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Maintenance & Repair Maintenance & Repair - Archived Discussions Q45 Troubles 
135 messages, Last post on Jul 28, 2001 at 10:10 AM
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I have noticed a lot of posters take their cars to dealers for servicing. This is one reason maintaining these cars tend to be costly. This is true of all car makes and particularly so for luxury marques like Lexus and Infiniti. I recently needed the 60K for my Lexus ES300, for which the local Toyota dealer quoted me $1400. He tried to sell me on the point that the Lexus dealer would charge me about $2000 for the same service. When I bought the car, the previous owner also cautioned me on expensive services, him also using dealership servicing. I finally found a Toyota/Nissan expert to service the car for me, for the total cost of $580, which also included a brake service and a front end alignment, which would have been extras at the dealerships also. |
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I had a 1990 q-45 and loved it. Dealer was very helpful and found a way to cover problems with warranty ect. When it was time to get a new car I bought and 1994 kia or at least that's what my new q has brought me. It had about 75K and I decided, for the $ I could not get a better car so I would put a little $ in it and drive it for a few more years. I did some work ($800) to the front end that I had been putting off and had some other nagging problems fixed. I told them when I took it in to check to see what was causing it to spit and sputter on occasion. They told me everything was ok, and that maybe I had bought some bad gas. Anyway after I got it back the spitting and sputtering continued and I took it back. They then determined that the injectors were leaking and had to be replaced ($2K+). Well I was already $800 into it and said go ahead. When I got it back about a week later, I noticed a burning oil smell. I took it back thinking it must be something with the injectors--but no, it was the head gasket on both sides. They swore they did not touch these during the injector repair> Another $800 later I'm ready to get out of the car for almost anything. The Infinity dealer changed hands and that could be part of the problem, but I just don't get the good feeling I had with my first Q |
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I had a 1990 q-45 and loved it. Dealer was very helpful and found a way to cover problems with warranty ect. When it was time to get a new car I bought and 1994 kia or at least that's what my new q has brought me. It had about 75K and I decided, for the $ I could not get a better car so I would put a little $ in it and drive it for a few more years. I did some work ($800) to the front end that I had been putting off and had some other nagging problems fixed. I told them when I took it in to check to see what was causing it to spit and sputter on occasion. They told me everything was ok, and that maybe I had bought some bad gas. Anyway after I got it back the spitting and sputtering continued and I took it back. They then determined that the injectors were leaking and had to be replaced ($2K+). Well I was already $800 into it and said go ahead. When I got it back about a week later, I noticed a burning oil smell. I took it back thinking it must be something with the injectors--but no, it was the head gasket on both sides. They swore they did not touch these during the injector repair> Another $800 later I'm ready to get out of the car for almost anything. The Infinity dealer changed hands and that could be part of the problem, but I just don't get the good feeling I had with my first Q |
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Generally all full size V8 [V12 about $4,000]imported lux cars cost about $3,000 each and every year to maintain properly [80% don't spent this much then just let it slowly rot] after the warranty expires..... just a fact of life and just because you don't spend it one year save it as the next will make it up. The LS400 saves maybe $500 year but you pay a much higher price up front....the Honda Civic is even less expensive. We repair about 2300 units [Lexus & Inf combined]annually at our unique dual independent shop. |
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| I have a 94 q45 with 104k miles, and have begun noticing a hot smell under the hood recently. I took it to the Infiniti dealer and he said there was no record of the car getting a 60k mile checkup. I purchased the car at the 75k mark, and knew the former owner, who kept the car in excellent shape. I just assumed he had the 60k checkup done by someone else. The dealer also said the welch plugs were leaking and in order to replace them, they would have to pull the transmission, at a cost of about $2500. After doing some research on the subject, I have found a web site entitled infinitiexpert.com. He has recommended this type of repair may not be necessary. If the leaking is not severe, the plugs may seal themselves. The only side effect is that there will be a burning smell under the hood caused by the coolant coming into contact with the hot engine. Does this make sense? I see that others have had to replace "freeze plugs?" Is this the same thing? If this is an inherent problem with Q45s, maybe there is something that can be done as a group. I have never experienced this type of problem with any other vehicle. I would appreciate any comments. Thanks, sliles2 | |
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Dribling freeze plugs are common in cars that don't have regular coolant flush/changes ....another sign that besides no 60 k service your friend was less diligent. http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/infinitiownersclub 10,000 posts on Q45 repairs and problems |
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| To Sliles: You indicated that you contacted infinitiexpert.com in your January 9, 2001 message. However, I tried it and got a message that the web site had gone out of business. That seems awfully quick. Did I copy the info down wrong or was he short lived. Any help? | |
| Does anyone have a problem in a 91 Q45 with the transmission shuddering from a standstill for the first few seconds until it gets to about 5 or 10 mph. I changed the fluid completely and it helped a lot but still get shuddering a little. | |
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| if you want to hear a horror story listen to this. i bought a 1990 q45 for $5,575 in april 2000. i was happy with it. It have 130,000 miles on it. i was driving it for 3 months and the problems started occuring. I was driving from work and it suddenly just dies i was driving it for 10 minutes and on the road it just died. the altenater went bad. so i bought a new one that was a pretty penny. after the cash i spent on it i thought its time to get rid of it. just when i fixed that. i was driving one night and it was jerking really hard. when i stopped it it was shaking and idleing about 3000 rpm. it had no power i drove home. towed it to a shop and they said a vacum seal was leaking. i fixed that and i said that another pretty penny. after i though again all the troubles were over. a day when i got it all fixed it started doing it again. i drove home. and let it rest for the rest of the night. next morning i tried starting it,it wouldnt even start. i thought it was a battery it wasnt, the timing belt came off of it. to fix the it would be about 5-7 thousand dollars. i already spent a total of $6,000 on it so i sold it to a junk yard for $1,500. The first day i bought it people were telling me it was a bad idea i wish they would have told me sooner. | |
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The roughly $4,000-$5000 different in retail used price between a LS400 and a Q45 reflects the usual amount of work necessary to return the average 90-93Q to a satisfactory condition around the 120,000 mile mark if the previous owner did not stay on top of the maintenance and repairs. [They don't thus the price difference plus the Lexus has less power and performance thus less stress]. Many are just driven into the ground by previous 1st or 2nd owners then palmed off on some unsuspecting 3rd buyer who doesn't have a clue about the problems of older SPORT/Lux cars. Never buy an old expensive car without an expert checking everything even a Lexus and always expect at least $3,000 of rehab on any of them if the engine is perfect. I drive a 90Q with 212,000 miles bought new in 1990. |
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