put the roof down. If you have it in place, and forget something in the trunk, you could be buying a whole new roof and hydraulics.

 

The irony is that the Retractable Hard Top (RHT) for these cars was designed by the same company that designed BMW (and others) RHT systems. Up until 2010 at least when Karmann went bankrupt and was broken up/ sold to other companies.

Sorry for your sour experience with the G37.

 

Sorry for your misadventure...That said, your comments about the steel replacement gears is not very accurate,.. should say "totaly wrong!"...The flipper arm will deploy or retract ONLY when the trunk lid is already opened backward. So, it's impossible that they break anything related to the top if something is left in the trunk when trying to open it!

Those gearcase are drived by a flexible wiring cable so, if something interfer with the flipper arm, that cable will twist and break before ripping the top mecanism.

If you're afraid about those metal gears and have lot of $$$ to spend uselessly, get new linkages assembly (at +-$1300 each one + labour), that still containing the cheap plastic ones...it's your choice.

 

Thanks Guy,

clearly you’ve been elbow deep into the convertible top assembly and I’ll take your experience and expertise over my research. I did read somewhere that was the reason they designed the gear that way.

honestly the top isn’t the reason I’ll get out of it. I had a transmission failure that cost me $3k to repair and the dealer was the only one who would touch it.

im okay with normal maintenance, but unexpected catastrophic mechanical failure at 90k miles is just my jumping off point. Thanks for a real solution to the flipper issue. If time allows I’ll take you up on it. If not I’ll just get it fixed and call it a day.

 

No offence! 😊 I know that those tops are very complex and sensitive but, Infiniti (Nissan) have a relatively good reliability, specially for the VQ series (they are one of the most reliable engines in the world). Unfortunatly, those verts are so rare that, even the dealers have low knoweldge about them when come's the time to diagnose and repair them. And, don't forget that dealers are there to make money and replace parts over repairs!

like all newers cars, when it came to electronics or specified parts, it can cost lot of $$ if the owner don't do research or try to find a good mecanic(they are many still on business) before getting at the dealer.

examples:
Airbag occupancy sensor(locate in the bottom seat part) cost over 6k to repair...They have to replace the whole bottom seat with motors; wires and switches... and even the leather!!! That sensor is not part listed...but, that can be repair by diy for couple bucks if you get a used Infiniti seat at the junkyard and just rellacing the sensor or the padd itself. I agree that needs to be handy and it's time consuming but...wort the effort.

same for the top hydraulic pump, if it failed, the dealer will ask up to 10 or 12k to replace it...you can get a rebuilt one for less than 2k from "Top hydraulic " and, it can also be done by diy.

And it's the same thing for all cars...transmission don't cost $350 to replace anymore(like in the '60 or '70). I have a Subaru Outback and had a trans failure...they had to replace it(fortunatly it was under warranty)...It cost $7500 to replace it!!! That's incredible but...here's the today's reality.

hope you wont have other bad experience, and you could enjoy it again... till you sell it !

Regards!