Infiniti G35 Maintenance and Repair

lovemyg

Only have 150 mi on my new G and love it but I am also experiencing this A/C problem - Best my to isolate the problem is put it into 2nd gear with the manual shifter - Turn on A/c with fan speed the lowest and the music off so you can hear - Rev and hold engine around 3000 RPM - Now turn off A/C and notice the difference - It sounds like that great deep growl of the G is covered up by a whinning straining 4 Cylinder Sentra - Has anyone gotten their dealer to reference a "Technical Service Bulletin" from Nissan - Or is there any technical engineer at Nissan Corporate that your service dealer has been talking to - My dealer seems to need this stuff to pursue it - Any help would be much appreciated
- I love blowing BMWs off the road but not with the whinning 4 Cyl noise

webbnathan

Anyone else notice what a pain these heated seats are going to be? It looks like you are going to have to turn them off upon leaving the car. In other cars, the heated seats turn off themselves upon turning the car off. We are going to have to remember to turn them off all the time we use them. I accidently turned my seat on when getting something out of the glove box.......it was like the next day when I noticed it was on (living in Texas it always feels hot so the seats heat didn't feel any different). Oh well, just a recommendation for the new models.

mboxer

Just a point about heated seats, who would ever pay for such a rediculous option. Once I am seated my seat heats up. No problems after one month.

webbnathan

I guess you have never owned a car or sat in a car with heated seats then. They are great once you feel the heat all over. It's an option that your fine without having if you never had them but an option you want once you experience them. I can just imagine how handy they are up north. And with leather, in the winter, boy that's going to be some cold cold seats till your body temp kicks in. Good luck without it!

maybeg35

I got a car that had just arrived at the dealer with the wrapping still on that had 3 miles on it.
It had everything I wanted Xenon, NAV, wood, in silver/graphite, plus the winter package. I would not have ordered the Winter package so the car having it turned me off cause I was paying more than I needed to. The internet manager says "How about I take $800 off the MRSP and give you the winter pack a no cost" I said "Sold". My wife actually loves the seats so everyone here is happy.
I certainly did not realize the seats would work without the key in the ignition. This is something Infiniti could fix very easily if enough people complained. Couldn't they just move the power to a keyed fuse instead of an always hot?

cpranger22

If I had to turn on the heated seats every time I got into my G, it would be my first complaint about this car. The location for the on/off switch is perfect because it's easily accessible and straight forward especially for your passenger who will see it and not be afraid to use it (just like a window or door locks). Finally, so what if you accidentally turn it on in the summer. If it's hot out, how much hotter do you think the seat is going to get? Infiniti, work on a brighter, easier to read clock, bump up the gas mileage a bit and leave the heated seat controls alone. Thanks in advance, Randy

webbnathan

I think the heated seats button first of all looks very cheap. Second, about the on/off, for those that live where it gets cold at night and warm during the day, switching it on/off will get old quick. Why can't it switch off when the car turns off?? Sounds like a good safety feature to me.

The clock is great, need to leave that alone. And the gas milage, what do you want with 260 horsepower in an engine, 30 mpg? Not going to happen........

twiliteblue

Just got a G35 and really love the car! Live in a very hot climate & don't understand what's going on with the Auto Air. Called the dealer & they didn't sufficiently answer my question. Does the Auto setting switch the air from recirc to outside air or is that something you do manually. It seems that the car always starts in the outside air mode and then I switch it to recirc cuz I don't want to keep pulling in 100+ degree air from the outside after driving for a few minutes. Today, after I had switched it to recirc, it automatically went back to outside air. Does anyone really know how this is supposed to work. The owners manual doesn't say anything about recirc v. outside air while in the auto mode.

scotth501

keeping the last setting for recirc was one of the things I specifically to see if Nissan had "fixed". On my 96 300ZX, it's like you described, every time I get in, the first thing I do is hit recirc. When I test drove the G35, I asked the salesperson, who didn't know the answer. So, when we got back to the dealer lot (with recirc on), we shut it off, turned it back on -- recirc off. Reset the recirc to on, turn off, turn on -- stayed on this time. We tried 4 or 5 times and couldn't figure any consistant pattern to how it works. The answer I came away was: Nissan hasn't fixed the system to remember what the user wants. Oh, the system we were testing was the dual climate control in the premium version.

cheerioboy26

yes the auto air function does switch from recirc to outside by itself. I never looked at how to override it, but it's OK with me. IMO it just does whatever it thinks it needs to cool the cabin the fastest. On the hot days, it starts up in recirc b4 it switches. On 75 deg humid mornings, it just starts up in the outside air setting.....

willjam

Mine always starts in recirculating mode. I live in Oklahoma and we have had 90+ days. I really never touch the system and always leave it on. I have had other cars with auto air and this system does not seem to work any differently except for the econ mode. In my other cars econ meant that the AC was off completely. I'm not sure what the econ is doing, but the AC still runs. I accidently set the system to econ when I was playing around learning about the features. It ran it that mode for several days without me realizing it. I will start paying more attention to it and post again later.

maxima5

I read your a/c noise problem (lovemyg) I have the same noise. I have 1000 miles on my Emerald Mist G35 and the noise leaves after about 3 miles of driving. It must be from the compressor since as soon as it starts to pump cold air the engine returns to normal. If I shut the engine off and restart it the noise comes back again,for about 5 minutes of driving then back to normal. Just came back from NH 600 miles round trip and the car ran and handles great.

blueg35

My CD Changer seized up on me a few days ago while switching from one to another. Sounds like one is stuck somehow. Got an error msg. on the CD display "CD Err F0". Anyone experience this? My dealer said they will have to replace the unit.

jsspears

Is the unit in your G35 the Bose or the stock CD changer? I understand the stock unit is manufactured for Infiniti by Clarion.

I have heard some incidence of problems with the Bose units skipping or mistracking, but no problems with the stock unit yet.

I have a Bose in my Corvette, and I am not impressed with it.

willjam

I have experienced problems with my Bose CD Changer. I have not complained about yet because I'm still trying to figure out the problem. So far it has been pretty consistent in skipping when the car has been setting in the sun and gets hot inside. The CD starts to play then about a minute or two into the track it starts to miss-track. My next trip to the dealer I will turn it the complaint. This problem has been with the car since I first picked it up.

exciton

Unfortunately, I believe the manual warns that the CD player may not operate correctly if the car gets extremely hot. I have not experienced this on my G35 w/Bose though. I have experienced skipping from sun-heated portable CD players -- this always resolved itself when the player cooled down. As I understand it, the skipping starts when the thermal expansion of the mechanism exceeds the tolerance of the optics.

blueg35

It is the stock unit.

dalegiancaspro

Hello. Have been considering a G35 as it is an impressive rear-wheel driver.(as God intended cars to be!) Went for the test drive and fell in love with the car. Dealer said that they only order models with leather seating. Has anybody seen a model with cloth seating? Was it as comfortable as the leather? I know that you give up the power seat and it's multiple/comfortable configurations, but some of us like the feel of cloth. Share your opinions, please.
Thanks, DTG

ncjudge

I have seen the cloth interior, but didn't drive the car or even sit in it. It does look nice for cloth interior. I considered cloth for a moment, then realized I have really gotten used to a leather interior. It does get you the G35 at a lower price, but resale will likely be lower, relatively speaking.

jsspears

Fodder for discussion:
If you live in a hot climate like I do (Houston, TX), you will appreciate how much cooler it is to get into the willow cloth interior than either of the leather models. And the cloth does not stick to your back like on a leather seated car.

My experience with leather interiors on my past Porsche and on my current Z06 Corvette is that the interior does not hold up as well as a nice cloth interior.This is particularly true on a light colored leather which will show wear and age cracks very early in life.

Granted, the leather interior has it all over the cloth for looks and for resale (but the initial cost is so much higher that it would be hard for me to justify leather as an economically sound purchase).

Other points for the cloth interior is that it allows you to avoid the G35 seat controls, which are widely believed to be annoying to live with (they press against your thigh). The counterpoint is that the cloth seats are entirely manual, requiring effort to reset for different sizes of drivers. One more point for the cloth interior (in my book) is that it means that you don't have to buy the sunroof if you don't want it. I am almost 6'-5" and I appreciate the additional head room available in a non sunroof G35. My head brushes the roof inside a sunroof-equipped car.

willjam

Thanks for pointing out the heat situation. I guess I missed that point in the manual. The CD player, although not a changer, did not have this problem. The player does return to normal once the car cools down with the A/C. It is something that I will have to adjust to. Other than this abnormally, the car performs beautifully. It has been the most enjoyable car that I have ever owned.

edmik

I submitted this post in the G35 discussion group and received a number of good responses, I thought I'd submit it here also. Any comments are appreciated. Thanks, Ed

My wife and I both test drove a G35 over the weekend and enjoyed the ride and just about everything about the car. However, we could both feel the drivers seat controls press against our thighs and wondered if this became an annoying issue during a long drive. I was wondering if anybody notices this. If you do, does it become a nonissue over time, or is it always something you notice.

maxima4

Hi Edmik,

Read your post about the Driver Seat Controls pressing into your thighs. I test drove the G35 and found the controls to be a non issue. However, I was only in the car for a short time. I plan to make arrangements with the dealer to test drive a G with the Nav System to see how it works. When that happens I will pay more attention to the seat controls. I plan on buying a G35 in Jan 03 (Garnet Fire/Graphite/Premium Package) Hopefully the six speed manual will be out by then.

Good luck in your search and I hope you get the G35 as it is one heck of car.

sanandton

It seems that it is a random problem for people. It must have something to do with the drivers choice of driving position. I have had my G for only 2 months and have logged 5700 miles. The seat controls have not been an issue or problem. I have had several 2+ hour drives some in the same day without a problem. I am 5-11 and 190, but rather broad in the backside (a genetic thing you know)and have no probs at all.

qualdeval

Yes, I see the same problem - a distortion on the left side of the passenger side view mirror, has the appearance of a sudden increase in the curvature of the mirror. Similar problem but less pronounced on the I35 loaner car.

qualdeval

Check Engine Soon Light switches on. 8-Page message on Nav system mentions emissions system and gas cap. Have been to the dealer three times. Latest update is that it's a software problem. Anyone else seeing this?

salty7c

Have G35 with willow leather. I find the glare from both front and rear windows extremely annoying and distracting. Does anyone have a solution?
Have owned the car 10 days and 2000 miles. The a/c information light panel flickered erratically for a while and but is now stable. The warning sound for unlatched seat belts does not sound and other warning chime very low.

racingmaniac

Being a rather skinny person that I am, the seat control is pretty far away from my thigh.....Not really my problem....

My CD player still operates pretty ok, except that I think by design it's pretty slow in operation in changing disk and stuff. And I also find it to run pretty hot if you touch the side of the center console....

jakov

Has any of you experienced a very annoying pitch almost a chirp type of sound in the background while listening talk shows on AM stations? One dealer said that it was most likely caused by the new antenna design but since the annoying sound was coming exclusively from the right speaker I really couldn’t buy that explanation. I went to another dealer and he replaced my front right speaker but the damn sound didn’t go away. I understand that this is a very minor issue but it’s bugging me and I hope that some of you may have an answer for it. Thank you all.

stsurbrook

salty7c - I've heard this complaint about window glare from other G35 owners. My wife's G35 is White/Graphite and we don't have a noticeable problem. However, during my last oil change I had a G35 that was White/Willow as a loaner and did notice the glare. However, though it was very bright outside, I did not think it was much of a problem.

However, I'm fairly good at shutting things out... If we did have a willow interior, I don't think it would pose a long-term problem for us, but I am glad we have the graphite. It is surprisingly cool for "black" (have yet to burn my skin on it).

jakov - If I had to guess, I would suspect either the tuner or the amplifier. It could be either, even though the AM signal is mono, the tuner would be outputting a signal to the right and left channels and the amplifier would be sending it to all speakers.

Hmmm, does the noise come from only one speaker or all on that side? If only one, then it is probably the amplifier...

Scott

endress2

folks , just took delivery of my loaded g35 on
sat 07/22/02 , I have less than 300 miles on the
auto, I bought the car for the handling and speed
today I really punched it to pass a another
car and the scary part --the accelerator stuck
wide open--pushed on the brakes , that slowed the
car some--pushed the transmission into neutral
auto rev up to rev limiter and that stopped the
acceleration--has anyone experienced any of this?
going to dealership tomorrow--be careful

mjd123

I think that I read about a similar problem over at FreshAlloy.com. If I recall correctly, it turned out that the floor mat was the culprit. The floor mat is a little too long and if it's situated in a certain position the gas peddle can get stuck behind the mat. Check to see if that could be what happened.

jedrington

In 2000 miles, we have (6 times) heard a loud growl noise from under the hood. Seems to happen with changing engine speeds, will last for only 1/2 to 2 seconds. Is the the A/C noise I read about? There is no other indication of trouble, just the noise. I have not been able to reproduce the noise on purpose. Any ideas?

jsspears

I purchased a new G35 on Saturday. Dealers say that Infiniti has fixed (or has a fix for) the AC problems. What do the owners say?

357 miles, no worries.

babs11

What's your dealer's name? None of us have heard that there is a fix for the problem. Thanks

sanandton

AC functions well, but noisy. Still no fix here as yet.

obladida

(I posted this in the "Care & Maintenence" section as well)

Anyone know anything about the FuelMax products?

http://www.increasemileage.com/fuelmax_how_it_works.html

It sounds questionable to me but I'm curious if anyone's heard of it (or better yet, tried it) and if it works.

The G35 is my dream car. After I pay off my wife's Accord early next year I hope to get myself one. However, the whole 19MPG/Premium Fuel thing is a major thorn in my eco-conscious side.

On a side note: Has anyone considered getting your engine computer/timing recalibrated to run on regular fuel? I know it's sounds moronic to cripple such a wonderful piece of engineering, but hey, $ is $.

Any fuel saving info is appreciated. Thanks!

exciton

I'm a professional chemist and the explanation given for the improved fuel efficiency is a reasonably crafted but never-the-less completely bogus fabrication of technical jargon. Passing gasoline or diesel fuel through even the most extraordinarily strong magnet will not alter the physical properties of the hydrocarbons as stated and no change in combustion chemistry will be observed. In my opinion, this device does nothing useful.

jsspears

Has anyone had any luck with doing this yet? I asked my dealer and he did not want to do it, but I have removed the labels in other cars by using heat plus a slow, steady pull and there have been no problems.

force98

I test drove a G35 today and was quite impressed, so I decided to go through this entire board. I saw where some said the heated seat button stays on, even when the car is switched off. In my BMW 740iL, the seat heater switch turns off when the ignition is turned off. However, in my Cadillac Escalade, the seat heater switch can be left on--the heating element only works when the seat belt is connected. Could this also be true for the G35? And as several of you said, after owning several vehicles with heated seats, I will never do without them again (especially my wife--this is a must for her).

stsurbrook

In my experience, the seats go off when the ignition does...

Scott

mcmullin2

I'm considering buying the G35, but am concerned about the fact that it is rear wheel drive. Can any of you comment on your experience driving the G35 in rain and snow(?) - i.e. accelerating, turning, breaking, and or hydroplaining. Thank you in advance for your replies.

force98

The car has not been out long enough for anyone to provide snow handling opinions; however, as an owner of several RWD BMWs, the key is good snow tires, such as Michelin Arctic Alpins or Bridgestone Blizzaks. Combining these tires with traction and stability control results in excellent snow capability. I drove a 5 and 7 series BMW equipped with these tires in snowy conditions in WA state for several years with no problems. Putting some extra weight in the trunk helps too.

palmerg

Several factors are involved. Force89 mentioned two, traction (tires), and stability (suspension). Also involved is overall weight distribution and driver awarness and experience. All BMW's and the G35 have good distribution (51/49 & 52/48 f/r respectively). Again this is primarily designed for ideal conditions. The Firebird (which I owned in Upstate NY) is the opposite of ideal, at roughly 60/40 it is a nightmare in the snow (even a little) and forget icy conditions even with chains and sandbags in the back. I put it away in the winter. My guess is that the G35 or any BMW would be good in snowy conditions although the drivers reaction and ability in those conditions is perhaps even more critical.

mchard

All of the AC/Heating control buttons and stereo system buttons on my G35 have gone inoperable. The A/C stays at the temperature it was set at and continues to keep the cabin at 74 degrees (the temp it was set at when the system went out). The stereo controls on the dash are inoperable but I can still control the stereo from the steering wheel controls (without any visual indicators from the stereo itself as to what I am controling. The dealer said they had not seen this issue until the day I called and they have received 3 other calls from other G35 owners with the same inoperable buttons on the dash. Has anyone else seen this issue?

sanandton

One of the buttons on the center console became lodged and caused the panel to "lock down". It can be reset by unplugging your battery for 10mins. They had to order a new panel for mine and replace it. Has not happened since. I think you may have to have a stereo code if you unplug the battery. but at least you get your function back.

bsnyder030174

Ive got about 2700 miles on mine and I've noticed the following (mostly all have already been discussed)....

- What sounds like slight rattle from my right front speaker.

- Bad glare from center console onto front windshield, unless I put the console all the way down.

- Outside temperature control is always way off when I start the car, but normalizes after a couple minutes.

- Windshield 'chatter', but I think its just related to using too fast of a setting for the given amount of rain... not sure.

- The thing that bugs me the most is that my radio reception is horrible. I had a car that cost half as much before this one, and I never had a problem listening to my stations but in the G, half the time its so staticy I cant even make out the words.

Another interesting thing to list is a feature wishlist for the car:

- I wish the CD Player could play MP3s.
- I wish the AUTO AC could be set to feet&face
(while in auto mode).
- I wish the NAV system could be added on after
the fact (regret not getting one)....

All in all, they are very minor picks and I have been loving the car....

Only two things I really give any thought to is the radio static, and lack of nav (first time i had to buy a car, and got suckered into buying one wo/ cause I got all excited ).

Cheers,
brian

stsurbrook

There have been some posts on the main board about the G35's handling in the snow. The reports have been with the all-season tires and they have been excellent. The traction control keeps the rear end planted (hey, if you are driving stupid, there is only so much traction control can do... .

My personal experience in the G35 in the first rainfall after a couple weeks of hot sun (slicker because of oil buildup) is also very good. The traction control is generally unobtrusive (the only indication is the "Slip" light blinking), but will aggressively reign in your activities if you are getting a bit too "energetic".

This car is the safest RWD I've ever driven (even those I test drove), bar none. It is better than the majority of FWD's also. The only vehicle I would feel safer in would be an AWD with traction control.

Hope this helps...

Scott

gabman

I took delivery of my G35 here in Canada on March 10/02 after which we had two major snowstorms. I am pleased to report that the car handled amazing.
I was very surprised that the all season tires performed so well but we have to remember that they were brand new. I plan to put 4 winters on for next season, am trying to decide wether to put on 16" tires and winter wheels or just go with 17" winters on existing mags. The traction and stability control kicks in when it needs to and does an excellent job although when in effect there is an awful noise emitted from the system. I am told that this is normal although the sound is very strange.

As far as the comments on radio reception, I am wondering if perhaps you tinted your windows. Some of the tinting materials are metallic and will effect the radio reception. I put on a nonmetallic tint and am having no problems with reception or static. The only thing bugging me is that by tinting the back window I have loss the use of the self dimming rear view mirror. Also because of the way the rear window defroster is configured ( slightly raised) the tint causes a blurring effect at night when looking thru the rear view mirror. I have gotten used to it and although I love the dark tint on the back window (20%), I miss the self dimming mirror ( this was the first car that I have had with one and loved the way it worked before I tinted the windows).
I have about 8600 miles on my Black G35 and have not had any problems with it except for that damn dipstick.

1north

With our near 100 degree days here in Northern Virginia I have been pointing my A/C vents directly on me with the gauge set to 60. When I get out of the car I notice a slight smell of exhaust on my clothes. Maybe it is a smell from the filter, but it only happens when running the A/C. Any one else experienced this problem or have any ideas for solution?