What canucklehead said. May happen at low miles, may never happen. There's no predicting it. I've run my coupe hard. My wife highway commuted with her sedan and she had the issue and I haven't (at least not yet).

 

'08 G37s - gaskets + the CSC were replaced at ~49K miles.

 

A huge tip of the cap to Black Betty for starting this thread two years ago! At that point my warranty had already run out, but I came across this tonight as the 2nd result in a Google search for "Infiniti Consumer Affairs Experience." I hoped to find out what others have experienced now that I too have the honor of replacing my gaskets as the first repair I've encountered.

I have a 2008 G35 (VQ35HR) with 94,000 miles, which I bought new from a dealer. After reading through 19 pages of the thread, I might be the repair cost winner to-date. I took my car to the dealer Saturday for a coolant flush and diagnosis of the CEL/SES light. I've been quoted $4900 to replace the gaskets (as full cover assembly) along with timing chain, tensioners, etc. It might also include the solenoids. I haven't seen a detailed parts list, but I'm told $2.1K in parts and $2.8K in labor for a 20-hour job. I'll definitely compare the parts list I get to the info shared.

The service manager was back in today, so I spent at least 30 minutes chatting with him. He was pretty helpful on explaining the whole repair, showed me some pictures of the gasket and also confirmed what I read on G35driver that N/I released an improved steel gasket due the failure of the paper gasket. He mentioned that there is no part number for the gasket to be serviced separately, so now I'll be able to share the two gasket part numbers.

I told him I'd want to contact Infiniti to see if there is any reasonable solution, so I'm calling them in the morning before the dealer starts any work. I'll post updates here when available.

Once this is all said and done, I'm definitely posting a link to this thread on every one of Infiniti's frequent posts on Instagram to warn any 08-11 VQ3_HR engine owners that might still be able to catch this under warranty. Having worked for 2 HD truck/diesel engine OEM's, paper gaskets are rarely considered a best design practice for over a decade - I can't believe my car has them ON THE FRONT COVERS. It has totally rattled my impression of the Infiniti brand.

 

The G35 had plastic gaskets for the sparkplugs. (gasket that was preformed with with valve-covers). Causing oil to seep into the sparkplugs after about 25k or so. Not sure if the G37 / Q60 is the same.

I purchased extended warranty for about $700 bucks for my G35 coupe. Best $700 I've spent. Saved me thousands of dollars in repairs.

 

Glad it helped you. If you're paying out of pocket (newsflash: you will be) you can save yourself a lot of money at a Nissan dealership rather than Infiniti. Same parts, same techs, lower hourly rate. Here it was about $30/hr or so lower if I remember correctly, which translates to $600 in your case. Also the 20 hour estimate is way high, try to get him to come down to 15. It doesn't take nearly that long for experienced techs in a shop. More like 8-12.

Also, that's why I put the words "Infiniti Consumer Affairs" in the title of this epic thread. So when people search for those words they'll run across this epic thread and see how Infiniti feels about their customers. It's why I bought a new Lexus instead of another Infiniti 2 weeks ago to replace the car that this thread is about. Thanks for spreading the word.

 

so the best way to see if you have this is to do an oil pressure test?

 

That is correct. If you don't have any external leaks and your oil pressure is very low (DO NOT count on the oil pressure light to alert you of this, it's pretty much useless) you likely have an internal leak caused by the gasket being blown. It may not always cause a MIL at first, but eventually you may get one with codes corresponding to low oil pressure and random misfire.

 

I had the oil pressure tested, specs are located in the service manual in one of the stickies.

 

Just to clarify, the rear timing cover does NOT need to be replaced. Only the 2 gaskets correct?

 

Yes and no. You could change the gaskets themselves and reuse the covers. But Infiniti won't do it that way, they're going to change the covers as well.

 

Do you have those part numbers for the updated gaskets? I have 89k and an extended warranty for another 24k but I can only assume gaskets would not be covered.

 

Cause for the dreaded P0011/P0021 codes that everyone is curious about - Page 9 - G35Driver

 

My 2011 G37x just went last Wednesday. 70,500 miles. Waiting to hear back from consumer affairs today. I am not feeling positive right now. Quoted $4800. I am getting a quote from a service station as well and sent them this link to read up on. If Infiniti doesn't cover it they will not be getting anymore $$$ out of me. I transport seniors and thought this would be a reliable vehicle and with 51K on it already, thought the kinks would have been worked out. It took me 2.5 years to decide on a vehicle. Urgh! Borrowing my 94 year old neighbors 2000 Saturn. Love her!

 

 

I think it is a bigger deal than we originally thought it was. The situation is probably waiting to happen to quite a few people. My 2008 with ~70,000 miles was acting perfectly fine, no codes, no lights. When I had the engine out for turbo installation I had them check the gaskets so that I could avoid pulling the engine again. Lo and behold the larger of the gaskets was starting to come apart and was seeping some oil. If the engine or radiator is ever out of the car, I would check it.