Southwest Infiniti in Hou, TX rocks, as does this forum...

[wbrian63]

I took my '03 M45 in to the aforementioned dealership on April 10 for a variety of issues.

Top item on the ticket was the lying gas gauge. When I originally scheduled the service appointment a few weeks earlier, the service writer was like "hmmm, I've never heard of that problem before..."

I went armed with the printed-out thread from this forum with all the posts from members with 03 M's with the same problem. When I showed the report to the advisor he said "I did a little homework before you came in, and I am aware of the issue - I'd just never seen a car with the problem personally"...

He called later that day to tell me they hadn't gotten started on the car yet and I should just continue with the loaner and he'd call me on Friday. Friday afternoon the phone rings and he tells me what the other services were going to cost (reasonable $), and that he'd made a few phone calls and they'd be replacing my instrument cluster FREE OF CHARGE!!!

This M has 93,000 miles on it!!!!

I was stunned...

I didn't have to do anything at all - the service writer did it all on his own...

Anyway - it took over the weekend to get the parts in - picked the car up on Monday the 14th and no more flaky gas gauge.

They also re-flashed the ecu for the engine and the transmission (which I had to pay for), and I've got a more driveable car now.

An even more surprising event - as the porter was dropping the car off to me, as he got out of the car he said "I have a question for you..." he pointed to the broken electric door lock switch on the driver's door and said "was that broken when you brought the car in??"

I said unfortunately that it was. From his tone and demeanor, I believe he was actually attempting to make sure that the switch wasn't broken while they had the car.

Astonished again....

Anyway - I don't know for sure if the printout of the thread helped, but it certainly couldn't have hurt.

I'm very impressed with the quality of service provided at this dealership. Even with my Mercedes, I have to call to check on the car - they rarely call me to let me know the status of the repairs - Infiniti did.

Just thought you might like to know...

[CakeDaddy]

They also re-flashed the ecu for the engine and the transmission (which I had to pay for), and I've got a more driveable car now.

good good stuff. glad all is well, but Im curious to what the above quote is good for (reflashing the ecu for the engine) in particular. Did they bother to elaborate any? I remember reading about a re-prog/flash for the Q cars, but it wasn't available for these M's

[szh]

Good Stuff™!

Kudos to Southwest Infiniti for sure.

Z

[sji]

So, are you saying that they replaced the cluster "out of warranty?" I take my M to Clear Lake Infiniti and too have the gas gauge problem. Wonder if I can get them to take care of mine. What is the name of your service rep? Worth a try...Thanks for the info..

[wbrian63]

So, are you saying that they replaced the cluster "out of warranty?" I take my M to Clear Lake Infiniti and too have the gas gauge problem. Wonder if I can get them to take care of mine. What is the name of your service rep? Worth a try...Thanks for the info..

The cluster was replaced out of warranty.

I don't remember the service rep's name, but I can look it up on the paperwork.

[wbrian63]

good good stuff. glad all is well, but Im curious to what the above quote is good for (reflashing the ecu for the engine) in particular. Did they bother to elaborate any? I remember reading about a re-prog/flash for the Q cars, but it wasn't available for these M's

I'll check to see what the actual service performed was.

The problem I was experiencing was that it was hard to drive the car smoothly. The "tip in" on the throttle was WAY too sensitive, to the point that just a small amount of pedal resulted in a lurching start.

Additionally, if I attempted to drive "normally", the rate of acceleration would surge and recede through the gears. It felt almost exactly like the acceleration pattern of a manual-transmission car. Acceleration, which tapers off at the point of shifting to the next gear and then resumes. The problem is that when the car has 340hp, the surge is sometimes rather dramatic - I actually had to let off on the gas to counteract the surge.

The change of the programming has resulted in a much less sensitive "tip in" - I no longer lurch away from stop. There is still a bit of surging in the normal acceleration mode, but not near as bad as before.

I'll check the service papers and report back.