I guess this question is directed to the guy Mike?, who is the Infiniti tech. How hard is it to replace the gauge cluster?
I am a fairly competant mechanic but have no experience on Infinitis and am looking to purchase a first gen M45. Just want to know what I might be in for as I always do all my own service/maintenance on my own cars. Thanks!

ive had it 4 times first time had to pay 900 to fix at dealership came with 1 year warranty every year just befoer warranty was up they fixed for free this happened 4 years in a row just got it back about 2 months ago with 1500 dollars in parts and labor for free hope it works but if it dont dont mind using there warranty vehicles =] for freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Well, add me to the list. (2003 M45) Mine went out at about 65,000 miles/4 years and the dealer acted like they had no idea of what I was talking about, as far as this being a huge problem.

Dealing with Infiniti Customer Relations was no better. Their position was that they also did not recognize the problem to be of a significant enough nature that they needed to issue a recall. Additionally, since my car was 'that far' out of warranty, and each case was determined on a 'case by case' basis, they did not feel that I was a valued enough customer to deserve any sort of accommodation. I even suggested they charge me for the labor and eat the parts, and I offered to even buy a replacement fuel pump/sender unit to sweeten the deal but they really couldn't care. For what it's worth, I explained to them that as an Infiniti owner I am an ambassador of the company and that it was in their best interests to keep their owners satisfied so that I would not only potentially buy another car from them, but also because many people ask me what I think of my car.

When they told me to go pound sand I explained to them that based upon their treatment I could not justify buying another Infiniti product, and that if anyone asked me about Infiniti products that I would now be inclined to steer them away and into a brand where customer satisfaction is their first priority. Oh well. another company doomed for failure....

Hello,

I just purchased an '03 M45 that registered a more than full tank. I have replaced the sending unit and it did not fix the problem. After reading the posts and replies, I'm going to contact Mission Viejo, CA Infiniti to see if they will be willing to replace the cluster at no cost. I will be back with my results...

Matt Beck

My 2003 M45 Sport 58,000KM as got the problem. Took it in and got the Fuel Sender replaced twice at a Infiniti dealership. Cost was about $400.00cnd give or take. The fuel gauge still did not work properly. It won't go lower than 1/4 tank. So they told me it was the gauge cluster ($2000.00cdn) that needed to be replaced now. I called Infiniti customer service and ask very politely if they would pay for this defective part of theres and was told they would call me back and gave me a ref. number. So now I'm just waiting. I will not have it fixed if I have to pay for it. It's amasing how they can build a car in 2003 with all the bells and wistles and can't get a simple fuel gauge to work properly.
Mike D.

Just got called from customer service (Dec. 6) and they will not help in anyway. Daniel the customer rep. couldn't wait to get off the phone. So that's it for me and Infiniti. time to move on to Lexus, BMW or
Mercedes.

That is why I purchased a 08 M35. Plus I put in the octane/fuel additive and I get over 22 MPG. Yeah it cost me 3 bucks every three weeks but I see the difference. Plus I don't have to buy premium. Don't let me start to tell you the scam about US fuel prices. We have onboard computers for a reason.

I just noticed this thread now and admit i have had the problem for a little while when i ran out of gas and my gauge read 1/4 tank. i had the extended warranty that is now expired and really don't want to pay $$$ to get this fixed since its obviously a common problem. I have a 2004 M45 with about 80k miles. I keep it gassed up but would still like to fix it since I have no other problems.

Below are the two posts I made to the nhtsa.gov site but in short, Infiniti of Gwinnett is incompetent, Roswell Infiniti rocks, Infiniti Consumer Affairs (ICA) … is beyond incompetent. I played phone tag with ICA for months. If they weren’t going to pay they could have just told be that from jump, or at least left it on my voice mail or email.

ODI ID Number : 10369584
MY 2004 INFINITI M45’S FUEL GAUGE READS AT OR ABOVE ½ TANK OF GAS WHEN THERE IS NO FUEL RESULTING IN A STALL. PROBLEM STARTED AT AROUND 59K MILES BUT WAS OUT OF WARRANTY DUE TO AGE. I CURRENTLY HAVE 72K MILES ON THE CAR AND HAVE TO RESET THE TRIP COUNTER AS THE FUEL GAUGE IS USELESS. THE INFINITI DEALER IN GWINNETT COUNTY GEORGIA HAD THE CAR TWICE BUT WAS UNABLE TO DIAGNOSE THE PROBLEM. INFINITI CONSUMER AFFAIRS HAS REFUSED ANY ASSISTANCE BECAUSE THE DEALER CAN’T IDENTIFY THE ROOT CAUSE. FROM MY RESEARCH MY BEST GUESS WOULD BE THE GAUGE CLUSTER, A VERY COSTLY REPAIR.

ODI ID Number : 10374719
As a follow-up to an earlier post (ODI ID Number: 10369584) I took my vehicle to the Infiniti dealer in Roswell Georgia and when looked at by competent technicians who actually broke down the vehicle, it was determined that I have a faulty gauge cluster (expensive but the guys here know their stuff, are thorough, and know a bit about customer service). Even after being properly diagnosed Infiniti Consumer Affairs (ICA) still refused to compensate (wish they had just told me that in the first place). The most infuriating thing is that ICA acts as if they never heard of this problem before... do they not have access to the Internet. I searched and before the first dealer even looked at my vehicle I knew two things; 1) the problem was common based on the number of blogs and the fact that there wasn't a lot of these made in the first place, and 2) that it was most likely the gauge cluster as almost every instance of owners having their fuel sending unit replaced ended up having the same problem again.

1) I now see there is a guy that can do repairs to these clusters? Do any of you have your old one that know what he is doing to fix these?

2) Has anyone fixed the cluster on their own? Is there a way to reset the mileage properly? I dont want to cause any red flags..

3) On everything infiniti it looks like the cluster is only 2oo dollars?! Why do you all make this sound so pricey? Am I looking at the wrong part? What is teh part number of the cluster unit?

DRIPS wrote:1) I now see there is a guy that can do repairs to these clusters? Do any of you have your old one that know what he is doing to fix these?

2) Has anyone fixed the cluster on their own? Is there a way to reset the mileage properly? I dont want to cause any red flags..

3) On everything infiniti it looks like the cluster is only 2oo dollars?! Why do you all make this sound so pricey? Am I looking at the wrong part? What is teh part number of the cluster unit?

I want to say that my gauge has been faulty for a while. Like many of you, I decided not to replace/repair. However, I recently had my check engine light come on and it threw code p0462. I just replaced the sending unit.

Unfortunately, my CEL came back on today. Now I am wondering what else it might be? How would this code be related to the gauge cluster?

03 M45
49k miles

I am having mine fixed at BBR REman here in MA as we speak - should get it back tomorrow.
I hope not to have any more problems. This is what the gage cluster looks like once it was removed from dash.
I shipped it out yesterday and getting it back tomorrow - not a bad deal $295 after like 20 bucks each way and insurance.

I have had a fully functional gage cluster now for 6 days or so and it works perfectly.

Just like I read on another post 90-99% of the time the problem is with the gage cluster in your dash - not the fuel sending unit.

Had i had my gage cluster replaced t would have cost like $1200 bucks or so. But thanks to awesome forums like this one I read about BBA Re manufacturing here in my home state of MA.

They warranty the cluster/work performed for life - total cost $250 = shipping charges.
I had the dealer who sold me the car pay for the labor my local dealer did in taking it out and putting it back in as well as pay BBA to fix it.

So I recommend that you fix the gage cluster first and them your fuel sending unit.

OUT!

Had this fuel gauge misread in my cluster, had it removed and shipped to BBA Reman, they did an awesome job for $270.00 and shipped to my shop all this within a weeks time. My shop charged $75.00 to remove and reinstall. I thought it was worth it considering what the dealer would charge and you end up with a new cluster that would fail again from what I've read. So far so good it works, no dash lights or service engine light which would come on every other week. Next project get rid of this damn squeaky seat noise and automatic trunk closing problem. I always liked these cars, but once I get rid of these bugs I think I'll fall in love with it like my Jaguar VDP.

Fuel gauge stops at half full, and returns toward full until running out of gas. There are two low gas warnings (light and message) which no longer work. After several months of using odometer for approximate gas amount status, the check engine light illuminated. The auto zone code check shows the fuel level sender is faulty.

Posts here indicate it is the fuel cluster unit, Infinity is ignoring the common problem, so guess I'll have one shipped and find a shop to install.

not a confirmed fix but worked for me
remove cluster
on the back panel on the big plug buttom row, right in a middle pin 30 and pin 31 resolder them

qwertydevildog wrote:not a confirmed fix but worked for me
remove cluster
on the back panel on the big plug buttom row, right in a middle pin 30 and pin 31 resolder them

I looked at the back of my cluster and it seems these pins are not that easy to get to..they happen to be right behind a support tab on the connector. Did you pull the circuit board from the back of the unit?

-m

black cover off. trim white male connector on the bottom by the board so i can fit soldering iron in there thats it

Not to make light of this issue. Fuel gauge's should be reasonably accurate. But back in the old days we never counted on them. We knew our average MPG and if the gauge read full or empty we went by the miles driven. When I was driving the old farm tractors that did not have fuel guages we went by hours driven. We knew so many hours equated to gallons of gas burned. To this day I do not trust fuel indicators in my cars, trucks, tractors or anything else that has one. Having said that I would be one pissed off cowboy if I bought a car that is costs what these do. Wait I own one. Do I trust the fuel gauge or the stupid computer......no way. I go by what I know the car gets for MPG and miles driven. My OP.

the gauge is not a problem go by mpg like you said, it set the check engine light on, and in some states you will not pass emission test with the check engine light being on

qwertyz wrote:black cover off. trim white male connector on the bottom by the board so i can fit soldering iron in there thats it

can you give me a little more on the instructions on doing this fix?

remove the cluster, take the back black cover off, trim the big white plug with razor blade right in the middle right by the board inspect and resolder the loose pins 30 and 31

Bought car used from Marin Infiniti. 62,000 Miles. Ran out of gas day after I bought it. My mechanic (Not Marin's,) tested fuel sending unit - it failed, that was $400 including parts from Infiniti. Gauge still didn't work right - my mechanic called my local infiniti dealer who said this is common problem on 2003 M45s. Per Infiniti,instrument cluster was replaced for $600 which finally corrected the problem. I bought an Infiniti instead of a Mercedes because all the people I know with Mercedes had these kinds of problems. Pretty pathetic for a premium brand not to recall such an obvious factory defect. If I wanted this sh*t I would have bought a GM.

Hello all. I have a '93 J30T with 142k. Started happening recently. Couldn't figure out where gas was going only to find out my gauge needle stayed in one position after moving a bit.

I just replaced the fuel send unit (2003 M45, 126k) since my mechanic told me the cluster was fine. However it couldn't fix the problem. I guess he was wrong. Now time to consider buying a new cluster. As I researched on the web, the new is $273 with tire monitor and $630 without the tire monitor. Since my M45 has a Navi and TPMS, the $273 one is for me, right?

Link: http://www.infinitipartsusa.com/partloc ... atalogid=0

Thanks,

Ryan.

It seems BBA Reman is no longer offering this service. When I try to purchase the exchange from here http://www.bba-reman.com/catalogue/Deta ... oduct=1681, it says "Exchange Unit P.O.A."

Does this mean we are out of luck, and for those who repaired their own gauge cluster by soldering pins 30 and 31, do you have any pics?

Thanks in advance!

jwong77 wrote:It seems BBA Reman is no longer offering this service. When I try to purchase the exchange from here http://www.bba-reman.com/catalogue/Deta ... oduct=1681, it says "Exchange Unit P.O.A."

Does this mean we are out of luck, and for those who repaired their own gauge cluster by soldering pins 30 and 31, do you have any pics?

Thanks in advance!

Did you call them? I talked to them about 3 months ago and they were still in the business, and very easy to work with, btw. I think that website is a bit twitchy, so don't let that deter you.

Also, you need to send them your cluster, which they will repair and send back. Maybe that's what "Exchange Unit P.O.A." indicates? I haven't gotten around to doing it since I don't really have another car I can use while the gauges are out. (Or at least a car I *want* to use )

I did pull the cluster a while ago and considered the pin soldering fix but was ultimately decided not to attempt it.

-m

I just called them, it appears that their site is being upgraded right now, so its not working. I am sending my unit in as soon as I have time to remove the cluster.

2004 M45; 94K miles
Runs out of fuel at 1/4 tank. I just refill when I get to 1/2 tank, but may replace the cluster in a few months so I don't have to think about it Amazing there is no recall.

Add me to the list. 2004 Y34. I thought this issue was tied to the 2003 only, but not anymore.

File a complaint: https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/VehicleCo ... ndex.xhtml

Read about the progress: http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2011 ... efect.html

If the gauges are found to have major internal issues it could result in a consumer safety recall of the vehicle.

I'm resetting the trip to 0 at every fill up and refueling at 300 miles for now.

I filed a complaint and described my out-of-fuel situation. Do any of you agree that it's the fuel gague cluster over the sending unit?

I was also thinking that as much as I was sloshing fuel around in the tank, it might have broken something inside it, but could have just as easily tweaked the dash enough to make that solder issue in the cluster happen.


Thoughts?

I just filed this case to NHTSA.
Does anyone try to solider the pin 30 and 31? Any additional information?
Also how did you guys take the cluster out?


Thanks.