Steering wheel intermittently hard to turn on 2008 EX35 AWD

[AWGD8]

Ok just less than 1/4 mile from home, I noticed my steering wheel intermittently seem too hard to turn. I check the fluid and it seems a bit low on the marker.

Is it OK to drive this conservatively at work? I don`t have time to drop it off tomorrow, but I have time on Sat.

This sucks, since I thought they top off the fluid and I just had the 30k miles service 2 months ago? WTF?

[EXceptional]

Is there anything in this Thread that is similar?

steering-rack-bulletin-released-t430292.html

[AWGD8]

I got a call from my service adviser and told me they found the problem. It was the steering pump. They have to order the parts and I`m with a loaner car for 3 to 4 days.

Now, I`m 100% sure I will buy an extended warranty on this car before hitting the 40k miles. I heard about the lady in Phoenix Infiniti who sells extended warranty for a better price than the dealership here.

I`m kinda questioning the reliability of this car. 1st fuel pump, then the replacement pump was bad so they had to replaced it again. 2nd, steering rack problem and they did replace it.

3rd weird engine check light that they never found the problem, 4th steering pump?

The only thing that keeps me going back to them is bec. of their excellent service.

I like the ease of having a loaner car that is more fun to drive than my actual car.

[SteveTheTech]

I`m kinda questioning the reliability of this car. 1st fuel pump, then the replacement pump was bad so they had to replaced it again. 2nd, steering rack problem and they did replace it.

3rd weird engine check light that they never found the problem, 4th steering pump?

What the hell is that....you need to have someone different look at your EX. I bet you have something really weird wrong with your car that is causing random issues. If I had to take a shot in the dark I would first take a look at the connectors near the battery area there is one over there that might have a failed water seal causing random errors all with commonality of a single connector. If you have a list of the fault codes I would go over the wiring diagram for you.

The reliability of the EX is pretty consistent your EX has a problem that is not being fixed. Not to say legitimate attempts have not been made to fix your car.

I have never seen a repeated repair of a steering pump...that is a huge red flag. You might want to call consumer affairs you need more help than you are getting. You need a regional service rep to evaluate your car IMO.

[blfstyk]

Re buying the extended warranty from Infiniti of Scottsdale (Phoenix suburb) -- I did that and am glad of it because I saved about $1700 over what my local dealer wanted to charge. However, when I mentioned it to the finance guy at my local dealer, he kind of freaked and said he hoped I bought it before December 2010 (I did) because Infiniti had changed their policy so that if you buy an extended warranty from a dealer other than the one who sold you your car, you had to have the car inspected by the dealer selling you the extended warranty.

Apparently Infiniti dealers were crying "foul" because so many people were getting their extended warranty from that lady (Courtney Mutema) in Scottsdale, they were losing one of their cash cows. Now the finance guy may have been blowing smoke up my a**, but you might want to check that out before you buy the warranty.

The email address for Ms. Mutema is [email protected] and she was very friendly, professional and I believe honest. She'll probably give you the straight scoop if you ask her.

[AWGD8]

Stevethetech: First they replaced my fuel pump 2X , then replaced my gear sensor bec. when i shift manually, gears go back to D mode on the dash screen.
Next was the steering rack assembly due to noise during right hand turn. This time steering pump is bad.

Regarding the extended warranty from Arizona, yes that is the same lady i was talking about. She told me that my local Infiniti dealership should complete an inspection form for the extended warranty and need to mail it to her. She did not mention about the new policy.

[blfstyk]

Regarding the extended warranty from Arizona, yes that is the same lady i was taking about. She told me that my local Infiniti dealership should complete an inspection form for the extended warranty and need to mail it to her. She did not mention about the new policy.

That's probably okay then. When I bought my extended warranty from her my car was 2.5 years old and had about 26K on it and no inspection by anyone was asked for. So having it inspected by a local dealer is probably the new policy. I think my finance guy was pissed because he makes a commission selling the extended warranties and I was buying it from someone else. You might want to keep the reason for the inspection to yourself unless they ask. The dealer does make a profit selling those (obviously some make more than others). My dealer wanted $2900 for the same warranty I bought from Scottsdale for $1250.

Infiniti has a record of every car, where and when it was bought, sold, resold, all the work done on it, etc. so they have to know where the car was bought, where it's serviced and where the extended warranty was purchased. If they sell you a contract for the extended warranty, no matter where you buy it, they're obligated to honor it.