Has anyone had any experience with the control system freezing in their M35?

Every day, I get in the car and everything works fine for about 10-15 minutes and then the screen starts flickering and either freezes or goes black. When this happens, it freezes the entire front panel (no control over radio, climate control, NAV or anything). This is especially annoying when you have the radio up loud because you are on the highway or something and the volume locks that high blaring commercials or terrible 80's music etc.... Sometimes the sound cuts out, sometimes it doesnt. Other times the system seems like it keeps trying to do the startup loop, with the Infiniti symbol showing on the screen and then disapearing.

I took it to the dealer and they said I needed a new "control unit" and quoted me a part price of $1300. I asked for the part number and can not find the part by the # that they specified anywhere. In looking at other part sites, it seems as if there is a "control module" that holds the NAV DVD etc. that runs for close to $3000-$4000 and there is also a "controller" that runs for $600. So I am not sure what part they need and obviously there is some descepency between their quoted price and the prices that exist for the two possible parts that it could be.

I am a little confused as to what to do. Since my system does work part of the time, is it something that can be repaired or should I definately get a replacement. If I am replacing, I would like to make sure I dont get ripped off on the part that I need.

Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks all.

I have the same problem. Have you fixed this problem? My fault is below

display screen will not come on intermittently. Sometimes after several tries it will, but not all the time. Without it, no defrost, air or radio. Nissan dealer said they could change out the computer, but no guarantee it will fix it. Please help. Seems like it does it more often after a rain. .?

For both of you it sounds to be just simple computer glitches with the in-dash system. Unfortunately, Infiniti has a sh!tty repair procedure when it comes repairing most computer glitches within their vehicle's systems, that is - they don't bother repairing them, instead they just require that the customer/dealer replace the entire system. Obviously this ends up with a much larger cost on the customer's end when their Infiniti vehicle is no longer in the warranty period.

Anyways, if you can provide me with the exact part number that your dealer gave you, then I can look up it up on Infiniti and Nissan's 'Confidential Parts Price Database' that I have access to and give you the dealership's cost for the part (before they mark it up to sell to you). Hopefully that'd provide you with a measure of comparison when looking at their price and at the other replacement parts available elsewhere online.
Let me know and welcome to NICO to both of you!

The part number they gave me was 28185-EH20A and quoted $1400. I could not seem to find that specific part number anywhere. I found other diagrams for the whole A/V system that listed two parts that could be it, but I havent figured out which one is which. The first one on the diagram was the Control Unit (listed around $3600 from sites that I have found it), which resides in the glove box and has the DVD Nav in it. The other part on the diagram was the "Controller" which is somewhere behind the dash (listed around $800 from the sites I have found it on). I just dont know which one I need. My dealer said that if I brought them the part, that they would install it for me.

Thanks for your help!

Ah! Here's why you're having some trouble finding that part on Infiniti and Nissan part websites. That part (and thus the part number as well) is produced by Clarion. Clarion produces several of the electronic components in the Infiniti M35/M45, including the part that you need, and is used as a vendor by Infiniti when producing their vehicles.

Now, you have a few options because of this:

1) Of course, you could order the part through your dealership and pay $1300. Please note that, according to the Infiniti Dealer Confidential Parts Price Database that I have access to, the dealership's price for the part from Clarion (before markup) is $726.24 and Infiniti recommends that they MSRP it at $1117.29 to the customer. If you go through your local dealership, you may want to try and haggle the parts employees. They know that their bottom line for the part is $726.24 and that they are marking it up extraordinarily.

2) Or, you could order it through InfinitiPartsUSA.com, a NICO sponsor run by Infiniti of Scottsdale, who provides deep discounts on Infiniti parts and who does in fact list the Clarion part in their catalogue with a price of $907.80. You can locate the part directly by using their Part Number Search - enter the part number you have, select Infiniti, then click search - and order it through them.

3) This option is a bit more complicated than the previous two. You also have the option of ordering the part directly through Clarion and simply removing Infiniti as the middle man, therefore reducing your cost. Click here for the direct order form for parts from Clarion. The part number in Clarion's systems is different than the Infiniti part number - it is PN2701BB, according to Infiniti's inventory system. Select 'Model Number' on the form then enter that number in the box below. You'll have to ask your Infiniti Dealership which part inside the control unit specifically needs to be repaired, then order the part from Clarion and provide it to the dealership. Clarion does not sell the entire electronic component, but rather repair parts to fix the current broken control unit that you have. This method will be the cheapest, but make sure to establish a good communication line with your Infiniti dealership to make sure that you order to correct repair part(s).


Good luck with whatever option you choose.

Thank you for the response Eric! It seems as that is why I was having the difficulty.

Looking into it further based on the information that you gave me, I have the suspicion that the dealer might have given me false information. That part number refers to the radio/cd player and mechanism. I dont see how that could be causing the entire front control panel to be freezing, with the computer glitches that you are mentioning, but I could be wrong. Now I am really confused as to what to do. I will have to contact them again.

Not a problem - let us know what they say and how it all turns out! Best of luck

Guys, I'm having the same problem. I took mine to my local Infiniti dealer and got the complete run around it feels like. At first they were saying I needed a remanufactured DVD Control unit, then all of a sudden it wasn't available and I had to get a brand new unit for $4,200. I declined and pulled it down myself, turns out mine is already remaned, so then they say they needed to send it off to Clarion to flash the software and update the part number for $1,000. Eric do you know what the part number is for the DVD Control Unit? Or even better, what Clarion would they send it to?

mine does this too, and is very sensitive to rain/carwash.

I need help with this same issue. I know that this was posted some time ago. Hopefully someone can continue this post and explain what the solution is/was to fix the problem.

My 2007 M45 is doing the same thing. The front screen that shows all of the system controls for radio, heat/AC, radio, navigation, etc.., has been flickering for about the last 3 months. It is now happening a lot more often and stays blank until the next time I get in the car. It starts out working and then flickers then goes blank. When it goes blank the radio stops working and I have no ability to use any of the functions that are all part of this unit. Can someone help me to diagnose and fix this problem? I want to avoid the dealership. They will most likely want to replace the screen and control unit which most likely can be repaired for much less cost.

Thank You for your help and suggestions
Best,
Mike

Mike,

I never got clarification between the two parts and I was not spending the thousands of dollars to trouble shoot and find out. I have just dealt with it the last 4 years using a Bluetooth to stream gps and music. People say I am crazy, and that is probably true, but I didn't want to work with the dealership and buying non-returnable parts to try and handle it myself was too much risk. 140,000 miles on it, its going to be time within a year to move on anyhow. What's another year...

Sorry I cant help.

Thanks for the reply. I also have about 140k miles on my M45. It still looks like new inside and out and runs like a champ. This is why I went from German (Audi) to Japanese. I've spent much less money and time at the repair shop with this M45. I am going to hunt down a solution for this problem. My intensions are to keep this car for as long as possible. Someone out there must have more info about the fix that is needed.

Thanks

The first thing I would do, and you can do this in about 10-20 minutes. Remove the small wood or aluminum trim adjacent to the START button. It just pops off towards you. Next, loosen the trim on the passenger side by taking out the 3-4 screws seen inside the glove box at the top. Just under the left side of the switch section, you will see one screw (there is only one) that holds the center switch section in place. Remove that screw and gently lift from that side. The opposite side of the switch section is not screwed on. It slides under the long passenger side trim piece. If you lift the long trim piece where the switch section lays under it, and tilt the driver side of the center switch section outwards, it will slide out from under. There are two harnesses on the back of the center switch. Make sure they are snug. The small plug controls the sound and the larger plug controls the input for the NAV screen and everything else.
If you pop off the center air/con vents trim piece (it pops out toward you), you will see the screws that hold the NAV screen in place. I haven't removed my actual screen, but it seems to be an easy grab. I have removed my center vent trim and it, too, is an easy pull off. Perhaps you can see the harnesses for the screen as well and verify they are snug. If that changes nothing, then you are, indeed, looking at a very expensive fix.
You will find diagrams in the FSW available in the FAQ sticky at the top of the front page of this forum.
I am currently re-covering my dash in black suede so I have removed all the trim pieces, air/con vents, radio grille,speedo trim, defrost trim, etc recently.

Thanks for the reply and info Larz. If it turns out to not be a loose wire issue then I am leaning toward replacing the control module and maybe the screen. I have found many for sale on eBay that won't break the bank. Your directions for getting into the dash is very helpful.

I think this story finally has an ending (I hope). Now months later I finally know what the heck the problem is, how to fix it, and where the part is that I need to replace. As a matter of fact, I've already fixed my nav., radio, and c***-pit control issue in my 2007 Infiniti M45 Sport. If you are having the same problem, the fix is easy but may be expensive depending on how you go about getting the new part that you need. The problem that I had was diagnosed by the dealership as a faulty navigation control unit. It is located in your glove-box. It's that component that says Bluetooth on it. It controls all of the functions of the navigation, radio, steering wheel controls, and heat/AC. I can't believe that no one else has written about this. I looked for months and got nothing. So hopefully what I've found will help you. Here is what you need to do and it's not hard. 1. Pop out the dash trim above the starter button. It's the trim that is above the starter button and between the steering wheel and center control module. I used a plastic putty knife to pry it up. 2. Remove the one screw that is under this trim peice. 3. slide the control module (unit that controls nav. heat/air, radio) towards the steering wheel. You do not need to remove this module, just loosen it. 3. Open the glove-box in order to remove the screws holding the dash trim that is above the glove-box. There's like 6 screws. They are located inside the glove-box just below the dash trim piece. Two of the screws have a cover tab over them that needs to be pried out. You'll now have access to remove them. 4. Once All of these screws are removed use your plastic putty knife to pry / lift the dash trim piece. 5. Remove the trim that surrounds the nav. control unit by removing the 2 screws at the left bottom corner of the glove-box. You will see that they are not in the glove-box bit are inside the glove-box door. There is one other screw on the opposite side that needs to be removed as well. Its in the bottom right passenger side. To get to this one, open the passenger side door and pry the trim piece that is at the end / side of the dash board. Now loosen the rubber weather strip to create access / line of sight to the screw that holds the inner glove-box trim. 6. Slide out and down the glove-box and trim piece. With this out of the way you now have access to the control unit that should be the source of your problem. 7. Remove the torx screws on the side of the unit with a T25 torx bit. The one on the left in front is a bit tricky to get to. I used just the bit that attaches into my screw driver and held it tightly with a pair of vise-grips. Loosen this one until you can use your fingers to get it the rest of the way. 8. Slide out the nav. control unit until you can reach the 3 wires that connect this unit to the wiring harness. Push the holding clips down while wiggling the connector back and forth while pulling. Do this carefully so you don't distort the pins and or the connector. 9. Take the unit out and look at the top of it for the part number. The part number on the unit that came out of my 2007 Infiniti M45 Sport was 25915-EJ26C. Which I was able to locate on eBay by just searching that part number. *Before you do all of this remove the nav dvd if you need that disc for the future. When you get your new unit plug it back in and power it up before you put everything back together just in case. Once you have everything back together (follow my directions in reverse) make sure your car is outside so the navigation can be located by the satellite and then let it adjust to your location. My used unit has been in for about a week and so far no problems. Something else I learned. The dealership told me that I deeded part number 25915-EJ37B. This part is impossible to find used and is about $4,000 to replace. I found my part number mentioned above on eBay from a donor car for $125.

Hope this has been helpful.

Good Luck

Mike

Thanks Mike. Very useful info. I have 07 M35 (140K miles) and same issue looks like.
Are these parts same on M35 and M45 ?

Mike, your post is very clear. I removed mine successfully and ordered a used part on ebay for $55.00 for my 07 M35 . My part number is 25915 EJ36C . Xanavi informatics corp. Made in Japan .
your disassembly order item #7 , instead of Torx screws I opened the 2x philips screws on each side of the bracket which screwed to console . that was lot easier.
Thanks again

I got the part for $55 on ebay . It came today and fixed it . Working great . Thanks again Mike and others .

To all of you have that have had success going this route, did you replace the unit with the exact same model number or one that was compatible with your car? I have this same issue and wondering if I should pick up one that work with the 2006 M35x? I would ideally like to open this up only once.

Also, once the new unit was plugged it, was anything else necessary or is this just plug-and-play? Do I need to go to Infiniti to get this reprogrammed or something?