Glad it worked out for you, did they happen to give you a receipt that tells what part they replaced?

 

ok, so after reading 7 pages, I see that I have the same issue as most people in here. Unfortunately everyone has posted their problem, but not many solutions. A few paid $1000, one guy punched his stereo in the lower right hand corner, two people went to a stereo repair store, and everyone else? What is the real deal solution here?

 

Real solution is a new aftermarket headunit instead of putting another fragile factory unit.

If you can't afford this... you may have bought the wrong car.

 

Interesting post, and nice assumption that I can't afford a new stereo. The big problem with that is store bought head units are REALLY cheesy. Yes, cheesy. They devalue a car, unless your selling it to a punk teenager. If you are putting in a new head unit...you probably spent more money on rims than health insurance.

 

Wow, what an inspiring last 3 posts...

My wife's 03 has done this 1 other time and it remedied itself then, today it has been stuck like this all day and I am 2 minutes from unhooking the battery... I'll report back once I'm done. Lets all collectively pray that we dont need a new radio... mmmk? btw, AC on 60F auto and no radio.

Ok... update from 10 minutes ago...
Disco'd the battery for 5 minutes, then reconnected
1st crank, Outside temp went to 125F and stepped back down to 85F (correct), no AC at all, no radio at all.
2nd crank, nothing for 15 seconds, then AC auto at 75F but no control. 15 more seconds go by and all controls begin to work on AC and Radio
3rd crank, AC auto 75F and stuck, no radio
4th crank, same as 3rd...

and a huge wolf spider just ran past me in the garage and into my cabinets...

So... After compiling some numbers, it looks like my cost est will be the following: (does this look about right?)

325 Radio Pioneer AVH-P3200DVD In-Dash Double-DIN DVD Multimedia AV Receiver
350 BEZEL JDM
40 Wiring Harness PAC ROEM NIS2
12 ANTENNA ADPT METRA 40-NI10
50 STR WHL ADPT TO FIT RADIO
11 TRIM RING SCOSCHE
788 SUBTOTAL
73 TAX
$861 TOTAL

 

Same problems here:

- AC switches to auto and blasts at 60.
- Radio screen goes blank.
- All temp and radio buttons do not function.
- Steering wheel audio controls do function.

- Turning car off for a few minutes does not reset system.
- Sometimes turning off car for 10 minutes or more resets system but only for a short time.

I called Infiniti corporate to talk to them about the recall (CAMPAIGN I.D.#: P3104, aka ITB03-007b) but my car missed the VIN/Manufactured date cut off. My 03.5 G35 sedan was built 10/2002 and missed being included by only two months. It is obvious that the problem is wider spread than they are willing to fix.

I love my G35 but this sours me on the brand and will never talk about it with the same enthusiasm to others as I did before. So much for buying Japanese and bypassing BMW electrical issues, which is the main reason I decided on the G35.

 

you need a new radio, which is the one w/ the cd changer. replacing the face plate will do you no good. you need the cd changer or they call it radio. this is assuming you have the stock factory BOSE 6 disc cd changer radio

good luck

 

#1, it's not a recall, as it's not safety related. It's a tech service bulletin - a how-to-fix-it for cars under warranty. No way to get it fixed free unless you're under warranty.

Yeah, it's really a reputation-diminishing problem, luckily it's about as cheap to fix permanently with an aftermarket unit as BMW charges to change a lightbulb.

ETA: It's not a TSB, but a service campaign, so even out of warranty, they'll perform the service free - if you vehicle falls in the dates specified.

 

Inifiniti Corp told me that they would have fixed it with no charge to me if my G fell within the VIN range.

I have navigation so I'm not sure if I can still go aftermarket.

 

Okay, looked up this, and it's not technically a TSB, but a "Voluntary Service Campagin" so basically, something they do to save face, however, every one of the cars affected by this would have still had years worth of warranty left on them at the time, so I'm not sure if the difference is particularly relevant.

It possibly covers a different problem with nearly identical symptoms.
The bulletin was sent out way back in Mar of '03, so it was a much more rapid failure than what the rest of the years have seen. Most of the finishers/radios last about 3-4 years, the ones covered by the service campaign look like they must have lasted 3-4 months.

This is definitely even more evidence that Infiniti was aware of the POS quality on these headunits, and probably just decided to ramp up the refurb & return to duty cycle instead of fixing the real problem.

 

Oh, and you absolutely can go aftermarket, you just need the JDM trim kit instead of going with the cheaper Metra version.

Check my sticky'd DDin shopping/resource list at the top of the forum if you need a parts list or basic assistance. If you need more, I'm always around this forum or available via PM to give you any help you need.

 

That is good news. Personally, I really like the stock look of the G. The only way I would consider aftermarket is if the HU has two things:

- A slick navi (stock navi is okay and reliable but ancient compared to the likes of a Garmin in terms of usability and features.)

- Internal hard drive of 40GB. I'm tired of hooking up my ipod via tape deck. Controlling the ipod through steering wheel is a must as well.

Any recommendations?

 

Yeah, I recommend forgetting anything about internal hard drives. If you want something like that, there's something that's cheaper, holds TONS more, supports lossless compression, can be loaded faster and with more flexibility and has other benefits - just get an iPod and pretend it's inside your headunit. For the price of a Pioneer AVIC-Z3 - the only unit with a built-in hard drive with a damn (used, if you can find a good quality one) you can get a brand new Pioneer Z120BT and a 160GB iPod Classic. The older hard-drive units were pretty much done only because DVDs are too slow for good navigation searches, and the smallest hard drives they could find had enough storage after putting map data on that they figured they'd use it for storing music. Since flash memory's cheaper than hard drives for storing that amount of info, and with iPod support being almost free for manufacturers it's just logical that it's the way for everyone to go now.

Best navi is on Kenwood units, since they have Garmin navigation built-in. The premium price for them over Pioneer, combined with the Kenwood's inferior GUI (especially with the iPod) makes it about a fair comparison, but the navigation on the Pioneer units is very good, just not as good as the Garmin navigation.

 

Called Dealer said it was the circuit board and is 150$ for a refurbished part. Will changing it with an after market double din fix this issue?

 

Just wanted to remind those having the same problem to register online complaints with the NHTSA for a possible recall. The sudden loss of the defrosting system can cause serious visibility issues, and it was considered enough of a problem in the sedans for a recall to be issued.

To file:
https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/

To view similar complaints:
http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/complaints/