I got the oil changed, cleaned the JWT Pop and put a new set of good year eagle F1 all seasons on the Z and headed off to Florida via Atlanta.

Atlanta came and went... no problems
Florida came and went ... no problems either

Got a Ticket in Georgia on the way back even though I have a Escort Passport 8500 that normally works great
(LASER got me 85 in a 70 at 916 feet out) as soon as it lit up radar i dived on the brakes but he still got me????!!! (BTW i was doing about 90ish)

Then went to Nashville and Sunday morning came, I loaded the cases in the back and it just kept turning over and over but would not fire????????!!!!!!!!!!

So as you can imagine getting a mechanic on a Sunday is like Hens teeth!

Firestone was open so I spent $75 dollars towing it there (after I had to listen to every bell boys idea of what was wrong)
The toothless tow guy turned up
He was from Michigan and got me lost so I ended up a different Firestone with no diagnostic tec that day so a got a $50 cab back to the hotel and stayed another night.($129)

Next morning they called and said it was the fuel pump that had failed and it would take 3 days to get another from Nissan????!!!!!(and that bad news would cost me $99 diagnostic fee) I had to be at work this morning so I rented a U Haul with a trailer ($400.87 + $135 in gas) and picked it up and headed home (the Firestone guys were super helpful putting the Zs fat **** on the trailer).

I called the stealership and was quoted $299 for the pump, $210 labor and $100 for the belts (they needed doing)!

I thought, i know ill call Firestone to see what they will charge as they were so helpful in Nashville i will give them the change to earn my business

for the pump, labor and tax (wait for it)

$999.87

what a joke!!!!!!!!!!
so to the stealership i went, but, they think it might be under warranty as its an 04 with 51000 miles so I might get some good news yet

Of course I dont have money to throw away especially at the end of a vacation, what a Hassle.. but go to the Georgia Aquarium if you get a chance its amazing

 

That sucks when your far away from home and car breaks down. Well **** happens

 

Don't you know that YOU'RE supposed to get sick on your vacation, not your car.
Hope everything turns out well...And cheap!

 

In the future, consider a few extra carriage returns for dramatic effect. j/k

 

Best 350Z adventure of the month.

 

Now THAT is old school!

 

that sucks

went to atlanta for vacation last year and went to the georgia aquarium. thought it was pretty cool...for an aquarium
for being like the world's largest aquarium, it didn't seem that big

 

DUDE! i hope you read this in time... i once left my car sitting out side of a gas station without locking it (about 30 mins... iknow dumb.) but when i came back i found it was locked. (thats when i found out about the locking saftey feature). i got into the car and it sounded like it was going to atrt but didnt turn over so i called a tow truck. When he got there he hit my alarm ON then OFF then ON and OFF again and it started right up. he said that some newer cars have a saftey feature that turns off the fuel pump so you cant started unless triggerd by the alarm. so if you have already tried this then im sorry for your missfortune. I know that youd expect the dealership to know this kinda thing but my dealership acted like they didnt know when i called to get it towed there. or they acted like they didnt know to get some money from my lack of information.

 

Holy ****! That's a lot of effin money! If it is your fuel pump you might consider replacing it yourself, if its the one under the car it may not be too hard. I've replacede one before on a old VW GTI and the in-tank fuel pump (that was a PITA)... also the belts (you mean AC, alternator/powersteering?) are very easy to replace. I'm not a mechanic either, not even close... but these are reletively simple things to replace so if you can get them cheap (I dont suggest getting parts at the stealership) then you can save yourself hundreds of dollars.

I saved myself $130 by replacing my belts myself... I saved $210 by replacing my own brakes...

Good luck man, really sucks what you went through. Something breaking or not working right with your car on vacation is the WORST thing about. Hope things work out though...

 

Sorry for the bad luck...Hopefully otherwise it was a good vacation

 

Get nissan to check, dont go off a Firestone diagnosis. Also try a different key. I have been having starting problems with one of my keys. I think the chip (NATS) is going bad.

 

good tread, a lot of info to be considered.
btw, at least you enjoy the Aquarium.

 

Teah, I had heard of the key thing before when people get spares cut at Walmart. I only got one key with the car (shady Nissan dealer in Memphis) so, i will ask them about that today.I put the alarm on and off about 5 or 6 times and it made no difference.

BTW I spent about 5 hrs through Mississippi running with a silver G35 coupe with a huge tail spoiler!! if your on here, let me know?! it was great having someone to run with for a while.

On my way in to Nashville I ran into a couple of last gen Transam's with the double set of nostrils in the front (same car as the last camaro, sorry i dont know the year) driving together.

One of them had the plate "RAIR WS5" are they Firehawks or something? one sounded like a cement mixer everytime he tried to lose me ( i let them stay in front as I had already had one ticket this trip and the wife was giving me the evil eye)

Does anyone know why that laser tagged me so quick? also, does the Valentine work better with laser?

I will update this thread when I get the 411 from Nissan.

 

1. I’m thinking your insurance doesn’t cover towing.
2. I am near Nashville, I have a trailer and would have helped you out the best way I could have if I had known.

 

oh yeah, the main tank in the georgia aquarium is 6,300,000 gallons and holds 4 20ft whale sharks amongst everything else.

sorry to be a geek about a fish tank, but, i am going back in November to dive in the tank! they have 5 or 6 types of shark in that tank, including black tip reef and a 6 ft hammer head. the whale sharks are just like my friends mum. a 4 ft mouth but a throat the size of a quarter (insert punchline here)

 

In short . . .

Detection of laser will not change very much between *most* detectors. One little hit with laser is all they need. It is an aimed signal right at YOU! The second you hear your laser alarm the officer already has your speed. Its basically a warning to go ahead and pull over if you get hit. Having said that, laser can and does bounce around off of cars, so you do have a slim chance that they are lasering someone else. The only way laser is defeated is with a laser shifter. It is legal where detectors are legal because laser is "light" and not under the same regulations as radar.

 

That sucks. Sorry to hear it, I can only imagine how pissed I'd be if all those expenses started piling up.

 

I would take a second look at your key too. As far as Nissan Dealerships knowing their product -- I bought my car new from a Nissan Dealer, when I went to test drive it for the delivery I got in, turned the key, and the motor just turned over and over. The dumbass salesman says "try giving it some gas when you start it". I'm like "isn't this car fuel injected??" He says "yeah but sometimes when they sit for awhile you have to give them some gas". Nothing is working so I go back inside with my wife while a tech looks at it. They finally get it running and the salesman tells me it must have been low on gas (even though the tank shows 1/4) we go to a gas station and put some gas in it and the car runs perfect. When I get home I read my owners manual and it says the glovebox (valet?) keys do not have the chip in them and the car will not run. I try it out and sure enough the car just turns over and over. Apparantly the salesman grabbed the wrong key the first time we went to test drive and never figured it out.

Long story short, check your key first - the odds of a fuel pump going out overnight after running fine are slim to none.

 

Thanks for the offer. thats what these communities are for.

My insurance doesnt cover towing but will now for an extra $1 a month???!!!

Why didnt they tell me that when i signed up? oh well.