Tank

iTrader: (19)

You cant' kill these cars.. you take care of them right they will last a very long time.. I have a younger BMW with three times as more issues than my good ol' 98 GS!!!

shift2win

These are old cars l, so you can't expect them to be problem free, but they are reliable. My GS4 has only broken down on me once and that was due to a dead battery. The previous owner did virtually no maintenance so im stuck doing it all but thats ok since I know its done and done properly. And even still, it has proven very reliable for me.


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Gelux

Check your rotor guide pins and make sure they are not seized, make sure to lube them with high temp grease. So that the caliper can slide back and forth on guide pins.

repugnante

I agree. I come from the same Infiniti world. Still in it kind of...

Infiniti's are very reliable cars,. solid engines and trannies. Where they fail is quality materials that have nothing to do with the cars mechanics. For a long time, Nissan/Infiniti struggled financially and it was evident on their interior materials as well as paint. Lots of cost cutting on their vehicles. But it all got turned around after a while. But when it comes down to the ingenuity of these cars, the mechanics were rock solid (ie. VG and VQ engines). In fact, I have had more problems with this Lexus then I ever had with the G35......

Sampak

Long story short I was in need of a car after totalling my 207,000 miles '98 Altima GXE 2 months ago. I fell upon the Y34 M45 while searching for $5-7k cars for shats and giggles. I also at first almost went and looked at '05 Maximas before deciding against it. Too many, many repeated transmission issues upon my research. FFWD and I somehow found Y34s M45 which I never thought would be as affordable as $5-7 grand. Off I go researching on Google, NICO, Edmunds customer reviews, etc. Fell upon too many SEETHING reviews of bad oil consumption, EXPENSIVE and seemingly never ending fuel gauge cluster and sender unit stories (to which Infiniti gave most of the owners the middle finger for up to $2,000 replacement instrument clusters for one stupid problem). Too many rattles, squeeks, stupid little Dodge Neon style trim piece issues and paint fade on '03 '04 models mind you (sure, some cars it happens, but an Infiniti I thought??). Oh, and the fact that for a rare car, it had this much crap going on, on top of the fact that most were complaining of these issues with less than 100,000 miles on the car. Add to that the fact that I couldn't seem to find any one that had as many miles as the '98+ GS without being totally trashed or bug riddled...and the tranny on them was another problem. I am not making it up. I drove Nissan for 13 years and covetted the M's and Q's and all that but reading about them now I feel almost disgusted. I'm sure the newer ones might not suffer but Nissan's financial situation is no excuse for **** poor longevity for the price they wanted on their new cars in question.

I was pissed because I really wanted a unique car but I just did not feel good about the Y34 any more. Next I looked at the GS 400, also by random chance. Same price range for a '98 as an '03-04 Y34? Damn, I have to research this more. Go to same car sites (edmunds) and read almost nothing but raving reviews and how the cars are over 200,000 miles and still running strong. Found out LBJ issue and how to take care of it, and a few small random things upon further digging, but nothing to the point of "oh this model is just fked" like I felt about the Maxima or the Y34s. Went and looked at 3 cars, All in decent shape for 15 years old with 160k-245k miles. Bought one the same night. End of story.

I'm sure there ARE good Y34s, or even non oil guzzling VK's and VQs (like my '09 Altima Coupe for 103k miles) but I have lost confidence in USED Infiniti, after looking at a fair share of reviews, forums etc. Yes there are bad examples of non stop issues with Lexus as well, but I have not seen them to the severity I've seen with Nissan/Infiniti especially with how they shaft/shafted so many customers over what should have been top notch quality control. But the fact is almost every time I look up a complaint or even a list of quirks and it's more often than not the oil issue, and electronic buggery, and on the '04-06 Maxima the A/T transmission valve body or some other BS.

Edit: LOL just to make sure I didn't feel stupid later I went on Edmunds and re-read the '03 M45 customer reviews. Sure enough, filter by lowest rating first, and very quickly you'll find every single, or every 2nd post not matter how many stars they gave the car, complain about 1 qt of oil consumption for every 1-2k miles, along with a few tidbits, and most are from when the car was < 5-8 years old! Now go read the GS400 reviews, filtered by lowest ranking. Night and Day. And no, this was NOT the only way I based my decision, I did read and look around to make sure I wouldn't read unfairly biased reviews on the M45 (as much as I wanted to not find anything wrong with Infiniti, much to my surprise).

Here ya go:
'03 M45
http://www.edmunds.com/infiniti/m45/...VERALL_RATINGS

'98 GS400
http://www.edmunds.com/lexus/gs-400/...VERALL_RATINGS

DMPesso

Wow man I almost shed a tear because you literally said everything the SAME exact way I would have and you research things the SAME way I do on edmunds and filtering lowest ratings and various other sites. That's why I ended up with the GS also since based on extensive research has the most SOLID BULLETPROOF ENGINE AND TRANNY besides the LS which is all that matters at the end of the day in reliability. Everything else is fixable! I really never heard anyone put it any better then you did I couldn't have said it any better! And obviously were not the only ones who know this, resale value SAYS IT ALL! It really makes you wonder how you can get a BMW 7 fully loaded with less miles and 4 years newer for the same price as a cheaper priced GS or LS.

Sampak

Don't get me wrong. I would LOVE to have bought an '03-04 M45. More power, newer tech than my GS400, bargain price! But the quality issues just had me worried that I would not be able to cope/afford such an issue as a fuel gauge going out or have endless things to fix (I already have a '91 project truck for that!) as a DD vehicle for myself. The reports I read of people having issues pop up with no warning just put me off. I still believe if Infiniti would have better issue resolution than how they handled it with so many of their models (they finally put out a recall on that fuel gauge issue, years too late, but never admitted that there was anything wrong with the oil consumption and wouldn't swap the engine UNLESS it used up more than 1 qt/1k miles. Fking nuts!).

But anyway, sorry to go off topic like this. As for the GS400, I think we all can testify that the engine and tranny are solid works of reliable engineering. The only concerns are the typical age related issues, and a handful of small bits and pieces (bad power door lock motors $5 or $100 fix up to you, lower ball joints). Do these and as far as RELIABILITY goes I don't think there is much left. My own car is getting there. Just have endlinks and rear lower control arms to replace (all for worn bushings after TWO HUNDRED FORTY THOUSAND MILES -- not because they're breaking off LOL) and I'm good for a while (valve cover gasket/plugs can wait a bit).

Echo419

iTrader: (1)

yeah but Suprahs nevar lose soooo....

SaiyanGS3

iTrader: (8)

So basically your assumption is based on reviews instead of real world experience. I'll pass. I had a Q45 that was bulletproof. The 03 M45 had some electronic issues, but the 04 was great because they fixed all the little bugs. 03 was plagued with the gas cluster issue, but it was an easy fix. The ONLY think that I agree with is the oil consumption issue due to them squeezing extra HP, but everything else is baloney. I owned 3 infiniti cars and is loved all of them. I was looking for the ultra rare 06 q45 but settled on my car that I have now. The interior material used in lexus is much better than infiniti, but both are very reliable cars.

RXGS

iTrader: (2)

I've never owned a m45 or q45, but all the ones i looked at, after 2001, had their issues. The owners who were selling it also would go on about everythiing they have had to replace and how it wasn't like "their old infiniti". This is just what i experienced though, but back to the gs.

Sampak

Well, LOL it's the same amount of researched "assumption" based on real world experiences of other people I made about purchasing the GS400, because it was enough to learn that the Y34 despite its newer age, more muscle, and rather unique looks were just not worth the headache for me. For others, either they got the luck of the draw or dealt with it via financial superiority which I don't posses. However, while I might have been harsher on the M45 initially in my reviewing, I still feel that I should not have to live with, or encourage a car that by design is guzzling oil, and is plagued with rather cheap problems. However, upon *further* research after making my comments previously, just to make sure I didn't look like a total fool, I did find that *most* of the issues were on the '03 Y34, while the '04 suffered less. Also my short temper with the M45 came after finding out too quickly how bad the -04-06 Maximas were when it came to their 5A/T and the expense involved with what seemed like yet another case of random "fixes," some that worked, and some that didn't. And after all that I felt their value was too good to be true after all, while the '07-08 have that blasted CVT which I did not want again.

As for the "simple" fix on the Y34 gas gauge issue, that might have been the case on some, but others had no such know how, or luck, and were left with a rather expensive "gift" from Infiniti which often resulted in replacing the entire cluster, until the recall when it finally did happen, for those who hadn't fallen to the problem or repaired it on their own. I've read several accounts and threads of people fixing/replacing the fuel level sender unit, and several other tidbits, only to have it go bad very shortly. Stuff like this, where even "OEM" quality especially fell through, is part of why I passed on the M45. But you know what? Life's funny. I'll gladly eat my words if I am in the market for another V8 and do find that magical unicorn Y34. It's just a sickness I admit.

SaiyanGS3

iTrader: (8)

No i admit they had their issues, but they are highly reliable cars in general. The 04 models where pretty much bullet proof, that's why you don't see many 04's for sale, just a lot of the crappy 03's. Same for the Q45's. The 02-04 models, especially the 02 had some technology failures, but the 05-06 are bullet proof. Same with this, that's why you don't see the 05-06 for sale...typically just 02-04 models. I searched badly for a 05-06 model because they had industry leading technology at the time, but the car is hard to find on the used market.

I love my GS3, but if I knew then what I know now, I would've waited to find me a 03 saddle interior, or 05 black cherry, black interior 430...both which are very rare.

driver1988

ya derailing my thread. Anyway, i took my car to Toyota dealership the other day for them to lift up and inspect. Surprisingly, this weird grinding noise from my rear right wheel subsided once they lifted the vehicle up and put it in drive mode. They test drove the vehicle and it made no noise at all after that. I was surprised... however, the next day while driving the car, the grinding noise came back on. Is this because i need an alignment or tire rotation? The grinding sounds like it could be an axle bearing. The grinding noise correspond with tire rotation and speed of car. How does lifting the vehicle and spinning the tire subside this grinding noise? Once the vehicle was back on the road, with pressure from the weight of the car, the grinding returned. This is suspension issue i suspected. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

sam12345

iTrader: (1)

Is your car lowered? Lowering your car makes it less reliable because you over stress everything.

driver1988

owner before me lowered it a few inches. the grinding noises only had recently occurred though.