ALWAYS

you never know what you might be working with in any situation.

its not so much to avoid shocking you, its to avoid crossing wires or touching anything to a ground or live wire

always disconnect when working with electrical, its worth the extra 5 minutes to be safe

lets say you leave a wire haning off the harness and a screw driver grounds your seat to the frame, you risk burning up the motor and possibly anything else that is in the same wire circuit

 

I bought my '06 G35 new. In the beginning I was dissappointed - in my first year I had axle clicking on both sides, my power window motor died, the CD changer died, a bad idler pulley ate a couple of A/C belts and I had warped brake rotors. All of it was covered under warranty except the brakes, but I was worried about the longevity of the car.

I have not had a problem since that first year other than needing to replace the brakes about every 20K - I am now just about to hit 90K and am now very happy with the car.

 

I've noticed when the G35s give problems it's often predictable. (CD/Axle click/compression rods/etc...) Knowing what flaws a car has and what is likely to go wrong is a lot better than having one that constantly surprises you with crazy oddball problems

 

I've had the compression rods fixed under warranty. Anything I can do to prevent the CD changer from going bad? What's been everyone's solution to the CD changer problem? I'm assuming everyone went with aftermarket?

 

^Yeah that's what most people do. I took mine out and removed the CD changer from the rest of the system so I still have AM/FM and tape (for adapter) I'm limping by on that until I can get everything I need for my in-car PC setup.
I don't think there's really a lot you can do to keep it from going bad. Maybe don't skip between disks alot

 

You're expecting repairs on your FX, but are yet to do anything. So that means 2/4 (50%) have been perfect cars thus far. (i35 and FX) and 1(25%) was crap and 1(25%) has a single seat issue?

I'll take a guess and say you've never owned a GM or Chrysler.

You really want to trade reliability for fun?

 

When my cd changer went bad I bought the aux adapter. But then I got tired of plugging my blackberry in to listen to songs so I bought a used cd changer from a forum member. I used to set the cd to play randomly among ALL CDs. That also means the tray mechanism moves each time the song skips (unless it happens to be on the same cd). Now, I just set it to random on 1 CD. This way the tray doesn't move and hopefully that helps.

Aux adapter cost me $60 bucks and the used oem stereo is $120. Installed it myself so labor is free. Now I can either listen to the cds or plug in an mp3 player on the aux.

 

The 98 I30 was bullet proof. I35 developed a very bad engine ping inspite of me using only premium fuel. Again, it was a used car so who knows what the previous owner did. A ton of I35 owners experienced the same problem and there was no solution. FX had minor stuff (mostly cosmetic) but everything has been repaired under warranty. I30 and FX have been good....I35 and G35 have had expensive repairs. Engines have been rock solid on all other than the I35. I resorted to mixing racing fuel with 93 octane to get rid of the ping...but would've needed another job to afford that kind of fuel :-).

 

I had a Dodge once...fun times. Never again.

Actually, my most reliable vehicles ever owned was my last 2003 Ford. Up until i traded it in last winter with 80K miles. Never had a single warranty or repair issue ever in the 6 years i owned it. Used to drag race and autoX it too and it was reliable as hell. I'd have zero probs buying a new Ford again.

My '07 Lexus is the same way. Not a single issue with it at all, but it only has 12K miles on it..

I had an '05 Maxima i did have probs with..mostly minor non-critical repairs. My G35 has been the same way. Next week will be the 4th time in 1 year it will be going in for warranty work. That's the most of any new vehicle i've ever owned. It's not even any unique out of the blue repairs, but instead the common ones. Compression Rods, Axle Click, rocking seat rails, TPMS issues, window rattle and now leaking valve covers in addition to replacing half my airbags. It's all technicaly minor stuff (compared to drivetrain issues), but is discouraging...so i feel the OP's pain. It's also somewhat embarrassing to explain to coworkers why they have seen me in a loaner vehicle so frequently. In fact, my latest appt. I pushed out until my Xmas break just so that I don't have to deal with going into work and getting the "Is your car broke again?" comments. Another guy at my office has an '03 Sedan...which has the dreaded HVAC board issue (mine has done this as well only ONCE) . I've seen it lock up when we have gone to lunch. So my other coworkers have seen this from both our cars and now have bad impressions of G35's in terms of overall reliability. Hard to really tell them they are "minor issues"

Warranty is up in Feb, and most of the common repairs have been done...so i hope I'm good to go. Would i buy another Infiniti? Yes, but it would have to be relatively new so i still have the warranty unbrella.

 

Easy fix. Anytime you get the "you car broke again?" comments, just look at the person a little condescendingly and go "no, I just hold my vehicles to a much higher standard of repair and maintenance. I choose to fix things that most would ignore." and if you really want to be mean throw in a jab about their car. I know the only people that ever made those kind of remarks to me about my cars did it because they knew it pushed a button, so I just pushed theirs back. One time, somebody I know did that about my TA so I responded by enumerating everything I had to 'fix' which was mostly mods and then everything that was currently wrong with her Hyundai (wow what a list ) she backed off after that.

 

That's actually not a bad response at all...and the truth!

 

And when you say "...that most would ignore" put just barely enough inflection into your voice and eyes to make them thing "...does he mean me???" but not so much that you just come off cocky... no wait, overly cocky. It's an art really

 

Haha, i almost want to change my appt. just to use it now!

On the plus side, my service write is my age and VERY cute. Def makes the visit more enjoyable.

 

what's his name?


In the 5 yrs or so of owning, aside of regular maintenance like oil/filter, trans/diff fluid, coolant, belts, brakes/rotors I've not had really anything go wrong except 1 bad strut and an airbag sensor both covered under warranty.

 

lol