A very bad day for my G35X

[vsoy]

When I first heard about the G35X on a radio commercial while driving around town, I literally stopped. While I was a little worried about getting a first generation model, I've been overall happy with my car.

Now I've done something I just can't believe. I hate barging in on a forum with this as my first post. I'm just devasted and I was wondering if some of the older, more knowledgeable members here could provide some references and advice.

I was running on gas fumes late last night because I didn't want to stop and get mugged while getting gas . I figured I could put a gallon or two of gas from the gas can for the lawnmover and it would be enough to get to the gas station and Lowes. The 5 gallon can had very little in it and it has a tendency to leak during pouring so I got more gas all over me than in the car tank. I still smell like gas despite vigorous hand washings.

I remembered we had a one gallon gas can for the weedwhacker and eventually found it. I happily pour it into the car and I was about to go out when the husband calls from Indianapolis. I tell him about the gas situation and I find out I just dumped a gallon of used two cycle motor oil into my Infiniti G35X 4 cycle engine...

This is a very bad thing to do.

Thankfully I did not start the engine and get this pure stuff into the gas lines and pump.

We're thinking of filling the gas tank up with regular gas to dilute this motor oil and frequently topping off the gas tank this week to dilute it out even more. Later on in the week, we'll pour in some fuel injector cleaner to clean those up.

The other alternative is to have the car towed to the dealership and have them disconnect the gas tank and pump, drain it and flush it out. I imagine this will very, very expensive (thousands of dollars?) and probably quite difficult and time consuming to do.

An online colleague suggested that this would be quite simple to disconnect the fuel line at the fuel pump but I have a feeling this would not be quite so easy for an Infiniti. My husband has done some similar work with the fuel tank on his modified Ford Mustang and it was pretty hair raising and not trivial. Fords are pretty cheap cars and relatively accessible cars to work on but I have a feeling Infinitis might have a lot of tucked or sealed up compartments, making it much more difficult to work on. Am I mistakened? Does anyone have some diagrams or advice on going about taking on this project if it is tractable?

I can't believe this. I have a huge paperweight in the middle of the garage. I am so screwed if this dilution plan doesn't work.

I've considered siphoning the oil out of the gas tank but there's so little in the tank, it would be quite difficult to generate enough suction to get the one or two gallons at the very bottom of the tank. I'm not even sure I have tubing thin enough for this job and the thought of ingesting gas and oil by mistake is making me gag. Has anyone ever used one of those self-siphoning gadjets?

Thanks in advance for any advice or encouragement. My poor little car. I've poisoned it.
Modified by vsoy at 2:54 PM 7/29/2006

[szh]

Ouch!

I suspect that the safest way is to take the gas tank out and clean it. It should not be outrageously expensive, I would think.

I have linked in your post to some experts who might have better ideas ...

Here is hoping it works out!

Z

[maxhopper]

I would think that either siphoning out the tank or draining the tank would be the best bet. You can get a hand pump siphone similar to something like this. http://www.amazon.com/gp/produ...=UTF8

If all else failes; you can remove a fuel line after it comes out of the pump, and turn the ignition on. This should make the pump engage to pressurize the fuel system. In theory, with the fuel line disconnected, and the system never being pressurized, the pump should continue to run. Once all the bad fuel has been purged, turn off the ignition, reattach the fuel line, and fill the tank with the proper fuel.

[9095240SXDUCK]

If a customer came in like that I would only charged 3-4 hours job, it would take me about a hour to take the tank out! (I am a Nissan Tech) and I also think you should tow it to the dealer, do not fire it up! I would take it to a Nissan Dealer instand of a infiniti dealer since Nissan labor rate is lower!

On a side note, what year is you G35X? Have you took care of your fuel hose recall? If not then you are in luck, since the tech has to take your tank out to change the hose, then more then likely the dealer will only charged you a hour of labor to clean it out!

Good Luck!

[vsoy]

Thank you everybody for your suggestions. I've tried siphoning the gas-oil mixture with some tubing and a bulb but not much success, it could be that the inserted tube is not quite submerged in liquid or I have a leak somewhere in my siphon system. I might get somewhere if I added reguar gasoline to dilute it out a little and raising the volume a little.

9095240SXDUCK, thanks for your insight on what to expect at dealership, it is a comforting to know it is not a terribly labor intensive procedure. Probably towing would be the biggest expense for this repair since towing is such a racket in my town. We do have a Dodge 1500 pickup truck with a Hemi so maybe we can bypass the tow truck companies. We've loaded the truck up with many heavy loads in the back, but never got around to towing something.

I have a 2004 G35X and I don't think I ever did that fuel hose recall, have to check records, but that would be nice to do at the same time. I'll have to talk to the husband about this avenue because we thought it would be prohibitively expensive.

[Joe]

that truck will tow your g35 fine, even if it is a fake hemi (dont get me started on that badge)

anywho, the 100% safest way to do this is to remove the tank and have it cleaned

but really..lets be realistic here. 1 gallon of mixed 2cycle in a 16-ish gallon tank (fill it, asap.) isnt going to hurt anything. i know older cars that burn more oil than that because of oil blowby from the engines just being old haha

im not saying its 100% safe to do that, but in reality, absolutley nothing is going to happen. so if you want to save yourself $300+ it should be perfectly fine.

[szh]

If you are going to tow it, just remember that the drive wheels (rear) need to be off the ground for sure. You do not want the transmission damaged!

So, use dollies for the wheels, or tow by lifting from the back.

Infiniti recommends using flat-bed tow trucks for this reason!

Z

[9095240SXDUCK]

If you got a truck, go to UHAL (sorry can't spell) and pay $50 to get the flat bed, Do not use dollies!. have couple friends or nightborn push it onto the flat bed. If the dealer ask why its on a flat bed, just tell them what have happen and what you used!

Kamin

You are right, more then likely she be ok, but its not our car so safer then sorry is good! because a new VQ35DE is $5.6G!

[Q45tech]

We love it when people tow with driving wheels on ground the transmission gets no lubrication if engine is not running yet gets spun by drive shaft.................a quick $5,000 in revenue added to orginal problem.

Use to be more common on Q&J when fuel pumps failed........but most NORMAL towers have learned from a few expensive experiences.............watch out for Joe's Budget Tow. We have seen a few change name and go bankrupt to avoid owner lawsuits.

[szh]

If you are going to tow it, just remember that the drive wheels (rear) need to be off the ground for sure. You do not want the transmission damaged!

So, use dollies for the wheels, or tow by lifting from the back.

Infiniti recommends using flat-bed tow trucks for this reason!

Whoops, I just noticed ... you have the G35X all-wheel drive model. All four wheels need to be off the ground when towing. A flat-bed is safest!

Z

[szh]

If you got a truck, go to UHAL (sorry can't spell) and pay $50 to get the flat bed, Do not use dollies!.

While I agree that a flat-bed tow truck is way safest, is there a reason you say not to use dollies? Although, admittedly, on this G35X, using dollies on all four wheels is probably not a good idea, I would think it would be okay for other rear-wheel drive cars to put them onto dollies and tow from the front, right?

Particularly if the drive axle wheels are properly tied down onto the dollies ...

Z

[infinititech1]

i agree with takin to nissan...labor rate is lower than infiniti. also have the fuel hose recall done...i've done a few that were really bad. i don't think siphoning would work all that well seeing how the fuel tank is on the g35's.

[vsoy]

Update: My husband put in a few gallons of gas and had better luck than I did with siphoning. He couldn't get all of it out but poured in the rest of the gas after siphoning. Probably a couple of people shaking their heads at this point, but he drove to the nearest gas station and filled the tank up and filled up the gas can too. There was no burning smell and no apparent irregularities with start up or during driving. We intend to schedule an appointment for that fuel hose recall as soon as possible but in the meantime, fill up the tank when it is 3/4 full and put in some fuel injector cleaner and replacing the fuel filter. Oh, and to drive like little old ladies so not to put any more stress on the car (this will be hard to do heheh).

While I realize this is less than optimal and probably takes a few miles off the life of this car, it was for us the most expedient route at this time. There was a leaking garden spigot that could not be shutoff completely which needed tending. Yes, it was that kind of a day yesterday along with strange people ringing doorbells at 4:30 in the morning.

The suggestions and comments people have given me has really helped us make an informed decision and I thank you all for your thoughtful comments. It may not be what many would do, but best for us in this situation and it is not my intention to offend people. I know it can be pretty irritating to have newbies barge in, ask for advice and appear to not listen at all, but we've taken all your advice to heart. BTW, good to know about asking for a flat bed truck, the all-wheel/rear wheel transmission factor completely slipped my mind. Ooh, that would be a mess!

[szh]

Not to worry about not taking our advice! We were trying to make sure that we gave you all the options to make an educated decision.

I am glad it worked out for you!

Z

[szh]

BTW, good to know about asking for a flat bed truck, the all-wheel/rear wheel transmission factor completely slipped my mind. Ooh, that would be a mess!

Most definitely - please remember to keep that in mind if you ever do need a "tow" in the future! As Q45tech mentioned, the transmission can get damaged if you tow with the engine off and the drive wheels spinning on the ground. Expensive repair ...

Z

[9095240SXDUCK]

Not too worry about not taking our advice! We were trying to make sure that we gave you all the options to make an educated decision.

I am glad it worked out for you!

Z

+1

Oh by the way the fuel filter is in the gas tank. its a pain in the *** to put back on so! good luck on that!