Hello All..I came here because I'm overwhelmed,sad and don't know what else to do.
I promised my 17 that I would buy him a car for his grad gift.Instead, he took the initiative and got a job because I have become ill. I decided to match his 2,000 by selling things on offer up.(sorry for the story but it is relevant I promise)
So we found a 2003 Infinity G35 Sedan.We paid $3600.00
We were told that the car only needed an Oil change,a battery and spark plugs.That was on 4/14/20
Since then,,Changed Oil,Spark plugs,Battery.. Immediately after,the car began to stall and turn off while driving.Especially while turning corners.It smells as well
got a diagnostic with code P0345.
To be safe I changed Bank 1&2 Camshaft Sensors as well as crankshaft sensor. The only results were that it doesn't have a rough start and it doesn't stall anymore and VDC,BRAKE,SLIP lights turned off..So I got another scan and it said Coil pack Sensor.So I replaced all 6..It didn't help,it hot worse. but the Check Engine went from solid to blinking

This is the car I bought
..Now it makes a misfire popping noise over and over,car shakes,it drags,not very much power,and after 10 minutes steam comes from the carpet INSIDE THE CAR! The dash hot/cold meter stays the same,not elevated at all.
The worst part is that my son feels defeated,drained,scared and he will not go near the car.I will explain why.
After I handed the money to the guy(my son is in driver seat with keys in ignition,pink slip in his hand)and I am standing behind the guy on the passenger side with the door open.He tells my son "Congrats you are a good kid for trying to buy this on your own,always project your mom"...Then he leans in and says" Let me see the keys real quick".
He grabs the keys from the ignition,takes pink slip out of my sons hand and tries to take off..I closed the door on him ,grabbed the keys and pink slip back,and he flees to a waiting van with 3 men in it.My son is beyond traumatized.Hes ashamed because he says "mom ,you could have been hurt or killed because of me".. He's apologizes non-stop and he feels embarrassed.He will not leave hisn room nor does he want to talk to anyone..I don't see the excited, ambitious,full of life hardworking kid anymore.That person robbed the innocence that I worked very hard to maintain as a single mom.
I'm sorry for the story,but I am broken,stressed,overwhelmed and don't know what else to do about this car.I refuse to sell a lemon to ANYONE..So all I'm asking for are suggestions,advice or DIY tips to help me figure out what the problem is with this car
2003 Infinity G35 197,000 miles...
Thank you,and please don't be mean or hateful towards me. I am already emotionally and physically drained over this.
Again,Any little suggestions would help.
Vee
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First things first, tell your son that some times **** happens and that everything is going to be fine. Nothing about owning a car is easy, In my entire lifetime of owning 30+ vehicles I have NEVER had a vehicle that just ran perfectly all the time, parts wear out, especially when you're getting near the 200k mile mark. Parts break, maintenance requires a lot of WORK, but if you really want it and are willing to work for it even an older vehicle can be brought back to life and run like a champ.

As for the vehicle itself, your CEL started blinking, typically that only happens under powertrain critical failure that can DAMAGE the engine, things like overheating, since it blew steam I'm guessing it was overheating regardless of what the needle on the dash says.

Here is a link to the factory service manual, the actual Nissan/Infiniti textbook that the dealership uses to work on these things, I recommend you go to each section for your vehicle and download a copy of it onto your pc or phone. Store it all in a separate folder and you will be able to click on sections and they will automatically load.

https://www.nicoclub.com/infiniti-service-manuals

Everything starts at the FWD - Forward document, it's basically the table of contents. Some years also have IDX - Index which can be handy for looking up keywords.

First I would get a cheap OBD2 scanner if you don't already have one, you need to rescan the car to find out what codes are in it right now.

The previous code P0345 is for the EVAP solenoid, fairly easy to replace but since you have a 2003 you need to verify which solenoid style you have, read the notes on Z1 Motorsports page about them and it will help you determine which one you need.

https://www.z1motorsports.com/intake...435vudv81hcdj5

Keep those existing cam and crank sensors if you didn't replace them with Hitachi or Genuine Nissan Parts OEM sensors (Hitachi was the OEM manufacturer). These cars don't play nice with aftermarket sensors and you might need to put the old ones back in if you didn't use the Hitachi / OEM ones.

The most important thing to repair right now is the coolant leak, you need to first FIND the leak so rent a pressure tester from an auto parts store and figure out what blew. It's probably the heater core bleed valve on the right side in the engine bay, it's made of plastic and is a notorious failure point, when they rupture it dumps all the coolant right onto the header and creates a ton of steam. If it's broken badly enough it might just be in two pieces and will be easy to see, just outside the battery box between the battery and the engine.

Z1 makes a metal replacement one that's more durable than the OEM plastic, here is what the OEM looks like.

https://conceptzperformance.com/niss...00_p_15693.php

Here is the Z1 metal replacement one.

https://www.z1motorsports.com/z1-pro...e-p-11190.html

Once you have the leak repaired you will need to bleed the air from the coolant system, the most important thing is to add the coolant VERY SLOWLY to the radiator (rate of about 1 gallon per minute) until it comes out the coolant purge valve, then screw the valve shut, then continue adding coolant VERY SLOWLY until the radiator is full. Then you start the burping procedure, lots of people take the easy route and use a Lisle funnel, you can google search a lot of ways to burp the coolant system. If it's still tossing codes get those fixed before burping.

For the future when you get a code try to isolate JUST THAT PROBLEM and not just throw parts at the car hoping something will fix it. For example, the first code you got for the EVAP solenoid you instead replaced both cam and crank sensor but didn't replace the EVAP solenoid. Basically it's just wasting money and you always have a chance that the replacement parts might be defective so you can end up spending a lot of time chasing down other problems without actually fixing anything.

Same thing with the coil packs, the code was for a SPECIFIC coil pack, not all 6. It probably just needed one of them replaced but extra money was spent on 5 other coil packs which are component that typically last a VERY long time and will often outlast the motor.

Using the FSM will help, you can look up specific engine codes at the front of document EC - Engine Controls and go to the specific section on that code to read more about it and a list of items to TROUBLESHOOT. With the exception of a couple sensors like the hall-effect cam/crank sensors that require an oscilloscope to actually troubleshoot there is basically nothing else on the vehicle that can't be properly troubleshooted.

Keep adding your questions to this thread and we'll keep answering them, this forums isn't as active as it once was but there's still a LOT of knowledgeable and helpful folks that will donate time answering questions to help you get this car back up.

Welcome to the forums, make your son help you with all these repairs, get his hands dirty, that's part of owning a car unless you want to shell out $125/hr to pay a shop to do work.

 

I also recommend putting the instrument cluster into diagnostic mode to see if it's reading correctly. Section DI - Driver Information under "self diagnosis" on page 12.

Also, the various recalibration steps are located in EC - Engine Controls under "basic service procedures" on page 71, contains things like resetting the ECM and such.

 

As for nearly getting robbed, since things like Craigslist and FB Marketplace as so popular nowadays many cities have set up "safe exchange locations" that are well lit, camera monitored, public places designed SPECIFICALLY for people to more-safely transfer money/goods.

If your town doesn't offer this feature then use my time-tested-and-proven version which is to do the exchange right in front of the local police station. You're not getting robbed right in front of the police station...

 

Wow what a story! I hate scumbags who do that kinda stuff. I always have a knife in my pocket whenever I’m meeting anyone to buy or sell anything. Glad you guys were unharmed though. And as Cleric said, do your next transactions at a designated safe space or police station parking lot.

Onto the car....Who is doing all the maintenance work? Are they good at it? It almost sounds like you have your spark plug wires crossed up. I wouldnt try driving the car or even letting it run if its misfiring that badly.

Why is there steam coming from the carpet? Which part of the carpet? U sure its not smoke? The only thing I can think of that would cause that is your catalytic converters getting super hot and heating up the underside of the car. But I would worry about that after u get the engine sorted out.

Do u have a code reader?

 

first of all thanks for responding.As far as the maintenance I was told by the seller that the car had been in the family for 15 years and 1 previous owner.He said that they maintained and only used Quality parts and service through Infinity Dealer.Which I found to be a lie because the coil pack were 3 different brands.As far as the reader,yes I got 4 different scans.As of today I got the Throttle body actuator malfunction code.Im afraid to have it replaced if that is not the problem.I have spent over 1000$ since I purchased the car last week.I don't know what else to do,but again Thank you for taking the time out of your day to respond..
Vee

 

I wouldnt believe anything the seller has told u.

Who is doing the maintenance work now?

 

OK, many times if something goes wrong that wasn't there before some work was done, usually it's related to something that was touched as part of the work that was just done or inadvertently. First, if you paid a mechanic to do the work, carry it back to them and tell them what started happening right after their work. As far as what might be wrong, I suspect that the work related with the spark plugs is the more likely culprit, but the quickest thing to check is the tightness of the battery cables. Check the negative first, then the positive, using a pair of large pliers (aka channel locks), grab the battery post clamp and see if it will easily spin on the battery post. If it does, there's your problem, tighten the clamp more securely. Regarding the spark plugs, things I know to check include the electrical connectors to the coil packs and the wires leading to them. It's very common for the connector locking clips to break when disconnecting them from the coil pack, especially with a car with some age on it. Did any of the new spark plugs get dropped prior to their installation? Were the spark plugs properly gapped? Also, what brand were they (avoid the cheapest when it comes to spark plugs)? Can't go wrong with NGK but get the version made with OEM-equivalent materials (Rockauto.com is a great source for explaining which ones in their description). Also, don't go with the cheapest coil packs either. Research on this site and see which OEM-equivalent ones to get.

I once changed the spark plugs and wires on my 2002 Explorer and right afterward the car A/C would stop working if I accelerated quickly. It turns out that I accidentally disconnected a vacuum line when one of the stubborn spark plug wires yanked loose from the plug. I reconnected the vacuum line and problem solved, so always look for the simple stuff first.

Also, tell your son not to get discouraged. Most everything can be fixed. Everyone in life gets knocked down. What determines the character of a person is whether they get back up or stay down. Tell him to decide from this point forward to get back up every time. NEVER GIVE UP... NEVER GIVE UP!!

 

Exactly which codes is it throwing right now? They should start with a P and have 4 digits afterwards like P0001 and so on.

 

thank you for your Information ..I will be checking out the links that yout kindly sent
to me and I will be going g to Autozone first thing in the A.M...I appreciate all of the advice I can get.I kind of gave up on the car this weekend and distracted myself untll I read your popost. Thanks to you I feel motivated again...
I will keep you guys updated...