Currently there is a number of g35 07-08 around my area for reasonable prices with under 100k miles, hoping to pick up my own car in the next month or so. Just want a reliable yet fun car for college and the second gen g35's seem to check all the boxes. However, the paper gaskets are really steering me away. Currently I am sharing an 06 2006 M35 and it has p0011 and p0021 codes which have been a real headache, wouldnt want to deal with oil pressure/timing issues anytime again.

Is the problem simply just blown out of proportion? Also, is the car worth it enough to set aside money prepare for the gaskets failing, or should I look elsewhere for an older g35 without the gallery gasket problem?

I also live in Florida, I heard hotter climate = less likely for gaskets to fail.

 

Personally, unless you are in a position to put an additional $4-5k into the vehicle at any given time you should not own a luxury sports car.

That said there are more HR motors that NEVER blow the gaskets than ones that DO blow the gaskets, however with 100k on it already you're looking at pretty much an entire suspension refresh and tie rod ends / wheel bearings aren't far behind. This vehicle is not forgiving to folks who don't maintain them.

You should buy a reliable Honda, Nissan, or Toyota 4 cyl commuter, not a sport sedan.

 

Or have another vehicle you can drive while doing the repairs yourself. Over 95% of the cost of replacing the gallery gasket is the labor. I took this into account when I bought mine. I already have time/parts set aside this summer for me and a buddy to tear the front end of mine apart and replace a fair amount of stuff, including the gallery gasket, timing chain and tensioners, etc.

Other than that, it's exactly like Cleric said. Great cars, but you gotta be ready for anything.

 

Before buying, ask the seller if you can bring it to a mechanic to pressure test it. I concerns about mine at 100K when others started to report these issues, pressure tested it and it was fine.

 

​​​​​Went to the dealer and I didnt even qualify for the car unless I co-signed, they required 1800 min per month which I don't make as a part timer. Guess it was good thing though?

I also got another question cleric if you don't mind me asking. So in the end we decided we will just fix the our current m35 with swapped tranny and engine as well as new suspension parts (brakes, shocks, etc) as the months go by. We added up all the cost and it was significantly easier than buying another infiniti, plus our mechanic charges very low for labor, he's willing to swap for real cheap.


My question is about the transmission, should the re5r05a be the same specs among 06-08 m35's? Our local lkq junkyard has several 08 m35 rwd transmission (ours is an 06 rwd m35) and their website doesn't list it as compatible . Apparently according to their website the 08 has both a "from 12/07" and "thru 11/07" tranny. Maybe the TCMs are different? I was under the impression the 06-08 had identical trannys that were plug and play, since they are all vq35de nonrevups before 09-10 years. Got any thoughts? Thanks

 

If it is behind a VQ35DE (06'-07') they are the same. If it's behind the VQ35HR they are not. The TCM is programmed for 7600 redline on the HR engines and the bellhouse is different.

 

​​​​​​Ok so no issue then? That's great, because the 06 m35 transmission is twice as much as the 08 one at the junkyard. Surprisingly the 08 m35 looks like the hr 7 speed version, but it still had the de nonrevup motor so I assume it has the same 5 speed auto.

 

You can't always go off of year. 2009 models years usually start being sold in September of 2008 so the registration will say '08 even though the chassis is technically an '09. Same works in reverse as well, cars can sit on the lot over a year and be sold as a 2010 even though it's a 2009 model year.

Go off the VIN number always.

As for the transmission, anything mated to the DE equipped ones should technically "work" but you might need to keep your existing valve body/TCM. 2009 was the split year where they switched over to the HR with 7speed but some of the various ones like the AWD model kept the DE 5speed.

I think that any of the DE 5 speeds from ANY DE year of M35 are 100% interchangeable. The only 5 speeds that had a revision was the AWD platforms and they had an early 2005-2006 build date and a later 2005-2006 build date.

 

I appreciate the detailed response cleric! I checked the Vin of the junkyard 08 and it's jnkay01, same as my 06 car. For good measure I checked the engine bay photos and I only see one intake in the junkyard car, so it's safe to say it's the 5 speed mated to the vq35de nonrevup.

 

Yeah the only other thing to check is to make sure it's RWD and not AWD. The X models had a non-compatible transmission, probably just the tailshaft housing that's different but it could well have a different TCM that wouldn't play nice with your RWD.

 

Yes, the RWD and AWD are the same transmissions. The output shaft and rear housing can be swapped to make it either. The TCU's seem to all work the same even though they have different software revisions. I would say it's just like the ECU in the car and new software revisions fixing little things as they get newer or serviced at a dealership. I run a 2006 FX35 TCU in my 2005 G35X without any problems. So if the tranny is behind a VQ35DE (single throttlebody) G35/M35/FX35 they are the same transmissions. When you get into the 8 cylinder RE5's is where it gets harry, I have grabbed one of every V8 RE5 tranny to start logging part differences and swapable parts. Another variant that I just picked up is the rare VQ37VHR RE5 transmission that only came in 1 model year of G37, it will be interesting if they built them up or not.