Bearings, tires....and stuff

[aft981]

As I mentioned in another post, I took my car in for a service plus I had a few other niggly things that I wanted looking at. Wasn't the cheapest trip to the dealer I've had, but my car does drive like the day I got it, which was a year and 29,000 miles ago.

I'd had a rumbling noise coming from the front of the vehicle for a good month or so, to me it sounded like bearings. I mentioned it, and apparently, it was the bearings. My repair order states a L/Front wheel bearing internal failure. So they replaced them. Now, is it just me, or should wheel bearings not need replacement at 30,000 miles?! Hopefully it was just a one off, the service manager did say these were the first bearings they've had to replace in an EX, although apparently they do quite a few of FX's, he said the bearings seem quite prone in the FX to being damaged by potholes?

So that was that. I was also told my fuel pump had been replaced. Which I thought was bizarre as they had replaced it last summer when I took it in for the first oil change. Unfortunately I appear to have misplaced the work order from that first service, so I can't see the part number of the pump they put in that first time. So I'm now on fuel pump #3....and to be honest, I was quite happy with fuel pump #1....I never noticed any buzzing or noise from that one, or #2.

Next I needed 4 new tires. Ouch. 29,000 miles and new tires. My Murano I used to get about 40-45,000 miles off a set. It had also been skipping over the road a bit and not holding straight so well, so I had an alignment done too.

Also got an EFI service and air induction service done.

Overall, feels and drives better than it did, but thats mainly because of the groaning bearings, which were getting to be very annoying. I am a little concerned at how quickly they went, plus how quickly I've needed new tires. Anyone else needed new tires yet? If so, after how many miles?

[302@12psi]

Just from looking at the OEM tires I'm not overly impressed with their design. They've done okay in the wet and snow and do fine in the dry but are not great in any of the above.

Tires are going to have a lot of variation in them. How often do you rotate them? What is your commute like? What tire pressure do you keep? Does the vehicle spend a lot of time sitting? How aggresive you are in turns? And a few other variables come into play.

With that being said if you rotated your tires as you should and still ate them up in 2X,000 thousand miles I WOULD NOT put OEM tires back on the vehicle.

[SteveTheTech]

Bearing failure is not uncommon in the FX, they have more rotating mass and can get noisy. I have yet to see anyone replace one in an EX or new G35x. It seems like a one off thing.

Replacing the fuel pump is more of a preventative measure. Some of the early replacement ones made some noise too so they are replacing all of them.

Four tires at 30k is not great but not too awful. The Sport9000 have a decent tread rating (more than 450 I think) means very little in how long the tires really last. How worn were they? How often did you rotate them? I ask out of general curiosity I have a few customers the Sport9000s that have passed 35k with the stock tires.

I mean no offense by the following commentary; You question the cost of going to the dealer but you also bought the induction service and intake cleaner? How dirty could your intake have gotten and just how do they clean this (please see the G forum for more information on how not to clean your TB, and what can happen if you move the plates). Short of taking the TBs off and spraying it with a mild cleaner any aftermarket upsells' benefits are arguable if you change your air filter at normal increments there is no reason for this expense. If you are running high quality premium and driving your car with a little enthusiasm once and a while that should clean any carbon that may have accumulated on the valves. Don't get me wrong there are some cases where this is necessary and there are some fluid exchange services that I recommend (brake fluid and the occasional power steering fluid) but some of these "services" do nothing but separate you from your money.

At 30k I would recommend you replace the following;-Oil and Filter-Rotate and Balance all tires-Check the air in the spare tire-Adjust the parking brake (via the drums)-Replace the engine air filter and in cabin mircofilter-Replace the differential fluid (GL-5 80W-90) and transfer case (NISSAN Matic J ATF)-Replace the wiper inserts (all 3) -An alignment never hurts wither, depending on the status of the tires.-Get a thorough report of every wearable items status from brakes to belts-Coolant exchange while your at it, use something good not the cheapest thing out there. The OE stuff is extraordinarily expensive, but it is not like Dex-Cool.

Go to MA-6 & 7 it gives you a breakdown of what is required for your warranty requirements. For a little more insight, although only a rough outline of what may be needed based on a general evaluation of the serviceable life of certain components.

[AWGD8]

Steve,

I bought a 4 year Infiniti maintenance service plan and my oil change is

done every 3,700 miles. How do I know if my dealer really change my oil?

I asked them to use synthetic oil and will just go there every 7.5k miles.

You know what I mean? The service adviser said he can`t do anything

about it. I have to pay the synthetic oil to do it. I wonder how much the

cost of 2 oil changed with regular oil compare to one oil change using

synthetic? is there a big difference in price? my mileage is at 8.5k miles

now and due for 7.5k oil change. That means if I do an oil change at 8.5k

miles, I `ll bring it back at 10.5k miles for another oil change to avoid any

warranty issue?
Modified by AWGD8 at 9:08 PM 6/3/2009

[aft981]

I mean no offense by the following commentary; You question the cost of going to the dealer but you also bought the induction service and intake cleaner? How dirty could your intake have gotten and just how do they clean this (please see the G forum for more information on how not to clean your TB, and what can happen if you move the plates). Short of taking the TBs off and spraying it with a mild cleaner any aftermarket upsells' benefits are arguable if you change your air filter at normal increments there is no reason for this expense. If you are running high quality premium and driving your car with a little enthusiasm once and a while that should clean any carbon that may have accumulated on the valves. Don't get me wrong there are some cases where this is necessary and there are some fluid exchange services that I recommend (brake fluid and the occasional power steering fluid) but some of these "services" do nothing but separate you from your money.

Lol don't worry, no offense was taken! To be honest, when I said it wasn't the cheapest trip to the dealer, I wasn't complaining about it, it was more a case of me not expecting a $1400 bill, and literally, I think in the past year I've only spent just over $100 on it when I had filters changed. (I have the maintenance package, so oil changes are included). My EX is actually a company car, and so maintenance issues are paid for by my company, which is nice, and maybe if it was my own money, I might be a little more stringent, and I probably would have tried to get a couple thousand more out of the tires.

What I also hadn't mentioned was I asked them to look at a small issue I was having around 40mph occasionally - sometimes when cruising around that speed, if I would then try and accelerate a little, the engine would sometimes seem to skip a beat, there would be a slight hesitation, and then it would pull away. The dealer couldn't replicate it, which didn't surprise me as it would only happen maybe once ever 3 or 4 days. I think they advised that the induction and intake service might help. It was my own fault, I received the call from the dealer with the work they recommended right when I was in the middle of juggling a couple of phone calls at work and trying to get stuff off my desk before I left for Europe the next day, so I was only half paying attention to what he was saying! Regarding tires, I think he said they were still legal, but would need changing in the next thousand or two miles. I have a bunch of long distance trips for work planned in the next month or so, so I figured I'd just get them changed while they had my car.

I think the rest of what you recommended for a 30k service has been done, either in this last service or the one before. With the exception of diff fluid and transfer case. Do you think I should ask about that the next time it's in? The transfer case on my Murano went when it was only a year old. Went at a pretty inconvenient time actually, I was on the way to the airport to catch a flight, but of all the places it could have gone, it amazingly broke just a mile from the dealers, so we managed to limp there, they gave me a loaner and I just made the flight!

[SteveTheTech]

I'm glad you took no offense to my mini rant. Long day.

If you are using your car for business, wear may happen in uneven ways and there is no need to chance it.

There was something that jumped out to me in your post.

What I also hadn't mentioned was I asked them to look at a small issue I was having around 40mph occasionally - sometimes when cruising around that speed, if I would then try and accelerate a little, the engine would sometimes seem to skip a beat, there would be a slight hesitation, and then it would pull away.

I know the symptom you are speaking of. What you are feeling is the transmission not upshifting until a certain threshold is passed. Basically, part of the transmission shift logic is dedicated for optimal fuel economy, however when in max lockup cycle is commanded (<1/8 throttle application at >42mph). You are only the second person I have heard of with this complaint. Maybe there was a thread about this before but I cannot recall.

I plan on starting a thread about this and I bet if enough people make it known that they have this I can pass this along to the engineers and have a leg to stand on as there are real consumers out there with this exact issue. I wonder if we can get the first NICO Infiniti ECM reflash. Really this issue is a software glitch, and really only occurs in people who tend to drive either in traffic usually at a consistent cruise, unfortunately there is nothing I have found that will fix this and it does not warrant the replacement of any component as it is software related.

Steve,I bought a 4 year Infiniti maintenance service plan and my oil change is done every 3,700 miles. How do I know if my dealer really change my oil?

The best way to tell if your oil was changed is by opening the hood and looking at the lower left of the engine to look for a new filter, also the dipstick should show clean virgin oil.

I asked them to use synthetic oil and will just go there every 7.5k miles.You know what I mean?

The companies stand point has always been 3750, although they will not usually alter your warranty for using premium oi and a slightly increased intervall. I cannot in good conscientious get into that any more, as I may not be giving you the correct information.

The service adviser said he can`t do anything about it. I have to pay the synthetic oil to do it. I wonder how much the cost of 2 oil changed with regular oil compare to one oil change using synthetic? is there a big difference in price? my mileage is at 8.5k miles now and due for 7.5k oil change. That means if I do an oil change at 8.5k miles, I `ll bring it back at 10.5k miles for another oil change to avoid any warranty issue?

That is the position of your specific dealer. Since they are all independently owned and operated they can set the rules (but this is a huge gray area) within a certain cases. In general if you take good care of your EX it will be fine. The engine and transmission in this vehicle are both enhanced versions of time tested models, don't stress it too much. I have many customers who do the bare minimum only when in for a warranty concerns (usually >5k over on their oil change) and they almost never have an issue. Doing slightly more than that will keep your EX happy.

[cjre1]

The dealer told me if I use premium Syn oil, then I should do an oil change every 7500 miles. I will not void any warranty because the dealer will have a record of my oil changes and what kind of oil was used. This is what the Service manager told me. I just got a Mobil 1 Syn oil change done today, it cost me $75.00 for everything.