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What’s up everybody,
I’ve been constantly coming to this forum looking at everyone’s g’s since my senior year of high school in preparation for when I can buy my first G. Now it’s my senior year of college and I came across a 2004 black obsidian g35x with 139k miles for around $2500. I know that a 15 year old car will not be perfect as I expect to have a few repairs to make but I just need to know what I may be getting myself into. The body and interior is in excellent condition without any rips or tears on the seats and the radio even works! The only issue I managed to find is the ashtray will not close shut and the clock is dim. While driving the car I noticed a few mechanical things that I may need help with diagnosing:
- driving through an unpaved parking lot I can feel a clicking/ light thump coming from the drivers footwell... I’m thinking maybe control arm or shocks?
- at wot around 4K rpm the engine hesitates and slowly climbs up to redline while the “Service Engine Soon” light blinks for awhile then goes off once I am back to cruising speeds
- shifts are a little slow when letting the auto shift and has a slight hesitation and thud when kicking down at higher speeds. The manual mode it’s a little better
- also at a stop light I smelled oil as I was sitting but while driving and when I got out of the car the smell went away
This was an auction car as most of my cars were so I do not know what the previous owner has done but when I checked the carfax there was only 2 owners. The first had the car up until 111k miles with 19 service history records. It’s dark out now so I will post pictures tomorrow.
I will have access to a garage and I’m so-so with a wrench. Overall I think I am getting a great car and I cannot wait to have her in immaculate condition. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I should get done? And any specific posts for diy’s?
Sorry about the long post but I’m excited to finally be able to join this community and also eager to hear what advice you all may have. Hopefully one day I will be able to share my experiences and what Ive learned with future members!
Thanks in advance! And oh yeah in case any Philly fans see this tonight #HTTR🔥
Just got her home. No check engine lights but there is a p0305 code that came up. I’m in luck because I ordered my replacement plugs and coils a few days ago and they should arrive shortly.
Also, I can’t get a good reading of the oil level by checking the dipstick. I was going to change the oil and filter anyway so I guess I’ll find out in a little while.
The pics didn't show up! And yeah, our dipsticks suck. Only way to get a reading is when the car is completely cold in the morning and even then it's a pain. All the Gs burn some oil so once you figure that out through oil changes you can just add oil and never touch that thing again unless you have a reason to.
That "thud" when downshifting is the engine, transmission, and differential moving excessively as the 15 year old worn out rubber parts are deformed by the raging torque of your slightly-broken VQ35DE! It only gets worse the more you beat on it.
All of the rubber drive train parts are the engine mounts, transmission mount, differential bushings, driveshaft support bushing, and subframe bushings. Your diff bushing is 100% blown out if it's original so I'd start there. Adding a cheap ebay engine torque damper will also do wonders for preserving your engine mounts and getting rid of some of that slack, because changing the mounts is a royal PITA.
You could try and find what's making the front end noise and just replace that to "save money", but if everything down there is original 15 year old rubber, you might as well just replace everything with polyurethane or you'll be tearing it apart to fix a new noise every month. See "Whiteline essential bushings kit (also comes with diff bushings)", and purchase sway bar and steering rack bushings from Energy. Then go get an alignment. Makes the car feel better than new from behind the wheel, and adds confidence knowing that everything that connects your brain to the road is all brand new and installed properly.
I went with all Moog and Mevotech parts, everything is greasable and sturdier looking than stock and they were towards the lower end of the price range when considering only quality parts.
My bad, I tried to upload using my phone but here she is. While changing the oil filter earlier I noticed a leak coming from the housing which is probably the reason why I smelled oil and seen a little smoke with the hood open. After a little research I found out a few people had problems with the o ring in the housing so I guess I'll keep that in mind next time around. However, the old filter didn't seem too tight so I'm hoping its not really a problem with the new one on.
The pics didn't show up! And yeah, our dipsticks suck. Only way to get a reading is when the car is completely cold in the morning and even then it's a pain. All the Gs burn some oil so once you figure that out through oil changes you can just add oil and never touch that thing again unless you have a reason to.
That "thud" when downshifting is the engine, transmission, and differential moving excessively as the 15 year old worn out rubber parts are deformed by the raging torque of your slightly-broken VQ35DE! It only gets worse the more you beat on it.
All of the rubber drive train parts are the engine mounts, transmission mount, differential bushings, driveshaft support bushing, and subframe bushings. Your diff bushing is 100% blown out if it's original so I'd start there. Adding a cheap ebay engine torque damper will also do wonders for preserving your engine mounts and getting rid of some of that slack, because changing the mounts is a royal PITA.
You could try and find what's making the front end noise and just replace that to "save money", but if everything down there is original 15 year old rubber, you might as well just replace everything with polyurethane or you'll be tearing it apart to fix a new noise every month. See "Whiteline essential bushings kit (also comes with diff bushings)", and purchase sway bar and steering rack bushings from Energy. Then go get an alignment. Makes the car feel better than new from behind the wheel, and adds confidence knowing that everything that connects your brain to the road is all brand new and installed properly.
I went with all Moog and Mevotech parts, everything is greasable and sturdier looking than stock and they were towards the lower end of the price range when considering only quality parts.
Thanks! I appreciate the suggestions. I'm pretty sure its a thread or two dedicated to bushings but in your opinion is it difficult replacing them? And were you able to do them all in one sitting??
12-03-2018, 06:59 PM
