I'm still a car noob and have been slowly starting to do some maintenance on my car myself to save some money. Mostly the easy stuff like engine air filter, cabin filter, power steering fluid, oil change etc.

I've come to ask you guys what I should do next that's the easiest for a noob to do on their own. Here's what I'm thinking about:


ATF Fluid Change
Coolant Drain And Fill
Differential Oil Change
Drive Belts Replacement
Spark Plug Replacement


I've got a bout 65,000 miles on my car and would like to know what would be the most important on that list to do and also what would be the easiest for a beginner.


Thanks!

 

i think you should set aside a day and get it all done! I think if you have the ability to do one of those things you should be able to accomplish the others...i am a noob as well and i have successfully done all of those things...

 

One thing you'll learn, you're wasting your money.

Preventative maintenence is good, but you're already over doing it. Don't do stuff just to do it, that's silly. Do it when it's necessary, or seems like it's getting close.

ie, CHECK your belts. CHECK your spark plugs, and so on. Fluid changes are recomemended if you don't know the past history. Change them and note when they were changed, put that note in your glovebox so you never lose it.

You can throw a pile of money into a car un-necessarily replacing perfectly good parts. Then when something breaks (it will), you'll be broke cause you wasted your money on other stuff.

Take it from someone who did all this stuff, right down to bushings, etc.

The best thing you can do is simply read, educate yourself, learn tolerances, learn what's acceptable, learn specifcations and how to check them yourself. This stuff will help you keep your car in tip top shape and save you money.

Hope that helps

 

Thanks for the reply. I see what you're saying. I did buy the car at 26,000 miles and nothing I mentioned in the OP had been done before so it seemed necessary to replace things like the engine filter, cabin filter and obviously oil changes.

Again, I've never changed any of the other fluids so I guess it's just peace of mind knowing it has been done and noting of when it was done for future reference.

I have no plan of doing maintenance when it's not needed especially if it's expensive. For example, I'm sure my power steering did not need to be done but I know it has never been done and it cost me $9. If I can get a few of these done for cheap, plus I enjoy doing it, then I don't really mind.

Thanks again!

 

there's no need to change trans or diff fluid yet.
Brake fluid could be done, so can coolant, PS fluid won't hurt either. The rest, wait until 100,000miles

 

I agree, do whatever's on your maintenance schedule. AFAIK those job vary from easy (diff fluid) to medium (spark plugs) so it sounds like you should have no trouble if you're patient.

 

I would recommend doing the ATF and differentials. I can appreciate Tuner's comments on overmaintaining can be a waste of money, but $50 and an hour of time is a lot less expensive than blowing up a transmission. Also, ATF and gear oils should be done every 30k, so its overdue.

 

And I appreciate your comments. You're misinformed aobut the ATF/Gear oils though, I've never in my life heard of a vehicle that needed either done in such rapid intervals. that's insane.


Spark plugs: 105,000 miles
Coolant: 60,000 miles
Diff and transmission: INSPECT every 45,000 miles

Replacement isn't even recommended until past 100,000 miles on diff/tranny, and even then it's discretionary. IMO, I'd be doing it at 100,000, and then every 50-60,000 after that.
Personally, I'd put Synthetic in it at 100,000 and not worry about it again.
If you want to do PM, that's what you should do, put some Amsoil in the transmisison and diff. But you can wait until closer to 100,000 to do this, unless your oil smells burnt or is black.

 

^Recommended ATF is Nissan Matic S. I wouldn't risk putting anything else in the tranny.

For the spark plugs, I wouldn't wait until 105K miles. G's are notorious for their leaky valve covers, by changing the plugs you'll see what kind of condition they are in and can gauge when/if they need to be replaced.

 

Can't disagree with this for the Automatics, better safe than sorry. if I had a Auto, I'd use Nissan's fluid.

FIXED.


Changing plugs for fun is not cost effective, just like any other replacement before the service life of the components. It's throwing money away.

CHECKING them doesn't hurt, that's good PM. If you have the time, check them often, absolutely. I'm assuming that's what you intended to write.

 

Everything on this list
https://g35driver.com/forums/g-spot/...-used-g35.html

 

smh.

This site is amusing and saddening all at once.

 

What? Overkill OP

I hope you aren't changing synthetic oil every 3000 miles or anything silly like that.
Check your belts to see how many cracks there are per inch to see if replacement is needed.
Make sure your fluids are at the appropriate levels.
You can use a turkey baster to do the power steering fluid yourself just from the engine bay.
Change out your spark plugs at 100K. Valve covers will always leak again anyway so if it's not bothering you I wouldn't worry about it. People only care because the dealer will fix it under warranty. The next set of valve covers may not get as good a seal.
The diff gear oil just needs to be checked, it does not need to be changed at your first transmission drain/fill. I would do with the 2nd transmission service.
Coolant/ATF whenever the standard maintenance plan indicates. Doing it more often under a "premium" maintenance is overkill. It won't make anything last longer.