That 92a with 14K, would y-o-u buy it?

[Peterofdevon]

Did we talk about this car?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...wItem

Its up again on ebay. The guy has owned it since 96 and has done all his own work. Recharged the active a couple years ago. He says the guides were not a problem on 92s...I thought they changed them over in 93???

Says its been driven only a couple hundred miles per year but that he takes it out regularly to keep the fluids active and the suspension alive.

He turned down $13,500 for it (last time up) and regrets that. He wanted 14K. So there is someone who did not mind the low mi/showroom premium price. That is...If he was real.

I don't have a spare 13K but if I did...hmmmmmm. What a great garage queen it would be!!!

Would you buy it if you had a spare 13-14K?

Peter, now of Paoli

[Q45tech]

WHY?

When you can buy a standard 92 and 3-4 junk Q45a [$2000 @ $500 each] and make a SINGLE good one from all the parts.

The only tough things to find are a pistine interior exterior.

[Q451990]

I know we discussed it before, but I can't find the thread for some reason...

I would be concerned about paint work on this one... Check out the third pic. down. Something looks off between the fender and door on the right side. I would definately have to see it in person before actually delivering the funds.

Also, the owner is full of it on the guides. Some 1993 Q's got the new guides, but not all. As far as I know the 92's all got the old ones...

Heath

[Q_SHIP]

The car is nice but in reallity, what would an insurance company pay you if it was totalled? $6,000?

[elwesso]

i would only buy it for the interior... however, it would be nice to just have and restore in like 10 years, because Q45s with under 20k will certainly be non-existant at that time.....!!!!

[Rex]

Yes it was discussed recentyl, I specifically recall someone mentioning the poor placement of the "Q45" on the (obviously) non-stock spoiler.

I also agree (again) with Dennis (Q45tech), why pay for the lower miles, when there's little to no chance the rubber (age deteriation) won't all need replacing.

My buying of "Da Beast" has taught me cosemtics aren't as fun as the power/fun of driving a good to above OEM performing Q.

[louiegz]

Too much money. I would just pay KBB price minus the price of the guides job. Can't ask more than market price. That's not a collectors car. It will never be worth any more than that. You can't blame him for looking for a sucker out there.

[Peterofdevon]

I got caught up in the desire to have a mint interior lo-mi Q.

Well, now I have one and its all sorted out and done and sure...its great and all but my 140K one drives the SAME and its interior is close to the low mi one (45K). What a dope I am---now I have two of the same thing. But...they sure are cool things to own.

Q45Tech is right. Buy a couple and combine'm.

Peter of the identical twins

[Q451990]

What a dope I am---now I have two of the same thing. But...they sure are cool things to own.

Hey now....

That was me until January when "Q1" got totaled! I honestly felt a little like you do until I lost the first Q... then I was very happy to have a spare.

Heath

[Peterofdevon]

Hey now....

That was me until January when "Q1" got totaled! I honestly felt a little like you do until I lost the first Q... then I was very happy to have a spare.

Heath

I'm hearing ya, and ya made me feel better. Plus I just drove the new one ten min ago. It was just done today...all PA legal now. Damn, its fine...

It has enough little mars and key marks to make you feel OK parking it at the mall. But its so freggin mint you want to wipe the rain off it. I should do something special for it---like lower it or something.

Peter

[Rex]

Yeah, I have mixed feelings as well, as my older Q will be leaving in the next month .

Hopefully, I'll be adding another Infiniti/Nissan of some sort, and then a Q45(41) in the Spring.

[TgduMg]

I know we discussed it before, but I can't find the thread for some reason...

http://forums.nicoclub.com...186208

It really is a beautiful car.

Danisiti 1

[Jackielantern]

Check out the updated listing on ebay. He added to the description yesterday. Any comments?

[96Qowner]

Well, he and his Infiniti mechanic are full of it on this one:

"On Aug-30-06 at 16:10:21 PDT, seller added the following information:

Questions about the guides: I spoke to a mechanic from a local Infiniti dealer. He said the 90-91 models had the problem guides. The 92's had the upgraded guides."

SOME 93s have been discovered to have updated guides - NO 92s have ever been found with updated guides.

He should have accepted the $13,500 the first time.

[Rex]

Well, he and his Infiniti mechanic are full of it on this one:

"On Aug-30-06 at 16:10:21 PDT, seller added the following information:

Questions about the guides: I spoke to a mechanic from a local Infiniti dealer. He said the 90-91 models had the problem guides. The 92's had the upgraded guides."

SOME 93s have been discovered to have updated guides - NO 92s have ever been found with updated guides.

He should have accepted the $13,500 the first time.

[Jackielantern]

I called an Infiniti tech (called a local dealership) to ask about the guides. He has been a tech for 16 years and seemed to know a lot. Anyway, he said the 92's do have the plastic guides, but IF they go bad, they will do it around 100,000 miles, except if you live in the South (heat issues) where they tend to go bad sooner. I told him about the car on ebay, gave him the details and asked what it might be worth. He said $15,000 would be cheap for that car. Plus, he doesn't know of any 92 with the full active with the low mileage and in that condition. He told me if I bought it not to touch the guides. He said some of them never go bad, but if and when they do (around 100,00 miles) you will hear a rattling sound, but it won't mess up anything unless you let it go like that. I don't know all the technical terms, but that's what I understood from the conversation. I'm glad I talked to him. He was really nice. I would advise anyone out there to call an Infiniti tech before bidding. I can't afford the $14-15k so I'm out...

[Q451990]

There are so many myths surrounding the guides. They sometimes rattle before failing. Mine were pronounced "OK" by a certified dealership tech. a week or so before the guides failed! Some guides failed at very low mileages... the lowest I have personally seen is at 77K, but there is documented evidence of failures below 50K.

Many owners have been "there-there'd" out of replacing guides by dealership employees that either don't know about the issue or downplay it because they haven't personally been exposed to enough failures. In either case I contiune to blame Infiniti corporate for not openly and honestly addressing the issue.

The bottom line is this... of the 90-92 Q45s still on the road there are only two types... ones with updated guides and ticking timebombs. If you're comfortable with an engine that could catastrophically fail at any time, then ignore the issue!

Heath

[maxnix]

He told me if I bought it not to touch the guides. He said some of them never go bad, but if and when they do (around 100,00 miles) you will hear a rattling sound, but it won't mess up anything unless you let it go like that.

He certainly didn't say that to the face of the three board members who each had a 1992 that suffered catastrophic timing chain guide failure in a 6 month span a couple of years ago.

Plastic guides are non-metal reinforced plastic guides and fail in this application. If anything, it seems to be more related to engine oil chemistry as the only ones to survive to or past 100K had very frequent oil change intervals. But that is educated conjecture only.

[96Qowner]

If anything, it seems to be more related to engine oil chemistry

Texasoil seemed to confirm this in a past thread. I had posted about an ebay seller who claimed the guides were fine because he only used synthetic oil. Keith replied that it may very well be true - that it was the breakdown byproducts of conventional oil that caused the deterioration of the plastic in the guides.

Of course, there's no way to know exactly at which mile the engine eventually blows up - still a ticking bomb.

[96Qowner]

$9600 high bid for the second try. Ouch! $3900 down the drain.

Will we see a third try? Actually, we shouldn't laugh - it's a sad commentary on the perceived value of a fine, fine machine.

[Jackielantern]

Can you give me a link or more info about the 3 board members with the 92's and the failed guides?

[elwesso]

dont worry about it, just plan on replacing the guides and if they are already fixed you can send the parts back.

The knowlege contained on this board far supercedes the knowlege of 90% of infiniti dealerships across the nation, so believe US before you believe the dealer!

[BadQ45t]

That is totally true! I spoke to an infiniti mechanic at Cars 101 in Ventura, he had worked at Infiniti of Ventura for 7 years before he moved (when his boss sold the dealership and bought cars 101) to Cars 101. My dad had a 92' with around 90k on it and I was thinking of buying it for my wife. I loved the car but we passed as we didn't want to V8's in the family (good move as my wife loves her 99' Sentra that gets 30+ MPG). I spoke with him about the guides and he said "that is a bunch of crap, don't even worry about it." Right. My dad sold the car and the guy that bought it snapped the guides 150 miles after buying it from my dad. My dad being an honest guy like he is gave the guy his cash back and gave the car to charity.

Bottom line, for some reason the factory guys just never really saw these things fail at least not in mass, but ticking time bomb is true to the last drop.

[3rd Q]

Can you give me a link or more info about the 3 board members with the 92's and the failed guides?

The guides are a legit problem. Did them on my '90 at 73k miles 18 months ago and found them in pieces, just waiting to crash the engine. I was fortunate to get to them before I lost my engine! You can do a search under my name and pull up my post. My '92 parts car (132k) also had the guides in pieces. There is no specific mileage range they go bad in- it is truly Russian roulette. Had 2 other Qs before I even heard the guides were an issue. May have just gotten lucky on those ones.

BTW, I didn't hear about the guides from the dealer, I heard about them here! Few techs at the dealers have been around long enough to have worked on many G50s. When I used to take my earlier Qs in, they would talk about my car almost like it was a museum piece. They also told me my bad KSs were a vacuum leak, among other inaccurate diagnoses, but that's another story for another time. The advice you get here is invaluable- take heed!

Paul
Modified by 3rd Q at 11:42 AM 9/7/2006

[Jackielantern]

My fiance has an older Cadillac Deville - late 90's - I can't remember the exact year, but it has over 100,000 miles on it and he says it has the plastic guides. No problems at all. He loves the car. ??

[Ozzie]

My fiance has an older Cadillac Deville - late 90's - I can't remember the exact year, but it has over 100,000 miles on it and he says it has the plastic guides. No problems at all. He loves the car. ??

zerothread?id=162571

Trust me...... The timing chain guides SHOULD be changed on an earlier QI know from experience

[Ozzie]

zerothread/164335

Read this one again and again, until you almost know it by heart.

Timing chain guide failure is very real, and more common than you think.

[Jackielantern]

I was just wondering why Cadillac didn't have problems. I wasn't disputing the fact that some older Q guides have failed. Did Cadillac do something different, or should their guides be replaced, too?

[Jesda]

I've heard of plastic guides in 80s and early 90s GM small 4-cylinder engines, but no such thing is in the Northstar or 4.9 that powered the Deville.

The Cadillac V8s have other problems.

I owned a '92 and when Scott opened up the front cover of my engine, we saw big chunks of broken plastic and a chain just dangling there.

zerothread?id=25201http://forums.nicocl ... ement.html

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

I want a mid 90's Q later on...but that's too much money the guy's asking for.