Buying 1999 Q45, advice please.

[oldkid6]

Hello, this is my first post and I am trying to find out any problems that plaque the 99' Q45. I have searched the web and forums and the only real problem that consistently comes up is "rough idle".

I have read that the vast majority of people cannot figure out what causes this, and the owner of the car I am considering purchasing from told me the car idles rough, which concerns me because I don't want to be stuck with a problem that cannot be solved. I am not looking for the usual wear and tear items that come with buying an older car, my main concern are the mechanical defects that are either difficult to diagnose or one's that have plagued owner's like yourselves. Any warnings or advice before buying would be appreciated.

The car has had one owner, garaged, well kept to my knowledge, though his one and only problem he states is that it idles rough.

Can anyone out there share their experience with Q45's in general and especially those who have come across this rough idling problem.

TIA
Edit/Delete Message

[VA99Q45]

I have owned a 99 q45 for 9 years now. No counting tire and oil change, I have spent less than $500 on maintenance. The car is rock solid. It still drive like when I first brought it 9 years ago.

I went through a period with rough idle on my car. I tried all kind of stuff to fix it. But it turn out the problem was one of the coilpack. After I replaced the bad coilpack, the rough idle went away immediately and have not come back. If you want to save money, buy just 1 coilpack and start swapping one cylinder at a time. If the rough idle go away, then you found the bad coilpack.

[Skibane]

The car has had one owner, garaged, well kept to my knowledge, though his one and only problem he states is that it idles rough.

The fact that he never bothered to fix the problem might be a clue as how well the car was cared for.

"Rough idle" can be caused by a lot of things - some of them very serious.

Personally, if I was really serious about buying the car, I'd cough up a couple hundred bucks to have a good Infiniti tech identify the cause of the problem BEFORE I bought it. If expensive repairs are required, you can either use them in renegotiating the selling price, or walk away.

[paranoidjack]

Skibane is 100% percent correct.

If you are actually planning on spending thousands on this car, spend a few hundred bucks and have a qualified tech look it over. Otherwise, it could be many things. Without knowing the mileage or maintenance history it is nearly impossible to figure out via internet threads.

[oldkid6]

Thanks for all your responses, it's nice to hear voices of reason.

The car has 110K on the clock and I will request to bring to my mechanic, which brings me to my next question. My mechanic specializes in Euro cars but he does work on anything, having said that, do you think it would be fine for a mechanic who doesn't specialize in Infiniti to check out the car? Otherwise I'd either have to go to a shop I'm not familiar with or go to a dealership who I would trust the least.

My mechanic is very experienced and trustworthy, my only concern would be his lack of knowledge of the Q45 in particular.

[bullittandy]

Its a coil, $75 and its fixed. Now which coil? that's the question.

[Skibane]

My mechanic specializes in Euro cars but he does work on anything, having said that, do you think it would be fine for a mechanic who doesn't specialize in Infiniti to check out the car?

That's a tough question.

1. A good mechanic with no Q45 familiarity spends 2 hours to track down the problem at $70 an hour, or

2. A good mechanic who knows Q45s spends 45 minutes to track down the same problem at $120 an hour - and also gives you some other helpful tips about the car.

Which is the better deal?

[BadQ45t]

If you've got a guy you trust I would have him look at the car and see if he can diagnose the issue. You should see if the current owner ever changed the spark plugs, if not they are 110k old and probably the issue. I have 98k on my 97' and I plan to replace all 8 coil packs and the knock sensors next time I have my mechanic remove all the plastic parts you have to so you can dig into that part of the engine. I am just waiting for the rough idle to happen, I did the plugs at 85k due to time and will have to do them again next year.

I would try your guy, particularly if he's not charging you. However, if you writing him a check, then a stealership might be the way to go for you $$. They have all the Nissan diagnostic equipment....also, maybe your local Euro guy knows a Japanese car mechanic. I personally haven't taken my car to the dealer in more then 10 years, once the warranty was done I was done there save a few coupons for oil changes once in a while. I have two mechanics (one in LA and one is SF) that do tons of work on Japanese cars and have kept the Q running great.

[maxnix]

If you go to your European "mechanic," download the FSM here and take it with you on your laptop.

We know that All-Data is really Some-Data when it comes to these cars. Don't forget to check all fluids including AT and PS.

[JOHNQ]

listen to andy i own 3 of these cars so that should tell you if you should buy it or not. if you decide on not buying it please tell me the phone number to the seller as ive been looking for a one owner car

[oldmako]

I'm with Andy as well.

My car was showing several codes WRT O2 sensors and the harness.

I replaced the coils and it now runs perfect. Three were new, and five from a wreck with 53K.

Smoooooth idle and plenty of pull from zero 100. Just like when I bought it.

Now if I could just fix my AC.........

[oldkid6]

Thanks for all the great responses, so here's what happened: drum roll please....

I test drove the car by myself, the owner was not in the car. It had a very bad "stumbling" idle at all stop lights. When I'd go to accelerate it would misfire enough that you could tell there wasn't enough power to take off, and it was rough going up the RPM band. It felt like a classic coil pack problem as I've dealt with this before on other cars, maybe it was a spark plug but I figured out later why I knew it wasn't.

I took it to an empty parking lot and went through the glove box to find the service manual to see what kind of records had been kept, if any. Inside the jacket I found a receipt dated about a month ago and it laid out in detail the work that was done and what was needed. Forget about what work he had done, at the bottom of the page it clearly said "misfiring...needs new coils", and here was the deal breaker, below that it stated "leaking AC compressor-needs replaced".

When I brought the car back and said "I think it has at least one bad coil", the guy said "what are those"? I played along and just said I'd have to reconsider the price since work will have to be done on it. What I did was call the mechanic he had brought it to and he quoted me at least $1200 for the coils and plugs. He said I could buy the cheap Chinese made coils but he advised against it and said to get the Hitachi made coils that are OEM. Knowing that it also needed a new AC compressor I knew I wasn't going to buy the car, and I knew someone else would offer him more than me by the time I low balled him. So within an hour of test driving the car, he found another guy who paid more than what I would have, knowing the repairs it needed.

Yes, it was very clean otherwise, but I more or less wanted a turn key purchase and this would have put into the 6 to 7 grand range for a 13 year old car.

[Q451990]

Sounds like you avoided a project you didn't want to take on. It feels good to make an informed decision!

Heath

[oldkid6]

Yeah, it wasn't meant to be alright. Another awkward aspect of this story is that it's my bosses car, so the fact he wasn't completely honest and up front with me is upsetting. But the guy who bought the car may have seen the receipt as well, he drove the car just before I did, but I'll never know if he saw the work order.

This forum was a great help, when the owner said "it just idles rough", I did a Google search and found this forum. It's amazing what experienced owners information can do for you. Hopefully this thread will help anyone else who runs into a situation like mine.

[paranoidjack]

Coils from a junker and a cheap compressor and he could have sold that car in great condition for only $500 in parts and some labor (albeit A/C isn't easy to install or pressurize).

I don't get people, why not fix it first?