I left my car with a local mechanic who changed the cooling fan clutch, spark plugs, rear differential fluid, front struts, and performed a throttle body cleaning service.

I picked up the car after hours and had a difficult time getting it to start. It would turn over but not start right up. Finally on the thrid attempt it started and immediately I see instrument cluster warning lights--- service engine, skid, VDC off. I drove the car down the street a few miles and it jerks on occasion and seems to be mis-firing.

I drove it back to the mechanics shop and parked it so they can take another look today.

Any ideas what would have caused this. The car had none of these issues when I took it to them.

 

More than likely the TB is your issue, not the plugs. What exactly did the mechanic do to the TB? You probably need to do the TB reset and the idle air volume learning reset. It's also possible the mechanic fried the TB if he wasn't careful so you might need a new one.

 

Sounds like your mechanic mixed up the wires to the coil packs. That's probably why you have the check engine light and misfire.

As for the Slip/VDC light, it could be the speed sensors on the front since he replaced the shocks. Also it wouldn't hurt to have him check the alignment.

Btw, it might be a good time to look for a new mechanic.

 

:nod:

 

Yeah......I've never used this guy before. He just called and I'm pretty sure he said a cam shaft position sensor was bad after they looked into it. I don't think he said crankshaft position sensor but I work the night shift in the medical field so being up during the day doesn't always make me very coherent!
I guess a position sensor could have just happened to fail at the wrong time but it seems odd.

 

A while back I changed my plenum over to a kinetix one and had to take off my throttle and disconnect the plug on the throttle. it is a bugger to get back on you have to push it till it snaps not just kinda goes on and feels tight. check that yourself and push on it pretty hard and see if it will snap on better. that may be the problem. that sounds like it may be the cause.

If that doesn't work have the mechanic take it to a infiniti or nissan dealer!! it was working fine before you took it to him and now it's jacked up. he needs to be the one to fix it all. also ask him what kind of cleaner he used on your tb (throttle body) cause if he's a total moron he may have used brake cleaner which only worked on old carburrated (can't spell) cars, and may have screwed your sensor over.

 

I picked up the G35 today. It runs smooth with no warning lights. Starts right up like it used to. Changing the spark plugs and cleaning the throttle body stopped the slight rough idle it had previously.

The mechanic said the crankshaft position sensor went bad. That is what they replaced today and everything seems fine. It seems odd that the crankshaft position sensor went bad all of a sudden but I suppose it could happen.

The last thing it needs is compression rod bushings and hopefully that will be all I have to do to this $5,000 G35 I purchased last month to have it running well.

 

Pardon? This car doesn't have a cooling fan clutch.

THIS

This brings about this:

This guy obviously screwed something up, and dind't have the ***** to admit it. Or he wanted to charge you more money. I'd bet he left a coil disconnected or something. Hope to baby jesus you didn't pay for him to change a Sensor.

 

^ +1
Most mechanics out there will do anything to rip you off

 

+2... As an "ex" machanic I have seen some bad stuff mostly from dealers and large all around shops that I would never take part in. This is why I got out of it. Its kind of funny too my mother in law takes her car to the dodge/jeep dealer and they tell her all this stuff. I look at her and say..You got another year out of this,lol. needless to say I work on my own stuff now luckily i still have access to a shop. I would say get a new machanic now!!!!

 

The fact that this guy didn't even test drive it after all that work, or notice it was running like a bag of potatoes is beyond me.

I have to assume he just didn't give a fuak and parked it anyways;

 

I'll be looking for someone new in the future.

 

thanks you, here comes bs labor prices. my friend works at a local shop and he said the mananger tell them to screw up the cars on purpose to change more money. when you come in for a major job thats the jackpot for him because now he can say a bunch of shyt is wrong and most ppl will never question just pay it shm

 

"Cooling fan clutch" was the terminology their secretary used when describing the work that was done. The old fan wobbled on the shaft and did not seem to turn as fast as it should. Looks like they installed a brand new cooling fan assembly to me. I see a brand new cooling fan. The cooling fan always runs from the moment I start it until I turn the car off. I assume since it is belt driven that this is normal????

Someone above mentioned having an alignment done but since I still have to have the compression rod bushings replaced I don't want to have an alignment done until everything is complete underneath.

There are three mechanics at this facility and the one doing most of the work claims he test drove the vehicle when all of the work was completed. It's just odd that when I picked up the car after hours that it took forever to start and the above mentioned warning lights were on along with the obvious misfires.

Hopefully once the compression rod bushings are installed I won't have to sink anymore money into it....Unless it also needs LCA bushings as well. This 2004 G35 doesn't have much low end torque when compared to my 2007 but I realize the 07 is a different beast to some extent. I guess the poor low end torque is normal for the older G35's. It kind of takes off in first gear like an SUV with a high revving engine roar but not a lot of speed. By the way this is a 5AT model.

The only other thing I have noticed is when I lift the driver's side floor mat up the floorboard appears a little damp right in the center but nothing else in the floor is wet.

 

Actually I could be wrong about it having a clutch, TBH I just assumed it was electric motor like most are.

And you think this thing doesn't have torque? Man the auto must rob a lot, or you're used to some torquey sonofabishing cars.

This is one of the best *** V6's I've ever driven for torque.