Di

~A Writer, An Activist, 5"4 Package Of Dyanamite!~
~Taking My Q Seriously, Glad To Be Here!~

Yeah if you could tell us where its leaking, IE whereabout under the car the puddle is, or if you can see any seepage from the engine compartment...

It turned out to be the water pump. They also noticed that a freeze plug was leaking and that I had a seapage out of the radiator cap. I have 109K miles on mine. If your puddle was similar in size I would bet on the water pump.

I suggest you put a pan under the car to keep an eye on how much fluid you loose over night. And notice how much you loose every time you leave a parking spot. If it starts to get worse before you take it in, don't drive it! You don't want to over heat these engines.

Good luck!

Mike

I have been watching the temp guage until I take her in Friday-and its not climbing but I've been only driving her short distances. No smoking since the first time- Does anyone know how much this job will run? estimate? I did call infiniti dealership and this one tech said it could be one of the hoses since I have four on the bottom-but Iam starting to think you guys are correct since I did see anitfireeze around the waterpump.

Di Di

Iam not a mechanic- gosh I wish I was
But I have to take 'P' to a mechanic who really
knows what they are doing and not mess anything else up
I usually take my car to Dick Dyer Infiniti in Columbia SC because Infiniti
of Charlotte use to piss me off when I came in asking
me would I like to check out the new Q45 and always hinting around
I should trade up- like the service tech is trying to be the salesman. lol At any rate there is this one guy in Charlotte who left Nissan
to start his own business called nisstech imports
http://www.nisstech.com.

I heard good things about his work so I just may call him. I am really
looking for my own personal mechanic outside the dealership who will do good work, knows about the Q45, rather than an impersonal relationship.
I've had my share of mechanics who say they can do the job and then mess something else up on my ride. Once I get the diagnostic I will do the price shopping......

Di Di

The tiny 4 inch long, 2 inch diameter two-dollar black rubber coolant hose directly underneath the spider thingey on top of the Q45 engine ()circled in the 1990 Q45 diagram below split a seam on me and cost $500 just in labor to replace (the dealership wanted $1200).

It seems it might be a weak link in that this hose is exposed to high heat and hot/cold coolant would seem to puddle in this horizontal hose. You just might want to check it out by looking under all that stuffs' at the top of the engine with a flashlight while the Q45 is running warm.

In my case, small puddles of green ooze on the top of my engine being cooked into a sweet smelling misty concoction tipped me off immediately to the breech. (I filled the radiator twice a day with H2O for weeks until I gathered enough money to get that hose replaced; I'm kinda' sorry I didn't do it myself as I didn't learn anything from someone else doing my cooling system leak repair.)

Attachment: nico_q45_cooling_leak_hose_diagram.jpg (171178 bytes, downloaded 3939 times)

Radiator Core - $45/hr X 2
Replace Water Pump - $45/hr x 2
Antifreeze and RTV - $15.00
Water Pump - $115.97

Total:
$336.16 (including tax)

Oh yeah, see what Tangalora said above.

-Jesda

WOW! If the service at Dick Smith was better than in Charlotte, I hope I never break down up there! Actually it used to be really good here - at least the customer service... I just never got all of the parts back on the car.

Heath

Heath

To help you out more, I just now set up side lighting & snapped an incandescent shot of the underside of the spider thingey (Is that the intake manifold?Or the plenum?) which (I hope) much better shows the horizontal coolant hose in perspective than does the phantom diagram previously posted from the 1990 Q45 factory shop manual.

If you can't locate the coolant leak in the radiator & intake/outlet hoses, water pump & associated intake/outlet hoses, or in the engine block itself (NY freeze-out plugs for example), then consider peeking (with a flashlight) where the sun doesn't shine as shown in the photo shows below (there are a few coolant hoses in there, any one of which could refill those mysterious green puddles on your engine).


Attachment: nico_q45_coolant_hose_leakcloseup.jpg (61021 bytes, downloaded 3129 times)

The little drip drop started happening and all of those persons who responded or read my prior posts- I said the leak was coming from behind the fan...confirmed it is leaking from the water pump. The drip is coming from around the water pump. A neighbor with some knowledge of cars confirmed that was the problem. I have saved myself 99.00 diagnostic. So now....I have two chocies, the dealership or the tech who left the dealership to start his own business.

Does anyone have any suggestions about which way to go on this and how much money is this going to be?

Thanks again!

Di Di

I second the recommendation to try Joe at Scottsdale Infiniti.
Once you try him, you'll never look at the local Infiniti dealership the same way.

Joe has the business sense to win my loyalty, even from a few states away.

For example, I just ordered a front engine slinger which neither Joe nor the dealer dealer had in stock. The local Infiniti dealership quoted over twenty bucks plus sales tax for a total of about 22 dollars. Joe shipped it to me, with 8 dollars DHL shipping tacked on, for about sixteen total. Saving about 5 dollars out of around twenty is approximately a 25% preservation of wealth on this transaction. It adds up. To just have that five extra dollars in my pocket, I'd have to earn roughly 15 dollars gross (pre income tax).

Technically, the out-of-state transaction sales tax (it's actually called a "use tax" when it's paid after the fact) is supposed to be listed on your state taxes (come April 15th, 2005) if you permanently reside in any of the 21 states shown in the photo below; so, the additional savings DAEDALUS bespoke of may or may not apply to you.

Attachment: nico_q45_out_of_state_use_tax_states.gif (13159 bytes, downloaded 2856 times)

Infiniti Of Charlotte $440 w/o tax
Infiniti Of Columbia $408 w/ tax
Nisstech.com $310 w/o tax

Prices for the waterpump- saving some money is key-

The part from Joe at http://www.everythinginfiniti.com (Infiniti of Scottsdale) is $93.75 (list is $125). I suspect our other sponsors are the same.

If I were paying someone to do this, I'd ask the independent in Charlotte (who left the dealership) what the labor cost would be if you bring your own part. Keep in mind that the price you pay for repair work is a combination of the labor rate on the invoice, and the parts mark-up. The tech. buys the part locally with a trade discount (probably for $93.75) and charges you $125 for it - plus $X/hour for Y hours.

Whatever you do - don't let anyone put aftermarket parts on the car. A water pump is too important to cut corners on (and it's cheap anyway)...

Good luck!

Heath

Look... if you can unbolt a few nuts and bolts...this is probably one of the easiest jobs to do..... it's easier than the upper links if anyone needs a reference.

1. Unbolt underbelly plastic pan

2. Take plastic radiator fan off.. (plastic screws)

3. Unbolt fan shrowd.. I think 4 bolts

4. Remove shrowd

5. Take off plastic cover in front of plenum (I think 3 bolts)

6. Take off 4 nuts from fan blade, remove blade.

7. Undo abuot 5 or 6 water pumps bolts

8. Loosen fan belt

9 Tap water pump with a rubber mallet or a 2 by 4. Water pump should dislodge.

10. Remove pump, scrape off old rtv.

11 New rtv on new water pump...

12 Start reversing.

13 Flush out radiator, etc.

I think an hour and a half tops. I may have missed a step involving the top radiator hose... I am not sure if you have to remove it or not.

Not a hard job but I think the upper links are much easier.

Are steps 2 and 6 redundant?

When I do the pump I like to leave a couple bolts loosely in place (3 threads) so that the pump doesn't fall and damage the radiator when the RTV seal breaks.