Just a quick hello and thanks to everyone for this awesome site. I just bought my 16 year old son his first car this week, a 2003 G35 Sedan Premium. 124,000, 1 owner care, garaged its whole life and pretty well maintained. New tires and brakes all around at 121,000.
A few nagging issues with it, loose seat. Read the thread about seatrails, took the driver seat out yesterday and there was a bolt on the floor, tracked it down to the side bracket by the tranny tunnel, no more seat rocking!
Third brake light was out. Bought the new circuit board from a link I found on here for $55.00, came yesterday. Found the thread on replacing it through the trunk and now have a working third brake light.
Changed the oil and filter Friday, full synthetic along with an air filter. Cleaned the leather and buffed out a couple scratches then did a coat of wax. Not so much as a door ding on the car.
I knew of all of these issues. Two other problems I discovered after buying it. I drove the car on a hot day with the AC on. Since then, driving it with the AC off, I heard a noise from the back end. I am thinking it is a wheel bearing on the right side as the previous owner had the left one replaced at 121K.
Second problem arose yesterday. Sitting in a drive thru, VERY hot day, temp guage spiked close to the H mark! Drove away and started to drop but still ran about 3/4 point the 2 miles home. This car has only 1 electric fan in front of the radiator and a pulley driven one behind it. I let the car idle with the AC cranked and the electric fan did cycle on an off, so I will knock that off the list. The car had a coolant replacement at 121K as well..so could it be the thermostat? Air bubbles in the system?
Overall, I am very happy with the purchase, its a helluva lot nicer first car than I had, a '66 VW bug with no heat! I got it for less than Kelly Blue Book from a private owner.

 

It isn't a surprise that a car with 121k miles on it may have a worn cooling system or worn driveline/suspension parts.

Sure hope it's not the water pump on the G, they suck to replace (I believe if you do it wrong, the timing cover comes off).

As for the overheating, make sure all the air is out of the system.

Check the oil every other gas fill up, these engines are known to consume oil.

Hello from Mason, enjoy the car!

 

Since it only overheated at a stop it's probably the fan clutch, with the engine COLD (and not running obviously) try to spin the belt-driven fan by hand, it should turn about "1 blade" of a rotation when you really give it a whirl. Next get the engine up to temp, turn the engine off, try to spin the fan again, it should be VERY stiff and unable to spin it at all. If you can spin the fan the clutch is shot, which is likely considering the mileage.

The fan only really does anything when you're not moving, otherwise there's sufficient air blowing through the radiator for it to do it's thing, 2 mile drive sounds about right for the heat removal you experienced (3/4 on the gauge) it's a lot of work to exchange that much heat out of the radiator once it's that hot, especially when airflow isn't optimal anymore.

Congrats on the new (used) car!

 

Nice idea ^. Didn't think of that.

 

Mason, not too far from me, I am in Anderson Township. Thanks for the welcome and the tips. I checked out a coupe used car lots up in Mason the past couple weeks..Becks was one, on Rt. 42. Couldn't even get a rep to come out and talk to me. They had a 2003 I35 up there with (if I remember correctly), 88K on it. After viewing it on the lot, and for what they were asking, I just drove off. Then I stopped at another smaller lot and test drove a couple but with all the add on fees, I decided to look for a private seller.

My son just turned 16 and we set a budget of $5K for his 1st car and all I can say, $5k doesn't buy much these days! Most of what I looked at was junk in that price range. Most had much higher mileage than the G35 we ended up with and not in near the condition.

I am different myself, I flip cars every 3 years or so like maintaining them. Once they get about 60K its time for a new one. This car will buck that tradition.

I bought a 77 280Z about 10 years ago and between the online forums and a bit of common sense, I figured out how to do most work myself. I really appreciate this forum, it has helped a lot already!

 

Thanks much for the info, I will try that. We drove it about 6 miles to an empty lot tonight for his 1st time behind the wheel of it and only the 2nd time behind a wheel period!
The temp gauge was a bit below halfway the drive down with the AC going. He drove about 15 minutes at low speeds with the AC on and I looked over and the temp gauge was at about 3/4 again. A few minutes later it was nearing the first line by the H. We turned the AC off at that point and it dropped back down some. Then on the drive home, with the Ac off, it dropped back down close to the 1/2 way point.

I will check the fan out per your advice. I did some reading late last night and was surprised the car had only 1 electrical fan vs. the 2 I had seen and read about. Seems they went to the dual fans in 2003.5. Hopefully, its nothing major. I knew when buying a 14 year old car with 124K on it, it wasnt going to be perfect!

The guy I bought it from rarely drove it the past 4 years..less than 3,000 miles. Looking through receipts, the tires were replaced at 121K but that was in 2013! He bought the car new and drove it occasionally as the replacement car was a SmartFourTwo just for commuting to and from work.

 

Just a heads up about those tires, they're getting near the 5 year mark (end of life of a tire) and while they may still LOOK NEW the rubber has changed it's chemical composition enough (rubber decay) that it will no longer grip the road when you need it. Fine for standard commute but if you ever have to slam the breaks or turn hard to avoid road trash beware because the car might completely lose it's ****.

The tread pattern is for removing water from the tire surface, the chemical makeup of the rubber is what sticks you to the road and as the tire ages it loses that specific chemical makeup. With an inexperienced driver and a 250+hp rwd car this sounds like trouble, if nothing else get behind the wheel yourself in a big parking lot and do a couple hard brake checks and slalom checks just to make sure it's still safe for your young lad.

 

I took your advice when I got home. Spun the belt driven fan, got about 2 blades rotation with the engine cold.
Let it get up to temp, turned the car off and tried to spin it. It spun like it wasnt hooked up to anything at all, like a pinwheel toy in the wind.
So, according toy your post, the clutch fan is shot. I will attempt this fix myself, ordering the part once I log off here.
Just a quick note of thanks, hoping that corrects the issue! Thanks as well for your comments on the tires! You are correct, safety is my main concern, especially when my son is behind the wheel!

 

Lol that's crazy, the clutch spring must be broken or something, that's literally the exact OPPOSITE of what it's supposed to do, it should be semi-loose cold and extremely tight when hot. It's an easy replacement if you have fairly small hands, the hardest part can be trying to get the pulley to not slip on the belt, I usually remove the belt and use my "special tool" which is a 2x4 with a hole drilled in the middle big enough to fit a garbage belt, loop it over the pulley, through the hole in the 2x4, then just prop it an an angle to create some bite, then you essentially have a big 2x4 lever to keep the pulley from spinning.

I'm not at the shop or I would take a pic, the best I can do is a crappy windows paint drawing.

Holy crap... I suck so bad at drawing >.<

 

Here's a link to the factory service manual for that fan repair, page 22 is the one you want.

http://www.nicoclub.com/service-manu.../Sedan/2003/co

Familiarize yourself with the FSM, it'll save you.

http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/G35/Sedan/2003/

IDX is the index

 

Eveningineer status right there. Nice drawing.

I actually bought my G from what was K&G Motors that now is Becks Auto. They have some great prices. My G was parked next to a Fairlady Z 350 show car and that's what got me interested. Had the '05 sedan prior.

Hope your fan spring thing issue fixes the problem. Cleric thanks for helping.

 

[QUOTE=cleric670@gmail;7112793]Lol that's crazy, the clutch spring must be broken or something, that's literally the exact OPPOSITE of what it's supposed to do, it should be semi-loose cold and extremely tight when hot. It's an easy replacement if you have fairly small hands.
Thanks again, nice drawing by the way. Maybe I can get Trump to lend me his "small hands" for the job...sorry, couldn't resist.
I ordered one online, should be here in a few days, weekend will be upon us soon enough to straighten it out. I will attempt the fix myself. Thanks again!

 

Thanks for the well wishes. Was it a real Fairlady, meaning a RH Drive model?
They had some nice rides up there but in the price range I looked at, not much unfortunately. After they finish tacking all the "charges" on, title work, prep fee, on and on it goes...I was happy to find a private owner...saved many $100's just in fees.

 

They weren't as bad as most places in the area in terms of fees. Plus they were very hands off. I just walked the floor and picked what I wanted.

Yes it was a real RHD one, and had an ENDLESS brake kit on it that was worth more than the car's blue book value at the time.