Ant

Hi all, does anyone know what a V36 250GT Type V is? I know about the Type S (sport) and P (luxury) pack options, but there are now a bunch of V36 250GTs coming into NZ that are listed as a 'Type V'. Google doesn't seem to know much, other than acknowledging that this model exists... The cars themselves seem to have a mismash of options like half leather seats, some have navi and most seem to have the passenger side wing mirror camera.

Is this one of the registered V35 AV converter guys - charging NZD$499 for the conversion in NZ? http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/car-parts-accessories/rear-view-cameras/auction-533190114.htm Makes me a little bit suspicious since there is a q posted there about a series 2 M35 which should have been a dead giveaway that it wasn't supported, but their initial answer to the q was that it was (they later reported it correctly as not supported).

So maybe there is hope out there for V36 owners - spotted this ad on TradeMe (NZ auction site) the other day - a 2005 Nissan Fuga being advertised as having the navigation system converted to NZ: http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/nissan/fuga/auction-496051466.htm The advertiser (Croydon Wholesalers) is a well known importer of Nissans, and Skylines in particular, so doesn't surprise me they figured it out. The Fuga is kinda related to the V36 - wonder how close a cousin the AV system is?!

Just one significant difference between the 250GT and 300GT - the 250 only has a 4 speed auto, whereas the 300 has a 5spd...

Try getting in touch with these guys in NZ - I think they're about the only ones south of Japan who can claim to be experts on the GT8 CVT: http://www.cvt.co.nz/

Been there, done that. Nissan NZ quoted me NZD$400+ (might have been closer to $500 - can't remember exactly) per side for the whole arm so you got off lightly with that quote! As per the last post you definitely can replace just the bushes. Mine were done under a mechanical warranty, and the warranty co told Nissan to get stuffed with the quote for the arms and instead sourced just the bushes themselves and supplied those to the dealer. Got fitted with no dramas - now no more nasty squeaks from the front of the car.

I'll bite... Real world 250GT consumption: 100% open road - best I've seen is 10.73km/l 40% motorway/60% city - around 9.3km/l Absolute worst in 3 years of owning it was 8.3km/l - but more usually closer to the 9.3km/l. The numbers the OP put up don't make sense - or at least not in the real world where the bigger the engine the more likely you are to use the extra cc's!

Hey, you beat my record - a year or 2 ago scored a set of the same things for $200 from TradeMe. And then sold my 16's for the same price!

Thanks for that all! Interesting that Nissan don't seem to know...

Hey, anyone out there got the original owners manual for a 250GT and can look up what the recommended oil is for the VQ25DD? Nissan have been putting 15W40 in mine, but a lot of you seem to be using 10W40 so got them to use that at the last change. Just wondering what it should actually be?

Chad Bob - you're the man, awesome pics. I have a funny feeling I now know what is causing a bit of smoke to come out the tailpipe of my car at high RPM - must be when the valves open a bit further and some of that crap gets blown out. Does anyone know if any workshops in Auckland can do this kind of thing without it costing an arm and a leg? And who could do it without breaking or ruining anything? Would like to get mine done but I think this is a bit beyond my basic DIY skills...

Re the belts - if they get noisy on cold start after being changed pop back to City Nissan, this is fairly normal and takes them a few minutes to re-adjust. Re the lower control arm bushings - inner or outer? I've just had both inner bushings done on mine due to severe cracking, initially was told by City Nissan that the whole arm has to be replaced at $600 each (very expensive chunks of aluminium)! Fortunately I've got a mechanical warranty and this part is covered - and the warranty people discovered that you can replaced the bushing as a separate item. Also had one of my wheel bearings done - what a difference that has made, never noticed how noisy it was, put the noise down to tyre roar. Now the car is like a tomb inside!

Just had the belts done on mine - next cold morning they squealed for about 30s or so. Took back to dealer who did the belts, they re-adjusted the tension and now all good, squeal gone. Story from the dealer was that the belts expand a bit after installation so they very rarely get the tension right first time.

There are quite a few Infiniti dealers out there who will ship overseas - I've used Riverside Infiniti who were good. They also have an EBay store. Just do a search here first - quite a few G35 parts do not fit the JDM models for one reason or another.

Keep an eye on Trademe - V35 wheels do pop up occasionally. Though usually the 17s - was fortunate to score a set of standard 17s with great tyres to replace the horrid 16s that the 250GT comes with standard. Then sold my 16s for the same price I got the 17s for - go figure!

Mine is the stripper 250GTm model which had a single DIN radio from Japan - which turned out to be a blessing since it made fitting a 2DIN DVD/GPS unit a breeze! So never bothered to get a band expander fitted. Should be a DIY exercise, though getting the dash apart on these things is a bit of a nightmare, lots to take apart - not especially hard but time consuming! If you decide to do it yourself make sure you have an entire afternoon free... Lots of info here and on the US G35 sites about taking the dash apart. I've tried 1 tank of 97/98 from Gull, performance according to the butt-dyno is about the same as with 98 from Mobil/BP. Never managed to get a definitive answer on if the VQ25DD is compatible with the 5% (?) ethanol mix used in the Gull fuel - I think that Ethanol blends are a bit more common over the ditch so the Aussies here may be able to comment? I figured that since these things are a relatively unusual (in that the engine isn't used by any NZ new Nissans) high compression, direct injected engine it wasn't worth the risk. Note that the latest NZ Maximas use a 2.5L VQ engine, but it is a VQ25DE, not the direct injected DD motor in the Skyline. Hence why no NZ Nissan techs are really familiar with them.

Re fuel - I've always put 98 in mine. Tried a couple of tanks of 95 - on average found that I got worse k's per litre with it, basically $ per km travelled is about the same so worth paying more for (and going further on) a tank of 98. Interestingly on the open road (when there is no 98 to be had in the back-blocks) the difference between the 2 was negligible (in terms of distance travelled per litre), but around town there is quite a significant difference. Guess it is something to do with 98 being more efficient for acceleration? My experience with City Nissan Takapuna has been a bit average - as noted in my post about problems with direct injection engines (a bit of smoke at high RPM) they were very keen to take Consult readings from my car and get Nissan Japan to look at them - however I never heard back from them about this. Also I see from a post from one of our M35 cousins that the guy at City Nissan professed to have never heard of carbon build-up in DI engines when he talked to them - however I had a conversation with the same guy about this exact problem a few months previously. I would expect them to be lifting their game though as they are now servicing R35s, and I understand they have to jump thru quite a few hoops with Nissan to be allowed to do this. Previously I was using Newmarket Nissan - they quickly solved a few problems on a previous car that had stumped Takapuna Nissan for months. Also I've had other family members who have had trouble with Takapuna Nissan - though in fairness to them when they were pushed about their stuff ups they came to the party.

I saw your post in the M35 info thread on talking to Warwick @ City Nissan Takapuna about this... He must have a short memory - when I had my V35 serviced there just before Xmas last year I talked to him about the carbon build-up issue in direct injected engines. That was after reading the original post in this thread... I'm having an issue in my 250GT where at high revs (>4500) it lets out a bit of smoke - not sure if it is due to the engine running rich at high RPM (technique often used in high-compression engines to prevent detonation) or perhaps due to the buildup of crud getting flushed out when thrashed. Doesn't seem to be any real underlying prob (touch wood), the car has always done this since I got it about 3 years ago, behaves quite normally otherwise and it doesn't use any oil. The oil does seem to get quite dirty in a short period of time after an oil change though. City Nissan Takapuna haven't been able to shed any light on the smoke issue - they did take readings using the Consult datalogging gizmo and sent these off to Nissan Japan for analysis - but I never heard anything further on this. Must chase them up about that...

Yep, there are a few kiwis floating around here - and of our M35 driving cousins in the Stagea forums. This is about the closest we have to a NZ V35 forum, there is the occasional post on Skylines Downunder, but the lot here are far more knowledgeable. I use City Nissan Takapuna for servicing - and haven't really found a good source for parts. The few bits and pieces I've got for my V35 so far have been sourced from the USA.

According to the Nissan Japan website the only current JDM V36 AWD model is the 250GT FOUR Sedan. Coupe is shown as 2WD only. There is a 3.7L G37x AWD Sedan and Coupe in the USA.

Possibly the Crank Angle Sensor - there was a recall on early JDM V35s for this? http://dogandlemon.com/site/japanese-vehic...aseno=RJ-0995-0 If the CAS is feeding invalid timing signals to the ECU then this could produce the symptoms you are seeing?

Likely they don't know what they are talking about - AFAIK the 5 speed auto didn't come in the 250GT until the new V36 range came out. Shouldn't be too hard to check - put it into tiptronic mode and change up to the top gear - dash display will show the gear number. Or count gear changes while accelerating to cruising speed (100km/h).

From a post I made in another thread on the same topic: I went from a manual R33 GTS25 coupe to a V35 250GT sedan. The 250GT is much more comfortable, but feels like it has a bit less overall grunt - which I think is more to do with coming from a manual to an auto trans than any actual power difference. When winding the engine out if anything I'd say the NA VQ25 is a bit more free-revving than the NA RB25. I've also driven a friends 4 door auto R34 25GT, which in terms of overall performance felt about the same as my 250GT. The 250GT is definitely slightly softer though - due to suspension setup mainly I think. Have very briefly driven an IS200, initial impressions were that compared to the 250GT it has far less usable grunt - I kept wondering where all the torques had gone... Also overall it felt less 'sharp' than the 250GT. Also felt very, very cramped inside - the 250GT interior is massive by comparison. Having said all that I haven't driven a 300 or 350GT - knowing that if I did I'd be far too tempted to buy one! So can't comment on how much better they are compared to a 250GT. As for the 4sp auto - the gearbox is probably the only real issue I have with the car - a 250GT with a 5sp (or more!) auto would be my ideal at the moment (so next car is probably gonna be a V36 which has 5sp on both the 250 and 350GT...). If you want a 5sp auto go for the V35 300GT - 3.0L and comes with the 5sp as standard. Fuel consumption - mine uses between 9 (open road) and 11L (round town, mix of motorway and urban driving) per 100km, usually fill up at around 550 - 600km. Coil pack issue - not something I've heard of either. Keep in mind that the VQ engine these things have is used all over the Nissan range, far more widely than the RB was. So it is pretty well tested and seems to be very reliable. Definitely more fragile than the RB, but that only matters if you are trying to up the power thru forced induction.

Blazt are in NZ, and he lists the V35 tested as being a 350GT? So most likely tested on a JDM car. But it will be one with the VQ35DE, not the VQ25DET used in the Stageas most of you have - wonder if it is different?

This might be a dumb question, but doesn't the V35 have an aluminium bonnet - so at least there the magnet isn't going to stick? Something to keep in mind when doing this check on newer cars which have aluminium panels...