How much should I pay

[enting]

Hello everyone! Last week I bought a 1996 J30 and it had 124500 miles. I bought it for $3500. When I drove it, sometimes I can feel a little vibration from steer wheel when the speed is 50-60 mile/hr. This morning I went to infiniti dealer to ask for service record, and I know after 55000 miles, there is no records. I had it checked out by mechanic. He told me I need a lot of works as following:

1. Timing belt $250 (should I change timing belt tensioner, water pump, thermostat, upper and lower and by pass hoses, camshaft seals, and crankshaft seals in the same time? Is $800 for all of these the reasonable prices? I know this will spend me a lot of money and it is necessary, but I want to save my money. Can I just change Timing belt?)

2. control bushing(both sides) $280 (if I don't change it, is there anything worse? It is too expensive for me.)

3. Three belts $50 (when I start my car in the morning, there are some sound from there for a few minutes. )

4. rack and pinion boot $50 (there is some oil leaking.)

(Are these price reasonable? Does anyone know a good mechanic in dallas/fort worth,texas?)

I need to change air,fuel and oil filter, too. Fortunarily, I know they are not expensive. I wonder should I flush transmission, coolant system and transmission or others? How much should I pay for these works? I don't want to spend too much money on this car because I don' t have too much buget. From this forum, I learned a lot of J30. I just wanted to welcome my self to the forum and hope to learn more things. This is a very cool site.Thanks for your help!

[TRUEST]

Hello everyone! Last week I bought a 1996 J30 and it had 124500 miles. I bought it for $3500. When I drove it, sometimes I can feel a little vibration from steer wheel when the speed is 50-60 mile/hr. This morning I went to infiniti dealer to ask for service record, and I know after 55000 miles, there is no records. I had it checked out by mechanic. He told me I need a lot of works as following:

1. Timing belt $250 (should I change timing belt tensioner, water pump, thermostat, upper and lower and by pass hoses, camshaft seals, and crankshaft seals in the same time? Is $800 for all of these the reasonable prices? I know this will spend me a lot of money and it is necessary, but I want to save my money. Can I just change Timing belt?)

2. control bushing(both sides) $280 (if I don't change it, is there anything worse? It is too expensive for me.)

3. Three belts $50 (when I start my car in the morning, there are some sound from there for a few minutes. )

4. rack and pinion boot $50 (there is some oil leaking.)

(Are these price reasonable? Does anyone know a good mechanic in dallas/fort worth,texas?)

I need to change air,fuel and oil filter, too. Fortunarily, I know they are not expensive. I wonder should I flush transmission, coolant system and transmission or others? How much should I pay for these works? I don't want to spend too much money on this car because I don' t have too much buget. From this forum, I learned a lot of J30. I just wanted to welcome my self to the forum and hope to learn more things. This is a very cool site.Thanks for your help!

i really dont know much about these things but if theres no records at the infiniti dealership after 55000 miles, chances are you ought to fix all that you can fix before the car actually breaks down and cost you more.

now, i bought my infiniti 1999 q45 with 173,000 miles on it. i check the infiniti records and they said the last record they have on the car was at 157,000 miles.....which is bad but not that bad. even after that, I had to spend a lil bit under $2300 to have all those things u mentioned fixed

[elwesso]

1. I dont think you need to replace all of those things, Id replace the belt and tensioner and have them inspect the others, I dont know why those last 2 would need replaced

2. Not sure what the control bushings are, maybe the tension rod bushings?? Id replace those definitely, but if its the t-rod bushings that seems a little steep, its only like an hour each side and 20 a bushing.

3. Yes4. Yes

All these prices seem decent..... Jerry tucker is in Texas, and is the next best thing to T3! I think his website is http://www.jerrytucker.net

Quote »1. I need to change air,fuel and oil filter, too. Fortunarily, I know they are not expensive. 2. I wonder should I flush transmission, coolant system and transmission or others? 3. How much should I pay for these works?4. I don't want to spend too much money on this car because I don' t have too much buget. From this forum, I learned a lot of J30. I just wanted to welcome my self to the forum and hope to learn more things. This is a very cool site.Thanks for your help![/quote]1. True, its only about 7-10 each, and nominal time to r/r these2. Yes, change all your fluids, brake fluid, transmission, coolant, PS fluid, etc. DOnt get a flush at a dealer, because they will use bad water and possibly make thigns worse.

Search the forums for these things, and all will be revealed!

Timing beltJerry TuckerPS fluidCoolant changeBrake fluid

You get the idea. Read ALL previous posts and youll be fine, all these have been answered before!

[Alan]

Hey Wes, Jerry Tucker is in San Diego, but man you've got almost 4,000 posts, you are bound to be mistaken at least once ;-) !

Alan

[enting]

Thanks for your suggestions. There are few more questions:

@About the vibration from the steering wheel while I am driving at 50-60 miles/h, could it be related to control arm booshing's problem? @And when I just start my car, I can smell a little gas. After a while, it's gone. Is it a big problem or something's already broken? @I checked the website and I found Jerry tucker is located in CA, not in TX. Is it correct?

Thanks for your guys. This car drives well and I do love it. I am new at infiniti and I will do more studying in seraching the forums you suggested.

[maxnix]

Jerry Tucker is on the far west coast of Texas in San Diego.

Search under fuel lines for what's involved with your gasoline in the cabin smell. It could be the fuel pump seal, but if that fails the smell is constant.

Could be control arm bushing, tension rod bushings, and/or other assorted suspension rubber wearing out.

[Jesda]

This is unrelated to your mechanical conditions but...

You got one hell of a deal there! Any pics of your J?

-Jesda

[redmanfx]

Fuel pump Seal? I'll have to remember that. Mine has a constant fuel smell in the cabin and I've ripped the Back seat out and the back trunck panel apart looking for anythig and found absolutely nothing.

[enting]

Today I went to another shop to check, I have different quote as following:

1. timing belt $475 (including 3 timing seal,water bump,2 tensioner,oil pump seal,thermostat)

2. 3 belt $65

3. front brake $100 (including turn rotor,brake pad)

4. rear brake $60 (turn rotor)

5. rear right strut $100 (used)

6. rear oil $45

7. flush $130 (steering,brake,coolent,transmission but don't drop pan and change filter)

Besides, he also told to me that some other parts problem@transmission torgue convertor $500 (not very smooth when shift from 1 to 2 and 2 to 3, but it would be improved after flush transmission, is it possible? )@rack and pinion $500 (he told me that I don't need to change it right now)@control arm bushing(used) $200 (he told me that I don't need to change it right now) It seems I need to put a lot of money on this car, and I am a little frustrated about this situation. Please help me to identify my car's problems and is the price reasonable for me to do those work? Thanks again, I really appreciate.

[maxnix]

Sounds reasonable, but beware of using used parts and doing the labor twice in a short span of time. Teh struts I would only replace in pairs, like the tires. However if you have many miles, you may have to replace all four struts to retain balanced handling.

The price you paid reflects the maintenance that was deferred. What else could you get for $6.5K? And what repairs would it require?__________________Brian1995 Q45 & Q45t & 2000 Q45

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