Normal Maintenance Qs

[Craig Brumley]

Normal maintenance trip to the Infiniti dealer today, they're pushing maintenace items to make up for sales I guess. The car has 40K on it and they indicated I needed new belts at $209 parts and labor. I haven't inspected the belts yet, but I can by them for $70. Has anyone here replaced their alt and serp belts? Is it easy/hard/impossible without removing the front clip? Or somewhere in-between?

Front brakes also, at about $350. I've always done my own brakes. Anything special about this item? Any special one-of-a-kind tools I'll need?

They also indicated a rear diff and auto-transmission services. Sounds nutty to me that either would need service at 40K, any other opinions?

Thanks in advance.

Craig

[Poyzinous]

You should be able to get belts for $60 or $50. Its not fun doing the belts from the top. But you'd need a few wrenches and sockets, 14mm and 12mm. The transmission technically doesn't need to be flushed untill 60k. The rear diff should be a cheap item and there is no harm in getting it done a little early. I do it every year on my car. Front brakes are just like any other car, but the rotors need to be cleaned before you begin to drive on them, and make sure you use the greases from the pad kit properly on the pad. But if they charge you $350 for new front pads and rotors, sounds like a bargain.

[tollboothwilley]

Ya...

I bought belts for like $40 and spent the 15 min installing and tightening them down.

I bought royal purple 75w-90 for the differential, 2 quarts at $12 each. $7 for a pump. $31 and the 30 min for the drain and fill.

I got new rotors for like $200 and pads for like $90. They were cross-drilled and slotted. Much better than OEM. Took maybe 1hr on each side.

Its really not hard at all... straight forward for all the maintenance on this car.

[Craig Brumley]

I finally inspected the belts. Serp belt had no cracks, alt belt had minor cracking, which the manual on my other car indicates is normal, neither belt was worn or discolored. Is the criteria different on this car?

Rotors are quite grooved, is it normal to have to replace rotors at each brake job? Can they be turned, or am I being old fashoined here?

And wow, they sure don't want you checking your trans fluid; what's with that..?

[Poyzinous]

Well to tell you the truth, if the belts are making noise, just replace them. They may be a bit glazed or micro-shredded if the pulley tension was too tight or loose. The belts usually last 50k on average, 40 if you drive hard. The brakes, its common to replace the rotors. The G has soft pads and rotors, thats why your wheels are always black after a week of driving. You can resurface(turn) them, but minimum approved thickness is .886 inch, and since they are soft, they usually wear below that when its time for replacement. What i've done, is resurface the rotors at 12000 miles, sand down my pads, and the rotors measured at .900, so I didn't have to replace them. And trans fluid, theres no harm in checking it. Its just that the trans needs to be at operating temperature, and the car on a level surface. Engine running, and then the dipstick gives an accurate reading. Some people check it when its super hot, or when its off, or anything but the recommended conditions, and go to the dealer screaming and insulting the people there when they are just blinded by their ignorance and lack of knowledge. Anyway, What you get done is entirely up to you. If you feel you need it, you probably do.

[Craig Brumley]

Poyzinous:

Thanks for the info, you've been a bunch of help.