"They" ? You mean a dealer, not Infiniti. Dealers aren't Infiniti, they are private businesses. Many dealers probably still promote oil changes every 3000 miles or 3 months. Or, they charge $110 to change the air filters after Nissan spent time and money making the air filters very serviceable, even for the most non-mechanical person around.

 

I'm referring to the Infiniti dealer

 

Almost all dealers - doesn't matter the brand - do up-selling like that. At many dealers, the service writers actually work on commission so the more work they sell, the more they make. I'm surprised that the automakers don't put a stop to that. Sure, they make some money on the parts that are needed but the bulk is almost always going to be labor, which the automaker sees none of. It also makes the vehicle seem more expensive too as it "needs costly repairs".

 

I would have never learned anything about my car if it weren't for the dealer. After one bad visit to them I started learning and fixing things my own, with the help of this site of course. That's how it goes. Been going to Nissan just for parts since then and they are more than happy to help. Sadly the closest Infiniti and Nissan is under the same ownership so I drive the extra miles to the next Nissan. I'm surprised the automaker doesn't step in and control it also since almost all the money is made from the service department. Just one bad experience will put a bad taste in someone's mouth forever. Nissan will look into certain situations at a dealer if a complaint is made, but it's always the managers word vs yours.

 

Problem is, they're trying to sell things 50-100k miles too early. Makes the car seem unreliable and expensive to the average customer

 

Well I had to replace the belt on my '07 G35 at just under 33K. It shredded on me. Luckily I was pretty close to home.

Now, 2 years and about 14K miles later and the belt shredded again! I would think that the OEM belt should last at least 30K miles on gentle driving (mostly freeway).

When I get it all cleaned up I'll also check all of the pulleys and accessories to make sure they are all rotating freely and all in the same plane.

One thing is very clear to me thought, I'll never buy a Nissan/Infiniti again! After years of Honda reliability I guess I was spoiled. If I want a car that breaks down and is poorly made I'll buy a Range Rover or some other British car!

Larry.

 

If a belt breaking is all you class as a failed vehicle I urge you to look closer. The pulley is likely going out too. Good luck.

 

You're right that a single failure point isn't a good reason to abandon a brand. But, having worked in many different brands I've found that the Infiniti isn't really designed for ease of service compared to other brands like Honda, Toyota, Mazda, BMW, Mercedes and others. And while when the car is working, which admittedly is most of the time, it's a smooth, comfortable car, even small details seemed to have eluded the designers.

It's a lot of the small details of the car where they could have gone a step further to really make it nice where they just seemed to cheap-out.

For example, the center armrest console cover is a pretty thick lid. Other brands have taken advantage of that space by adding things like a second storage compartment within the lid or a sliding mechanism for further fore/aft adjustment. The spare tire is under the trunk floor mat. But, the full sized wheel won't fit in the tire well and causes the floor mat to be raised about 2-1/2". If you were on a trip with the trunk loaded with luggage, how would you then carry the flat tire with the spare being used?

Now, on the flip side I really shouldn't complain about this car since I got it for free when my father decided he was too old to safely drive it. So all things considered it's a great car! And if you are the type to bring the car in for servicing at a mechanics then it really isn't a big deal. And, while the belt failure is causing me aggravation right now (and yes, I agree that something besides the belt itself caused the failure like a bad pulley or appliance under the hood) the car is overall great. Oh, and another friend is a factory trained Nissan tech and he says that while there are some minor issues overall this car should last a LONG time and this particular motor is one of the better ones!

But, when it does eventually come time to replace it, it won't be another Infiniti.

Thanks for letting me vent a bit .

Larry.

 

The interior isn't a strength of the G35. Rather its balanced chassis and sports car suspension design combined with a bulletproof and almost maintenance free drivetrain up until 200k+

I just changed a $12 aftermarket belt after a 40k interval of WOT redlining every time I drove. Was in perfect condition with all original pulleys and tensioners at 150k miles now, but I spilled coolant all over it by accident when I decided it was time to replace my G's 16 year old, 150k original radiator, hoses, and thermostat because of some minor seepage after a hard summer track day. Try that with a BMW.

Sounds like you're a future leased German car customer, nothing wrong with that

 

No leases for me! Don't have a write-off for the lease expense so I'll just buy them.

Just finished cleaning out the remains of the belt and found the wheel on the tensioner ($224) a bit loose and the idler pulley ($135) also a bit wobbly. AFAIK, both should spin smoothly with no wobble at all. UGH. $360 on parts that seem to have worn out at 47K miles. Seems like they should last longer than that .

I'll keep the group posted!

Thanks,
Larry.

 

Still way less than a payment. Good luck Larry! This is the place to vent after all...

Cw I'm glad to hear yours puts up with being properly used .

 

Where are you getting those prices? Doesn't seem right

 

I wonder if one of them failed early (earlier than normal) and contributed to the other component failing ?

The factory installed belt in mine lasted 120k miles and could have went longer. I replaced it as "maintenance", not because it broke.

For those prices, those are from the dealer and include installation, right ? $135 for a pulley is outrageous ! Rockauto has pulleys from ACDelco, Gates, Dayco, Continental, etc from $23 to $55. Tensioner runs $45 to $120 for Gates, ACDelco, and Continental.

 

Those prices sound more back down on earth.

 

Local dealer initially quoted me $191 for the idler pulley and $316 for the tensioner. I told them I could get them mail order for much less and asked if they could work with me on the price. I didn't ask them to price match but to maybe knock something off the price. I ended up paying $210 for the tensioner and $160 for the idler pulley. The mail order prices I found were $120 for the idler pulley and $197 for the tensioner.

Considering that the local store has much higher costs for the building, employees, electricity, well, pretty much every cost involved in buying, storing and selling the part I thought this was a good deal. Especially since I could them them the next day (not all the parts were in stock) and the profits they make would be going back into my local community.

I could have bought aftermarket versions for some of the parts but they can be hit or miss. Some are great quality and some are crap. This is my wife's car so I didn't want to gamble on an aftermarket part and take the chance it leaves her stranded again!

One negative is that the dealer ordered the wrong idler pulley for me (even though I gave them the correct part number) so the one final part I need, the idler pulley, just came in this morning. I'll pick it up and then install it today.

I plan on using my laser level to check that all of the pulleys are lined up. Any pulley twisted or out of plane could easily cause the bell to fail prematurely like it did!

Larry.