Newbie shopping for a G or Q
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Newbie shopping for a G or Q
I'm car shopping, but in no rush. Been researching used 2015+ G37/Q40/G50 with the 3.7L engine.
No racing, but want one for spirited commuting and regular driving around, sometimes with my 5 and 7 yr old kids.
I asked a friend who recently sold his 2004 G35 AT about his experience, and I ask you folks,
does any of his misfortune (especially engine and rust related) apply to the 2015+ G or Q series?
Also, what is the latest with the valve cover spark plugs oil seal?
He was original owner, car was garage kept, car was accident free and always immaculate, and well maintained. He loved the car because of the acceleration, but isn't buying another.
His negatives:
Was garage kept its whole life.
Oil pan rusted thru - odd with plastic splash shield covering the engine bottom
The real license plate lite bracket rusted & fell off (easy fix with awesome eBay universal LED lite)
In 2017 (12 yrs) when I was detailing to get ready to sell I noticed that there was (rust) blistering at driver side B pillar. I can't figure that one out. Why there? There were some pin hole rust stains showing up on lower doors.
One thing (typical for the Nissan VQ35DE engine [3.5L V6]) was that the spark plug tube seals dried out and let oil into the spark plug tubes. The gaskets are not serviceable. Whole new valve covers are needed (with the integral spark plug tube gaskets...[wtf?]. Homies would buy Maxima covers (for $99 ea) and dremmel it to make it fit. (Infiniti covers were $300+ ea...wtf?)...BUT if you just inspect or change plugs every 9 ~ 12 months, you 'reset' the leaking problem. I had some leakage into the plugs but was resigned to do a plug check/inspect/replace every 12 mos.
Another big pain-in-the-*** was the power seat toggle switches. One direction will fail and you're stuck with a seat back way up or way back.
Of course the Infiniti item is $300+ so I got an eBay Maxima one for >$100 for parts and matched the wire color code.
The driver seat power gears screwed up early in ownership. Carefully check (and listen) to power seat operation.
Rear shock bottom bolt rusted/froze into the LCA bushing. Had to bust it out and (of course) it's not an Infiniti serviceable part. I was able to get a polyurethane bushing to replace otherwise a complete LCA. wtf?!
Had rear caliper slide pins rust solid into bracket.
Please chime in with your experiences.
Thanks!!
No racing, but want one for spirited commuting and regular driving around, sometimes with my 5 and 7 yr old kids.
I asked a friend who recently sold his 2004 G35 AT about his experience, and I ask you folks,
does any of his misfortune (especially engine and rust related) apply to the 2015+ G or Q series?
Also, what is the latest with the valve cover spark plugs oil seal?
He was original owner, car was garage kept, car was accident free and always immaculate, and well maintained. He loved the car because of the acceleration, but isn't buying another.
His negatives:
Was garage kept its whole life.
Oil pan rusted thru - odd with plastic splash shield covering the engine bottom
The real license plate lite bracket rusted & fell off (easy fix with awesome eBay universal LED lite)
In 2017 (12 yrs) when I was detailing to get ready to sell I noticed that there was (rust) blistering at driver side B pillar. I can't figure that one out. Why there? There were some pin hole rust stains showing up on lower doors.
One thing (typical for the Nissan VQ35DE engine [3.5L V6]) was that the spark plug tube seals dried out and let oil into the spark plug tubes. The gaskets are not serviceable. Whole new valve covers are needed (with the integral spark plug tube gaskets...[wtf?]. Homies would buy Maxima covers (for $99 ea) and dremmel it to make it fit. (Infiniti covers were $300+ ea...wtf?)...BUT if you just inspect or change plugs every 9 ~ 12 months, you 'reset' the leaking problem. I had some leakage into the plugs but was resigned to do a plug check/inspect/replace every 12 mos.
Another big pain-in-the-*** was the power seat toggle switches. One direction will fail and you're stuck with a seat back way up or way back.
Of course the Infiniti item is $300+ so I got an eBay Maxima one for >$100 for parts and matched the wire color code.
The driver seat power gears screwed up early in ownership. Carefully check (and listen) to power seat operation.
Rear shock bottom bolt rusted/froze into the LCA bushing. Had to bust it out and (of course) it's not an Infiniti serviceable part. I was able to get a polyurethane bushing to replace otherwise a complete LCA. wtf?!
Had rear caliper slide pins rust solid into bracket.
Please chime in with your experiences.
Thanks!!
The spark plug tube seals were redesigned for the G37. The gaskets are removable and can easily be changed with the other valve cover gaskets without having to replace the covers
I haven't heard of people having issues with failed seat motors, but second hand seats are cheap and plentiful if its a concern...
The rest of your friends issues are rust related and probably have more to do with his maintenance of the car including and driving habits and the environment where he lives.....I haven't heard of an oil pan rusting though on these cars ...even in a rust prone area....honestly this sounds like the car had some water damage (which might explain the malfunctioning seat) or he would drive it in the winter and park it in the garage after getting the underside of car covered in the snow regularly...
Even if the car was garage kept if hes driving it in an area where roads are salted or there are extreme temperature these are issues typical of the environment for any car...the bushing on the control arms aren't "serviceable", because aftermarket OEM quality LCAs are easily found for less than the cost of two or three bushings, and the entire LCA can be replaced in about 30mins vs removing and pressing bushings in individually which requires the removal of the LCA anyways...this is a common advancement in vehicle design as it reduces downtime, the net cost of service is lower and doesn't require specialized equipment (such as a press) to replace...the one exception to this on the G's is the rear diff subframe bushing which commonly fails as it is fluid filled and leaks out. It is pressed into the rear subframe...the dealer requires the replacement of the subframe...even if it fails though, its not really that big of a deal and most people who don't read forums ignore it as the car drives fine...that being said, lots of people do replace it along with the other rear diff busing and it tightens up the rear end but alot of that can be attributed to a new bushing on an aging car...
the fact that the LCA bushing seized is probably due to the age and environment of your friends car....even on a garage queen bushings (any rubber part) will degrade over 12 years....that fact that only one did is pretty good...
I haven't heard of people having issues with failed seat motors, but second hand seats are cheap and plentiful if its a concern...
The rest of your friends issues are rust related and probably have more to do with his maintenance of the car including and driving habits and the environment where he lives.....I haven't heard of an oil pan rusting though on these cars ...even in a rust prone area....honestly this sounds like the car had some water damage (which might explain the malfunctioning seat) or he would drive it in the winter and park it in the garage after getting the underside of car covered in the snow regularly...
Even if the car was garage kept if hes driving it in an area where roads are salted or there are extreme temperature these are issues typical of the environment for any car...the bushing on the control arms aren't "serviceable", because aftermarket OEM quality LCAs are easily found for less than the cost of two or three bushings, and the entire LCA can be replaced in about 30mins vs removing and pressing bushings in individually which requires the removal of the LCA anyways...this is a common advancement in vehicle design as it reduces downtime, the net cost of service is lower and doesn't require specialized equipment (such as a press) to replace...the one exception to this on the G's is the rear diff subframe bushing which commonly fails as it is fluid filled and leaks out. It is pressed into the rear subframe...the dealer requires the replacement of the subframe...even if it fails though, its not really that big of a deal and most people who don't read forums ignore it as the car drives fine...that being said, lots of people do replace it along with the other rear diff busing and it tightens up the rear end but alot of that can be attributed to a new bushing on an aging car...
the fact that the LCA bushing seized is probably due to the age and environment of your friends car....even on a garage queen bushings (any rubber part) will degrade over 12 years....that fact that only one did is pretty good...
