First Proper Maintenance at Prince Fukushima, Part 2

So in part 1, I listed up all of the work done by Nissan Prince Fukushima from the photos sent to me by Midorikawa-san.  Here is the rest of the work that was done, as I found out when I went to pick up the car.

Getting to Fukushima means taking the Tohoku Shinkansen, or bullet train, from Tokyo to Koriyama station in Fukushima Prefecture.  Once there I was in the midst of a work meeting (online) so rather than wait for someone to pick me up (as offered by the dealership) I just hopped in a taxi, destination Nissan Prince Fukushima, Koriyama branch. 

Fukushima is a beautiful part of the country, made famous internationally due to the tragic events of March 11, 2011 (the Great East Japan Earthquake or the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami).  Last time I was here was actually back in May 2010 with my motor journalist friend Dino Dalle Carbonare when we visited Ebisu Circuit up a little bit more north of Koriyama.

Even though it was March 21st when I visited, temperatures were near zero and... it was snowing!

Luckily it was nice and comfortable in the service area, where Midorikawa-san ushered me in to allow me to check the overall condition of the Elgrand and so we could discuss not only what had been done in the limited timeframe - 4 days! -  I had given him (due to the delivery delay by the used car dealer) and what we needed to do next time!

That 32... not a GT-R... Rb20 engine!

Midorikawa-san first showed me what had been done in the engine bay. First of course they steam cleaned it...

I get the feeling I will soon know this area very well...

After which they replaced ALL the fluids, and also removed the excess power steering fluid.  In addition to all the work I listed in this previous post.

Oh and the strange sound coming from the power steering pump that Ochiai-san at Nismo had noticed? Normal in these cars apparently as they were equipped with strange sounding electrically driven pumps - and hence we suspect the used car dealer overfilled in a vain attempt to make the sound go away...

They also replaced the coolant hoses as well as the old radiator cap. Not a Nismo one as that would be pure bling on this car I think...also amazing at how the white/clear plastics are still white and not yellowed. Not bad for a 7 and half-year old car!

Midorikawa-san also showed me the new Digital Room Mirror - a dealer installed option with a camera unit mounted behind the rear hatch glass - works great!

In addition to of course the dash cam, as well as a replaced plastic panel

A walkaround from the bottom showed very little damage to the body - some scrapes here and there, but nothing that major or noticeable (and on the plastic, not the metal)

Some small scratches on the lower door panels

 

Did I mention that these Bridgestone Regno GRV II tires (designed for minivans, and a super quiet ride) have a manufacturing date stamp of September 2023? Almost new tires!

Wheels are absolutely perfect, there was only one small scratch on the front right wheel!

Going underneath the car, we discussed where the CVT filter was located.

Apparently not easy to remove, but at least unlike the 2.5L, the oil pan does not need to be removed

The Elgrand has two A/C systems - here is the tubing leading to the rear unit

And here is the only rust I could find on the car - on the rear subframe. Although it looks like it got scraped somehow. 

So yes this is one item that will need to be fixed next time.

And because they did not have enough time to address this, the undercoating I was hoping to get sprayed on to prevent further rust was not done. But no worries, no snow for awhile I think...

It was now 1130 and Midorikawa-san and I decided to go get lunch. So we hopped in one of the dealer Nissan Note Auras and went to a local famous tonkatsu place. Typical small shop with only about 15 seats hence we left before the noon lunchtime rush.

All this for only 1000 yen! And this is the "normal" size portion...

After a great lunch where we got to know each other better (turns out Midorikawa-san has an awesome beautiful Nismo tuned R34 GTR as well as a BNR32!), back to the dealership as Midorikawa-san wanted to show me some more stuff.

First, the items they had taken off the car. This is where he introduced me to the technician who worked on my car, Kurumada-san (his name is written "car-field" - unbelievably perfect!!)

I think I was trying to take a photo of the broken tabs on the plastic dash piece that resulted in the loose cover for the ETC unit; this big plastic piece got replaced; and the box of parts replaced in the background

leaking radiator hose

old CVT filter

I wanted to see how dirty it was, so... with some brake fluid sprayed in....

Good thing I insisted on this getting changed!

Second, they showed me the machines they used to pressure FLUSH OUT the CVT and engine. EXACTLY what I wanted!!!

For transmissions.

Actually, they told me that in order to change the oil in the CVT properly, this was the only proper way.  I was impressed, but they kept saying "this is nothing special" and "this is normal." 

Same with the engine oil:

I guess every Nissan dealer has one of these, but only a few advertise (and Nissan Prince Fukushima does not, so I did not know they had one!)

Although I was thinking about adding additives to all the fluids, I was told it was not necessary, as the engine oil they used was a high grade Nismo one.  But they DID use this for the aircon system which was flushed out and refilled to proper capacity.

They also gave me a present - a brake cleaning kit! Thanks!

So we then went back inside where I parted with a few weeks salary and then got ready to leave.

But not before some more surprises, as Midorikawa-san insisted I check out some cars he had in the back.

R32 GT-R with a Nismo engine...

The limited edition Nissan Skyline Nismo! Maybe the 4th one I have seen in the flesh!

If I ever buy a new car, I want it delivered like this! Fully protected interior!

Finally it was time for me to go - I had a few hours drive back to Yokohama as well as some meetings to take on the road, but on the way out, Midorikawa-san pointed out the oil they had used in the Elgrand.

It IS labelled as Nismo, and further is produced by Motul? A bit overkill perhaps for a lowly minivan but I am not complaining!

First Proper Maintenance at Prince Fukushima, Part 1

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.

Just in case, I am asking that anti-rust undercoating be applied.

I presume this is to prepare for new rotors

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.

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.

A bit concerned someone was driving when they took this photo? Or on a dyno?

Turns out the thermostat had failed!

Old one on left, new one on right.

Arrow shows you can see light passing through the old one!

Nice new part

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:

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!