Interlagos Fire

They are aware of the TSB on the axle and fuel tank, but thanks anyway.
I just hope the power steering is gonna get fixed, we'll see tommorow.

Wired 24/7

iTrader: (2)

You should be fine... I hope.

I've never heard of power steering dying for a regular driver... people have boiled their PSF when drifting and stuff like that, but something tells me that isn't what happened to you.

SteveZ

iTrader: (3)

Just had the rear axles done on my 2004 G coupe. My 2003 350Z had the same problem, annoying as hell but in both cases the fix was pretty basic and went away for good (for now at least!).

Just read your post cannot believe we have Nissan engines burning oil like this. I am going to have to eat some serious trash talking I did about last gen M3's and their infamous "one quart every 500-1000 miles is normal for a high compression high perf engine".

Yeah, right. Never measured any oil drop in either VQ engine between oil changes.

Sorry to hear you're having these hassles. I thought only idiots like me who bought Z's in 2002 had this kind of list...I had every TSB and tire feathering to boot, the Sept 2002 manufactured Z was not quite there for quality...

Interlagos Fire

Hehe, this puts our Z's in the catagory with the other high performance European sports car, like the Pxxche and the M3 you'd mentioned.....we're high maintenance, so we're high class, yeah!
Does anyone think it could be possible the wires leading to crank position sensor was fouled by my installer when he installed the Head Unit?

SteveZ

iTrader: (3)

LOL! And we didn't have to pay as much..hehe...I'm still gonna eat some shovelfuls sooner or later...

Short answer: Not very likely, but remotely possible.

When the installer puts in the head unit if they do it right and it has some serious wattage they will run a direct fused power lead to the battery instead of using a possibly under-fused (too few amps) existing circuit. That is issue #1. Someone is running a new wire tapping into an existing point elsewhere for power; the risk of screwing this up is minimal. The second is one of the leads in the ignition loop circuit that turns the head unit on when the car is on - #2. If this wasn't done well, it would have to be totally awful, like incredibly incompetent, to impact the ability of the car to start. Worst case usually is the stereo does not get power when you turn the key, the absolute worst hack job I have ever seen would leave bare leads that can short things out - but again that head unit isn't going to work.

If both were cleanly done then not likely at all that impacts CPSensor even indirectly. I would be a little concerned if there is a power lead for the head unit spliced into a harness that has a bunch of other leads, it is remotely possible to harm (produce intermittent shorts) on other wires. Check it out or ask and inform whomever is working on the car; I know I will get warranty comments but warranty isn't jack when you cannot drive the car! Your mechanic is likely already doing the equivalent the high tech way by pluggin in vs. very primitive dudes like me who use a multimeter and a low voltate light probe.

Bottom line: If the Head Unit works but the car has power and won't start, it is very unlikely the install hurt anything. I have seen some pretty awful jobs where the installer did not have a pre-made plug harness, highly unlikely he had to manually join wires vs. just plug to plug.

CPS is also sometimes a false read for related electronic ignition problems. This was particularly true with engines with conventional distributors in the 1990-1995 Nissans. Have no idea if the VQ has a related quirk, i.e. the codes are CPS but the real problem is elsewhere in the ignition circuit. I used to see CPS codes in inline 4's with stupid things like a new (but faulty) distributor cap. The idea that PS does not work points to one of two places - CPS is also used for "Speed Sensor" in a lot of Nissans which may have input to the Variable (speed-based) Power Assist level of Power Steering. The 2 may not be so unrelated as you might expect.

Like I said, I am completely Cro-magnon compared to the arsenal of diagnostics the dealer has; I would be amazed if they cannot pinpoint through a methodical check exactly what is going on. If this is at all on your nickel beware the "fix what the codes tell me" syndrome which just gets the light off the dash and may miss the real problem. That is a great way to make the door a revolving one...

good luck man, put the pressure on these guys - "they have awesome tools"

SteveZ

iTrader: (3)

His PS problem sounds electrical (cuts out all or none or some?), and with Variable Power Assist based on speed, the CPS also among other things can be used to act like a "speed sensor" - need that factory VQ manual, I don't really know on the VQ35.

I've boiled brake fluid, seen clutch fluid get toasted in the slave cylinder, but really, people boil the PS fluid drifting? That's serious sh*t, unless the heat is just coming from everywhere else. Wow. Maybe I should look more into this, going straight down the track does get boring unless a 1/4

SteveZ

iTrader: (3)

Hey, I just want to apologize to everyone on the thread who has this problem. I don't want to sound like a lurker who keeps saying "not my problem" - just the opposite, I am thinking in 2007 of maybe new Z or new Coupe (later in the year if a Coupe). I am also concerned with the HR engine how robust that will be given the high revs, that is a lot for a V-6 built like the VQ.

My apologies if I offended anyone, best wishes to speedy resolution, I don't mean to sound like a jerk just because my older stuff "doesn't burn oil."

Thx
SteveZ

SteveZ

iTrader: (3)

CPS can be related logically to the PS if used for speed input (variable power assist). Don't know for sure on this car. Was true on some older Nissans.

SteveZ

iTrader: (3)

Fuel tank and axles good to do together since they tear apart the ***-end of the car.

If you have Brembos or other brakes with a nice finish take pics before you take the car in. Take pics of the back panels with good light, under the car too if you can.

My dealer did a really good job on the tank hoses and axles, but I know every scratch on the Brembos. I got two new chips in the paint (see the other thread for how they just tie off the calipers to the side). Cannot prove it because no before pics, but two chips on the rears only when I know how their directions don't say "wrap the calipers to prevent damage", and both are in almost the same place, well...someone was just a little sloppy. I didn't even bring it up after I picked it up because a) not quite **** enough to make a big deal out of it, and b) cannot prove before/after status of calipers. If I did, I would be asking for putting them back the way they were when I brought it in.

Just protect yourself by documenting the blems or scratches you do (or don't have) and as not all dealers are made equal w/re to customer service, if anything is hosed when you get it back then the discussion is very polite one.

The rest of the work was excellent, I even had all my presets back (XM included) and the clock light replaced "gratis"

Interlagos Fire

Thanks for pointing that out! I had a feeling it was somewhere down that path but I'm not mechanically competent so it's kinda hard to describe, you described way better than I can, plus, like u said the dealer is just going by the what the monitor reading tells them to fix. The strange thing is, the power steering fixed it self! or barely....

So the service manager called me yesterday and say the CPS won't arrive till end of the week and wants me to pick up the car first, says the car is completely drivable, the power steering is now normal but they didn't do a thing to it. That I would just have to crank longer for engine to start, but once it starts it should not die. So 5 minutes after I drove it out of the lot I hoped on the freeway and was stuck in 20 mph traffic, on 2nd gear it stalled (I have never in 15 years of driving stick stalled on 2nd, the engine just died suddenly) and sure enough, it won't start! Even I have never seen another brand new Z stuck in middle of rush hour traffic right there on the center lane, it's almost embarrasing to almost have to get out of the car and push it! Well, luckily after about 2 minutes of letting the engine rest it starts, so I drove it back to the service dept before they closed for the day and left it with the service guy again, he say he was sorry but that was about it. Will have to wait and see till tommorow.......

SteveZ

iTrader: (3)

Don't know specifically how to do it, but sounds like they may have bypassed the CPS and let the ECU deal with default values for signal. That actaully could (remote chance) impact PS if something on the signal from the "bad" CPS was screwing it up.
One thing is for sure - you are likely running in open loop mode w/re to the ECU which means it ignores a slew of sensor inputs and uses default, preset values - not the greatest performance or mpg, but it will usually (not this time) get you down the road.
What a mess - good luck!

roast

iTrader: (2)

Not for the shutter valve TSB(hard to fill). It's a pretty simple fix... takes about an hour. You're likely thinking of the fuel filler/vapor hose recall.

SteveZ

iTrader: (3)

Yes, I am - haven't heard of the hard-to-fill problem.

My main thought was after looking at the multiple flecks of missing gold paint was "man, I am screwed - and I am always going to take dated photos when I bring my car into a shop, even if only the wheels are coming off - if I wanted to sell the Brembos and buy something else, they're damaged goods compared to one nick on 4 calipers - it doesn't take much for some picky buyer to say "you have nicks in the paint, half price?"

Worst was early on when I got my car back with a mysterious new scratch in the back (minor), I had to bring it back to the same shop, and the service manager looking over the car said "bummer, nasty scratch, practically the only one on the car..." - and it had appeared there since drop off/pick up the last time the car was in for service!

But, w/o any proof it wasn't there, what are you going to do? The brake thing isn't helped by the fact I put my own snows mounted on another set of wheels; they'll just say I must have done it changing wheels...yeah, right, I am so dAmn careful when I do that kind of work.

Well, I hope I'm not cursed and suddenly after 3 years and 30k miles my filler hose stops working! Volvo had a TSB a few years back - evap controls were messed up and you had to spend 20-30 minutes to get gas into the tank!

Oh well...not the end of life as we know it


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