air shocks for hood

[bigox777]

My air shocks to hold the hood up are bad on my 92 q45. They are expensive at the dealer and I was wondering whats the correct specifications for them if I want to go aftermarket?This will be my second replacement . Is it due to the east coast weather or is their a way to maintain them that i don't know about?

[rod_ontario]

Had a similar problem with my 92Q and was certain that the gas shocks were faulty. However the solution to the binding hood was to lubricate the hinges and clean them up. In the end the hinges had to be replaced.

Rod

[VimyJ]

rod_ontario, I'm assuming you live in Canada. Gasoline prices are substantially higher there. What's a fill up costing you these days? If I lived in the Great White North I would probably be driving a 4 cylinder (turbocharged, of course). Then again, commuting distances are on the main shorter in Canada than the US so maybe you're not putting 500 miles (900Kms) a week on your Q? Those fuel costs could really cut into your maintenance fund.

[bigox777]

I cleaned the hinges a week ago. They were as tight as my bank when i asked for a loan. Rust was running out of them the whole time i was cleaning them. What is the proper lb. ratio for the shocks?

[Q45tech]

No published spec that I wan find! The Lexus units all fail after 60,003 miles whereas few Q units do.....we might have changed 3 out of 1,000 in 6 years.My 90 [which probably gets the hood opened 50 times more frequently .....at least 3 times per week] than any Q I know still has the 1989 units.

Having a rusty hinge PROVES the lack of maintainence and failure to carry out YOUR duties in the weekly inspection of fluid levels SHAME SHAME. Prima Facie evident of guilt in vehicular infanticide....destroying your BABY. Making periodic payments to the gods of transportation is your punishment.

[AZhitman]

Pep Boys carries replacement struts. Check the book hanging on the shelf.

[rod_ontario]

bigox777 should have asked the following before offering up any advice - Are the shocks weak and unable to carry the weight of the hood or do they seem too rigid?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Vimy], I just moved to Southern Ontario from Northern Alberta. Edmonton was my hometown until recently. (Never curled.)My wife has an 8 min commute to work, maybe 100 kms a week. (60 miles) I on the other hand just retired from the Edmonton Fire Department – I don’t commute. So, my maintenance costs are not prohibitive.The price we pay for gas is an outrage; oilmen run the world and oil is priced in American dollars. (Oil Floats All Dolts) However, if you look at the price of a lot of other goods (purchasing power parity) Canada is not in bad shape.Check out the Economist mag’s “Big Mac Index”. A couple of examples - I priced out a break hardware kit in the US for my Q and the price was the same. Knock sensor harness was $ 85 in Toronto and they were asking $ 95 in the States – given the exchange rate they should have been 36 % more. ($1Canadian Dollar = $0.641643 USD.) Attached is a graph of the average price of gas in American Dollars.

[bigox777]

Too rigid. They seem to be locking up while fully extended.I'll go to pep boys tomorrow and price them.

[rod_ontario]

Had the same problem. I was always careful when closing the hood. However, I required a windshield repair and neglected to tell the installer. When he was finished under the hood, he closed it and bent it in half.Picked up a new hood and new hinges and have not had a problem in the three years since.Like you, I was convinced it was the shocks until a body shop tech told me otherwise.He said that they were twisted and needed replacement.Check the hinges, before you waste more money on your third set of shocks.

[fxjackso]

Have I been under the false impression that taxmen run the world? With crude traded in USD, and being easy to ship in quantity........Let me tell you how it will be.There's one for you, nineteen for me.

In the meantime I'm going to check the hinges on my latest Texas Q.

[rod_ontario]

Hello Fred,Absolutely, just had the tax guy rip a hunk out of my wallet. I stand corrected.Born and raised in Alberta where the Tar Sands are located and the oil that can be recovered is larger than all the Saudi Arabia oil reserves combined – in the Province of Alberta oil is the master of all. In fact some Canadians in the east have called Albertans “The Blue Eyed Sheiks." This has made Alberta very wealthy and I should be carefull about bad mouthing what has helped put a roof over my head and food on my table.

[rod_ontario]

And about those hinges they are worth taking care of - once the hoods structural integrity is compromised, i.e.; pulling the hood down when there is to much resistance from rusty or bent hinge can result in a kinked and a limp hood. Viagra nor shocks will restore the hood to its former glory.

[bigox777]

Since my last post, I learned a lot. Like listen to you guys and fix the problem before it gets worse. Because of the bad hinges, I bent the hood and it completely lost it's integrity. It blew open on I-95 @ about 80mph and shattered my windshield and covered my vision. I could touch my hood emblem out of my sunroof! Luckily I'm alive and nobody was hurt. I got lucky the next day and found an exact match hood at the junkyard. I put on new hinges and lift supports. When I took my old hinges off, just like you said, they were tight, rusty, and all together bad. That must have caused my hood to bend. All the force of the 80mph wind went right under my hood on the highway and popped the hood latch (had to replace that too). Not taking care of these hinges can end up costly and very dangerous. I'll try to attach a pic. of the hood afted i bent it down and got it off.

[bigox777]

I wanted to add 1 more pic. so you can see how much pressure the hood was under while driving 80 mph. The metal snapped in two near the lift supports

[Q451990]

All I can say is "sombich!" Glad to hear you're OK and it didn't destroy too much... hopefully your insurance co. will pick up the windshield?

I'll sure be greasing the hinges! Don't think I've ever greased the ones on Q1, but Q2 has made a squeak or two that I too thought might be a bad gas strut.

Heath

[bigox777]

Decided not to bother the Insurance man. The deductable was 500 plus the rate would go up. I got lucky and found the matching hood & hood latch for $250. The hood lift supports at pep boys for $39. each ,and the windshield $190. The only thing that is left are some minor dings at the top of each fender where the hood bent backwards. A friend has a body shop and I think I can convince him to clean up the dings cheap enough. I was camera happy after it happened so I'll put a pic of the top of the fender where the hood curled back and dinged the fender. It is right next to the hinges

[rod_ontario]

Windshield Cam should be the next big thing. So we all could share with others the look of sheer terror of a near death experience. It’s a twisted idea, but it could be damn funny.It's good that you were able to resolve the repair with used parts and the same color in the bargain. There are not many Q45s up here in Canada and it is difficult to find decent used parts.Your heart must have near jumped out of your chest!

[PalmerWMD]

Wow bigox,

I wonder how I missed this one I must have been outta town!.

I am glad you are ok and am sure it was a pleasant suprise in getting a easy + cheap hood replacement.

Fred...

[QBOAT]

As a fellow Canuck in Toronto and the owner of a 1993 Q I can't find a good Infiniti Tech. The ones I've used at the dealership seem to be in permanent apprenticeship mode.

Have you found anyone reliable in the area??

Thanks

[rod_ontario]

Hi Qboat,

I do my own work.I am on my second engine & trans. on my 92Q. I was unaware that their was a problem with overheating on the trany or that the guides fail. Wish I had have found this board before my twin disasters occurred. Oh well.I changed out my guides on my seconded engine last summer as well as replaced the rear seal. No oil leaks and runs like a dream.

By the way, I get my parts from the Infinity dealer in Quelph. They give me 15% off all the parts that I buy