No worries, it was my own mistake for not saving it beforehand. Anyway, back to what I was going to say . . .

As far as getting out-of-warranty coverage assistance from Infiniti CA, though I have not experienced it personally, from everything that I've learned here and l elsewhere over the years, with very few exceptions, they will be highly inclined to refuse any assistance to you. Given that you bought your car used, they will likely have the inclination to deny simply based on the fact that they can't know that the previous owner didn't cause the condition. Typically, they will spend an appreciable amount of time deliberating, but in the end will come back with a very politely worded response of NO.

The only exceptions I have noted to this, were for those owners that either had a long and demonstrated loyalty to the brand (i.e. they bought or owned multiple Infiniti vehicles) or a long and demonstrated loyalty with one of their dealerships (i.e. they had an extensive service history with one of their dealerships). Neither of these conditions can guarantee assistance though, as there are reports of denial even in those instances.

In the (statistically) unlikely event they do offer you assistance, it would only come in the form of reimbursement. By this, and as their preliminary response to you already indicates, it means that you will have to open a repair order at an Infiniti dealership, guaranteeing payment by you alone, and authorizing the tear-down and diagnosis of the cause for the low OP condition. This of course puts you in a very difficult position.

If you knew right from the onset that you would have to foot the entire bill for the repair work on your car, you may well opt to have it done in a manner that would cost the least (or at least less than the most). You could choose to have the repair done at a non-Infinti repair facility (i.e. a Nissan dealership or a competent independent shop) with much lower labor rate charges. Likewise, you could choose to have the actual repair method be to simply change the two gaskets and the O-rings (i.e. instead of replacing the entire rear timing cover and the outer cam cover assemblies outright) which saves well over $1000 in parts alone, and totaling upwards of $2000 when you consider all the extra added labor to replace that rear timing cover. Of course, this doesn't even get into any added cost from the inevitable up-sell for new timing chains/tensioners/gears/etc. . These savings are all possible when you have the choice.

Now let's contrast that scenario with what may happen at an Infiniti dealership. First of all you should know that there are different policies within dealerships regarding the repair methods they will use for the repair of oil gallery gaskets. Many (most?) will refuse to do anything less than a full replacement of the rear timing cover assembly, and some, as in the case of my own repair, will also require the additional replacement of both cam cover assemblies (for the sake of the 3 little O-ring seals on them that Infiniti does not sell separately, but Nissan does!). This adds an obvious cost factor to the repair that may not be avoidable because corporate Infiniti requires all the work, both diagnostic and repair, to be performed at one of their dealerships.

Now add to this the prospect that, given as how your car's engine is now totally torn apart and taking up valuable space at a dealership, you are essentially help captive at the point that you finally learn whether or not corporate Infiniti will offer you their assistance. At that point, you are about $1200 into your own wallet (and with nothing to show for it yet) so are you really going to have the ability to say "OK, no thanks guys, I'm just going to take my car elsewhere now and get the work done more cheaply." ?? . . . Not very likely!

Please understand, this is not intended as an attempt to dissuade you from trying to get some coverage from corporate Infiniti; more just to help you have your eyes wide open for what eventualities MAY occur. Also, in all fairness, it should be said that it is not at all surprising nor inappropriate that Infiniti operates this way, as there are certainly valid considerations on their part that they must consider, so it is not to be assumed that they are simply being mean spirited about it.

My recommendation to you if you choose to pursue assistance from Infiniti, would be to go in to your intended dealership (or dealerships, as you may want to shop around based on the answers you get) and have a very long, detailed, and considered talk with the service manager beforehand (NOT just a service writer!) about the repair policies of their dealership with regard to the repair of blown oil gallery gaskets. If, upon inspection and verification of a gasket failure (remember, there are other, and non-warranted, potential causes for your low OP), and in the (likely) eventuality that corporate refuses to offer compensation, will they be willing to proceed with a repair method that is the most cost effective for you? Since you would then be facing payment for the entirety of the repair out of your own pocket, would they work with you by replacing just the gallery gaskets and the O-ring seals, or would they be insistent that their repair method only be along strict by-the-book policies. You'll want to have all this clearly spelled out up front, and get a detailed estimate beforehand so that you can make an effective cost/risk comparison with having the work done elsewhere.

If it is at all possible, I would also encourage you to try and play out a thorough exercise of hypothetical 'what-ifs" with corporate Infiniti to try and pin down your best case scenario with them before you invest a bunch of money at an Infiniti dealership and get "stuck" there. Ask them if they can tell you, based on your ownership and history with your car, and your history with Infiniti as a brand, and with the hypothetical assumption that the dealership does indeed find that the oil gallery gasket has blown out, and with the assumption that there are sufficient service records to presume the car was well maintained up to this point, whether or not they would be inclined to offer assistance to you ?? I know they will howl and complain about how they just can't possibly say until you get there, but in all honestly, they really should be able to tell you the answer to that hypothetical question, which assumes the car was well maintained and has indeed failed, and in spite of being clearly out of warranty, whether or not they would grant YOU assistance. Because at that point, that's really all that they'd be deciding, is whether or not they deem you to be worthwhile to them. Don't feel bad if they won't play that game though, as no one likes to have to tell someone to their face that they don't mater enough.

Another possibility to consider is that (and this is based upon the scenario where you do have the dealership tear down and diagnose the failure) they could come back and say that they will indeed offer assistance, but only in the form of "free" parts coverage for the failed part only. This of course would be a false gift, as the failed part (i.e. rear timing cover assembly) is around $350 retail, and yet the added labor costs to completely strip all the timing gear off the engine to gain the necessary access for replacement of that part is at least twice that, whereas a direct replacement of just the gallery gaskets would far less involved and hence far cheaper overall. You could quite literally end up paying more for their 'help'. Of course, the thing to do in that case, would be to try and secure a credit from them, equal to the cost of the failed part, but to be applied toward an abbreviated, gaskets-only repair . . . but good luck with that.

So, are you depressed yet? My apologies if that is the takeaway from all this. I really wish I had something more uplifting to offer you, but yeah, my understanding is that you're probably being too optimistic. I do wish you the very best of luck with your efforts, regardless, and with your ultimately getting the car fixed.

 

So after reading this thread, I think I am going to cross the G35 off my list of cars I'm looking to buy. I would have been extremely pissed if I found this out after I bought the car - so thank you to the OP and everyone who contributed. And good luck.

 

 

Same here. Car goes in next week for scheduled maintenance and will have them run a test as well. My Elite warranty ends in April.

 

Same here. Bought my 2008 G35 new and kept in very good condition to pass it to my daughter. Well it is not just having the oil leak issue, the dashboard is cracking all over even though it is garage kept most of the time, the interior paint trim is also failing. Already had to fix the driver seat's leather which broke in pieces and the latest is a click on the rear axle..I will just get rid of the car anytime soon...even though I really liked it..will never buy a Infiniti or Nissan product again.

 

Just got my 07 G35s checked out by the dealer. I have 188000km = 116000 miles. At idle pressure was 20psi and at 2000 rpm it was 90psi.

 

Not saying your car isn't fine regardless, but as far as their test goes, I'm going to guess that they didn't measure the oil pressure at the specified temperature. There is no way that it should be reading 90 psi at 2k rpm unless the oil was too cold or was of a higher than normal viscosity. And if that was indeed the case, then the results, both at idle and 2k rpm, are inconclusive. Just sayin.

PS, I think I'd ask for either a retest or my money back.

 

Hmmm now I'm worried. On the invoice it did mention that "Engine Hot" Could be the reason why the number is inflated? I also got my oil changed that day and I just use regular conventional oil.

 

No, the oil pressure is supposed to be measured at 176*, which is NOT fully warmed up. To do the measurement properly, they need to use their Consult diag system and monitor the oil temp sensor reading concurrently.

It's kind of goofy how the factory stipulated the oil temp to be used for measurement, because it is not even a temperature that is stable for more than a very short period of time during the normal engine warmup cycle (i.e. can be measured in seconds). During warmup, the oil temps will initially lag coolant temps, but will typically then surpass them as the coolant temps stabilize (i.e. the thermostat and fans cycling) in the range of 190* or more. Therefore, actual oil temps with a fully warmed engine will be far greater than the necessary 176* reference point.

What troubles me about your readings, is that oil pressure readings vary hugely with temperature, and should be even lower at a higher temp, so for them to say you have 90 psi at 2K rpm WITH A HOT ENGINE (i.e. oil temps probably north of 200*) seems ludicrous, or at least unbelievable.

 

Hi all,

Thanks a ton to all contributing members on this topic. I have a 2008 G35X with 95K miles on it and I had the same P0021 code with 7PSI at an idle. I tried Lucas with no luck. After reading about XR400R's experience and all the helpful info on this issue I decided to take on the repair myself; now I'm running 22PSI at an idle.

Here's my issue: First time I started the car it fired right up and sounded great. I drove it about 5 miles to the gas station, then right after I left the SES light came back on. I then drove it about 10 miles to the nearest Advanced Auto Parts and they read the same P0021 code but for over-advanced timing. Up until this point the car ran great, sounded great, and seemed to idle normally. After doing some research online in the parking lot, I decided to clear the code and drive it some more to see if it came back. An article online also mentioned being a little rough on the car, going through the rev-range to also help the timing issue. I then drove it about another 10 miles, I did pretty much floor it a couple times, and then at a stop light I noticed a ticking noise coming from the engine that increased with revs. At this point I was close to home so I drove it carefully there.
The next day I checked the oil pressure and found it was still over 20PSI. The ticking noise seemed to dissipate a little but it was definitely still there. I then figured perhaps I over-tightened the primary chain tensioner thus binding the piston and creating chain slack. So I ripped apart the car again, took off the left cam cover, examined the tensioner, and re-tightened it to the correct 6ft/lbs. Fired her up again and still has the ticking noise and is now idling rough.

At this point I'm at a loss. I don't know what exact codes it now has because I'm too scared to drive it to Advanced. Not sure what is going on, I am quite confident in my repair and I followed the service manual exactly. Perhaps the car needs an exhaust valve timing relearn? I'm thinking about scheduling one for the car tomorrow. Any other ideas would be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

FYI from another thread.......

https://g35driver.com/forums/g35-sed...ml#post6987876

"asked the independent shop in Atlanta (T3) about the oil gallery gaskets and they said it's more common in '07 models but that the '08 models *may* have updated parts. The initial symptom is the oil light flickering. They charge about $1000 to fix depending on the number of hours.

Asked the dealer too and the service adviser said he's only see 3 of them and that there's no way to fix under the warranty unless it breaks (understandable). He also said a general oil pressure test may not find it, that you have to test the oil pressure at the tensioner (that part over my head......)."

 

In short, I just dropped off my '08 at the dealership to have the gaskets replaced. They have done several of these (3-5 cars?). My car has about 75k miles, and has thrown the P0011 code twice I believe. First time was in December or around 72k miles.

Before dropping the car off, I verified that the oil pressure (e.g., ~6 psi at idle) was indeed low. I wouldn't be surprised if there had been a leak well before a code was thrown and curious to see how the car drives and idles after the work is done. I asked for pictures of the gaskets to be taken to satisfy my curiosity.

I gave serious thought to doing the work myself, but decided not to and took solace in the fact that the dealership had done several of these jobs.

 

Because there is a bit of misinformation in this ^^ I will repost my comment to it here as well:

 

I had the Service Adviser have the Tech take pictures of the gaskets:









To my pleasant surprise, the cost of the job was cheaper than the 2 previous quotes he provided me. I believe I supplied all of the required gaskets, o-rings and seals (10 items), but 1 was returned or not used. The cost of the parts was $66.20 shipped from infinitipartsusa. Labor was $1400, which if I'm not mistaken is 10 hours worth ($140/hr shop rate) and $127 for "shop/expenses". I wish I received a more detailed breakdown, but I assume the oil and oil filter was part of the shop expenses. $1400 (labor) + $127 (expenses) + $145.07 (tax, 9.5%) = $1672.07.

To satisfy my own curiosity, I'll verify the oil pressure sometime soon.

 

Anyone know if there is a link to the type of oil you run and this issue? maybe synthetic is more likely or less likely to deteriorate gaskets, or suddenly switching oil types etc? I know sythetic can cause leaks on older engines that have not previously run it, so just food for thought