so hung over, oppo.

"JasonStern911" (JasonStern911)
02/14/2015 at 16:28 • Filed to: None

let's just change the air filter in the infiniti so it seems like we did something productive.

oh good! it's in plain sight. and it has clips. this should be a two minute job.

great. the clips don't do anything. and for some reason, there's a big warning label on the airbox stating that I should not remove the dipstick when filling the car with oil. what? why? who would design an 3.5L engine in which the dipstick affected the ability for oil to be filled?

and now we find a random I don't even know what to call it. but it has lock and unlock. it's next to the air box, but it's also next to the radiator and headlights. eff it. put it in unlock and we'll figure out what breaks later.

well, let's pull this unnecessary box out. if you weren't convinced that auto makers are out to eff the DIY crowd, a bigass plastic box that attaches to the air box for magical vortex voodoo b.s. to take up the last remaining six inches of engine space proves it.

then we'll just take out this obligatory $3 from the infiniti dealership screw...

and that didn't do ish.

the MAF has to come out. the air filter is the third most important piece of vehicle maintenance behind proper tire inflation and oil, and yet I have to remove brittle decade old wires to get to the effin air filter.

but even then, the MAF wiring is zip tied to the air box. so you can't even change the air filter without other unexpected consumables.

but whatever. we finally got to a point where we can drop in our replacement air filter. now, we just need to reinstall the air box and we're good.

great. in order to get enough clearance for the air box to fit, we need to pull the dipstick. warning - now is not the time to add any oil to the vehicle.

(camera died)

lets put the decade old snorkel on the MAF. and by doing that, the two prongs on the bottom of the air box no longer line up with the holes. let's just finesse it in there.

five minutes later.

eff it. let's just brute force it in there. except you can't see both holes, and you can't fit your effin hand in there unless you're a six year old child. and if you try like I did, you'll cut your arm up.

five minutes later.

eff it. primal rage mode activate. cut the prongs. the effing thing still won't fit? toss the air box's unnecessary partner into the yard. tighten that now necessary screw down and slam the hood. then, just to make sure the car knows how big of a piece of ish it is, start yelling profanity at it as a retired marine walks by on the sidewalk. oops.

eff it. the car is getting a cold air intake, which I will claim to non-oppo is because of JDM brah. and now my hands are completely covered in grease on valentine's day, so I'm going to get yelled at.

why do auto makers make things harder than they have to be? the VG in the xterra is a fairly easy engine to work on. VQ... more like Fuh Q.

eff the engineers at infiniti.

DISCUSSION (16)

Steve in Manhattan > JasonStern911
02/14/2015 at 16:51

Clearly you need to have a six year old child. Get cracking. This job will need doing again in short order.

JasonStern911 > Steve in Manhattan
02/14/2015 at 16:55

already in the works, hence owning a boring G35X sedan...

of course, having a kid would likely make me more responsible, thus not hung over, so this would have been a 5 minute job....

Steve in Manhattan > JasonStern911
02/14/2015 at 16:58

We have 2 cats, no kids. The cats do not care if I am hung over, as I can always scoop the box later. The kid diaper thing? It's a bigger commitment.

PheeNoIVI > JasonStern911
02/14/2015 at 16:59

Putting in my dual intakes on my VQ was a mother, compared to my Toyota. Had to take off the entire bumper.

JasonStern911 > PheeNoIVI
02/14/2015 at 17:06

you're a more patient mechanic than me. any boy racer "I should totally supercharge this" thoughts just died today.

hike > JasonStern911
02/14/2015 at 18:30

This makes me laugh. I've changed the filter in my G35 about 4 times now and can't remember what I do every time. I hate this freaking filter design. I looks so dang simple. I mean it's right there! But there just isn't quite enough play to squeeze the filter out. I'm curious what the official procedure is to change the filter.

JasonStern911 > hike
02/14/2015 at 18:42

exactly! if you're going to make it hard, at least hide the filter somewhere. don't just put it right in front with clips so you so think this is going to be easy, just to troll you into removing an entire portion of the car to get at something in plain sight!

but as someone that has tinkered with old cars - living in a hot engine bay, that brittle MAF wiring needing to be unclipped every time just screams future problems.

and while the auto manufacturer has nothing to gain from longevity and routine maintenance, the engineers involved in designing the car... that's your legacy! imagine that guy explaining his accomplishments in life: "I really wanted the whole engine to have to be removed to change the air filter, but ultimately a good compromise was adding a second air box with no inlet that just kind of sits there taking up space. paycheck still cashed, bitches!"

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > JasonStern911
02/14/2015 at 23:59

Remove bolt, undo clips, pry open with all of your might, slide old filter out and new filter in.

I must advise that you not get an intake. Every one of these that I've ever seen that had an intake (even good brands) would run slightly rough and usually set a CEL. BTW I used to work at an Infiniti dealer.

JasonStern911 > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
02/15/2015 at 04:16

brute force instead of removing everything in the engine bay was actually how I used to change the air filter on my RX-8 back in the day.

and thanks for the heads up on the CAI. I wasn't actually planning on buying one - I'm far too cheap. towards the end was mostly story telling. that said, the grill was missing some of those plugs so I didn't reattach the (whatever the hell that air box sidekick is called) and used the plugs on that. other than pulling in hot air from the engine bay, is there any potential harm in not having that attached? I ordered more plugs online but it will be a week or so before I receive them.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > JasonStern911
02/15/2015 at 04:26

Those air filters were a bitch. Too bad you don't have the newer style where you just undo the clips and the filter slides out with a little cartridge, no effort required. That being said I would still rather have one like yours, mostly based on appearance.

I don't see any harm in leaving it off for now. But because you're getting get hotter, thinner air you may get a check engine light, though it's unlikely. It's also possible you may see slightly less power, and by see I mean a dyno might show you've lost 2-3hp at most.

JasonStern911 > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
02/15/2015 at 04:46

Those air filters were a bitch. Too bad you don't have the newer style where you just undo the clips and the filter slides out with a little cartridge, no effort required.

really? the fact that they fixed that later just pours salt on my wound. I can honestly see the engineer that fixed that problem being the engineer that created that problem, getting praise and accolades - possibly even a bonus - for finally doing his job right.

That being said I would still rather have one like yours, mostly based on appearance.

meh. it's a boring off-beige sedan. I bought it for the engine, ATTESA, being front-mid engine, etc. not because of its looks. although I do like having less Subaru/Honda crowd trying to race me on the freeway all of the time.

thank you. slightly less horsepower was expected. after hearing that the MIL might trigger with a CAI, I just wanted to hopefully confirm that the ECU could compensate. yay TLAs.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > JasonStern911
02/15/2015 at 11:39

Lol you're probably right.

Don't get me wrong, I like the way those drive, the newer ones have much nicer interiors, and the engine is excellent. But the looks are just different from most everything else. I think it's easily one of the best sedans/cars out of Japan in the past 15 years.

You're quite welcome.

JasonStern911 > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
02/15/2015 at 14:49

and with a good night's sleep, I realized I can just zip tie air box's friend in place until the replacement plugs arrive. so, no worries there.

as far as looks go, it's definitely a huge step up from the rebadged Accord that is the Acura TL or the Lexus ES from the era. plus it's the best driver's car of the bunch and often times is the cheapest. I'm happy with it so far - other than replacing that damn air filter.

one more question that I haven't found a conclusive answer on - what interval should the water pump be replaced at? it isn't listed in the service section of the owner's manual. since it's got that annoying "timing chain drives the water pump" design, most people seem to just leave it alone until it fails. but I'd rather not be in a position where the motor can be overheated.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > JasonStern911
02/15/2015 at 15:54

I actually really like the TL type S from 06-07ish, unfortunately it didn't drive ad good ad it looks being front wheel drive and all.

The water pump isn't maintenance item and I haven't seen one fail on these yet. But I wasn't at Infiniti for very long, not my cup of tea. IIRC, replacing the water pump would be a pretty big job, so you're better off just waiting. Problems with these engines were very few and far between. Aside from valve cover leaks.

JasonStern911 > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
02/15/2015 at 16:32

the G35X is a "Porsche preservation car" in the sense that it's so practical and even automatic, so there should never be a reason for me to need to sell my 996 to buy a family car. the newer TLs, ISs, etc. were outside of my price range when I was looking, and honestly are so overpriced locally that I could rationalize getting an early CTS-V instead.

thanks for the advice. I was planning on getting the pump and timing chain tensioners replaced at 120k. but since everything I have read doesn't recommend it, I'll probably push it out to 150k and remind myself that I'm not driving an ultra-high maintenance German car.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > JasonStern911
02/15/2015 at 23:14

Definitely.

I wouldn't even worry about the timing set at 150k. You will have problems elsewhere first. This isn't an Audi, that's one of the only things that had timing set issues anymore. Even jaguar sorted theirs out years ago. And I still don't recall hearing of any water pump failures on these.