Front Brake Solenoid/Valvebody issues

Forum for Infiniti M35 and M45, and Nissan Fuga owners.
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Ilya
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Joined: Fri Apr 23, 2010 11:20 pm
Car: 2011 M56x but I spend a lot of time on my 2015 Kawasaki Vulcan S. Former owner of a 2007 M35x. Also take care of my wife's 2016 QX60.
Location: Charlotte, NC
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luis_fx35 wrote:
Sun Oct 20, 2019 5:29 am
tja623 wrote:
Mon Feb 09, 2015 3:39 pm
Well I got the dreaded P1757/P1759 DTC. What a disaster!First off, I own a 2006 M35x with 135,000 miles on it. I am an automotive technician, but I work at an indy shop that specializes in European imports, so my experience with the Infiniti brand is limited. Anyway, I am on the way to work and all of a sudden acceleration is weak, check engine light comes on and I feel like the vehicle is in limp mode. I get it in to the shop and start pulling codes and running diagnostics. It seems to point to the front brake solenoid. Of course , to my dismay, single solenoids are not available, they only come FREE with a new valvebody! Lovely, Infiniti of Annapolis charged me $1180 with a $200 core charge.
So i get the pan dropped, swap out the valvebody, fill it up with new fluid, and take it for a spin. Now the tranny is WORSE!!! And I'm getting upset. So I call Infiniti and ask them if the TCM in the valvebody needed to be programmed. Their response,"Oh yes, bring it in, all of the modules must be updated and programmed", Cost $135. So I drop it off, only to get a call later saying the tech has to make sure I installed it correctly before he wastes any time on programming the TCM. I went back and forth with the idiot and finally gave in and said to go ahead and check. 20 minutes later I get the call, Yes the valvebody is installed properly, BUT I need a new transmission! Needless to say I disagreed and said I will be there in ten minutes. I show up and the tech brings me back, and asks me if the shop rags we use at my shop are RED. I respond "YES?"... "WHY?"...he says " oh you can use those rags to wipe off the pan and tranny where the gasket will be placed because it ruins the transmission." He says,"We call it RED DEATH!" I call it "BS!"Then he went on to say that there was some metallic flakes in the bottom of the pan, and that further supported his diagnosis. I responded with" that is impossible, the flakes are not stuck to the magnets, therefor it is aluminum and likely came from the case. Internal tranny parts are steel and clutch material and it would stick to the magnets if something internal had worn excessively." The dumbfounded look on his face told me that he didn't know what I was talking about, so I tell him to button it up and return my car immediately. :mad: In doing so, I find out the valvebody TCM does NOT need to be programmed at all, it is a plug & play item. So why was it there in the first place? Because the idiot on the phone really was clueless! Another reason I hate dealerships, they always have a service writer who doesn't know anything about the vehicles.Talk about frustrating!
Now I'm still stuck with a car that has a wacky tranny. I try and do as much research as possible, but everything points to the valvebody. I even went as far as just swapping the bad solenoid out to see if that would work, but nothing came of it. I checked continuity/resistance on all the solenoids, both new and old, and the all matched. That fact stuck in my mind , like maybe the solenoid actually isn't bad, maybe its the TCM or ECU? At this point Infiniti won't return a used valvebody, but they would warranty the valvebody. So I figured I would do that and at least I would have a new valvebody to sell on eBay and get most of my money back . So I park my ride, post the new valvebody on eBay, and wait.
About 3 weeks go by and the lead tech at work says to let him take a look at it. Of course, he comes up with the same diagnosis I came up with, it needs a valvebody or computer. So, reluctantly I open the warranteed valvebody, installed it, and VOILA! The tranny worked perfectly! Turns out I got a bad valvebody in the first place! It either had a bad computer(which is very likely) or somebody swapped out a used valvebody and returned it as new. Or maybe it got dropped, I don't know for sure. But I do know I didn't need a new transmission. I've put about a thousand miles on it since and haven't had any issues.
In closing, I do think the TCM's go bad in these valvebodies, and they throw false codes. If anybody needs some solenoids, just hit me. I still have the old solenoids as I returned the core without them. Just a little thank you for all of Infiniti of Annapolis' help! HA HA HA! :naughty:

Hi, I’m a new member and I was looking for someone with the same problem that I have. I own a 2003 Infiniti fx35 RWD. My valve body and the selenoids are working properly, but my TCM which is attached to my valve body is not working because one of the circuits or “buses” is broken or open and is throwing false codes about a selenoid not working which is not the case. I got a little confused while reading your post when you purchased a new valve body from the dealership. When you swapped the old valve body with the new one, why was your transmission worse? Didn’t you find out the new valve body didn’t need programming at all? Why did you take the car to the dealership? Were you able to drive the car to the dealership after replacing the old valve body with the new one or you had to TOW it there? I want to buy a new valve body which comes with everything new in one piece (valve body, selenoids and the TCM) but I want to know if it would work even if it is not programmed. Finally, at the end of your post, you mentioned that you swapped the old valve body with the new one again and everything worked fine. So, why it didn’t work the first time you swapped the valve bodies? Did the dealership send you a defective valve body and then they send you another new valve body which is the one that ended up working? I’m very confused about that part.
Thanks for taking the time to read my message.
Hi Lius, unfortunately the original poster is not a frequent member of the forum and it is unlikely they will see your comment. That being said, you may want to post in the FX group as well as the FX Facebook group (if you have facebook) because while although these are both Infinitis, your car is 3 years older and a completely different platform. Basically, YMMV if trying things that worked on an M35.



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