patrick13

Hi everyone,

So after an awesome, invigorating, first two weeks with my G37, I was just about to go on my first out of town trip with the car, and I am now instead disappointed and about ready to go bonkers. I had just filled up with some Exxon 93 gas this afternoon, and on my drive home, the SES light comes on and my engine slams into what I believe is coined around here as "limp mode." An instant WTF moment looms over my head and I head for Advanced Auto instead of home and find out I have these 6 dreadful codes P0524 History, P0021, P0524 Confirmed, P0021, P0524 Pending, and P0524 Permanent. From research, this sounds like I am f'd and might be on the road to a new rear gasket? Are there any steps or anything I can do before I head to the dealership? Every thread I went through did not really seem to come to a conclusion (especially concerning those out of warranty). So now I have the car at home and all I can think about is how I just purchased a paperweight.

Additionally, if it is of any help, I also recently performed an oil change and my oil levels looked good to me, so this just makes things sound worse to me. My post-purchase maintenance thread is here: https://www.myg37.com/forums/g37-sed...ce-advice.html

patrick13

Should I perhaps get on a warrantydirect purchase/payment plan before I roll into the shop lol?

blnewt

iTrader: (13)

Damn, Patrick, sorry to hear of that bad turn
Aftermarket warranties are typically quite easy for the company to deny bigger claims. They have a lot of fine print that can make very vague causes for denial such as overheating, how could you prove that the car never was subject to overheating

Did you buy your G from an Infiniti dealer or a bigger reputable dealer that may be able to step up here since you've only had this in your ownership for a few weeks?

You can check the oil pressure but if you've already gotten that series of codes it's not looking good there. The Nissan dealers are typically cheaper for the repair, there may be a shop that does a lot of Z/G work that may be even better, but expect at least a $1500 charge. At 144k miles a new water pump and timing internals would be good to do as well if you plan to keep this w/ your original plan of 250k miles. Hopefully you can get this handled for the best deal and have a trouble free car for the rest of your ownership. I doubt you're thinking too far down the road at this point, but that oil seal is THE main flaw w/ the first few years of the G37s so if you can get by this hurdle...........

patrick13

Yeah it definitely sucks man
And gotcha. With that being said I'll just scratch that off my list haha.

Unfortunately, it was a mom and pop shop so probably not gonna get much luck there.

However, I did manage to drive the car into my local Infiniti this morning to have them at least check out what was going on. Upon inspection, they took me back to the service bays and first off pointed out that all my radiator fluid had just spilled out onto the shop floor.... LOL. So right off the bat, my car is now undriveable. Then the mechanic then told me upon reading the codes and doing the tests, I was below the 14/42psi spec limits for my oil and that pretty much means my gasket is blown

Now with that being said, I did happen to get my coolant system flushed about a week ago, and since coolant just leaked out everywhere, I called up the Nissan shop and explained that I have coolant everywhere and asked if it was covered under their 12 month/12k mi warranty. So Nissan towed over the car to their shop and performed their own inspection and said it would be $140 to read the codes, but otherwise it would be about a $560 job to fix some kind of thermostat that somehow got stuck open and caused my engine to overheat and go into limp mode and replace a few hoses (I think one was on the passenger side) that we're contributing to coolant being spilled everywhere. But none of that work would be covered by the radiator flush warranty since those components weren't "messed" with during servicing. I don't feel like paying them $140 for diag fees since they won't take any blame to begin with and I have a pretty good idea its that damn gasket. But does this mean I have two issues that need to get fixed now? And is there potential engine damage at this point now too? I feel pretty screwed...

And tomorrow I will be giving a Z/G specialty performance shop a call (Jotech) to see if they can perhaps offer a solution that doesn't cost as much.

It is a little hard to think far down the road now, but I would still like to see this car hit 250k. However, I am starting to have some concerns and doubts that this car would actually make it past 150k or 175k...

patrick13

So this was the quote from my Infiniti dealer and I am now wondering if I should just declare an insurance loss or something. The proposed work is going to outweigh the cost of the damn car. :P

slartibartfast

iTrader: (7)

blnewt

iTrader: (13)

Very sad start to your new G experience I must say
Like slartibart said, decent options for saving money on parts but you've got quite the laundry list now. Rear shocks are a simple install and parts aren't bad cost wise, probably shave a grand off that if you can DIY the install or know someone that can help. Since I've never done the heater core hose replacement I can't say how hard that is to get to, but $400 sounds awfully high. That cost for the oil seals is on the high side, like I mentioned earlier, w/ your miles a new water pump and timing chain (and associated guides, tensioners, etc.) should be done while you're in there, that $2400 total might include all that if you shop around a bit.

At any rate, bitter pill to swallow so you've got a lot to consider, hopefully you can stay w/ your G if you can get all this remedied from reasonable shops. Best of luck!

Baadnewsburr

iTrader: (3)

I have changed the heater hoses and thats stupid high, the oem parts are about $50.00 maybe less includign the OEM clamps and theres no way that the labour is more than an hour... I replaced all mine with silicone and it was less than $100 including oem clamps and and my older version (vq35hr) has twice as many hoses and clamps blus bleed valves vs the vq37vhrs simplified hose design with no bleed valves...I'd be surprised if it was, but this may be book time...

also the almost $75.00 to change the tail parking bulb is silly....I don't even see how this can be attributed to book time...I'm surprised the mom and pop shop you bought from wont deal with this as this should be a basic safety/inspection registration item...

as mentioned above the rear bushing requires the replacement of the entire rear subframe by the dealer- they dont do alternatives, but numerous after market solutions are available for about $100 in parts and maybe $5-600 hundred in labour on the highside...that beign sid oyu can probably live with this not being fixed for a long time

as slarti said get the shock and bushing done at an independent..... they'll probably give you a break on the labour for doing multiple jobs....

the only thing that doesn't seem too insane is the quote on the rear timing cover gasket, but an independent can probably do it and change your water pump and tensioners/chains (all of which should be done at the same time) for that price. However, this is the only job that I would be concerned about whether an independent is capable of doing the work/can be trusted to do the work...the rest is all really basic ...I feel like the dealer knows that this is the only real "emergency" issue you are dealing with so they figure you may get additional quotes on it and see they aren't too bad and they are trying to hose you on the other stuff thinking you wont bother getting additional quotes on this stuff because they aren't real emergencies.

Anyways, I echo the sentiments of others that it sucks that this is your intro to the vehicle, but good luck.

patrick13

Wow. Thank you all for your thoughts, support, and advice! It is greatly appreciated guys!

Just kinda going down point by point from everything you guys said.

In terms of my cross member getting replaced, I think I will just outright wait on that one for now if possible.

For the Rear Shocks, I will pick up some OEM from Rock Auto, or perhaps a nicer pair from Z1 if I can afford it. Then take those somewhere to get installed as I am new to the North Dallas area and don't have many resources yet lol.

For the Heater Core Hose, I am also thinking about taking that to a local shop somewhere so I'm not getting gouged at the dealership.

And most importantly, for the rear timing cover gasket, I am not really sure where to go or how to really look around for a reliable and reputable independent shop that can handle this job. I gave the G/Z experts here in town earlier and they said for the labor alone would be in the range of 3-4k. I am going to start calling around other Nissans and Infinitis soon to see what there pricing is, but do you guys have any tips for finding a good local Nissan/Infiniti shop? I would also absolutely want to get a new water pump and timing chain (and associated guides, tensioners, etc.) with this job as I would kick myself if it had to be torn apart again.

For the rear tail light, yeah that price is an absolute joke and I will perform the change myself haha. I also must say that all the lights were functioning on the vehicle when I purchased it. So it must have given up in the last few miles too.

I really would like to get this car fixed up and running again, but man I just feel like something else expensive will go wrong as soon as I get it fixed up with my luck thus far. Like my tranny gives out or my engine implodes lol. But I can see the pricing tactics that might be employed here and appreciate the insight. I definitely will be shopping around for prices until at least next week as I cannot afford to jump into it haha.

conkus805

iTrader: (1)

just get a new motor be and be done with it . I had the same problem and decided for the money, that replacing the motor was a better choice than doing expensive work on a high mileage motor. just make sure you get a motor that is a 2011 or newer so you have the updated gasket.

slartibartfast

iTrader: (7)

yoda466

I hope the OP does not mind a minor thread detour. I have a 2011 G25 with the VQ25, 2.5L engine. Does anyone know if that engine suffers from this same issue? I have found nothing online about it. Thanks.

patrick13

Hmmm, would that seriously be a better option or perhaps the wisest use of my money? I have read that there is a lot of minor things here and there that can go wrong with an engine swap, in addition to sourcing a good motor. Additionally, I haven't had much luck finding a reputable shop in my area yet. Would a Nissan/Infiniti dealership be able to perform this operation best with some kind of warranty behind it?

As of now, I think I am just going to start saving up for having a Nissan shop replace all the rear timing cover gaskets in addition to getting the timing components, water pump, and drive belt replaced.

Lastly, does anyone know if I should have the shop inspect for any other kind of damage to the engine from this incident and oil pressure drop occurring to my engine? I was definitely having some spirited driving before hand.

patrick13

I don't mind it at all! From my understanding, your engine should not be affected by this issue. While I may be wrong, the primary vehicles that are going to be affected are the 2009-2011 G37/370z cars with the VQ37 engine in it.

yoda466

Thanks so much Patrick! I hope you are correct. I seem to be one of a few dozen people who have the 2.5 engine LOL! I really like it, but information on it is hard to come by. So sorry to hear about your problem, but from what I have heard once that have that issue fixed that 3.7 engine is pretty bullet proof. Thanks again.