Hey everyone, newish member here! I've actually owned an 03 Ivory Pearl G35 sedan for a little over a year now (just got it last August) and this site has been beyond helpful so far with any issue that it's had. I previously drove a 97 Toyota FJ80 Land Cruiser. That has one of the best online communities out there, so it was really relieving to find an equally knowledgeable and informative community for the G.

So far since owning it, I've being going through it and addressing any mechanical problems that exist or that I feel might pop up in the future. I want it to be as reliable as possible for daily driving first, and then I eventually I'll get to the performance/cosmetic stuff. The car was relatively low mileage when I got it (84k) and had never been driven hard. For something that is ~15 years old now, it is in pretty great shape.

I've done some minor work on it and already have learned a lot about the VQ engine and the G platform. It's currently at ~93k miles and I plan on driving it hopefully well into the ~200k range. To get it there, I have lots of maintenance planned for the new few years as well. Below I'll list some of the more notable things I've done and some of the things that are next on my list to do. If anyone has any suggestions for other things to look into doing, I'd love to hear them!

Maintenance Performed

• Drained/Filled all Fluids (Coolant, Transmission Fluid, PS Fluid, Rear Diff) in addition to regular oil changes
• Windshield Washer Fluid Pump
• Headlight restoration and clearcoat
• Repainted front grille
• Pulled and fixed the OEM Stereo/AC Control Unit
• Third Brake Light
• Front and Rear Sway Bar End links and bushings replacement (this fixed ~75% of my squeaking and creaking at low speeds)
• Brake Pads, Rotors, and a new caliper to fix a sticky one
• Oil Cooler O-ring
• New belts
• New spark plugs (noticed some oil in #5, valve cover job came shortly after...)
• New Valve Covers
• New Cam Sensors (done while replacing Valve Covers for easy access)
• Z-tube
• 18" wheels off an M35 with a new set of tires. I am keeping the stock 17"s as a winter set

Future Maintenance

• Crank Sensor
• Front Suspension
  • Needs new struts but this will likely turn into an entire front suspension rebuild because almost every bushing and ball joint in sight is dry, cracked, and/or squeaky
• Rear Shocks
• Front Wheel Bearings (one is audibly worn so I might as well replace both)
• Thermostat and most coolant hoses
  • I didn't drain the block during my coolant drain/fill so I kind of wanted to do another at some point anyway
  • I replaced one coolant hose from the throttle body to rear engine during the valve cover job because the rubber was getting kind of dry from 15 years of heat back there
• Repaint the bottom rocker panels black

This list isn't exhaustive because I'm sure along the way I'll find plenty of other things to add, but for now this should keep me pretty busy. If anyone is interested, I keep a detailed spreadsheet of every job I do and every dollar I spend on it to one day figure out what my actual cost of ownership is. I also occasionally will do my own private write up of a job. There are already awesome DIY's here so I haven't posted anything, but it helps me to write down the process before and after doing things to learn and remember better. If anyone sees anything on my list that they could another set of instructions for, feel free to reach out!

So far, I've really enjoyed owning the G. It's a ton of fun to drive and the community here is an awesome bonus. I'm excited to continue learning and hopefully contribute some in whatever ways I can!


2003 Ivory Pearl Sedan with M35 wheels

 

Welcome! Sounds like you've got a nice car and you know what you're doing too! Manual or auto? You might want to take a look at your rear differential bushing, on the coupes they've all blown out by now but on a baby'd sedan with 93k there's a chance they might still be pretending to be functional. I can't say I'm a big fan of those wheels either - they don't fit the character of this car IMO.

 

Thanks! It's an auto. Thanks for the tip about the diff bushing. I had seen that referred to a handful of times on here, but didn't know if it was something that tends to go on all G's or just some. I'll add it to my list and climb under to take a look sometime soon. To be honest, dropping the exhaust is a little scary to me. It's only seen one winter in the Northeast and already things are starting to get pretty rusty down there...

Also, fair point about the wheels. They weren't my first choice based on looks either, but I needed a winter set and at the price and condition I found them in it was impossible to say no.