Excuse my ignorance please...

[oldmako]

I've been reading up quite a bit (this forum and others regarding the Q) and have a shop manual on the way for my (new to me ) '99. I plan on changing all the fluids now and start taking on recurrent maintenance jobs in the spring. I am going to obtain the maintenance history from the dealer when I take it in for the transmission service.

Is it accurate that the Y33 is the 97-02ish Q? (in other words...my 99 is a Y33 right?)

There is a ton of forum info regarding the 4.5 litre engined cars...both maintenance and troubleshooting....but not nearly as much as the newer models. I theorize that much of this has to do simply with the cars being older with more cycles, and more folks gaining insight and experience working on these cars. Or, were there significant changes made as the line was refined in 97?

Are there any smoking guns awaiting me with my 99...?? Things I ought to check out now?

Thanks for your patience and replies. Down the road, I hope to be able to offer some insight myself for future fng's.

[96Qowner]

Yes, the Y33 is the chassis code for the 97-01 models. You see more posts about the G50 and the VH45 because that's the original model and the one that first inspired people to buy a Q45. It's also the model that the NICO Forum made itself famous over. There were significant changes in the Y33 - almost everything - new chassis, new body, new engine - virtually nothing is the same.

But ... there are more threads about the Y33 than you might think. It has fewer "issues" than the more finicky G50, though, so not as much talk about troubleshooting, etc. The primary issue for Y33s is probably eventual trouble with one or more coilpacks, evidenced by a bumpy idle and misfires at moderate acceleration - a real b*tch to nail down which one(s).

[maxnix]

1.) Is it accurate that the Y33 is the 97-02ish Q? (in other words...my 99 is a Y33 right?)

2.) There is a ton of forum info regarding the 4.5 litre engined cars...both maintenance and troubleshooting....but not nearly as much as the newer models. I theorize that much of this has to do simply with the cars being older with more cycles, and more folks gaining insight and experience working on these cars. Or, were there significant changes made as the line was refined in 97?

3.) Are there any smoking guns awaiting me with my 99...?? Things I ought to check out now?

Thanks for your patience and replies. Down the road, I hope to be able to offer some insight myself for future fng's.

1.) No, technically a Y33 is a JDM Cedric or Gloria. A second generation US Q45 (1997-2001) is a FGY33 or FY33 and is based on the JDM Cima, also a FY33. You will see Y33 used incorrectly frequently, even on this forum.

2.) The VH41DE is a VH45DE lite. Study the FSM.

http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/Q45/

All current manuals and TSB are in Acrobat files so are downloadable. Did you buy a paper FSM from Infiniti?

3.) See Skibane's excellent post on auxiliary ATF coolers.

Can't imagine what other forum has much valuable information on the Q45, especially the FY33.

[bullittandy]

Most people refer to the 97-01 Q's as Y33 although that is not technically correct.

It seems that the only inherent problems with this model are bad coils which really aren't that big of a problem except that its difficult to find the bad coil (often no CEL/MIL).

I've heard about some transmission leaks from the turbine sensor but other than these the only thing needed is regular service.

I had to replace a valve cover gasket at about 225K but I only did that because the leak had gotten just big enough to drop oil onto the exhaust which smelled terrible.

I've got 3 now, a 97 with 235K and a 99 with 163K. The other one, a 97, is a parts car.

[bullittandy]

Christ, all three of us jumped on this thread at nearly the exact same time.

[maxnix]

Christ, all three of us jumped on this thread at nearly the exact same time.

Nothing like NICOclub Q45 teamwork!

[oldmako]

Maxnix, (and all who replied)

Thanks to all for the info!

I did not buy the paper manual. I found one on disc format on ebay. Hopeful it will be the real deal and complete. I had some difficulty viewing the FSM online as my PC would freeze up each time I opened it.

I am going to take it to kinkos and see if they can print it out for me for a reasonable fee. I like to have the manual in front of me when wrenching. I found a few used manuals on ABE.com but they were still very very expensive.

The transmission cooler will be one of the first things I do if it's not already been done. I copied the thread to my bookmarks and saved the part number.

I can't wait to get my hands on this car. It sounds as though it will be perfect for the type of commuting I do.

Thanks again!

[maxnix]

I did not buy the paper manual. I found one on disc format on ebay. Hopeful it will be the real deal and complete. I had some difficulty viewing the FSM online as my PC would freeze up each time I opened it.

Hmmmm....do you have Acrobat Reader 8 or some other compatible viewer?

Unless you are really restricted on memory, should not be a problem.

eBay ones are....well...usually not useful, although member Jeff has sold some FSM on CD there. Don't know if he still is selling, though.

If you don't get your computer performing correctly, I can send a CD, but the files will still have to load inot your computer, and pages can be printed as needed and discarded when soiled.

[Haitian_King]

Eh. When looking for the FSM, I was told to stay away from the eBay CD's. I downloaded the .pdf version and I've been happy.

[oldmako]

I have had problems with BOTH of my machines, and this one is a year old 80 gig, 512 ram machine. I went to the adobe download site and checked for updates....

So, not too sure what the heck is up with that. Hopefully the $10 ebay disc will prove adequate. He showed a few sample screens on the auction and it looked rather comprehensive. If it's crap, I'm only out 10 bucks.

I'll try to download the FSM on my squeezes PC and then copy it to disc.

[mtcookson]

I notice issues when I try to open the PDF files without downloading them (using Adobe's "downloader"). Once I actually download them onto the computer with the browser, they work great. (HP laptop, 3 ghz processor, 1 gig ram... p.o.s., etc, etc.)

[Haitian_King]

Trying to view te pdf in a browser like Opera or Firefox is a little slow. You can easily download the whole FSM as a compressed file from PhatG20.net. It's like 40 MB.

[NightRiderQ45]

Most people refer to the 97-01 Q's as Y33 although that is not technically correct.

It seems that the only inherent problems with this model are bad coils which really aren't that big of a problem except that its difficult to find the bad coil (often no CEL/MIL).

I've heard about some transmission leaks from the turbine sensor but other than these the only thing needed is regular service.

I had to replace a valve cover gasket at about 225K but I only did that because the leak had gotten just big enough to drop oil onto the exhaust which smelled terrible.

I've got 3 now, a 97 with 235K and a 99 with 163K. The other one, a 97, is a parts car.

Hey, I'm glad you and manix pointed out that I was using Y33 wrong. When I came on the site, that's what I saw everyone using sooo, I used it also. Now I know the correct term. Also, did you decide if you were selling any parts of your parts car? Back to the original post, I haven't had any issues with my car so that is why I love it. I haven't added a ATF cooler also and my car still drives great.

[oldmako]

I just downloaded and reinstalled adobe 8.1 and the FSM and it still won't open.

I get a failure message that either it's not supported or that it's damaged. I'll keep my fingers crossed with the disc. It ought to arrive this week.

[bullittandy]

I'm selling anything needed off the 97. Let me know.

-A

[RAP]

Quote from oldmako above " I am going to take it to kinkos and see if they can print it out for me for a reasonable fee. I like to have the manual in front of me when wrenching. I found a few used manuals on ABE.com but they were still very very expensive."

oldmako, is the website, http://www.abe.com ?

If so, I went there and no dice on Infinity manuals ? ?

I too, recently purchased the Q45, 2000 year model and am searching for the paper manual but really no luck as of yet in the el cheapo department.

Infinity Publications has the appropriate manuals but quite pricy at $ 275.00 for the set.

Jack

[maxnix]

I have had problems with BOTH of my machines, and this one is a year old 80 gig, 512 ram machine.

I'll try to download the FSM on my squeezes PC and then copy it to disc.

512MB is pretty small. I run 2GB with WinXP Pro in both of mine to avoid excessive disk swapping of paged file memory.

Even on disk, your machine will still have to load each pdf file to open it. The EC one is quite large. Others like the Brakes and Steering are quite small.

[maxnix]

I just downloaded and reinstalled adobe 8.1 and the FSM and it still won't open.

The FSM from this from the NICOclub site?

The OEM site is http://www.nissan-techinfo.com/infiniti/

It requires a one day $20 subscription, but you can get all the TSB and other goodies also.

OM are available for free.

[NightRiderQ45]

I'm selling anything needed off the 97. Let me know.

-A

Check your comcast.net email. If you have a pic of it, that would be great also.

[oldmako]

That's the site....ABE.com.

I did a search about two weeks ago and I came up with 3 manuals. Each of them was over 250 bucks. Ordinarily, it's a phenomenal used book site and I have great luck with them. One can obtain lightly used books (and sometimes new) for just a few bucks. But technical pubs tend to command a high price.

Here's what came up by entering "infiniti q 45" in the keywords section:

http://www.abebooks.com/servle...&y=11

ABE is nothing but a web network of thousands of mom and pop books stores worldwide listing their content. The search function is fast and comprehensive, and will provide you a list from cheapest on up within seconds. I have quickly found several out of print, rare books there over the years

I don't mind paying a premium price for a pub that's going to make my life easier but 250 was a bit steep!

I tried again last night on a third machine and had no luck. I downloaded the FSM from the PhatG20 location. I did not realize that there was a 20 dollar fee. I'll gladly pay it. It looks as though it's downloading just fine, it just won't open. I get an error message which states that there is a missing component of Adobe or that the file has been damaged or compromised in some way. As I mentioned, I went to the Adobe site and pulled down 8.1.1 so I'm running the latest software.

I'll keep messing around till I get it figured out. It sucks now because I know next to nothing about the care and I'm anxious to get spooled up.

Thanks for the info gents.

(I just called the infinity pubs number listed on the website and they want $185 for the two volume set)
Modified by oldmako at 9:07 AM 12/12/2007

[NightRiderQ45]

I just downloaded and reinstalled adobe 8.1 and the FSM and it still won't open.

I get a failure message that either it's not supported or that it's damaged. I'll keep my fingers crossed with the disc. It ought to arrive this week.

Hey, you have to un zip it. I have a program called Extract Now and that is where you can unzip the file from phatg20.net.

[96Qowner]

It's a .rar file

Here's the info on it:

http://www.tech-pro.net/howto_030b.html

You can just get the trial version of BitZipper or pay $29 for WinRAR.

[maxnix]

Use the NICOclub site and it's not RAR compressed.

http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/Q45/

No TSB, though.

[oldmako]

I'm making a bit of progress with that site. As I attempt to download a section it will begin (the download bar will display) and then stop at some arbitrary position....usually between 40-60 percent of a topic. At that point it will just freeze.

I'll get it figured out.

[maxnix]

Either your connection (not fast or good enough). Memory should have no effect.

[oldmako]

I finally got them to load....took several tries each chapter but it's in the PC now. Thanks for the suggestions.

[Haitian_King]

Yay. Good to see that you have it.

Quiz on Monday.

No. Seriously, this book comes in extremely handy. It's one of the best things since sliced bread. Second only to the Q45 itself. Lol.

Excuse me. I'm drunk. Hit the end of finals and I'm finally able to unwind.