What to look for when purchasing a Q45?

[whokidd]

I am looking in to purchasing a 1999 Q45t tomorrow. It has 57k miles. Is there certain things/defects/maintence issues I should look for? This model also has factory air suspension, so are there ussually problems with this? Thank you in advance for your help.

-Whokidd_Hawaii

[Mopar]

99 with 57k? hmmm.....

Ask about any underhood work. Ask if the Knock Sensors have been changed since they are due about now. When you drive it, pay attention to see if it is misfiring. Maybe drive up an incline and see if it stumbles and/or loses power. Check the suspension for any leaks as it is expensive to change shocks. Can't think of anything else right now. Maybe somebody else can chip in. Just make sure it doesn't misfire that will be your biggest mission to fix i promise you that...

[qship96]

I am looking in to purchasing a 1999 Q45t tomorrow. It has 57k miles. Is there certain things/defects/maintence issues I should look for? This model also has factory air suspension, so are there ussually problems with this? Thank you in advance for your help.

-Whokidd_Hawaii

Are you sure it has "factory air suspension" as no USA model ever did......maybe a grey market import model???? If so, plan on difficulty in finding repair parts for that suspension when items wear, as parts will not be available through USA dealer networks. {not even sure if air suspension was offered in japan on that model???? If not, it could be a owner installed aftermarket kit?

[whokidd]

Thank you so much for your advice mopar. Can anyone give me any more advice? I am checking out the car later on today, possibly purchasing it also, so any help would be apreciated.

[whokidd]

I am looking in to purchasing a 1999 Q45t tomorrow. It has 57k miles. Is there certain things/defects/maintence issues I should look for? This model also has factory air suspension, so are there ussually problems with this? Thank you in advance for your help.

-Whokidd_Hawaii

Are you sure it has "factory air suspension" as no USA model ever did......maybe a grey market import model???? If so, plan on difficulty in finding repair parts for that suspension when items wear, as parts will not be available through USA dealer networks. {not even sure if air suspension was offered in japan on that model???? If not, it could be a owner installed aftermarket kit?

Sorry, I believe he was talking about auto damping suspension. He says you can control the damping. Do these seem to malfunction easily?

[qship96]

OK, you are referring to the electronic controlled shocks,standard on the touring model......not really prone to early failure, but more expensive to replace when worn out. Certainly not a deal killer by any means!

[whokidd]

Ok thanks! Looks like I'm purchasing this car today if everything is good.

[BadQ45t]

This is a great score with those miles. So once you get it find the records, your due for the 60k service on it which will be just about all the fluids. Find a shop that can flush and restore power steering, brakes, transmission and rear end. Switch to the best synthetics you can afford (Mobile 1 at the low end and Amsoil or Redline at the top end). I believe that the 99' went to the 100k platinum spark plugs, check on that but if not your due for a change. Given age you might do that anyways. Make sure to only buy the OEM NGK's, no ther brands will work very well.

The electronic suspension should be good for 100k so you should be good to go with that for now. Post up some pictures when you get it.

[Brody77]

What to look for? First and foremost, a clean CarFax, AutoCheck, or other vehicle history report. Next, make sure the check engine light is not on. That's an automatic deal breaker for me on any car, but especially the Q45. As others may have already told you, aftermarket parts absolutely will not work on the Q45. You have to use OEM and an OEM-anything for the Q45 is crazy expensive.

As far as maintanence, simply FOLLOW RECOMMENDED MAINTANENCE PROCEDURES AS OUTLINED IN THE OWNER'S MANUAL - NO MORE / NO LESS and you will be perfectly fine. Do not listen to the yay-hoos in forums like these who think you need to change your spark plugs every 50k miles, your oil every 2k miles, and replace all your fluids constantly with the latest greatest ultra super duper Amsoil/Royal Purple/Redline/Mobil-1/fill-in-the-blank synethetic fluid. It's entirely unecessary, a total waste of money, and potentially harmful to the vehicle. If that kind of maintanence was truly what was best for your vehicle then that's what the engineers would have been put in the recommended maintanence schedule. You can rest assured the Nissan factory engineers and technicians who created the recommended service schedule in your owners manual are about a billion times more knowledgeable about what is best for the car than anybody on this forum. These cars are modern Japanese luxury sedans specifically designed to last a very long time with very minimial maintanence. Don't over-maintain it. You run the risk of doing more damage than good. This isn't a '57 Chevy that needs to be constantly tinkered with in order to keep in optimal running condition.

That said, outside of the maintanence schedule in your owner's manual, you can count on replacing the plugs at about 100k-120k and needing to replace the upstream 02 sensors somewhere between 120k and 150k miles. Around 200k you'll have to do shocks and struts (if not before depending on driving conditions).

[whokidd]

Thank you Brody77 and everyone else for the great advice.

Okay, so I just checked out the car. There were a few things that stopped me from taking the car home today. He said he changed the maf sensor which was messing around with the idle. When I hopped into the driver seat I see that the check engine light was on, also the slip light and traction control lights. (On my g35 my slip light swent on and car couldn't rev up, but the Q ran smooth) When I popped the hood I saw some oil gunk all around the valve covers (I'm assuming its the gaskets?), also had gunk on the bottom of the engine. Not really leaking, but can't say the engine bay was dry. I test drove it and the car ran smooth. The exterior and interior are in good condition. Just worried about the oil build ups and all the warning lights.

[Brody77]

Thank you Brody77 and everyone else for the great advice.

Okay, so I just checked out the car. There were a few things that stopped me from taking the car home today. He said he changed the maf sensor which was messing around with the idle. When I hopped into the driver seat I see that the check engine light was on, also the slip light and traction control lights. (On my g35 my slip light swent on and car couldn't rev up, but the Q ran smooth) When I popped the hood I saw some oil gunk all around the valve covers (I'm assuming its the gaskets?), also had gunk on the bottom of the engine. Not really leaking, but can't say the engine bay was dry. I test drove it and the car ran smooth. The exterior and interior are in good condition. Just worried about the oil build ups and all the warning lights.

Good call on passing on this Q. The oil leak you describe is coming from leaky valve cover gaskets. Very, very, common problem on 97-01 models. One of the sacrafices that come with an all-aluminum engine. This is also one of the problems I was alluding to earlier with owners over-maintaining these vehicles and constantly changing up the type, weight, brand, viscosity, etc. of their drivetrain fluids. Older gaskets depend on a certain amount of old absorbed engine oil and crud (yes crud) from thermal breakdown that has built up over time to maintain a proper seal. In these older engines, super high-viscosity / high-detergent synthetics and certainly lighter weight oils can actually create oil leaks in engines that didn't previously have them - especially engines already prone to leaky gaskets like the 97-01 Q45. They can oil create higher oil consumption and burn-off as synthethics slip past worn rings more easily where it is subsequently burned in the combustion chamber. But don't get me wrong, for new vehicles high quality synethics are absolutely superior to conventional oils and will no doubt extend the life of your engine. What I am talking about is older high-mileage used vehicles that have been using conventional oil and fluids and then trying to switch them to synthetics.

The gunk on the bottom of the engine is simply the oil leaking from the gaskets and running down the side of the engine and collecting at the bottom of the engine. I owned a 98 Q45 that had the valve cover gaskets replaced just prior to me purchasing it. The owner still had the receipt and the repair cost him $1,500.

The warning lights are almost certainly being caused by the owner changing the mass air flow sensor. I highly highly highly doubt he used a brand new factory OEM Nissan MAF as that part for this car costs about $600.00 (for the part alone - no labor) and there are lots of aftermarket MAFs out there you can buy for a fraction of that price because they DO NOT WORK. Again, only factory OEM parts work on this car. Not to mention that MAFs are a favorite part of shadetree mechanics to mess with in their random attempts to fix problems they don't know how to fix. In reality, Q45 mass air flow sensors very rarely, if ever, actually fail. I owned a 1996 Q45 that I drove to 267,000 miles and never changed or cleaned the MAF a single time. His idle problems were much more likely the result of a sticky or failing IAC Valve (Idle Air Control Valve), a vaccum leak somewhere, or any number of other issues than the result of a faulty MAF.

The Q45 engine is very good at concealing moderate and even significant problems, which is why you must trust and rely on your warning lights. You cannot use the "seems to run fine" approach or you will pay through the nose later. It is so quiet and smooth you could pull off 2 spark plug wires and most people would probably say it seems to run okay. It's that good of an engine.

Therefore, if you haven't already I would highly recommend buying a code reader. They are relatively cheap (you can buy them for less than $100) and you will more than get your money back in saved time and repairs if you buy very many used vehicles. Even if a car does not have a check engine light on you can still use a reader to see if any codes are getting ready to set in addition to a host of other useful information.

[BadQ45t]

Agreed, passing was the right move.

Brody, you look like your new around here. I don't appreciate being called a yahoo, I have been here a long time. I don't recommend changing fluids OFTEN but I do recommend using good quality fluids especially in a Q45. I would rather change mine far less often and use the higher quality. BTW, the 1st gens and plenty of 2nd gens were 60k spark plugs, this car has 57 which seems doubtful anyways given a MAF failure.

I have been runing RedLine or Amsoil for 10 years in 97' and zero leakage from valve covers, it is an old myth that sythetic fluids are a cause of this. Saying they are harmful just shows that unfortunately you clueless...although you talk a good fight.

Whokidd...keep looking around and while Brody means well, he's got 77 posts and he isn't 100% correct. The one thing he did say that I agree with is follow the manuals directions when you get the car.

[Brody77]

Agreed, passing was the right move.

Brody, you look like your new around here. I don't appreciate being called a yahoo, I have been here a long time. I don't recommend changing fluids OFTEN but I do recommend using good quality fluids especially in a Q45. I would rather change mine far less often and use the higher quality. BTW, the 1st gens and plenty of 2nd gens were 60k spark plugs, this car has 57 which seems doubtful anyways given a MAF failure.

I have been runing RedLine or Amsoil for 10 years in 97' and zero leakage from valve covers, it is an old myth that sythetic fluids are a cause of this. Saying they are harmful just shows that unfortunately you clueless...although you talk a good fight.

Whokidd...keep looking around and while Brody means well, he's got 77 posts and he isn't 100% correct. The one thing he did say that I agree with is follow the manuals directions when you get the car.

Uh-oh, looks like we've stumbled across "forum seniority guy". In case you didn't know WhoKidd, every forum on the Internet has one of these guys who thinks because they've been around the longest they know the most. They like to regularly remind newer of their join date and running post count as if it's some kind of achievement. In reality of course how long somebody has been a member of a particular forum or the number of posts they've made means jack squat. The only thing it tells you for certain about that person is they have a lot more free time on their hands than most people.

BadQ45t - I would suggest going back and re-reading my posts to Whokidd again. If you choose to do so you will see that...

A. The OEM spark plug on a 1999 Q45 is an NGK Platinum with a 100k mile factory recommended service interval, which can easily be stretched to 120k or more under normal driving conditions. Given the time, expense, difficulty, specialized tools required, and delicate nature of properly torqueing 8 buried plugs in and out of aluminum heads I think anyone who recommends this service be performed at 57k miles is a yahoo. I'm sorry. Wasn't trying to be a jerk, just letting the kid know it wasn't necessary.

B. I never implied YOU recommended changing fluids all the time, just that a lot of yahoos around here do, which is absolutely true. There's plenty of posts around here from Q owners bragging about how they change their oil every 2k or 3k miles. Stupid.

c. I stated that with engines already prone to leaky gaskets like the 99 Q45, synthetics will create more leakage, increase consumption, and generally make the problem worse which is absolutely 100% correct. If you do not believe me, simply zip over to the Mobil-1 and/or Valvoline SynPower website and check out their FAQs on the matter. They fully admit this. But as I put in my post, I have no problem with high-quality synthetics and acknowledge they are far superior to conventional oils in many respects. I just wouldn't put them in an old leaky engine.

D. Amsoil, or as I like to call it, "Amway Oil" is sold through Multi-Level Marketing. For that reason alone I wouldn't put it in my lawnmower and I don't care what the API rating is. Redline is okay. At least it's a real company, not a pyramid scheme, with actual racing heritage behind their products, not network marketers. But the truth is it doesn't matter one iota. You could stick plain old $1.99/quart generic Autozone house brand crap oil in any Q45, change it once every 10k miles, and the damn thing would run just as good and last just as long.

That was my only point...that these are modern, purpose-built, Japanese flagship luxury sedans, not 40-year-old British sports cars. They don't need to be, nor should be, constantly fiddled with. They were intentionally designed and built with the single purpose of lasting a really really long time with very little or no human interaction. If anything, over-maintaining them and constantly d!ck with them is only going to create problems where you wouldn't otherwise have them. That's all I was saying.

[Mopar]

The length of your posts shows who got more free time buddy. I hate internet hypocrats like you.

[whokidd]

Okay, the seller says I can take the car for $3800. What do you guy think about that?

[qship96]

As long as you are prepared to put up to $1500 in it to replace valve cover gaskets and track down the warning lights,go for it.....otherwise pass. You do realize ANY older car, regardless of low miles, IS going to need SOME work done to it I hope. Valve cover gaskets is just regular maintenance,usually every 100K miles or 6-7-8 years time if driven lower miles per year,generally done at the same time you replace sparkplugs to save from paying duplicate labor charges.

[rabsusa]

Okay, the seller says I can take the car for $3800. What do you guy think about that?

i m going to be the devils advocate!

offer $1000 (if ac works otherwise less!)no more; with engine lights on your getting into a world of head hurting, if you search on old posts for coil ign and maf, you ;ll see some only fixed problem by changing all 8 - v exp! I did my DD when looking to go newer, you know what ? i went with same model Q, too many problems with this second gen (i m going to get really scolded now you watch!) and i had a world of new parts from maint old Q.

DO NOT BE FOOLED BY MILES!!!
again, do not be fooled by miles on odo, been there did that! with cars of age, miles do not mean a bean, i d buy same model car with perfect maint history and everything working properly with 150 k miles on it rather than a 57 k miler run by someone who was not a board member and the probs you describe.

If you get it for 1k, its not too much money to waste on it should it prrof t be too much, plus you now have 2800 to sort out all the problems, trust me large cars now with problems arent worth diddly - sorry i might hurt ppl feelings on hee reg their beloved Q, but its true, i work close to streets so i see what cars are exchanging hands for, as a quick n easy example, i also have a 95 accord, with double the miles my Q and i can easily get twice the price for it, go figure, a car when new cost less than half the price of Q now can carry a prem of double......

[qship96]

Actually, with the very real probability that gas is going to go up to as much as 5 buck/gallon for regular by next summer......I think it is nuts to purchase any car that gets crappy mpg, time to look for 35+ mpg cars unless you want to put your disposable cash into the tank.

[Brody77]

$3800 is too much to pay for this vehicle. A 1999 Q45t (touring pkg) with 57k miles and a clean title history in good condition is worth around $5,500. "Good condition" means, among other things, needing no significant mechanical repairs. Multiple illuminated warning lights and shot gaskets are, by any definition, significant repairs.

$5,500 minus $1,500 for the gaskets and minus another $1,500 (estimated - could be high, could be low) to correct all the warning lights leaves $2,500. But that doesn't make it worth that because you have to factor in the pain in the a$$ it is to fix all these things. In other words, why would you spend $2,500 on the car and another $3,000 in repairs to make it worth $5,500 instead of just going and finding another Q?

Because of that I would say the car is worth no more than $2,000. Personally, I wouldn't spend more than $1,500 for a car like this because of the same thing the other forum member described. With only 57k miles and all these problems something just doesn't smell right.

[Brody77]

Actually, with the very real probability that gas is going to go up to as much as 5 buck/gallon for regular by next summer......I think it is nuts to purchase any car that gets crappy mpg, time to look for 35+ mpg cars unless you want to put your disposable cash into the tank.

It's what did me in. Drove Q45s for the last 15 years and absolutely love them but I can't afford to own one as just a "toy". They've always been a primary vehicle for either myself or my wife and I just couldn't take the mpg anymore. Finally broke down last October and traded my wife's 2000 Q45 for a 2009 Ford Focus. A sad day to be sure, but with approximately double the fuel economy of the Q45 I don't regret it.

[BadQ45t]

Brody too much to read and re-post, but if you really think Amsoil the company invented sythetic is not good and redline is just okay, whatever. I get it for a buck more than Mobile and there is excellent evidence that it is far superior to anything else on the market.

Your opinion.....It works very good for me..I cannot take the time to read the rest of your post.

As for $3,800 for the Q, as Qship said, if your prepared to spend the extra that works, but I would agree with everyone and pass..if you had read my post I said that I thought those were 100k but others would chime in, so they did. My 97' required new ones at 60k when I installed them.

[whokidd]

I have made the decision to pass on the Q45. I'll be on the look out for another one. Hopefully one pops up soon. I'll just play the waiting game for now. Thank you everyone for your help. Much appreciated.

[ThatsMyQ2Go]

You could stick plain old $1.99/quart generic Autozone house brand crap oil in any Q45, change it once every 10k miles, and the damn thing would run just as good and last just as long.

As someone in the industry anyone who actually listens to this BAD advice deserves what they get when their motor seizes.

Oil filters are designed to bypass when the filter element becomes dirty, offering NO filtering once the filter is clogged.

This is not insider information either, it is all readily available to anyone with thirty seconds and the ability to type "google" I would carefully consider taking the advise of someone who would suggest running "plain old $1.99/ quart generic AutoZone" oil and changing it every 10k miles. Not flaming just saying this is not good advise to give anyone under any circumstances.

[Q451990]

Standards vary. It all depends if you're trying to get 300K out of your car or limp it to the boneyard at 100K.

Heath

[ThatsMyQ2Go]

agreed...it is still poor advise given the nature of this forum isnt about destroying a Q but rather maintaining, repairing and locating hard to find parts.

[naes]

whokidd - I had my eye on this q also. Just didn't have the time of day to check it out myself. I'm from HI also. This is a time & money saving thread! Thanks whokidd!!