Giving UP

[sandydennis11]

Just spent $670.00 last month this Q being detailed and new a grand on fixing leather front seats on this 1996 Q45,( bought new in1996.). Now just a city car,. and over 28 grant in maintenance over the years..... once again is misfiring as it was last year. That was 2 grand.

So that was it the spouse stated get rid of it. Off to the nearest donation site.

Infiniti's labor is now $320.00/hour as well as my reg tech of 285.00.

Want it? its all yours!!

[Q451990]

Man. That's a good run. Hate to see it go out on a bad injector.

[sandydennis11]

Might just give it another try. Hate to use my Lexus as a city car.

[Ryantzer]

$28K spent on maintenance and repairs over 28 years isn't all that much when you're not doing repairs yourself, and especially when you consider what the cost of a car payment and insurance for a new car to replace it would be. Sit down and do the math on the total yearly Q45 expenses (maintenance, repairs, car payment, insurance, gas, etc.) and I think you'll find that it's not costing you nearly as much as a comparable new car would.

I've done the math repeatedly which is why I own 5 cars that are all 21-34 years old, and all with far more character than anything sold new today. The only difference is that I do virtually all my own work on them.

[sandydennis11]

So if you needed and fuel pump and control unit where would you get it?

I don’t but the injectors seem to be my issue. And after replacing all with OEM again, one year later and a spouse ready with the axe, I’m not sure adding all up will help.
So I might just sneak off and repair and hope the other can’t find the passwords to the joint bank accounts

[Ryantzer]

I bit the bullet and got a new Nissan FPCU from Amayama in Japan, got a Delphi fuel pump from RockAuto, and updated the fuel injectors, fuel rails, and injector harness from the very problematic S1 design to the somewhat less-problematic S2 style. I was able to source the fuel rails and harness used at a local self-serve wrecking yard - new parts would have likely been ridiculously expensive if they're even still available.

[sandydennis11]

You have a 1990 Q, right?
My first Q was a 1991 and it burned through 3 transmissions. Luckily all under warranty.

This is a 1996 with the misfire issue. Will get a tech to find the codes and might bite the bullet again.
Love the car, but the parts issue.
I bought the last fuel things that were availed in the US 4 years ago.

[Ryantzer]

Yeah, pretty much all the OEM Nissan parts are discontinued in the US, but Amayama can still get a lot of them from Japan. Used parts are going to end up being a significant parts source as new stuff becomes harder and harder to find. The parts issues aren't exclusive to Q45s, I've got a 95 Mitsubishi Montero and a 1993 Mercedes 300CE convertible that have similar issues sourcing quality parts, and even my 2003 BMW M5 has many OEM parts discontinued and NLA.

My transmission is still original to the best of my knowledge, but it's got some slipping on the 2-3 shift and seems to be generating more heat than it should so I foresee a rebuild happening in the near future. Probably sending it to Level 10 in NJ so it gets all the known problem areas addressed instead of just doing a stock rebuild.

[sandydennis11]

When the Q started having this misfire I wanted to know what now Infiniti service hourly charged here in Sa Francisco, it’s $340.00/hr. And funny thing, only one tech recognized the Q itself. Sales had no idea what it was.

I believe there is only 2 in SF. Mine and a purple one.
After the detail job I had done by the best innSF, the car looks great and you can tell the original paint job was better than any car on the market now.

[Ryantzer]

Unfortunately the misfiring is one of the most common issues these seem to have, either due to bad injectors or bad ignition coils. I've upgraded mine to the Bosch smart coils for better reliability, availability, and cost.

The Bay Area has some of the highest auto shop labor rates in the country, so I can see why you're considering something with less of a need for repairs. At this point though I don't think there's any advantage to having repairs done at an Infiniti dealership as the Q45s are so old that none of the techs will be familiar with them, and the dealership isn't going to have better parts availability than anywhere else. It might be a better idea to locate a shop that just specializes in older import cars, as there's really nothing about the Q45 that's not common to other Japanese cars of the era, and an independent shop will likely have lower labor rates than a dealership.

[sandydennis11]

Just dropped it off at a local place. Good reviews

[sandydennis11]

Just got back from repair shop and No Codes and No issues and the tech loved the car as he’s never driven one before.

The issue last year was water found in and around #2. Every plug and coil changed, so will wait and see . Maybe a fluke, I hope.

[Q451990]

So it cured itself? Poor girl heard she was on the chopping block and straightened up!

[sandydennis11]

Got that right, go to the dump or straighten up girl, Got her where it counts, my bank acct

[sandydennis11]

Actually took the old gal,aka Q45, and it started the misfiring again this time it was constant.

So On the way to the repair shop again, I decided to load up the gas tank with a brand name (Shell) thinking the last fill up, "cheap stuff", might have been a botched batch of gas.

So on the way to tech guys, via a freeway, I floored it for 10 seconds. Wow power I forgot it had!!!
Now it seems that took care of the jerking issues, we will see.

Will test run again today but I feel this helped out. BTW the check-engine never came on even at the first time in repair shop.

Hoping for the best.

[sandydennis11]

Drove the 1996 Q45, today (180,000 miles)and once again it started the jerking, periodically, and then shortly, quite a bit.

So once again I floored it up 6000 rpm for a few seconds and once again running very smooth for the rest of the day so far.

Question???? Any ideas on why the sudden high revs stops or at least temporarily stops the misfiring?? Still no "check Engine" light.

[sandydennis11]

The Q is acting up again. Bite the bullet and get out the credit card

[sandydennis11]

NOT giving UP.

Tech that was well recommended the used their OBD 2 device hooked up, but the units, actually two they had, were not even able to connect to the Q's system.
What should they look for to at least get the codes for this randomly misfiring?
This shop is not charging me anything yet for the code checks today.
Will be returning this Thursday for them to do a check on the wiring,that they suspect might be the problem, as 'check engine light does not come on when the jerkiness happens.
Q has new plugs , coils, injectors with the last year.
HELP

[Ryantzer]

If the tech doesn’t know that no cars built before ‘96 are OBD2 and won’t connect to an OBD2 diagnostic scanner then you need to find another tech, as the one you’ve got doesn’t know what he’s doing. Pulling codes on 95 and older Q45s is a matter of turning a switch on the ECU to put it into diagnostic mode and counting the flashes of the check engine light.

[sandydennis11]

So my 1996 Q45, which was built in 1995 will need the ECU the mode check??

[sandydennis11]

So my previous tech got a code of P0302 showing #2 was at fault and they found water in that cylinder . So he was using an OBD2 I presume. Got any more ideas?

[Ryantzer]

My bad, I didn’t realize yours was a ‘96. It should be able to communicate with any OBD2 scanner or code reader. If it’s not then there could be a wiring issue or a problem with the ECU preventing it.

[sandydennis11]

Took the old gal to this new local mechanic and he said the problem is water flowing soon how on to the engine and finding 3 cylinders were water soaked.

Problem is the recent rains and the deterioration of the weather strips near the windshield.
so getting new plugs and at least one coil changed.
New car cover should fix the future issues with water since CA has been in a draught for years, this rainy pattern caused the misfiring.

And this guy charges half what any of my previous guys charge, and loves these old Q's

[98_Q45]

Sometimes the most persistent issues, can have the simplest of fixes. I had a problem for months, years almost that would come and go. Turns out the timing was off, and cost nothing to fix. Just needed to rotate the camshaft sensor. My engine and RPM used to rock back and forth at idle: intake plenum gasket fixed it. Fixed it myself so, $30 I think. I don’t think a vehicle should be junked unless it experiences catastrophic body damage, or blown engine/trans or unrepairable rust (not an issue in California).

And for the love of Gawd: do not use Infiniti dealerships. I’m not a dealership hater (well, sorta lol) and I know they have their purposes. But I learned after a few trips there for routine things and stuff like air bag lights: they aren’t even the brand on the logo. It’s a 3rd party company, and Infiniti, Lexus or whoever contracts them. The mechanics there, and their “machines” are no different than the local mechanic up the street. You’re paying more for OEM parts and coffee, TV, etc. They don’t even own the loaner cars: there’s some kind of lease agreement with the manufacturer or something, that’s why they don’t loan them out anymore, unless it’s in warranty work being done.

I can communicate with my Infiniti just as well if not more than the dealership can. Especially older cars. I would only use the dealership for in warranty vehicles and recalls, or if a mechanic tells you to take it to the dealer. $320 an hour in asinine considering you can’t really get much done in an hour working on a vehicle anyway.

[Ludeaem]

I get the 'give up' mentality. I have an agreed value on this car now that its insured under classic car insurance and I have too much in it to just sell at a loss. So it'll have to get totaled, otherwise I'm in it for the long haul. Now, what is a long haul? Could be 3-5 years or longer. We'll see. I really want to 6 speed swap the car and have been assembling parts for awhile now. I'd love to hear the VH41 with short gearing. It will be my cheap mans M5 hah

[98_Q45]

I get the 'give up' mentality. I have an agreed value on this car now that its insured under classic car insurance and I have too much in it to just sell at a loss. So it'll have to get totaled, otherwise I'm in it for the long haul. Now, what is a long haul? Could be 3-5 years or longer. We'll see. I really want to 6 speed swap the car and have been assembling parts for awhile now. I'd love to hear the VH41 with short gearing. It will be my cheap mans M5 hah

How do you get a classic car insurance? Just curious.

I’m sorta on the same boat, again. I have 3 vehicles of close years, and even though I’m grateful that they all start and run great: getting them “perfect” has been an uphill battle. Labor rates in my area have gone up significantly. It’s hard to find a shop willing to take the time to work on them, without it coming up to $1,000-$2,000. And I can rarely afford to spend more than $500 in one sitting on a repair.

The main culprit is suspension and motor mount work, and chasing those associated vibrations and tire wear. At the same time, friends want to suggest selling a vehicle however I have to keep reminding them: what kind of car am I going to get from that sale? 2,000 even 5,000 doesn’t buy a brand new car. I rather keep what I have and KNOW what’s wrong, than to buy another used car and still have to fix stuff. The only way to beat the repair game is to buy new and lease: but you better have the credit AND income to support that and the insurance.

People talk so much s*** about what I should be doing, but they can’t cover the burden of doing it lol.
Being a at home mechanic myself though, it take a bit of courage to just tell them: NO. I don’t want to do all that work, just fix X and X. And I’ll buy the parts myself.

I’ve had to do this more than once. A shop told me my rack and pinion was leaking and I needed a new one. That was a year ago. I’ve had it replaced before too. No I don’t want to fix that, just fix what I brought it in for lol.

[sandydennis11]

I found the solution as the problem was water pouring into engine bay.
Jerry rigged some rubber stripping and glue to that cow front area.
And the to be really sure, since I vacation slot and can’t be sure it is tight, I took a yoga mat sliced it into a 10 inch with ( length is perfect). And blue taped it to the windshield so a huge downpour will not get close to the engine.

It works great.

[98_Q45]

I found the solution as the problem was water pouring into engine bay.
Jerry rigged some rubber stripping and glue to that cow front area.
And the to be really sure, since I vacation slot and can’t be sure it is tight, I took a yoga mat sliced it into a 10 inch with ( length is perfect). And blue taped it to the windshield so a huge downpour will not get close to the engine.

It works great.

Nice. Sounds like me back when my Maxima GXE was blinking check engine light for months. Got an idea after taking it to the dealer, to just change the one cylinder coil again with a OEM brand. Don’t know why that one cylinder stopped working with the original and aftermarket coils though. Likely something in the wiring. My Q doesn’t have any issue with all 8 eBay coils.