Hey guys, a noob here to the forum. I'm in the market of purchasing an 03 6MT coupe so i'm not an owner as yet (fingers crossed). But I had to create an account so that I could post here because I used the search button but none of the post I found fit my specific questions.

Like I said, I found an 03 G35 coupe with 60,000 miles...autocheck and carfax confirmed no problems with titles or odometer issues. Everything for the most part is sound on the car, new paint job in december, stage 2 clutch, stillen exhaust, intake, has factory oem navigation with Ipod connector. Like i said, everything is sound except one problem. When the car is turned on, white smoke billows out of the exhausts for a good 5 minutes then dies down to a bare minimum but it still comes out slightly. The KBB value on the car in good-excellent condition is about upper 12's to 13's but he's asking 11.5 for it because of the obvious smoke issue. I talked him down to $10k cash for it (havent purchased it yet). But i'm afraid about the white smoke. He said the car's been sitting there since november because he broke his arm and cant shift (kinda sorta makes sense) so it hasnt been driven. I've been reading up and i see that it could be the head gasket which i'm hoping its not but also could be coolant issues. If its nothing major, I'll take it, get an extended warranty from infiniti and get it fixed but if its the head gasket...I dont know how much that'll run me but I hear its not pretty. Any insight from you guys??

-Thanks

 

Look for another car. The smoke is a bad sign and you don't want to buy something that is going to be a problem from day 1.

Lots of G's out there.

 

Thanks for the input, you do make a valid point. Its just so hard to pass that up because it was in my price range and I'd have the extra dough on hand to fix and get it up to par if needed. I'll definitely be keeping my eyes opened too tho.

 

Take it to a shop that has the ability to check to see if there are exhaust gases in the coolant.....most decent mechanics have this simple tool.It mixes the coolant with a special fluid that changes colors if it detects any exhaust gases.

 

Yea, it turned out to be a possible blown head gasket among other things. It had some front end damage due to a collision back in october and he had it repainted in december. Needless to say, I left that car right where I found it. That deal sounded too good to be true.

If you guys know of anyone selling a G-coupe in the GA/South East region for about 13-15k, let me know!

 

I'd keep lookin

 

Yea, I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for any and everything that's in my price range. I monitor the private classifieds on this site like a hawk. Lol. Refresh every 5 minutes. Haha

 

It may have just been a sticky PCV valve - $15 part and 5 min fix. A blown headgasket would've resulted in mixed oil/coolant - easy to check on an oil drain or even on the dipstick. It would have to be really bad to have coolant coming out at idle - that sounds highly improbable. Sounds like a great option for someone looking to do a rebuild for FI.

That said, I wouldn't touch it because of the possible frame/front end suspension damage.

 

BTW, there is a big difference between Blue/White smoke (oil burning), black smoke (too rich), condensation burn off (normal when it's cold), and what you saw which is steam vapor from coolant in the cylinders or intake. Usually you can tell by the smell if it's coolant (sweet smell).

ALWAYS, pull the dip stick (that's thinkin' wi, you dipstick Jimmy), look for a "chocolate milkshake" on the stick (water in the oil), Look for "Fresh New" oil (why did he change it?, when it's cold, look in the radiator over flow for the same gunk, if oil is in the water jacket, it will show up as "scum" in the radiator over flow can". Pull the oil fill cap, put your finger inside and wipe some oil off, is it foamy? Is the cap foamy. If any of the above are found, WALK!

 

Yea, the front end damage was a major turn off. I mean it looked fine but I didn't want to take that chance since he didn't tell me that straight up. I had to do a carfax and have the mechanic tell me. There were no plates on the car either so the mobile mechanic said he probably bought it at an auction, tried to fix it up, then resell it not knowing what was wrong with the car. It was a young kid about 19-22 years old. A little sketchy

 

ALWAYS listen to your GUT.

 

Good thing I did, I would've been assed out of about 3 g's in repairs. I was so bent on getting that car too :-/

 

was this guys located in alpharetta ga? some asian kid?

 

Na, it was white foreign sounding kid. like Russian or something. He wasnt located in Alpharetta though.