New '96 Q45 Owner

[d.bright]

Hello Everyone,

I am now the owner of a 1996 Infiniti Q45. The car was my grandmothers, she has been having some issues with it recently that have added up to a lot of expense in maintenance, including needing tires replaced, new battery, and there seems to be an oil leak which I'm thinking is probably from the valve-covers since it produces a burning oil smell after driving. She was going to trade it in on a newer car and the dealership offered her $500 trade-in, I told her I would take it for $600, so she's dropping it off at my house today (I've never even driven the car).

The issues I know the car has are these:

Burning oil smell (probably valve-cover gaskets?)
Sometimes stutters/stalls at idle
Brakes are grinding (I have already purchased front/rear rotors/pads and plan to replace them this weekend)

I am unaware of any other issues, like I said, I haven't driven the car. I am planning on driving it for at least a few months while I sell my other car and I plan on saving up some and getting something else in the next 4-5 months. What I would like to know is this; are there any common issues that occur with this car such as transmission/cooling system/suspension or engine driveability issues that I might need to address in the near future. And I would also like to know what peoples observed HWY MGP is for this car, I have a 30 mile commute on mostly highway every day and I'm going from a 2003 Focus ZX3 that gets 32MPG HWY, I'm just curious how much more I can expect to pay in gas.

Thanks in advance, and I'm looking forward to hearing from everyone!
-Daniel

[300ZXttZMAN]

Welcome!

[SanCarlosQ45]

Welcome!

How many miles are on the car? The oil burning smell is definitely the valve covers, $40-50 and a couple hours. The first thing I would do is change the fuel filter, clean the maf sensor, clean throttle body, and check/clean maf sensor connector. The issue of stalling at lights from your description sounds like fuel pump and or the fuel pump controller; if you search there are many threads about the control unit.

There are really no major repairs to do with these cars like the 90-93's just general high mileage matinance; struts, tension rods if bushings are leaking, front upper links if alignment is off etc.

When the car is running as it should you should expect 21-22 mpg highway and remember you should always run premium because you are not really saving anything.

Based on 3.71 regular and your focus the cost would be ~$3.48 here in the bay area. Based on 3.93 premium(91 octane) and the Q45 in good running order you daily cost would be ~$5.61 at 21 mpg. This is based on 30 miles round trip double if its 60 miles total.

[d.bright]

Thanks for the quick response SanCarlos, I am a former mechanic so all of that stuff is very familiar and easy for me to do. I will take care of all of those items asap. As far as the fuel pump/fuel pump controller, are those expensive and are they in-tank or mounted on the frame somewhere? I like the idea of dropping the tank and cleaning it out, but if it's outside of the tank, I won't bother

Also, I always perform an AT transmission flush on any car I buy used, what fluid is recommended for this car when I have a flush performed, and should I get it done at a Nissan/Infiniti dealership or can I take it to a local Valvoline or NTB and have it done?

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: As for the mileage, it's funny but I didn't even ask her, I believe its somewhere around 100K

[SanCarlosQ45]

Luckily with these cars the tank is located behind the rear seats in the trunk so it is easier to get at than under car tanks the pump is in the tank on the top. You will have to remove the rear seat and parcel shelf to get the pump out.

Once you get the car listen to the fuel pump by sticking your head in the trunk, if it sounds like a swarm of bee's than the pump is soon to go out; it is doubtful that the pump is bad at 100k, they usually fail at about 150k. The fuel pump control unit is on the underside of the rear parcel shelf, you can follow the wires coming off the tank to find the control unit. Check if the connector is slightly burnt or melted which is one sign that means the control unit is failing.

The pump new from Infiniti I believe is $267 from infinitipartsusa.com, or you could go with a bosch pump from amazon which many people have had good luck with; just looked at the price which is $260, there was a sale going on but now its regular price. Your best bet is OEM with a new o-ring which doesnt come with the pump.

Most people do multiple drain and refills putting in Mobil 1 atf. If you dont want to spend that any regular atf is fine because new stuff is better than old stuff.

[d.bright]

I got home today at 5PM (EST, I'm in Georgia) and the car is sitting in the driveway, but my Grandmother was supposed to come back later and drop off the keys but she's too tired, so I can't have a good look at it until then. It has a few dents/dings and scratches but nothing about $500 worth of elbow grease and a new Maaco paint job won't cure.

I also noticed the sunroof was cracked open, so I called her and asked her if it was stuck, she said "no, it's so the gas fumes don't build up"!!! LOL so I guess I'll be looking at the fuel pump sooner rather than later, I have a feeling since you mentioned it's under the rear seat that it may have a leak or something, I'll find out more probably over the weekend when I'm not working.

Since I'm planning on selling it in about 3-4 months, I don't want to invest too heavily into it, it has 105K on the ODO and needs some TLC, I figure if I invest about 800-1000$ in parts/paint then I should be able to sell it for $3500 and make a decent profit off of it (which I will split with Grammy of course :P). Of course I may end up liking it and keep it, but I need something reliable and with it just turning over 100K, I have a feeling its least reliable days are still ahead, if not already here...

Thoughts?

[BCC93QT]

A G50 Q45 will out live your ford focus. As well as probably the mustang. With that aside your focus is the cheapest route. But it will rust out before the Q. The Q will get the 21-22 MPG on the highway and is A LOT safer than a focus. Your Q will outrun the focus by all means.

You will NOT make any profit off of the Q unless its to some poor soul. You will make some money parting it although.

There are really no major repairs to do with these cars like the 90-93's just general high mileage matinance; struts, tension rods if bushings are leaking, front upper links if alignment is off etc.

a 90-93 G50 is no harder to maintain than a later G50 if the "timing chain" issue has been resolved and yes it IS doubtful that the pump is gone at 105k but it depends on what type of gas, how well it was treated... fuel filter... much more

[d.bright]

Well thanks for the reply, I doubt that it will outlast either of my current vehicles since they are very easy to maintain and have both been extremely reliable (I have over 200K on my Focus with no issues other than routine maintenance) and the fact that I can find very cheap replacement parts for them if needed. I'm not worried about rust, I live in Georgia and I've never seen a car rust out here. And I know the Q is a pretty quick car for the year which is cool, but with gas so expensive, I don't see myself using it as a commuter car for very long, we already have one V8 powered sports car that manages to eke out about 23mpg on the highway, I don't need another thirsty hot rod .

I don't understand why you say I would be making a profit off of "some poor soul". The car looks pretty good, it seems to run pretty well other than what I've listed (which I will fix before I sell it), and the Kelly Blue Book lists fair condition private sale as $2,875, so even if I put in $500 I'll still make a little off of it, this is mostly to help out my Grandmother, the dealer was only going to give her $500 for it. It's just that the arrival of this car allows me to prepare my Focus for sale since I have my sights on a new one and I want to have as much of a down-payment as I can.

Thanks!

[OwnerCS]

Welcome to NICO! Sometimes you'll see us refer to ATL and GA as Qtopia as there are so many nice ones in the area. There is a fairly well known shop in the ATL area that has a wealth of Q knowledge named T3 Automotive.

[d.bright]

That's good to know, thanks, I may end up taking it there especially if I can't figure out the fuel smell!

[d.bright]

OK so I just put rear brakes on the car, and I'm about to take it for the first spin (can you believe I haven't driven the car yet? ) I'm curious as to whether this car has keyless entry or not, there is no FOB that came with it but I'm wondering if all I need to do is get one of eBay? It's a Q45t BTW... Anyways, time to go see how she drives, and if she's worth fixing...

[d.bright]

In case anyone cares,

I finally got to drive the car around the neighborhood last night, here's what I observed:

The smell that my Grandmother thought was fuel, isn't fuel, it's burning oil, and it's pretty strong, the first thing I need to do is replace those valve cover gaskets ASAP.

The car cranks fine and idles fine, but there is a lot of noise coming from the transmission bell-housing area that is consistent with a low rumble type of noise and I can't tell if it's engine noise, transmission noise, or possibly an exhaust leak, when I rev the engine it increases in intensity, so I'll have to do some more digging on that unless anyone has some suggestions?

As soon as I backed out of the driveway and came to a stop, the car died on me, I think this is the MAF, I'll clean it out tonight and see if it makes any difference.

There are a lot of squeaks and rattles coming from the dash and front seats at idle and I'm sure it's just from the age of the car, does anyone know of any common squeaks/rattles that occur on this car and how to fix them? I have an interior noise kit from what I worked at Toyota a while back that I could possibly use on the dash.

Other than that, the car seems to be alright, the passenger side window won't go down very far before it acts like it's stuck, I'll take the door panel off and troubleshoot that myself. I'm also planning on possibly taking the entire engine out and resealing it from top to bottom, I can take the plenum off and replace all those hoses while I'm at it, and possibly replace the timing chain if it's worth it. And I can also thoroughly clean out the torque converter while it's out to get rid of any built-up metal shavings lurking in there. And I can replace the motor and trans mounts too.

I'm open to suggestions/comments and thanks for everything so far!

[OwnerCS]

The car cranks fine and idles fine, but there is a lot of noise coming from the transmission bell-housing area that is consistent with a low rumble type of noise and I can't tell if it's engine noise, transmission noise, or possibly an exhaust leak, when I rev the engine it increases in intensity, so I'll have to do some more digging on that unless anyone has some suggestions?

Hopefully it is not from the torque converter. Mine started making noises like money (coins) were being thrown in a blender just before it went. It was a grinding crunching noise that started as something rare but got worse as time went by until it finally stopped working..

[d.bright]

Are the transmissions pretty easy to drop on these cars? And where can I find a new torque converter for this car? I can't find one online anywhere....

Thanks