chad bob

Yes that oil breather pumps out a fair bit of oil straight into the intake, there was almost 1/2 a cup of clean oil in my intake, what a silly design! The funny thing is that the LH bank rocker cover (from the front of the car) has 2 breather hoses, one goes to the other bank (which vents into the intake via a large diameter hose before the throttle body) and the other is the trouble maker going straight into the intake, I don't see why there needs to be 2? The purpose of these breather hoses is to prevent pressure buildup, so one hose should be sufficient. It's a bother that this is hapening on the VQ35's too, it shows that it's more down to a design fault in the intake rather than the fuel injection method, the problem is deffinitely amplified in the NEO- Di motors due to that lack of fuel vapour for cleaning though.

Last WOF which was a couple of weeks ago.

Yeah last time I checked, you could get coilovers for the m35 for LESS than the price of OEM shocks. Regarding City Nissan Takapuna, I suppose my opinion of them is a little off because last time I took the Stag to them for a WOF, the CEL was on. Instead of coming out to talk to me about what could be causing it and how the issue may be rectified, the technician just reset the ECU without telling me! Not very helpful... What if the CEL was not due to my own doing and it was signifying a serious fault ?

Nope the EGR valve carries no special purpose at all beyond the age old exhaust gas recirculation during cold start to reduce emissions. The EGR valve on Direct Injection motors is exactly the same as the unit on any other fuel injected mill, the only difference is that in a Di motor it clogs up the damn intake! I have had my EGR valve blocked off since my first intake clean (20,000Km ago) the motor runs just as smoothly as before and the gunk has been kept at bay (in the upper plenum at least). The only down side is that the check engine light stays on with code P0400 (EGR valve loss of vacuum) [no duh], but I have got into the habit of resetting the ECU every few weeks and checking error codes, never bothered me none. Oh I also forgot, another mod I did whilst amongst it was to bypass the water jacket in the intake plenum around the throttle body, it's supposed to heat up the intake on cold mornings to aid starting, but it never gets cold enough in Auckland to justify this, so all it's doing is heating up your nice cool intake charge! Nope has to go!

Indeed it is time consuming and some of the bolts are rather tricky (EGR valve pipe is the worst, can be seen sticking up at the top of photo 1), but if you tackle it step by step and ensure that you treat the parts with care (any dings / scratches on the mating surfaces = vacuum leak) then it's no drama really. City nissan my have deemed the sensors fine, but if buildup gets so bad that it starts affecting sensors then it's too late, they should be smart enough to know this. My Stag only has 100,000km on the clock and look whats inside, but at least after one day of fiddling I can safely say that my sooty gunk issues are over, I re-routed the breather from the drivers side rocker cover to a higher point in the intake (so oil vapour condenses and runs back down again instead of pooling in the plenum, see photo 3) and blocked the egr valve, so no more foreign crap in the intake. I wouldn't let the issue dissuade you from buying a NEO-Di motor though as it's really only one day and the problem is solved. Note: Throttle body is disconnected, did not need to reset ECU after cleaning, she idles smooth and low and responds well. When you do get round to it, let me know, I may be able to pop round and lend a hand.

Right... As promissed I serviced my M35 today and whipped off the intake plenum cover to see if any buildup has occured since my original cleaning session 20,000Km ago. Under the plenum cover not much had changed, the walls were still rather clean, so blocking the EGR valve has worked so far. Then I got thinking, perhaps I should dig a little deeper, last time I removed only the plenum cover and cleaned from there, but today I decided to strip it back to the valves to see what it looks like and it ain't pretty! In hindsight I really should have stripped the entire thing to start with as the buildup gets worse the closer you get to the valves. This is what I found during removal: First intake stage removed: Close up of second intake stage still fitted: Top of first intake stage with plenum cover only removed (not much buildup, just varnishing): Closeup of bottom of first intake stage: Top of cylinder heads, runner buildup (the backs of the valves were caked too): The removal of the entire intake system took me half of the day, I soaked the bits in degreaser then water blasted them clean, being carful to place them on towels so that the gasket surfaces dont get damaged, I dried the parts and WD40'd the mating surfaces before fitting again. For the runners and back of the vlaves I used a pipe cleaner and pleanty of solvent brake cleaner, I left the runners open for a couple of hours as some of the valves may have been open and I wanted to allow the brake cleaner to evaporate completely before re-assembly. Regarding the gaskets, they are all teflon coated steel, so no need to buy new ones, just clean them carefully and re-use. Before starting the car after re-assembly, I would let it stand for a couple of hours, it took me quite a while to get it re-started due to residual brake cleaner / moisture in the combustion chamber, but once it started she was singing like a bird. It didn't feel right making the engine ingest the crap / brake cleaner, but whats the alternative? Wait for a chunk of crap to come loose and block a valve open? So this is what I'd recommend doing to any NEO-Di NiSSAN motor upon purchasing, if you are not a confident home mechanic then DO NOT ATTEMPT, it is a rather fiddly process. Instead print off the pics above and take your car to the mechanic, if he tries to charge you 2 days labour, tell him he's dreaming! What have I noticed since doing this cleaning? The motor used to turn over twice before starting sometimes more (2-3 seconds of cranking) now it fires after less than one second! Oh and it goes like a cut cat, used to be able to plant it from standstill and get minimal wheelspin, now it's smoke city in first gear, quite startling the first time it happened!

Father in law to be's best mate rocked up at his place in a nice jet black V35 coupe while I was there in the Stag the other day. Nice cars, his expression was priceless when he saw under the bonnet of the stag and the interior, he was adamant that the stag's were just a stretch Maxima, he never thought that it could be a stretch skyline!

Hmm it's precisely this logic that put me in the bind I'm in now! The stag takes up a fair bit of shed space but I filled the gap with a project car and now the bike has to be jammed in between the stag and the door! Free space doesn't last long.

Thats odd, I've disconnected removed and manually triggered and cleaned the butterfly multiple times now and never had a problem, just made sure that the butterfly was completely closed prior to re-fitting. I didn't even have to reset the ECU last time and idle is just fine! I wonder what the people that are having issues have done differently? Would be good to find out.

You will need to disconnect the throttle to give it a proper clean depending on the buildup present. If you do disconect it, a reset may be necessary so do it anyway as a precaution, an ECU reset is rather easy to do, it involves a series of on / off cycles of the ignition and stomps on the gas pedal to put the computer in diagnostic mode and you can reset it from there. Don't be afraid of the reset procedure, you cannot do any permanent damage to your car in diagnostic mode even if you mess it up completely so go for gold.

I have a 300RX M35 stag, VQ30DD 3000cc, 2wd. I'm not sure how much help I can be on the servicing / maintenance side of things as I have the annoying habit of doing everything myself. I have found however that you won't get change from $500 for a new wheel bearing, I had my left front go all coffee grinder on me at 90,000Km, the bearing was as easy to fit as puting on a spare tire though so I wasn't too worried about the price. On the servicing side of things the VQ motors are surprisingly easy to work on for the home mechanic, the only pain in the butt is the under tray that has to be removed for sump plug access, it has 183273848 Bolts holding it on. Personally I don't believe in mechanical warranties, I've owned some unreliable cars aver the years but my repair costs have never accumulated beyond the price of a warranty. I think to justify a warranty, your car would have to completely murder itself (broken cam chain, head gasket etc) in which case the repair bill will be monumental, but this kind of failure can be avoided with proper maintenance. Others may have different opinions / experiences though.

I don't think theres a wheelbase difference between the V35 and M35 they share a near identical chassis. Engine, electrics, most of the interior, driveline, front suspension are all identical and interchangeable. The rear suspension differs slightly in order to give the M35 a wider load carrying area but thats the only real platform diference excluding the obvious panel and roof line variation.

You all seem to be on the right track. The best plan of action is to remove the cover and lower portion of the intake manifold and give them both a damn good cleaning, you can use water and degreaser on the intake parts once you've removed them but clean the throttle body with brake and parts cleaner / caby cleaner only, you don't want water in the electronic throttle. Removing the plenum / manifold is pretty straight forward and re-fitting is just as easy, all the fasteners are accessible without removing much else.

I heard that most drivers side window failures happen due to the motor brushes packing up. I bought an R33 power window motor from the wreckers for $20, swapped the brushes out with the knackered ones in my M35 and the window goes like new. No need for re wiring, the motor comes apart with two screws either side of the armature housing.

Not a V35 Driver but a happy M35 owner here, North Auckland based. Concerning radio bandwidth, I got a band extender from Supercheap auto, be careful as the BOSE stereo uses a different aerial plug to the usual, It's not the long probe style connector. It was a doddle to install DIY, you only need to remove the side cowling with the cigarette lighter in it in the driver's footwell in order to gain access to the back of the stereo. I spliced the positive lead into the cigarette lighter and access to the aerial plug isn't too tricky.

Hi, I think you are right to be worried about the motor injesting too much of the gunk, it's rather solid at times. I would suggest that you have the intake stripped and manually cleaned the first time round because it WILL be full of crud, I used the SUBARU upper engine cleaner 3 months after my initial manual clean just to keep the intake squeaky clean (there was little or no smoke so it must have been clean still). I don't think the Upper engine cleaner will be able to break down the heavy long term deposits though, my motor had only 80,000Km on the clock and the gunk was 5mm thick in places! A little too much to be forcing through the motor I would think! I have invested in a hand held steam cleaner that I will be using next time round. Concerning fuel economy, I get around 8L/100Km on open road driving only and 9-11L/100Km doing mixed and city driving respectively. PS: concerning removing the inspection hatch, the V35 coupe's come from the factory with a 'power duct' which is effectively an opening that replaces the inspection hatch and vents straight under the bonnet, so you have nothing to worry about concerning rain, mines been off for 6 months and the filter is still clean and dry. It does give an excellent indicator when the VVT changes cam settings.

That should be fun. The 300RX is probably the most underrated M35 model variant in my opinion, it carries 100Kg less pork than the 4WD models with only 10Kw lower peak power, so she'll get up and go when required. My only gripe is the price you pay for 191Kw from an NA 3000cc motor, it's always going to be peaky, the 300RX does absolutely nothing until it swaps cams at 4000RPM, then it really starts pulling. I quite enjoy sitting just under 4000RPM on twisty roads, theres quite a nice kick when the cam timing changes, just watch the back end, i'll come round on you if the power band comes in at the wrong time. I've removed the inspection hatch on the airbox to give me some indication when the cam phasing changes, the noise is amazing! It is still silent below 4000RPM though.

Yes I re-used the gaskets and it seals just fine, they don't break up like paper gaskets, they're not under high vacuum / pressure like other motor gaskets. I use FUCHS GTO fully synth 10W-40, it is some very good quality German oil and a good thrash once a week seems to do the motor well. The worst thing you can do is 'mother' a Di motor for months on end aparrently. My motor wasn't responding well when I got it, but since my initial clean out it has remained free revving and very responsive.

I pulled off the engine cover and used the vacuum hose on the left of the plenum (master cylinder side not intake side) I thought this hose would be the most direct for getting the cleaner into the turbulent air.

Hi Spong, As a bit of an update I have completed 26,000 trouble free Kilometers in my VQ30DD Stagea. As you have just received the car, I would recommend pulling down the intake, removing the big plenum and giving it a good water blast on the driveway, the rest of the gunk can be cleaned off with brake and parts cleaner. I say this because there will be a lot of buildup at this stage if it has not been addressed offshore (unlikely). When you put the intake back together, try to put together a blank off plate for the EGR valve (metal pipe coming from intake just past throttle), it's rather simple, just two holes, I used an old exhaust gasket that I had lying around, this should slow down or prevent the buildup from occuring in the future, it'll throw a check engine light but I ignore this or reset the ECU and it stays off for a month or so. I have made a habit of pulling the lid off of the plenum once every two service intervals just for a checkup, but so far the gunk has not returned. Regarding the Subaru upper engine cleaner, there are instructions on the can, follow them and you'll be fine. I'm not sure how well this worked as I did not open the plenum after application. So this issue isn't really the bugbear that the mechanics get worked up about, the intake is a doddle to remove and the rest is common sense.

Did a 7.5 hour haul down the line, boot full of crap, lotsa hills, lotsa passing, lotsa dicing with Holdens through the corners (Stag eats Commobores for breakfast on twisties). Anyway on the way down I left the gearbox in normal mode, ended up getting an average consumption of 10.2L/100km. On the way back I had it in 'Power' mode the whole time, consumption was 9.1L/100Km It turns out that cruising in power mode might be more efficient, maybe it's because the engine doesn't labour at low revs, maybe it's because it changes down faster when you apply more gas and comes out of lockup faster. Now I leave it in Power mode all the time.

Yeah but there is no button on the control panel for thigh support adjustment? The seat goes up / down, it tilts back / forth, the back rest pivots, the seat goes forward / back and theres lumbar support. Wheres this thigh support jazz?

Hey guys, I have another one of those 'where's the secret button' queries for my M35. Well theres a sticker on the plastic on the side of the driver's seat, it looks original and says 'Driver's thigh support adjustment' BUUUT there is not lever / button / knob that I can see to adjust such a thing. All the electric seat controls are on the left bolster and this sticker is on the right! Can anyone help?

Cool thanks guys. Usually I only replace the rotors when they wear beyond the machining tolerance, mine aren't that worn (there isn't much of a lip on the edge)

Hey guys, My M35 Stag has started 'Pulsing' when under braking, (brakes grab then release at 1/2 second intervals or there abouts when braking only) it feels to me like slightly warped rotors, but I'm rather soft on my brakes and the cars only done 100,000Km on these rotors. Any ideas, is this common? am I looking at a new set of rotors?