Buying a 1999 Q45 -- couple of quick newbie questions

[acr-c]

Hey guys,

I'm brand new to the site tonight. I'm a certified car nut and judging by some of the posts I've looked through here, most of you all are too!!!

My father offered me his 1999 Q45 as a daily driver. It currently has 125k miles and is in fantastic condition, in and out. It seems to drive flawlessly. He has owned it since it had 70k and it has never given him any trouble at all. His best friend owned it from off the showroom until my father bought it.

I did a ton of searching on the site tonight and still have a couple of questions. It seems that knock sensors and O2 sensors will likely go out on the '99s. I couldn't really find any definitive information as to cost to repair these items. Are we talking a couple hundred bucks or a grand for these types of repairs???

I just sold my BMW Dinan M5 because I was tired of shelling out big $$$ for stupid repairs. I really don't want to get right back in the same boat.

Any other big time issues I need to be aware of?

Thanks much -- looking forward to being a part of the site!!!

Christian

[cccpman]

Your best bet for new parts to repair the car is http://www.infinitipartsusa.com/ . It was a very expensive car from the showroom as im sure you dads friend will tell you, so repairs will be more costly then joe blows 4 banger

$126.14 for the knock sensor, you can find cheaper on ebay (I know I did). Think your Q runs 2 knock sensors like the older models

If by O2 sensor you mean MAF its $394.06If by O2 sensor you mean Oxygen sensor it is $105.65

so you wont be shelling thousands for repairs like that, labor can be expensive however, never take it to somebody you dont personally know, and trust as a good mechanic (and even then, try to stick with infiniti dealers if you can, or best of all DIY)

Depending on the price it may be a good buy - tell us how it goes!

[acr-c]

Great information! This is exactly the kind of data I was looking for.

I have read some of the posts on the site where guys are dropping $1500 to $2000 in a given month on some maintenance items which sounds scary. I realize things will break from time to time. A couple of buddies were telling me to watch out though because the were very expensive to fix.

He's talking about somewhere just north of $5k for the car, which I think sounds like a pretty good price. I know the depreciation is pretty steep on the Q45, but it still seems cheap. I had an Infiniti I30 a couple of years ago and I think that one was still around $7k or $8k.

Thanks again!

[cccpman]

For $5k I would take that off his hands in a heartbeat, here they generally go for $7-12k depending on condition and miles

If your engine goes south, or transmission dies you will be in some trouble. Thats why you should maintain equipment, start with a full fluid flush (maybe switch to synthetic everywhere you can), get the car checked out by a mechanic. Depending on how dedicated to keeping the car brand new you could be dropping a couple grand every month (if not, it could be once ever 6, 12, or even 24 months), my Q is a 1990 with A LOT more miles then yours and just had its first big fix-up since I purchased it (and the previous owner probably did just about nothing for it). I will leave that there, a fellow member with your year range model will probably pipe in some more

You are a lucky man to get a deal like that IMHO so... welcome to NICO.

[acr-c]

Sounds great. I feel pretty good about the motor and transmission. I know how my dad has driven her over the last 50k miles. He runs only synthetic oil and transmission fluid. I know the trans fluid was recently changed (only a few/several hundred miles since that) and everything looked great.

I still have to go through his records, but I think I recall him having changed out a CV joint or some kind of suspension component up in the front of the car. He had the A/C recharged with a can of refrigerant as well. Other than that, I don't think he said anything else has gone wrong. (I guess that is why I'm a little worried, thinking that everything is just overdue for repairs/maintenance/etc.)

She seems to shift smoothly and cruises wonderfully. I can't believe how quiet and seamless the car drives.

I hope a couple guys will chime in regarding '99 model years as well. I really appreciate your input tonight though. Thanks!!!

Christian

[gammer_ghn]

FIRST OF ALL Welcome to NICO!!! The 99 Q is a really nice car... cough I own one and at your mileage a tune-up from the dealer wont hurt which is $765.00 they change the spark plugs than all of the fluids and check for leaks they change the back two tires and don’t forget filters also. sounds like a ok deal ide get it if I had some $$$ but you can do everything by your self if you can not that hard of a deal... mine was punched before and im reaching 100k soon and I can foresee problems but to my standards I give the car 99% in reliability!!!! Enjoy all those miles to come...

[maxnix]

...at your mileage a tune-up from the dealer wont hurt which is $765.00 they change the spark plugs than all of the fluids ...

Not necessarily on the fluids. Some only inspect the differential, most only do a drain and refill on the ATF, so only replace 4 qts leaving over 6 of contaminated fluid in the AT. Few do a complete mechanical exchange of the ATF. Virtually none also drop the pan and inspect, clean, replace the filter and gasket, O ring and one time use bolts.

Dealer standards vary.

You need to think seriously about running an auxiliary ATF cooler bypassing the coke can sized heat exchanger in the bottom of the radiator.

The 1999 is first year of the significantly better FGY33.

O2 sensors and KS are no worse than any other car. Stay away form eBay and only buy from http://www.sparkplugs.com an http://www.infinitipartsusa.com . There is a post by Q45tech on why. Eventually, you need to read all his posts.

Keep reading. Almost all the answers are in the posts.

Welcome to NICO.

[kg03]

These are great cars! I have a 99 with about 135,000 on mine and she drives wonderfully. With the kind f mileage you have on the one your fathers selling I would think that there may be some suspension maintence coming up soon. I recently replaced all struts with oem stuff from infiniti of scotsdale (wes recommends) instead of aftermarket components (others recommend Falken) but that would be the most expensive maintence issue i had. I did all the labor myself and got all the parts fro ruffly $800. This forum is a great asset when averaging down repair costs b/c if you need help figuring out how to do something (labor) these guys have majority of answers to your problem and if not can point you in the right direction. I paid $9000 for my 99 three years ago and I have been extremely satisfied every since. You also should consider changing the spark plugs soon if you father didn't at 100,000. When doin gthe spark plugs there is a good chance you may have to replace coil packs depending on the condition. This is uncertain however you can change the plugs and leave the coil packs and rely on the ecu to tell you when u have a miss fue to a failed coil pack.

All and all I would say buy it at that price depending on records but to sum it up if those three things hadn't been done ( suspension, spark plugs and coil packs) you could expect to spend about $1600 w/ you doing the labor. After those repairs are done you could have a $50,000 for $7000 b/c it will drive like it did when your dads friend drove it off the showroom.

[acr-c]

Not necessarily on the fluids. Some only inspect the differential, most only do a drain and refill on the ATF, so only replace 4 qts leaving over 6 of contaminated fluid in the AT. Few do a complete mechanical exchange of the ATF. Virtually none also drop the pan and inspect, clean, replace the filter and gasket, O ring and one time use bolts.

Dealer standards vary.

You need to think seriously about running an auxiliary ATF cooler bypassing the coke can sized heat exchanger in the bottom of the radiator.

The 1999 is first year of the significantly better FGY33.

O2 sensors and KS are no worse than any other car. Stay away form eBay and only buy from http://www.sparkplugs.com an http://www.infinitipartsusa.com . There is a post by Q45tech on why. Eventually, you need to read all his posts.

Keep reading. Almost all the answers are in the posts.

Welcome to NICO.

I'll definitely make sure the fluids were done correctly. Thanks for that tip.

That's also good to hear on the O2 and knock sensors. I had read a couple of days ago that they could run around $800 to $1k to repair either one. I don't have any problem doing some of the work myself either.

Christian

[maxnix]

I recently replaced all struts with oem stuff from infiniti of scotsdale (wes recommends) instead of aftermarket components (others recommend Falken)

... rely on the ecu to tell you when u have a miss fue to a failed coil pack.

The alternative struts are the KYB SR Special imported by OneTonGarage.

THe ECU fault code will only identify which cylinder has a misfire, it will not diagnose what causes it.

[acr-c]

These are great cars! I have a 99 with about 135,000 on mine and she drives wonderfully. With the kind f mileage you have on the one your fathers selling I would think that there may be some suspension maintence coming up soon. I recently replaced all struts with oem stuff from infiniti of scotsdale (wes recommends) instead of aftermarket components (others recommend Falken) but that would be the most expensive maintence issue i had. I did all the labor myself and got all the parts fro ruffly $800. This forum is a great asset when averaging down repair costs b/c if you need help figuring out how to do something (labor) these guys have majority of answers to your problem and if not can point you in the right direction. I paid $9000 for my 99 three years ago and I have been extremely satisfied every since. You also should consider changing the spark plugs soon if you father didn't at 100,000. When doin gthe spark plugs there is a good chance you may have to replace coil packs depending on the condition. This is uncertain however you can change the plugs and leave the coil packs and rely on the ecu to tell you when u have a miss fue to a failed coil pack.

All and all I would say buy it at that price depending on records but to sum it up if those three things hadn't been done ( suspension, spark plugs and coil packs) you could expect to spend about $1600 w/ you doing the labor. After those repairs are done you could have a $50,000 for $7000 b/c it will drive like it did when your dads friend drove it off the showroom.

Thanks KG03. What exactly goes bad with the coil packs? How do you tell if they need to be changed out? Will the car drive differently when they are in need of replacement?

How much are the aftermarket replacement struts anyway? I'm assuming that there are some high performance choices as well?

Thanks!!!