dealer service today

[Mayhem_J30]

I dropped off the J30 at 7:00 this morning with the dealer. As luck would have it snow began to fall on my way there and my belts began to squeel horribly. I feel sorry for the techs that test my car while their ears are bleeding from the banshee like belt noise.

I got kinda frustrated as it took 35 minutes to drop off the keys. While standing around I got a glance at some of the scheduled maintenances for today. 80-90% of the cars were all I30's!! I couldn't tell if they were in for regular mile interval service or real problems but I was kinda stunned.

The dealer is charging me $90 for a consultant diangostic and an additional $45 to print out the results for me. I thought that was rediculous, but by that point I had to go to work so no time for arguing. Does the consultant have a report printing option? For $45 you would think they would have to record and type out all the results by hand. If this is the case, then fine they can have their $45 for the time spent, but if it takes them 3 minutes to hook up to a printer and press 'print' I'm gonna be a bit upset. I'll let ya know how it goes later on.

BTW, louisville guys, there was a sign up that said something to the affect of "EFFECTIVE 1-1-03, loaners will not be made available on small service appointments"

[theTony]

Do the service loaners only apply if you bought your Infiniti new, or can anyone be "assigned" one that has one in for service for a couple of days?

[Q451990]

Actually Consult prints out the results on thermal paper just like a receipt. Takes about three seconds... press button, tear off.

Heath

[Mayhem_J30]

Actually Consult prints out the results on thermal paper just like a receipt. Takes about three seconds... press button, tear off.

Heath

if that's the case i'm going to throw a fit

[AZhitman]

Commence fit-pitching, Chris.

Scottsdale Infiniti does loaners for ALL services and there's NO standing around waiting. Every time I've ever been there, a lot attendant greets me at my car, calls me BY NAME (how do they do that?), escorts me to the waiting area, comes back with keys to a loaner and escorts me out to the car.

p.s. If I haven't said so before, the female staff at I. of S. are incredible easy on the eyes...

[AZhitman]

I just called my service guy - He said that's crap. If Consult shows codes, he's glad to give a copy to the customer (not that many people ask as it's confusing to the lay person).

[Mayhem_J30]

Just got the results in...bad news. Makes the $45 look like lose change. The TC in the transmission is apparently having problems engaging at that certain engine speed.

There goes my plans for other things as this will surely cost more then my other plans added together.

[Mayhem_J30]

This afternoon at 5pm I went to the dealer to pick up my car. Gave them the check(BTW, all they did was Zerox the consultant printout onto paper for $45) for $135 and was on my way. I got about 100 yards from the dealer before the transmission was completely gone. Nothing, nada no how. No reverse, drive 2,3rd. Nothing. It started whining before it gave out.Anyway I drifted into a secluded parking lot and I drove my dad and I back to the dealer. I told them that I didn't get but across the street and the transmission doesn't work anymore and that it worked fine when I pulled in. They said that they would have it towed back to the garage to make sure everything was OK.

...well later that night at around 11:30pm I discovered it was still sitting in this dark parking lot all by itself!! The dealer never called me like I instructed them to if there were any problems. I called AAA and requested a flat bed. While waiting several cars drove into the parking lot and circled my car as if checking it out. It would have been easy pickins in that lot. When the truck arrived I tried starting it and putting it into gear. Luckily it caught that time and I told the guy to just follow me across the street. The transmission started whining again and I pulled into the parking spot just in time for the transmission to stop whining and give out again.

[maxnix]

Geez, Mayhem, what a turd for a dealer.

I wonder if writing Infiniti would improve their attitude?

Q45tech posted a list a year ago on the old board. If you want it, let me know and I'll forward it to you by email. I can't believe they wouldn't want to get this Yugo dealer out of their network.

[Mayhem_J30]

Geez, Mayhem, what a turd for a dealer.

I wonder if writing Infiniti would improve their attitude?

Q45tech posted a list a year ago on the old board. If you want it, let me know and I'll forward it to you by email. I can't believe they wouldn't want to get this Yugo dealer out of their network.

after talking to some people tonight others have had great experiences with them so far. in general i just have bad luck and apparently really bad people skills or something.even if the transmission failure is PURELY coincidental, they didn't live up to their word and that really ticks me off. after all that they wanted $4000 to replaced the transmission...YEAH RIGHT!

[AZhitman]

Chris - Like my service guy said, $45 to copy the Consult printout is B.S.

Let us know the # for the manager of the dealership and we'll ALL call and give him a piece of advice...

Does the J have the same transmission as the 300ZX?

[90Q45blue]

I have had 2 transmissions go out on me since I got my car (with 244k it's to expected i guess). One piece of advice I can give you is that the first time it went out, the shop asked to do an RDI (which i assume means research damage inspection or something to that affect) where they take apart the transmission and see if it is salvageable. It is a waste of money. I don't know if this is true for the J but on the Q the transmission is made entirely of metal parts so when one piece goes it pretty much destroys it. Worst 400 bucks I ever spent. You might try and see if you can get it rebuilt, I know that you may not think that is as good as getting a new or reman but the warranty will be a lot better for you that way. Scottsdale wanted 2250 for a transmission and would give me 500 for my old core. Still they would only warranty it for 12 mo. 12k miles. My rebuilt transmission has all the factory upgrades, a transmission cooler, and a lifetime warranty. Anyway, something to think about.

Nick

[Mayhem_J30]

Does the J have the same transmission as the 300ZX?

Yes. It's common with the n/a Z, pathfinder...and I would assume the Qx4

[Mayhem_J30]

I have had 2 transmissions go out on me since I got my car (with 244k it's to expected i guess). One piece of advice I can give you is that the first time it went out, the shop asked to do an RDI (which i assume means research damage inspection or something to that affect) where they take apart the transmission and see if it is salvageable. It is a waste of money. I don't know if this is true for the J but on the Q the transmission is made entirely of metal parts so when one piece goes it pretty much destroys it. Worst 400 bucks I ever spent. You might try and see if you can get it rebuilt, I know that you may not think that is as good as getting a new or reman but the warranty will be a lot better for you that way. Scottsdale wanted 2250 for a transmission and would give me 500 for my old core. Still they would only warranty it for 12 mo. 12k miles. My rebuilt transmission has all the factory upgrades, a transmission cooler, and a lifetime warranty. Anyway, something to think about.

Nick

How much did you spend on the rebuild, if ya don't mind me asking? Who did the work?

[natsoundup]

My transimission on my Q went at 93k...some years ago.... it happened all of a sudden. I was able to limp home from a scout campout... and I couldn't even make it to the dealership..before the thing died.... I suspect it went from being a good transmission to dead transmission is a space of 15 miles...

That was five years ago this month.... it cost me 3200 dollars... but the invoice says they changed the belts as well...

The car now has 148k on it.... I am driving it until the transmission, guides or A/C system goes...

Looks and runs great today....

[90Q45blue]

Long story short I got a hell of a deal on the transmission because the shop screwed up. I paid 1500 for that, the cooler and the warranty. The place was Cottman Transmission and I do not recommend them. From the price shopping i did do, expect to pay around 1700-1800 and get them to throw in the install on the cooler. Buy it yourself from Scottsdale for like $45. And that 17-1800 should include at LEAST a 3-year 36k warranty but when talking to them and how much "confidence they have in their builder" you can tell them to put up or shut up in a sense and get that warranty all the way up to lifetime or 5 or 6 years. The transmission isn't expectionally difficult to rebuild compared to other cars. It's basically a Maxima transmission in the way it's built so most transmission shops can do it. Just drive a hard bargain.

Nick

[jimb]

I had my trans redone almost two years ago. I had a local shop with a good reputation do the work. Price was $3,000 with a fill of Redline synthetic.

I checked with them while they had it apart and the planetary gearset had several small chunks that had come off and taken out the tc.

While they had it apart they they swapped out the clutches and repalaced with kevlar, new pumps, solenoids, etc.

The dealer wanted $4k for a remanned with only a 1 yr warranty.

24k miles later and the trans is working fine, knock on wood. The dealers are real thieves, IMHO, on this kind of work. I can get rebuild on the trans in my vette for $1800. The trans shop said the Q would have been in that range as the labor is the same but the parts were way expensive.

[90Q45blue]

Hey Mayhem,

I was just curious as to what you decided to do about your transmission and about smacking that dealer up one side and down the other. Let us know.

Nick

[Mayhem_J30]

I'm just leaving the dealer out of the situation now. They've done their job by diagnosing the problem and that's all I wanted anyway. I'll play the good guy and just let 'em be. I will not be returning though. As I've discussed with another NICO member in person, I don't think they respect me much because of my age and even worse..the age I appear as. I'm 24 and look about 19 so I don't think they take me serious. This has happened to me before at several dealers rather I'm in for service or for purchasing a car. Really boils the blood that they think I'm making minimum wage when I could probably own their arse!

As for what I'm doing with the transmission, I've got a second car so I got time to continue doing research and finding the best and cheapest solution. It's got to be finished by March 8th though .I'm still torn between the Level 10 transmission rebuild kit/Billet Torque converter and valve body upgrade vs a whole new factory transmission from one of our online discount buds. The level 10 route would be $100 cheaper then the ladder. But would probably cost more in labor to have it done. Ordering the brand new transmission from infiniti of isle would be the quickest and most trouble free route. What warranty comes with a factory transmission?

[PalmerWMD]

I think the factory waranty is 12mo/12,000 miles.

Fred...

[maxnix]

Quote »I'm 24 and look about 19[/quote] Take heart. When you're 50 you'll look 35.

Are you contemplating just buying the parts from Level10? I think one of their claims to fame is the quality of their rebuild.

BTW, if you have a chance, ask them why they never answer their emails. And tell them to advertise here as they are known to our old members, but not necessarily our many new ones.