Over the holidays I finally had the the infamous chain guides replacedon my 90 Q45 at 120,200 miles.
The work was done at Jerry Tucker's All Import Service in San Diego,California by tech Brian Hill****. For West Coast Infiniti owners thishas to be the place to go for non-dealer work to be done, the onlyknown equivalent to the 'Vatican' (T3) in Atlanta. During a full dayof servicing which I was allowed to watch closely and participate into the best of my limited abilities, the following items were done:
-Replace both slack side timing chain guides and bolts-Replace both oil-fed tensioners-Replace front seal-Replace spark plugs-Replace rear transmission mount-Oil/filter change (I supplied the Mobil 1)-Replace air filter
Total price was $1,650 (plus one night at the nearby Motel 6 to allowthe car to be there first thing in the morning).
Both Jerry and his brother Tom are a pleasure to meet and obviouslyknowledgable and professional. (Jerry was trained as an Infiniti techin 1989 during the Q's introduction). Tech Brian Hill**** is just areally nice guy, patient and careful in his work. For instance, when Idecided to change the rear transmission mount, Brian gave me a wholecan of silicone spray lubricant and let me saturate all the rubbermounting bushings and hangers under the car for good measure. (By theway, the transmission mount was sagging about 3/8" and replacing ithas really smoothed things out.)
The good news is that the chain guides themselves were not broken. Infact, after removing them and cleaning them thoroughly I cannot findany signs of stress or cracking in either one of them, just some mildscoring from the chains. I have even tried flexing them in my handsand can't get them to break. It's been speculated before that a mildclimate (SF Bay Area in my case) and religious oil changes may havesomething to do with avoiding broken guides and this may apply here.
On the return trip to San Francisco I really enjoyed opening her upfreely without worrying about the engine self-destructing. Combinedwith the suspension rebuild and new tires done this year, I couldcruise effortlessly at 90 mph with no worries. It's a relief to havethis job done. Now I feel comfortable planning for the next job on thehoses and valve covers. Slowly I'm bringing her back.
Chain Guides Replaced
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Q45tech
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- Car: 1990 Q45 342,400 miles 22 years ownership with original engine
1995 G20t 5 speed 334,000 miles 16" 2002 wheels - 205/50/16 Sr20ve vvl
We change the oil chain and tensioner [black plastic guide] just for piece of mind as well as the non slack side guides.
Best to start with all brand new except the chain which we've never seen break even with hydrolocks or slung rods.
Not to say what they did wasn't enough to last.........just another $100 in parts.
Best to start with all brand new except the chain which we've never seen break even with hydrolocks or slung rods.
Not to say what they did wasn't enough to last.........just another $100 in parts.
I'm new here and a new Q owner, an apparent creampuff 1990 Q45 carfax certified with 79,000 miles. After finding this site while researching the car, I couldnt be happier to find a forum to help me with ownership of this car. I heard maintinance can be rather expensive, but since I also just learned in live in the Vatican area, I'm close to the Pope, and perhaps pilgrimage wont be an issue. As to this chain guide situation, what are/is the suggested intervals? Any warning of failure or is it like timing belts that just snap while driving effortlessly, then WHAM! any comments or suggestions would be welcome. Thanks in Advance.
Am I guessing correctly at this costing anywhere from 1,000 to 1,500? From the threads I've seen in reference to this issue, this seems be be the case. What are the best and worse case scenerios of this failure occuring? I had a timing belt go away on a Ford EXP many years ago on I-95 in Florida while cruising at 70mph. I evedently dodged a bullet because there was no valve train damage to the motor. It onlt cost me a couple hundred bucks maybe three hundred to replace it with no damage. I think I saw a thread from Q45tech with parts at cost, for around a grand, but a limited supply.
If you are in GA, you are lucky cuz you can just go to T3 to have it done.
Others are driving 100's of miles each way just to make it to GA for the work.
Yes your cost estimate is correct.
Also failure usually ( not always, but usually) means the engine is beyond economical repair.Since used engine replacement cost exceeds value of many of these cars, losing a guide often means losing the car..
Fred...
Others are driving 100's of miles each way just to make it to GA for the work.
Yes your cost estimate is correct.
Also failure usually ( not always, but usually) means the engine is beyond economical repair.Since used engine replacement cost exceeds value of many of these cars, losing a guide often means losing the car..
Fred...
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SOCAL91Q45a
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Thanks for the warm welcome everyone. I'll post pics soon. BTW, any way of knowing if this upgrade has been done already? Would Infinity know if an independant shop has performed this? Do I lose my hubcaps if I ask dumb questions? I'm the 4th owner of the car, but service records were not available.
...Todd
...Todd
luv2win33 wrote:1)Thanks for the warm welcome everyone. I'll post pics soon. 2)BTW, any way of knowing if this upgrade has been done already? 3)Would Infinity know if an independant shop has performed this? 4)Do I lose my hubcaps if I ask dumb questions?
1) Your welcome
2) You have to open the front cover to check, this is most of the labor of changing them already so the utility of a check is not that great.Only if done at any Infinti dealer, which is rare as most seem to seek out indepedents to do this labor intensive job.3)No.4)Yes..Fred...
A preliminary test to check if your guides have been done is by checking the color of the RTV sealant on your front covers for timing chain. I think that if it is red then that means it is still factory, or maybe it is blue. I think it is blue, but not too sure.
You can do a search on this and that should tell you.
Your in woodstock? I live in alpharetta, have now for 17 plus years.
edit: whoops, listen to Fred. He's smart. I like pizza.
You can do a search on this and that should tell you.
Your in woodstock? I live in alpharetta, have now for 17 plus years.
edit: whoops, listen to Fred. He's smart. I like pizza.
AZhitman (or anyone else that may know)--
I'm new to this forum and I'm glad to have found it. I placed a post on the Infiniti Yahoo forum the other day (just found it too) and a really helpful Q owner named Mike, aka "noadds" pointed me in this direction. Thanks again Mike!
Anyway, I've done most of the obligatory repairs on my 90 Q but after reading so much about the timing chain guides I see that with mileage at 130k I need to address this too.
My question is directed at AZhitman because I also live in Phoenix and wondered if he had a recommendation for a shop to have this done. I build street rods in my spare time, and do a lot of the repair work on my cars, but I don't think this is something I want to tackle-- I presume it is a bit more complicated than just removing the cover and swapping the parts.
ANY help with a Phoenix contact would be greatly appreciated and thanks to all of you for sharing your experiences and knowledge! It is a tremendous resource.
I'm new to this forum and I'm glad to have found it. I placed a post on the Infiniti Yahoo forum the other day (just found it too) and a really helpful Q owner named Mike, aka "noadds" pointed me in this direction. Thanks again Mike!
Anyway, I've done most of the obligatory repairs on my 90 Q but after reading so much about the timing chain guides I see that with mileage at 130k I need to address this too.
My question is directed at AZhitman because I also live in Phoenix and wondered if he had a recommendation for a shop to have this done. I build street rods in my spare time, and do a lot of the repair work on my cars, but I don't think this is something I want to tackle-- I presume it is a bit more complicated than just removing the cover and swapping the parts.
ANY help with a Phoenix contact would be greatly appreciated and thanks to all of you for sharing your experiences and knowledge! It is a tremendous resource.