96 Q45: Just bought used...10 miles to the gallon????

[chuckphx]

Hello, I am a new member and just purchased a used 96 Q45 for $2300. It needs new struts and I had a heart attack when my trusted local mechanic gave me an estimate for $1800.

What's worse is that this car has horrible performance and terrible gas mileage. It has 146k miles and is otherwise in very good condition. I am getting approximately 10 mpg and the acceleration is worse than a Yugo with its AC going.

The engine knocks pretty good when I accelerate and the car surges dramatically as well at the same time.

Please provide some experienced advise. Thanks.

[Eikon]

If you took it to your trusted local mechanic, why didn't you have him check out the motor? Sounds like you've got some serious issues. If there is one thing the Q45 is NOT.. .it's Slow. That V8 motor hauls!

[qship96]

Why would you buy a car that is running like crap? Why did you buy a v8 car if gas usage/price is a major concern? Why did you buy a car without an inspection by a technician listing everything wrong with it and the cost to fix?

Hopefully, you can see you did things azz backwards here, and probobly will pay through the nose to end up with a properly operating Q. Maybe next time you will be better prepared to make an informed purchasing decision after your experience with this car. Old, used foreign lux v8 cars are inexpensive to buy,but can be Very expensive to own....especially if one does not do the required pre-buy inspection and get the list of $3000-6000 in parts/labor the car will need to operate as designed.

[Infinitiguy19]

"Knock sensors" look into that and check the codes at autozone for free.

Weclome to NICO

[maxnix]

Wow! Sounds like you didn't even drive the car before you bought it!!!???

You need to obtain all the maintenance receipts and Infiniti dealer service history and then have a Senior Infininti service tehcnician inspect the car and get a list of what's wrong. In your case it sounds like more than just deferred maintenance, more like some real abuse. But you have to assess your car's current condition to arrive at a triage plan to restore it to safe and proper operating condition.

Do spend some time reading the FSM and Q45tech's posts so you can get a clue of what's occurring. Having a general mechanic who does not specialize on the Infiniti V8 is fine as long as your pockets are deep enough to finance his education. REad the how to buy a Q45 sticky above and Goody's excellent post following. But like he says, all of this is just the tip of the iceberg in your education about automotive maintenance, and by implication, purchasing procedures.
Modified by maxnix at 6:40 AM 8/29/2008

[goody90q45]

Please provide some experienced advise. Thanks.

Welcome to NICO. You didn't exactly get the red carpet treatment from most of the responders and hopefully you won't be stuck at one post on this forum. Their advice is correct- you need service records from the PO and the stealership, you will spend at least $3000 the first year to get her running nice (1/2 way there with struts), and parts aren't always cheap (fuel pump, FPCU, injectors, MAF later in the post). The best advice was to read, read, read and in about a week you'll start to understand the common failures and fixes and what a great car your Q45 is.

I can't afford to take my Q to the stealership for repairs and have done most myself but when I do go to my repair shop of choice I go in telling them what's wrong with the car, I provide the parts (25-30% discount through our sponsors), and print up repair instructions from our forums. They appreciate the information and my repairs have been done correctly.

........just purchased a used 96 Q45 for $2300. It needs new struts and I had a heart attack when my trusted local mechanic gave me an estimate for $1800.

He's a bit high but not too far off. It depends which strut he priced. Supply the parts ($150/wheel) yourself and figure about an hour per strut. Using our sponsor and ballpark numbers, Tokiko blue struts are $80/ea, boots $35/ea, bushings $20/ea plus shipping. OEM struts are Tokiko whites which I think most stealerships sell for about $200/ea. The only other aftermarket is Monroe.

......It has 146k miles and is otherwise in very good condition. I am getting approximately 10 mpg and the acceleration is worse than a Yugo with its AC going.

I couldn't find Wes's post which listed the pat answer with a five item list for the new owners asking what's wrong with their Q. Here's my stab at it:

>> Clean your MAF sensor and its connector. Is your car at idle up and down (0-1500 rpm), stall while stopped and restsrt with no problems? Clean, crimp and lube the pins in the connector. When done the connector should fit tight with minimal wiggle. Some owners are having trouble with internal solder joints and it's an easy fix. There's a very recent thread about this. The 96 connector may not look exactly like this but cleaning and crimping is the same.

>> OHM thy fuel injectors and knock sensors. A digital voltmeter is the only tool required- as cheap as $10-15 from Radio Shack or Best Buy. I'm guessing a dead injector or two is your biggest issue.

>> Pull the codes from the ECU. You didn't mention if the check engine light (CEL) was on or if the mechanic had pulled codes. You've got a 96 so it's OBD2 and you don't have to unbolt and unplug the ECU from the kick panel. Buy a universal $20 code reader off ebay and pull the codes yourself and then keep it in your glovebox.

>> Check the fuel pump and fuel pump control unit (FPCU). At 146k miles you may be hearing what sounds like a swarm of bees in your trunk? The fuel pump is a common failure item at your mileage. Fuel pressure should be in the 35-40 psi range. In the pic the FPCU is in the background. Look for scorching or melting of that connector.

>> Clean up the pins on every connector you can get to in the engine compartment, especially the FI, MAF, TPS and CAS. If your Q has ever had any leakage (coolant?) there will be green corrosion on the pins.

I'm only touching the tip of the iceberg here and will have to rely on others to give more details. In the meantime the tech help section at Q45.org has some good info that's a little easier to find than searching on NICO. Start there to get a good introduction to your Q and then come back here and start reading. If you can get back to us with the ECU codes you pulled, the FI and KS resistance readings and some more maintenance history we'll make some progress. Good luck.

[NightRiderQ45]

Hello, I am a new member and just purchased a used 96 Q45 for $2300. It needs new struts and I had a heart attack when my trusted local mechanic gave me an estimate for $1800.

What's worse is that this car has horrible performance and terrible gas mileage. It has 146k miles and is otherwise in very good condition. I am getting approximately 10 mpg and the acceleration is worse than a Yugo with its AC going.

The engine knocks pretty good when I accelerate and the car surges dramatically as well at the same time.

Please provide some experienced advise. Thanks.

If you purchased this car in that horrible condition....IT'S YOUR FAULT!!

I had a heart attack when my trusted local mechanic gave me an estimate for $1800.

Well by the condition of your car, it looks like you are about to spend $5k easily with parts/labor to rehab your car. Since you almost had a heart attack, you might want to invest in life insurance because you just got yourself into bind going a$$ backwards with this purchase.

[elwesso]

FUEL PUMP FUEL PUMP FUEL PUMP!!!!

CHECK fuel pressure first. Goody, I agree with your post, its likely in one of those 3 things, but check fuel pump first!!!

[Jesda]

It doesnt sound that serious, and $1800 is very reasonable if the cosmetics are clean.

[chuckphx]

Thank you all for your posts. With regards to the warm welcome by some...yes, i walked into that one. I also own a 2004 G35 that I had upgraded with many engine/suspension goodies. She runs a 12.08 qm while on the juice and a 13.13 qm w/out. That said, I love Infiniti's and this Q is my fourth Infiniti but the only used one I had ever purchased.

The reason I bought this car was that the body and interior are both in near perfect condition. Also it did not have any oil leakage or obvious / massive problems. I may have over-stated the acceleration issue a bit as I am used to the G35 performance.

I changed the plugs, air filter, fuel filter and oil yesterday myself and the car runs considerably better but still has the knocking and the surging as I accelerate. I will take the advise that has been posted and check the fuel pump and go over all of the connectors that I can get to w/out any extensive dis-assembly and report back with that as well.

The check engine light, nor any others, are lit on the dash. I will be ordering new knock sensors as that was suggested my one of the prior posts as well. Any suggestions as to where the best deal would be for these?

Other than the knock sensors, I will be concentrating on doing the struts next as this is the most obvious problem while driving. Have any of you attempted doing the struts yourself? What is the difference between the Tokiko Blue and White units?

Thank you all for responding to my post and answering the questions. It definately helps.

[maxnix]

Do ohm test your injectors and KS first. If you need the latter, you must replace the harness also.

There are two sources, OEM and relaiable after market. Respectively, they are:

http://www.infinitipartsusa.com

http://www.sparkplugs.com

The Tokicos are aftermarket (blue) or OEM (black). The blues are about 15% stiffer initially, and about half the cost. Same quality.

If you order from the first vendor above (Joe of Infiniti of Scottdale), you will get the rubber also if you get the kit. Check upperlinks and tension rod bushings.

If you replace the KS, you will be on a voyage to the bottom of the V, and you will want to consider a complete plenum and VC job to avoid repeat labor.

[goody90q45]

The check engine light, nor any others, are lit on the dash.

[D@mn] Wes is gloating right now. If you're not getting a CEL it points to a bad FP or FPCU. Do the easy stuff- check the connector first. Do you hear a swarm of bees in your trunk?

I will be ordering new knock sensors as that was suggested my one of the prior posts as well.

Don't buy KS until you've ohmed them. You may find that there's nothing wrong with them. Any KS code pulled from the ECU could have be left over from some other issue like bad gas. Are you using premium fuel?

[SteveTheTech]

If your fuel pressure and FPCM output and harness are fine. I would take a look at your O2 sensors to get an idea of how is running. If your timing (failing or misadjusted CAM position sensor)is off or air/fuel mixture (O2 or MAF) you will lose fuel econ and performance.An injector may be sticking as well, definitely perform a resistance check on the injectors. Cleaning out all terminals is recommended but be very careful not to break the connectors as cars that are twelve years old tend to have brittle connector terminals, and there stupid little metal retainers tend to go flying.

[szh]

Hello, I am a new member and just purchased a used 96 Q45 for $2300. It needs new struts and I had a heart attack when my trusted local mechanic gave me an estimate for $1800.

Struts can be done for a lot less than that ... assuming that this estimate does not include additional work?

Get Tokico Blues or OEM struts from http://www.everythinginfiniti.com.

Z