Hello all,

I'm new to the infiniti world, but not the car world. I just picked up a 2003 G35 wtih a bunch of problems, hopefully I can work through them and the forum will be of help to me. I suspect much of what I am doing is stuff that's been covered before. For this car, I am not looking to do anything other than restore it to stock and make sure it's very reliable. Right now, it's not and has a host of issues, but that's part of the fun when you pick up a car inexpensively.

Here's the list of problems I have from the start:
-Airbag light is on (no wrecks happened, I'm guessing a loose wire somewhere, either the door airbag or something under the seat got caught and unplugged
-Check engine is on (I have a scanner, I'll check it shortly)
-appears to be a big leak from the back of the engine (I think this is the rear seal, but I will check the other common areas as well)
-huge power steering leak, seems to be coming out of a boot in the steering rack, I think the most straightforward thing to do is replace the steering rack
-very odd shifting issue: when going into third, you have to push in the clutch, and hold it for like 10-20 seconds, and only then put it into third, otherwise it grinds. Maybe a slave issue?
-navigation is missing CD (I will just get rid of this and replace with a 2 DIN setup I think so I can have Carplay

So the big job seems to be getting the tranny out to replace the seal (and oil pan gasket I presume?), then the rack, then everything else.

Anyway, nice to meet everyone, hope we have regional get togethers, I'm in Texas, Dallas/Fort Worth area.

 

Welcome and good luck; it seems you have quite the list of projects. The first thing I'd suggest is downloading the Factory Service Manual for your car. Most of the time they're available to download at NICOclub.

 

Yes, great resource, downloaded!
Thanks

 

Welcome! Good luck and happy reading, tons of info on here as I'm sure you know.

Something(s) to keep in mind, if you're planning on modifying the car down the road, there's something about the early '03 ECUs that can not be flashed by the major VQ tuners. The early 6sp transmissions also had synchro issues, but I believe that was in 5th(?), and as you described it does sound like a pretty strange hydraulic issue. The clutch line runs right by the cat, so the fluid/hose might be toast. If you're swapping the slave cyl I think it's worth putting a heat-shielded stainless line on at the same time... also I have an extra in my garage haha, DM if you're interested.

This is all 'iirc' info, please correct me if I'm wrong!

 

Appreciate the response. I have almost no intentions of modifying it. I simply wanted a car that was luxurious but older and cheap for insurance and that I could make reliable. So, no turbos or anything else. In fact, it has an intake on it, which I will replace with back to stock. The exhaust will probably be the only thing I leave aftermarket since it's already on the car and doesn't alter the sound or the car's behavior usually. But it's good to know the info you are giving on that.
Second, I'm also thinking a hydraulic , maybe a poor slave cylinder, and yes I will replace the fluid first to see if that or maybe air in the lines or something. But also a great tip on the location and switching to a stainless, I may hit you up. I wrap those lines to protect them from heat in my other cars as well, heat shielding is cheap insurance. I'll take a look. I hope it's not a 3rd gear syncro, but it really acts more like a hydraulic issue, as you have said.

Thank you for the advice and suggestions.