Newbie coming online... LOTS o' Questions!

[chomer]

Newbie here. Been lurking for about a week now while researching the car. And.... let a 1994 Q45t slip through my fingers. Only 72k miles. Bummer. HICAS, Heated seats, super super clean.

Found one today. 94 Q45 standard. Pie pan. 102k miles. $4750 w/ TTL.

Here's some interesting fodder:

1) transmission fluid very bright red. I would assume that's a thumbs up, but will invest in a transmission cooler. Plus, I like the external filter, so I'm keeping that.

2) Need to do a radiator flush?

3) Oil needs to be flushed GOOD. It's too dark. Although I love Mobil 1, should I go ahead with the Mobil 1? Will it loosen up some plugged leaks? When I pulled the car out of the spot (it was indoors and on sealed concrete), it didn't have any oil/water/coolant underneath. So... is it safe to go synthetic now?

4) Should I do a can of BG44k before I do my oil change? BTW, if anyone is ever interested in what happens if you use this stuff too much, I can attest to losing a cylinder in my ol' Lexus ES250 due to "fuel injector cleaner" used too often. Too much detergent and the cylinder wall lost it's oil. You can figure out the rest...

5) Where should I get the Q45a rear-sway bar? And is this a self install? And what else in the suspension should I change out? I have a few bucks to get it cleaned up...

6) Passenger side door locks/windows/mirrors don't work from the "remote" locations in the car. However, the windows do go up and down from the door switch. Should I ask the dealer to look at it, or is this something I can service. I'm assuming that the whole harness to the door is either bad or loose. How do I check it?

7) Thoughts on brakes? Is it worth "upgrading" to classic Z32 300ZX rotors/calipers? I'll wait until it's time for a brake job.

And finally... the big whammy:

8) The car starts in 2nd gear. Don't ask me why.... but when I test drove it, it seemed sluggish. When I put it in L manually, it seemed to finally go. So.... What are my options? And (just throwing it out there), how do I know if this is a reman unit? Perhaps a reman off of a 90-93?

[ceningolmo]

Hello and welcome to NICO. You will love it here.

[elwesso]

Welcome to NICO Homer...

1. transmission fluid being nice and new looking is a great sign... Definitely has had a maintained trans!!! Get that cooler in there and plan on changing the fluid agian within 4-6 months (just to be safe and know when it was done).

2. not a bad idea. you can just drain the radiator and refill it with water/coolant, that gets enough of it out....

3. Honestly I dont see the reason to switch to synthetic... Synthetic wont cause any undesireable effects, trust me. Right now im running Mobil Clean 7500 (basically the same thing as durablend, a synthetic blend) and so far I like it, its a lot cheaper. 90 day oil changes with conventional is as good if not better than going 4-5-6k miles on synthetic, IMO. youll have people tell you can run a year (15-20k) on an oil change with magic oil (amsoil, royal purple, redline) but I prefer to have the peace of mind that i have fresh clean oil....

If you want to do a bit of cleaning, before your next oil change get a can of BG quick clean and run it in the oil for 15mins before you turn the car off to drain it. Ideally youd like to get the car fully warmed up, throw the stuff in, let it idle for 15 mins, then immediately shut it off and drain the oil.... I would then maybe do this same thing a couple more times within a month or 2 and your motor should end up pretty clean.... Quick clean isnt so harsh that it removes stuff and actually is counter productive...

4. Yes thats a grand idea.... Seems weird that the fuel injector cleaner would cause that kind of stuff as its just mixing with gas, but whatever....

5. You can check our classifieds section to see if someone has a used one, or you cna get one brand new from joe at scottsdale. New with everything you need is like $300 and it bolts right on.... Joes' contact info is in my signature. its not too hard to install, theres a few writeups here on the board.

6. I would suspect the switches are bad, or possibly unplugged even... You can do the self diagnosis on that thing yourself and see what the problem is. Lets not worry about that just yet, you have plenty of other stuff as a NEW Q owner to worry about!

7. If you do the Z brakes you have to accomodate for the larger calipers. if you keep the stock wheels you have to install 10mm spacers, which Im currently running with my winter 15in wheels (OEM). In the summer I run a set of 350Z track wheels (the wheels on my car in my sig).... You wont notice a HUGE difference in braking, however pads and rotors are much cheaper and easier to get. when i did my brakes, i bought new calipers (well... used), new pads, rotors, and Stainless lines for cheaper than a set of OEM pads and rotors!!!!!

8. Does the car give you a transmission malfuction? I wonder if someone swapped in a 2nd gear start TCU from a 90-93? Either its in fail-safe (in 3rd gear) or starting in 2nd. Does it shift nicely from 2-3 and 3-4?

[chomer]

Hey hey... glad to see that people are coming alive. Being a business owner, I do have a few minutes to spare to do some of the work myself. It's kinda like a hobby, so I'm diggin this...

Ok.

1) I saw the link on your website (or was it here) that talks about a cooler from B&M. I'll go ahead and get that done first thing next year. Should I just drop the pan and do a drain/filter cleaning? Or go to a BG shop and get a flush with a machine? Or... even the "poor man's" flush?

2) Are there radiator flushes? Also, is it worth changing the thermostat and hoses while I'm doing this? I'm in FL, you know, and this next summer could be a hot one.

3) I like your suggestion, and will probably get it done that way. Is it easy DIY with OEM filters?

4) Can I get the BG from a local auto parts shop? And as for the cylinder wall issue? Well, it is what it is. And that's the only thing I can think of. I thought someone here had mentioned that BG is a "harsh" fuel additive, as are all fuel line cleaners, hence the recommendation to change the oil?

5) Thanks. How do the OEM bushings hold up? Should I go ahead and get them replaced with Urethane ones? Or there aren't any other choices? If you dig through http://www.lexls.com, you'll see that the 1st gen LS400's has people selling "new" tougher bushings. Perhaps those same people can cook up a set for the Q?

6) How do I get into the doors? Is it on the FSM? Also, the reason I suspect the harness is because the windows switch doesn't work from the center console, but it works fine from the door. Does that make sense?

7) Now I'll have to wait for the brakes to wear out. And the way I drive, it doesn't wear out much actually.

8) No transmission malfunction light. I didn't check the full "shift" from 2-3 and 3-4. However, when I gun it, it's a bit of a harsh shift from L-2. Define "smooth". As smooth as my 1999 LS400? The Q45t that I passed up had a somewhat "harsh" L-2 shift. Kinda like dropping the clutch. Is that common?

[elwesso]

1. It is certainly most important to add that cooler, i would worry about the transmission later especially since the fluid looks good.... Do the cooler and then do the service later. When you do it, youll want to drop the pan and clean it, run some BG quick clean for automatic transmissions, and then do a mechanical flush or do the poor mans flush, whichever you prefer... My local shop does flushes for $70 including fluid, which is pretty good IMO..

2. not really any radiator flushes, you just want to drain the coolant and refill it with new stuff.. I mean theres a lof of stuff you can do but if you completely drain the radiator and fill it up your getting a lot of stuff out. if you want to go even crazier drive for a while and do it again, and keep doing it until the coolant is BRIGHT green... the Qs cooling system holds up nicely if you take care of it... Certainly is not a bad idea to throw in a new Tstat and hoses, the cost of it is relatively low and labor is super easy.... you could do it all at once and call it your complete cooling system cleansing...

3. Yeah shouldnt be too hard... When your doing the short length oil changes, you can run cheaper filters (wal-mart supertech filters are a great value quality vs cost).... Changing the oil filter is miserable but not impossible... For lack of a better term, it just sucks...

4. You cant buy BG from the autoparts store. joe can get it to you for about $18/can, or you can get it on ebay for cheaper. Ive bought a 3 can deal on ebay and gotten great deals, especially nice if you can find a 5 pack for like $55!! dont get that 3 pack which includes 44k, fuel injection cleaner, and intake cleaner as you have to have specialized tools to use that stuff... You can get pretty much any BG additive on ebay...

5. The OEM bushings are fine for a while but if you want to you can run poly.. I have poly end links on mine from energy suspension, theyre the 1in links, ES part number 9.8122 . Cost is about $20 for the set. You can run the ES poly frame bushings too if you want... Would save a bit of money and all youd have to get is some bolts and the bar itself....

6. youll do the self diagnostic procedure in the FSM outlined in the EL section under "LAN self diagnosis"... it checks everything it can "see" but may not tell you anything, however its easy to do and its a great place to start....

8. Im just wondering if its behaving as it should (besides the fact of it seemingly starting in 2nd gear).. If you can tell me the part number of the TCU (located behind the drivers side kick panel, the carpeted panel next to the E-Brake) i can tell you what year its from... It will have a number like 22060-300P0 (thats a part number for something else but it will be in that same format).. I can run it in my parts book and see exactly what its from.

[Jesda]

FLUSH EVERYTHING!

Take Wes's advice. Enjoy the ride and post some pictures.

[chomer]

Ok. Lots of stuff to digest. And since I'm picking up the vehicle tomorrow (that's another story in itself), I'll check on the stuff. I'll be out of town until after the new year, so it'll sit for a bit.

I'll get you the part# on the TCU as soon as possible and let's look it up.

BTW, anyone have thoughts on getting Rob's NICO ECU? I can do the work myself (or for others), as I'm an EE by training. Circuit boards are easy, but time consuming.

Anyways, glad the pros are helping out.

[Black stallion]

Welcome to NICO! I still consider myself a newbie here, but as you will soon see, there is a wealth of info here as well as knowledgeable people who share in the passion (obsession) called a Q.

In your #6 question, look into little black box called the amplifier. It is inside the door and is about the size of a fat deck of cards. There are a couple of posts related to it.

As far as getting into the door, the main "key" is the armrest pad. it slides forward or backward depending on the door and reveals a couple main screws. The rest kind of fits like a puzzle. I have a unique gift for figuring things out without losing skin or my religion, but cannot explain how to do it. For this, I know someone else will chime in. Take your time, it really is a 10 minute job.

Enjoy your Q!