So the day after we met up at Nismo Omori Factory, Midorikawa-san (dealership head) and Kurumada-san (master technician) from Nissan Prince Fukushima kept me entertained by sending me updates on what they were up to.
I had asked that the techs go over the car and replace any and all consumables, such as all the fluids, filters, hoses and belts. And while at it, hopefully do a full flush of the engine oil, CVT oil, and aircon gas. Ideally, I also wanted, time permitting, to replace the spark plugs, water pump, thermostat, and CVT filter.
On my way down to Omori Factory, in addition to weird body roll at speed on corners (not sure if it was too soft of a suspension or chassis flex), I also felt the brakes judder, despite the used car dealer saying they had replaced the pads with new ones. So I suspect the rotors need to be refaced or replaced. Then at Omori Factory, Ochiai-san had pointed out that the power steering pump was making a strange noise (and thus possibly on its way out), and that it looked like the fluid had not been properly replaced. Further, there seemed to be traces of coolant leaking from one of the radiator hose ends, suggesting that all the hose lines should be replaced (the rubber seemed hard and brittle too). Midorikawa-san had confirmed while driving to drop me off at work that indeed the brake judder was there, and that the suspension felt like it was nearing the end of its life.
I have to say, I was very happy to see how clean the underside of this car was! Given it is a 4WD model, these are popular up north in snowy Hokkaido as well as northern parts of Honshu, but since I know this car spent its entire earlier life in Hiroshima from new, I wasn't too worried about rust, but you never know.
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| Just in case, I am asking that anti-rust undercoating be applied. |
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| I presume this is to prepare for new rotors |
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| So these non OEM brake pads DO look new. Eager to see if the new rotors eliminate the judder |
The CVT is a weak point in these vehicles, so some Japanese YouTube videos show mechanics taking apart the CVT and cleaning out the oil pan and replacing the filter inside it. But turns out that is the procedure for the CVT for the 2.5L engine, for the 3.5L V6 the CVT filter is on the outside and easily replaceable.
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| CVT filter replacement. Nice, but I still want the entire system flushed. |
One additional problem a tech found was that at speed, the engine did NOT warm up.
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| A bit concerned someone was driving when they took this photo? Or on a dyno? |
Turns out the thermostat had failed!
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| Old one on left, new one on right. |
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| Arrow shows you can see light passing through the old one! |
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| Nice new part |
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| And now installed back in - total pain to do, apparently! |
I am hopeful they find more parts like this that require replacement, because if you recall the used car dealer had sold me that extended warranty, claiming that it could be used for any and all parts at any repair shop in the country, including official dealers! Midorikawa-san will use this part (and extra labor charge required) to test this claim, and if successful we will follow with the power steering pump, if it indeed needs to be replaced. The thermostat is a cheap part, but the power steering pump costs about half of what that extended warranty cost, so that will be huge.
The next day, Midorikawa-san sent me this photo, showing that he had found two new front floormats! I was ready to pay full price for a new complete set, so this saved me about half of the cost as well. Thanks!
He also sent me the following, showing before and after some steam cleaning:
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| Tempted of course to replace the rubber and plastics with new! |
He also sent me this, showing the entire front dash taken apart. This is to hunt down the wiring issue on the Magical Illumination option (pushing the switch did not change the color), as well as to remove an old laser detector left behind by the previous owner, and finally to prepare the car for some new dealer options.
As for the rest of the work done - I have posts separated into Luxury, Performance and Modernization coming up to show what work in these areas was done at Nissan Prince Fukushima, but first I need to go get the car and find out what else, maintenance-wise, was done to the car. Check out my next post!
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