I just got the bad news on my trusty 2007 G35s.
Had a P0012 error that failed the state registration inspection.

The dealer says the Oil journal gasket and chain tensioner need replacing. They also want to replace the chain at that time which sounds reasonable.
19 hours of work comes to $5000.

The car has ~140k miles and has run great for years. A few minor scratches here and there.
Bought is used in 2012 and it's been rock solid up until now. Maybe $500 total in repairs in that time.

So the questions are..
Or maybe skip on replacing the chain? It most likely the tensioner replacement that's most the labor. So not much savings.
Get a second opinion on repairs at a local shop?
repair it to keep or try to sell it off as is?

A quick look shows cars like this (before repairs) are ~$7-9K. So not a complete total.
I was planning to sell it in about 1-2 years before this happened.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Mick

 

Hi Mick,
I'm a newbie here but have something that might be helpful to share. Before I began self-repairing the front diff on my '07 X car, I asked five shops what it would take to replace it. Each place that said that they would actually consider the job (3 of the 5 weren't interested in the job) the amount of labor would be in double-digits due to the amount of 'stuff' in the way to deal with before you can reach the differential. Two places would have removed the engine to do the job and a lot of labor was tacked on to deal with stubborn fasteners and fixing things that are brittle and fragile on our 16-year-old cars. I have found with first-hand knowledge that it is totally true. Sounds like the shop that told you 19 hours is planning on running into obstacles and finding other worn out parts while they are in there. Maybe the over-padded the estimate but probably not by much.
If I couldn't do the front diff myself, I would have sold the car cause the professional repair shops would have been simply too expensive to make it worth it. But then I would have to accept the fact that a 16-year-old car needing a major repair is not worth a lot of money.
Your personal attachment to the car is the decider on this, and whether you would consider keeping it longer than 2 years to get a return on your investment. A tough place for you to be in, similar to the one I faced. I procrastinated for six months on whether to repair my car or not. I was facing a $5,000 repair bill too. I chose to try to do the job myself as I was in a pickle either way. Hope this helps, Tom

 

Yeah on those HR engines the P0011 and P0021 are almost always caused by the gallery gasket failing causing oil pressure to blow out into the timing chain area.

Honestly if you're just going to sell it in a year or two just ignore the repair and drive it. I've seen/heard from a LOT of people who have ignored it, as long as your oil pressure light isn't on as well you're losing about half the oil pressure but an engine will still run fine with 30psi as long as there is volume to back it up (the HR has excellent volume). Depending on the extent of that gasket blowout you might still have 40-50psi of oil pressure, just not enough to FULLY actuate the cam advance. The only thing you'll notice is the car is a little less powerful at higher rpm because you aren't getting the full cam advance due to not enough pressure to push the actuator.

If your oil pressure light flickers on every once in a while that's a different story though, that's a massive hemorrhage of oil and you probably wouldn't want to drive it.

 

Are you sure it's P0012? As cleric had said, P0011/P0021 are the gallery gasket codes, usually. This is most def not a $5k repair (not even with all of the chains and water pump). They're DP raw-******* you with no lube. Check my thread on when my water pump failed below. it's a tedious repair, but if you're even remotely mechanically inclined and/or have some buddies that can help, is very doable. the hardest part is removing all the accessories to access the front cover bolts. Take your time, read/watch youtube and maybe use some liquid courage (probably best afterwards). At 140k your chain is probably ok. If/when you open it up, see how far extended the tensioner is. Mine was very much extended, but i also had 245k on the clock, so 100k on you. I would just replace the gaskets and be done with it. You wouldn't even have to remove the chain to do that.

Water pump decisions with 245k on the clock - G35Driver - Infiniti G35 & G37 Forum Discussion

 

OP, it depends on your situation.

My car is at 151k miles. I spent $5K in Dec. 2022 on a water pump, some kind of oil leak around where the oil filter sits, valve cover gasket, timing chain. Simply because I need my car to last me 4 more years. Now I'm hearing an exhaust leak. So I need to bring the car in to see how much that will cost. For me, it's school tuition....

 

I’ve been 2-3 years from selling my ‘07 G35S for 10 years! If you treat her well, she will return the favor. I’m in the second, third, or fourth opinion camp. Someone has fixed that condition for less.

 

I took 4 of my PTO days and did those repairs in my garage. If you're mechanically inclined and have the tools it's not too hard to do yourself. The most difficult part was getting cylinder 1 at TDC before starting the work. I also changed the water pump while I was in there.

 

Nice work! I should take a day of PTO to finish my car 😅