Hey All,

Need some insight if possible. I bought a 03 infiniti g35 seda roughly 240k miles off of one of my friends. I am trying to fix the little issues i can, here and there before i give it to another friend who desperately needs a car. One of the major issues with the g35 was that when you would start to drive the abs/sli/vdc light would come on but per my friend he said that if the lights come on then it is working fine if they don't come on then its having a hard time with the traction and you'll hear that noise that should start and stop when you initially start to move the car. So for a week it was just that those lights would come on and everything would work fine. I used my blue driver reader and was able to read off the error codes i had a rear sensor 2 error c1105 which indicated more than likely the rear speed sensor on the right was bad. My friend who i bought the car off of indicated that it makes sense since back in august he got an alignment done and after the alignment is when the abs/slip/vdc would come on.

Anyway I ordered one off of amazon roughly 25 bucks and i struggled to put it in yesterday (not enough hand room, tool room, also rusted bolts) but i put the new ones in finally and i cleared the codes and drove it around the lights didn't come back on. When i was done at my mechanics i headed home a 45 minute drive and i noticed right away it would do this weird jerk like a kid tugging at you to come on lets go was happening at lower speeds but it felt like it was i guess perhaps in the transmission or something hard to really explain but for the week I've driven it never felt that until i changed that sensor.

I drove it home drove it around a bit after no lights come on no error codes but i get that little jerkiness. Could it be an issue with the sensor? granted it was 25 dollars with good reviews off of amazon but not 396 dollars like infiniti wanted. I also got a 6 dollar new sensor replacement as well that came from ebay i could try to swap it again but not sure if that would make a difference. Also on the drive home a few of the lights did come on. the air bag, then the vdc and abs, then the vdc, abs, and slip but they all quickly went off not sure if it was doing some diagnostics since i disconnected the battery before putting in the new sensor. Also when i ran the scan tool (driving back home) the lights came on as well but for this car that seems to be what happens when i use the scan tool. so yea sorry i know this is a lot any info would be appreciated. I just want to make sure the car is fine before i give it to my friend. the lights on were a big no no because that would not be able to pass inspections.

 

I would take it to Nissan for a diagnostic, sounds more like they got the steering angle sensor out of position when they were doing the alignment. Nissan can recalibrate it to zero again, or you can use Nissan Datascan2 for it and save the service fee. Nissan will be able to just plug in, drive, and Consult-II/III will basically tell them exactly what's wrong though.

 

Also, what size tires are on the front and rear?

 

Thanks for responding! the steering angle sensor? would cause it to do that weird lunge jerk i guess? only reason i ask is because prior to me swapping out the abs rear wheel speed sensor i didn't experience that issue. and the tires front and back are 215/55r17s front and back. thanks again!

 

Ok so squared fit tires eliminates the 3% size difference being the problem.

If it wasn't doing this before but started immediately after the wheel speed sensor that it's PROBABLY the wheel speed sensor. I don't think it's possible due to cable length but did you accidentally get the left/right sensors switched up? I think the right side cable is longer than the left so it SHOULD be obvious what goes where.

Also disconnect the harness and make sure there's no bent pins or corrosion, also unbolt the sensor from the diff and look for any damage to either it or to that gear ring pickup on the differential.

I haven't heard of any chronic issues with using aftermarket wheel speed sensors but you may have a defective one. The rest of the hall effect sensors on this car pretty much REQUIRE that you use the OEM or Hitachi (OEM manufacturer) brand ones. However those other sensors are going to the ECM whereas the wheel speed sensors are going to the VDC controller. The ECM is SUPER picky about it's hall effect sensors, the VDC controller doesn't appear to be that demanding.

 

My gut is telling me that the reason it wasn't trying to correct slip before is the sensor was bad that therefor the system was disabled. The steering angle sensor was probably screwed up when they did the alignment job (fairly common, you need to get alignment checked anyways probably so go to a reputable shop). Now that the RR wheel speed sensor is working it thinks you're turning at a slight angle due to the steering angle sensor needing recalibration but it doesn't match what the yaw sensor is sending so it thinks you're in a little bit of a slide so it independently pulses the brakes to try to bring you straight again (that weird jerking feeling).

So, in the meantime to keep from killing your brakes I would just disable the entire system, I think fuse 82 in the IPDM fuse box (engine bay) is what powers the whole system, or you can unplug the 3 harnesses on the ABS controller. Your SLIP/ABS/VDC lights will be on when it's disabled and it won't make traction control adjustments.

Then go get an alignment to make sure it's all within spec, next have the steering angle recalibrated, problem should be fixed after that.

 

wow hm that seems to make sense. What i was going to try to do was just swap it with the one i got from ebay and see if it changed anything but i guess that makes sense from what friend told me the vdc/abs/slip lights came on after the alignment and when you ran the code you got a right rear sensor failure message. i guess i could've tried to clean the sensor but just unbolting those rusty bolts and all just said f it and replaced it. i just ordered the proper bolts for the sensors since one is gone and one is semi stripped. but alright so i can try to disable the abs thing and see if it still does the jerking and if it doesn't then yea i should go see if i can get it re-aligned and checked to make sure all is good.

 

So, I was able to go to my mechanics again yesterday. I took the wheel speed sensor out that i ordered from amazon and put the one I ordered from ebay in. I used electronics parts cleaner on the connector that connects to the sensor wasn't dirty or anything. Drove the car this time the jerk/nudging movement you could almost set your watch to. It was happening under 20 mph when i was increasing speed not when i was slowing down like it seemed to do before that where it did it for speed up and slow down but couldn't really say how often but yea after the replacement it happened a bunch of times on my way back home when i was speeding up in city traffic or regular traffic.

I went under the hood when i got home and removed the 50 Amp for the vdc (couldn't find the 82 IPDM you referred to) which brought the abs/slip/vdc lights on and i drove for quite some time doing errands the nudging/jerking didn't seem to really happen if it did happen it was hard to notice and might've just been my mind playing with me. So yea definitely something going on and doubt its the sensors unless both are faulty.

I will try to do what you recommended and hit up an alignment shop and have the steering angle recalibrated. I did take the rear right tire off a week ago and the brakes looked like they had uneven wear. not sure if that could affect it but next stop alignment shop. also the front and rear tires aren't the same don't think it would matter but anything can happen i guess. the fronts are firestone while the rears are bridgestone thank you sir.

 

As long as the size difference (diameter) front to rear isn't more than +/- 3% in diameter you're fine. Use a tire comparison calculator to verify. This is the one I typically use.

https://tiresize.com/comparison/

 

Still looking to see where i might be able to take the car to but when messing with it today I put the vdc fuse back in and drove and it seems like the pulsing happens around the 7mph mark when i'm starting from a stop. It happened numerous times around that 7mph part but didn't happen every single time. I tried turning vdc off and the pulsing went away so it seems to be the vdc some component or something. Now, i am not accustomed to Infiniti's but I'm guessing i should not be feeling the pulsing or the nudging unless the system is trying to course control me like in the snow or wet road or something. So either way I'd still need to head to an alignment place make sure that's all good and then see if they can recalibrate the wheel angle sensor?

Alright I suppose then i don't need to measure since both tires in the front and back are 215/55r17's.

 

I still haven't taken it to an alignment place or a place to check the sensors but for a week now the jerkiness/nudging hasn't been happening. Not sure exactly what went on but within the week or so i cleaned the maf/throttle body. Also had to disconnect the battery twice. The last time was due to the dvd head unit getting stuck in a mode that i couldn't get out of even if i turned the car off and back on. So i disconnected the battery temporarily and that took care of the radio issue but since then the nudge/jerkiness isn't happening really. just wanted to give an update.