As some of you may know, I was a salesperson for Niello Infiniti of Concord, Ca. for a few years. Before that, I briefly worked in their service department as a service advisor.

Fast forward to now....

Last month I took my Q to Niello Infiniti for them to do a complete transmission flush. When I got there, the service advisor informed me that they don't recommend doing a flush on a car with the mileage I have (168k at the time). I informed her that I had a Level Ten performance transmission, and it was definitely not original with 170k on it. Somehow that went in one ear and out the other.

She acted as if I didn't know what the hell I was talking about, and this is a newish lady (to me, I haven't worked there in over a year). She spent 15 minutes asking random service people if they should do a flush on this car. The answer came up as "not a good idea". But she said they would do a pan drop, filter change and replace the fluid.

Now, I had done a drain and fill myself last October, but didn't change the filter or drop the pan because I just don't like being that far under a car the size of a Q sitting on just jack stands... give me a lift and we're ok.

Anyway, I told them to go ahead and change the filter and drop the pan. They sent me off in a G35 loaner and everything was A-ok, so I thought...

Two days later I came back with the loaner (hey, had to joy ride for a day ) to pick up my car. I was greeted by another woman (also a service advisor) which I guess took over doing my work order. She told me "We don't drop the pan and change the filter on this model, so we just did a drain and fill". Now, I'm not really ok with this, but being the stupid a$$ patient person I am, I let it go.

I get to the cashier and it's $179!!! WTF? I did my own drain and fill for $40!!!However it's hard for me to fight it because of the fact that I still know a lot of people there that I used to work with. I guess you can say I like to leave a good impression? So I pay the $179 and go on my way. A month later, I started having problems with my transmission shifting. It wouldn't shift AT ALL when the transmission (not the car itself) was cold. I mean, I'd warm the car up completely, but the tranny wouldn't shift until I actually drove the car to get the fluid to eventually circulate.

I searched NICO for answers, and Squee brought the turbine sensor to my attention. I got under the car, and saw that there was a connector for the sensor almost seperated. I reconnected it. Then I turned and discovered there was some seepage coming from my transmission drain plug.

That was it. The car had to go back.

About a week and a half ago I took the car back telling them about the issues I'm having, and they once again cited the mileage. They looked at the drainplug, and said "Well, we tightened it, but you might need a new pan soon because the threads are old after 15 years". Once again, THIS IS NOT THE ORIGINAL TRANSMISSION!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So after that, the shifting problems continued. This past Sunday, I even started hearing noises when the car was in park or neutral... kinda like a grinding sound that went with the rise and drop of the rpms.

I was sure at that point that I needed a new transmission. I'm moving to Indiana on April 12th and planned on shipping the car... which will cost $850. Shipping a car with a bad tranny wouldn't be cost effective for me. I was prepared to take the hit and sell the car cheap, and buy a newer (2000ish) car when I got to Indy.

I recently even with transmission issues, decided to ship it anyway and just keep it. Because when the transmission is warm, it shfts like nothing was ever wrong, and I didn't hear the grinding anymore.

Finally today, I checked the fluid level. I mean, I had done this before, but not extensively. I did it halfass before. I guess you can say that I made the assumption that the dealer would have filled the tranny to the correct level... I was soooo wrong. The level was way off. Too low. I immediately added fluid to get the perfect level, and what do you know? First drive and the car shifts right away, no problem at all.

Now I question exactly how much life this dealership error took off my quite expensive Level Ten tranny. I'll be up there tomorrow to get my $179 back. I've been severely ripped off.

I'm not against all dealers, especially this one. But They gave me the worst service I could have ever imagined from them... Even with them knowing I used to work there with them.

The lesson I learned? Don't EVER assume the dealer did the job they were asked to do correctly, even if they are the so called experts. Dealers obviously don't know much at all about G50 Q45's.

What a bunch of sloppy, ignorant twats.

Thats a relief, Evan... Now you have NO excuse to get rid of the Q!

I still think once you get out here we should do a pan drop....

WoW, that sucks. unfortunately, it might be hard to find many techs at infiniti dealers that learned (or have much exp. at all) on G50's.

maybe i'm wrong, but, if a full trans flush is more of a preventative measure, this may not be a top priority with dealerships (since they really want you to buy a new car as soon as the loan or lease is done)???

this is why i'm glad i know a tech who runs his own shop and is an ex infiniti master tech that went to school and learned on the G50.

hope they take care of you!!!

Maybe its Karmic (sp?) payback for having worked as a service adviser.

My in-law had her mazda in for timing belt+water/pump at ~70K miles. While there she agreed on trans service. I was there when she picked up the car. I checked everything and made service advizor come out and witness what I've discovered. Transm fluid was way overfilled and coolant was half way down in expansion reservoir. On top of that whoever worked on it forgot to secure timing belt cover (was making rattling noise).He appologized and took the car back in....In about 30 min everething was corrected and we got a free oil change and car wash!YOU HAVE TO CHECK - don't trust those blood-sucking-monkeys even if they wear Ferrari logo on their uniform!I do not trust them ...PERIOD!

I found a place in the yellow pages yesterday that claims to specialize in Infiniti, and theyre cheaper than everywhere else. Will be using the G20 as a guinea pig on Monday.

gniknave wrote:I just don't like being that far under a car the size of a Q sitting on just jack stands... give me a lift and we're ok.

Me too, brother. I get the shivers just thinking about what could go wrong.

Best thing to do if you don't have access to a dealer who understands preventative maintenance is to seek out a good ASE certified independent technician using the SnapOn Sun machine or a BG machine.

http://www.bgfindashop.com

another reason I am now a believer in the "2 minute drill" exchange done at home by ME!

I live in the Bay area too and although they are a total rip-off price wise Peninsula Infiniti seems to get the job right the first time. I have had two tranny flushes there along with all the fluids. I didn't do my 60k service there because for what I wanted done I would have parted with $2,000, same service was accomplished in Ventura at Cars 101 (all former Infiniti mechanics there) for $850. The Bay Area is just a suckers bet for cars no matter what you call it, but at least Peninsula seems to get it right.