Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Saga begins...

Week 1 after compliance,

Car landed... battery flat... due to overworked, only be able to find a new battery after 2 weeks.

Week 3, new battery in... no time to drive out yet or organised RWC

battery flat again as accidentally left interior dome light on one evening after sitting in the car reading some manuals before leaving the garage.

Week 4, wasted on another battery, only had time to warm it up for the next 3 weeks - too busy at work

Week 7, finally had a quiet week at work, planning to get it RWC, should be straightforward, found a mechanic next to office, organised RWC appointment next week, plus unreg vehicle permit for 3 days (RWC shouldn't take that long?)

Week 8, day of RWC. drop off in the morning, garage called back in the afternoon front rotors and pads were way too unroadworthy. WTF

asking around finding parts won't be able to do it in 3 days AFTER the unreg vehicle permit expires. There goes my $46 permit

Week 8 + 3 days, finally picked up rotors & pads. Alas, bad luck found out pad is wrong, picked up rear instead of front. too busy at work again, no time to go back to pad shop to exchange. cancelled RWC appointment at no specific time.

Week 8 + 5 days, finally got chance to sneak out during lunch break and exchange the rear pads for the correct front pads. called mechanic, organised a 2nd attempt at RWC. Called Vicroads organised for another 7 days unreg vehicle permit... $40 plus appointment for 1st time rego $30 plus.

Week 9, drop off 2nd time at mechanic for RWC. All went in sweet. feeling optimistic... ? WRONG not so quite...

Week 9+5 days, 2 days before Vicroads appointment... accidentally left passenger door not closed fully and the courtesy light stays on whole night.

That killed the battery AGAIN! 2 days before rego appointment what a f@ckin... bad luck I had...

Week 9 + 6 days, ran quickly to local autobarn, getting a new battery... 3 batteries in 9 weeks x $130 each = almost $400 and car is not on the road yet.

Week 10 - REGO day. drop in at vicroads, they refuse my car for rego as all invoices/paperwork from japan is done electronically and there is no single supplier's (japanese seller's) actual signature, apart from Consumer Information Notice which is original. Late in for work, stayed back late for work, no aparent choice making another unreg vehicle permit for $40 so I could just get it home...

Week 10 + 1 day, contacted supplier, faxed over an invoice with signature... no originals only faxed documents still - will have to sign stat dec in front of police officer stating that I really purchased that car with no genuine invoice only electronic copies/faxes available...

let's see how tomorrow afternoon 4pm, will have to leave work at 3pm just to get to Vicroads. Rego or not rego after the 11th week, tomorrow will have to rush back to work at around 5pm and work till perhaps 9pm just to get my projects out.

After 11 week, $500 wasted and car is not on the road yet, I should have just sell the damn thing.

  • Replies 63
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

if rego doesn't go thru tomorrow due to other 'insufficient' paperwork according to vicroads 'evrything by the book' rules then i won't have time again till september as 2 colleagues havin babies at work means they'll be on leave and i'll be triple shifted again.

september means rwc expires after 28 days and i have to re-do the RWC again...

My battery is screwed as well!

ANyone else having problems with their battery?

I went for a coffee and accidnetly left my lights on for 30min, come back bateryis flat. I get it jump started and drive round for 45 min to charge it, next morning flat.

I boost charge my battery for 5 hours, after that it starts working. The next night i try to drive it...its flat again...

should I:

1. try and charge it for like 12-18 hours on normal charge?

2. buy a new battery?

Actually, anyone know of any professional agent/broker that can do my car rego for me as i simply don't have time.

I will be willing to pay for their professional service. Give me a quote ie hourly rate.

My battery is screwed as well!

ANyone else having problems with their battery?

I went for a coffee and accidnetly left my lights on for 30min, come back bateryis flat. I get it jump started and drive round for 45 min to charge it, next morning flat.

I boost charge my battery for 5 hours, after that it starts working. The next night i try to drive it...its flat again...

should I:

1. try and charge it for like 12-18 hours on normal charge?

2. buy a new battery?

2. Buy new battery. $130-ish each time

once it's flat the battery will be dead. cut its life in half, you flat it again, another half, u got quarter left.

basically once it's flat on a V35, there's no point trying to recharge it, just buy a new one and swap out.

the car runs a very power demanding network of electronics, even the light switch won't turn the lights off if there isn't enough power!

how ridiculous... other conventional car wont' turn on lights when there's no power, on v35, it will turn on lights and refuses to turn off

until battery is completely drain out or you pull out the battery terminal in panic.

I thnk what i've learnt in this 12 week is:

1. never buy an import unregistered (buy privately locally or from dealer and just deal with existing rego transfer - much easier)

2. i need a new job that promotes work life balance...

3. i really need a new job that doesn't make me go back to work tomorrow after 5pm and keep working till things done.

(done that before till 1:30am once)

2. Buy new battery. $130-ish each time

once it's flat the battery will be dead. cut its life in half, you flat it again, another half, u got quarter left.

basically once it's flat on a V35, there's no point trying to recharge it, just buy a new one and swap out.

the car runs a very power demanding network of electronics, even the light switch won't turn the lights off if there isn't enough power!

how ridiculous... other conventional car wont' turn on lights when there's no power, on v35, it will turn on lights and refuses to turn off

until battery is completely drain out or you pull out the battery terminal in panic.

I thnk what i've learnt in this 12 week is:

1. never buy an import unregistered (buy privately locally or from dealer and just deal with existing rego transfer - much easier)

2. i need a new job that promotes work life balance...

3. i really need a new job that doesn't make me go back to work tomorrow after 5pm and keep working till things done.

(done that before till 1:30am once)

Best of luck mate, hope all goes well evemtually. I htink its worth having one more shot, its is an amazing car, and I always get quite good attention for it, from young people all the way to 70y.o. married couple!

WHat battery did you buy? Just a standard one? recommend any brands?

I actually have a 12 month after market warranty I bought when i got the car from dealer/importer, should I use that or just skip the hassle and spend the $130.

cheers,

Danny

Umm i must be very lucky my car went to kamakaze motors in nunawading they picked it up for me from quarantine flat battery jump started all good towed it to their workshop , they complianced it,they roadworthied it found 3 things wrong -number plate light,castor bushes, tie rod end, they fixed it, they supplied R.W.C now just waiting for the compliance plate to arrive and pick it up next week with a permit drive to vicroads and put plates on. Jason is the man to speak to top bloke very professional knows his shit and great prices.

Don't be too sure AndyD. All will be sweet until the moment you arrive @ Vicroads. happened to a mate of mine too. They'll just dick you around with stupid thing and just wasted your time.

Re batteries:

1st battery - Century NS60LS with two terminal sizes, traded in the dead jap battery and get like $20-30 off with the month's promo.

Killed by interior dome light

2nd battery - Bosch BNS60LS - same as century, just branded differently. bought outright $120+ from supercheap, didn't keep my century

receipt as i wouldn't have thought a new battery will be dead by such a stupid thing after running fine for a week. my garage was brightly

lit by neon light that an interior dome light won't be visible on/off if you don't actually look at it.

Killed by courtesy light under passenger door.

3rd Battery, back to Century, NS60L $130+ - similar to 1st but only 350CCA instaed of 400CCA like the first 2. But this one has small terminals only instead of dual size. seem to start alright. just finger cross i don't happen to leave a light on or a door open overnight. the car sucks too much power! traded in the 1st century for 10% off the price as there's no promo with century anymore to trade old batteries. and I panicked as it's the last day to find battery before goin to vicroads for rego appointment. cant be bothered trying to find the original bosch receipt.

still have the 2nd bosch on my garage floor - flat, unsure what to do with it. just hoping the 3rd one will last, now i'm double checking every single thing in the car before leaving it.

Is it possible your alternator is shagged or are thier any aftermarket electronics in the car that may not be wired correctly and drawing power all the time? Just a guess i have no real experiance with electronics but ive seen some crazy jap wiring in some otherwise stock looking cars.

don't think so - wiring done by chris rogers. all origianl dealer wiring with immoblser etc that is in a scotch locks has been removed totally on compliance

1st battery killed by interior domelight

2nd battery killed by courtesy light under door

it's nothing but my very bad luck with this car.

Rianto,

You know I had problems too but none of them were from VicRoads!

1. Delayed at freight forwarders/docks for 3 weeks due to incompetence

2. Delayed getting car towed from docks to RAWS (1 more week)

3. Got to VicRoads, RWC had incorrect engine number on it! (had to drive back to mechanic)

4. Car scratched by RAWS (though they have agreed to at least give it a minor cut & polish to reduce the damage)

It's fun and games importing but it's so worth it once it's on the road. You get everyone from Muzzas to old men in Audis trying to work out what it is (not to mention the odd idjit who thinks its a GT-R :banana:)

rianto, who did you buy the car through? j-spec? prestige? etc.

this is the main reason i bought locally as all this shit was already done and they even organised the rego themselves. i just picked up the car!

hope it all goes well, good luck

Rianto, speak to Craig at J-spec. He should be able to guide you through what else may need to be done to register the car. Especially from a paper work perspective.

As for actually doing it, as far as i know it has to be you. As it's going in your name.

My battery went dead, but only after leaving the lights and radio on overnight. Still the next morning i topped it up with battery water ( it was empty) and have not had a problem since. This was well over a month ago.

Waz, imported the car myself.

Nismo, I know it's not j-spec or prestige's problem, i got all paperwork it's just they keep asking for ridiculous things and just wasting more of my time, plus I don't have time to organise some of the things in person. So it's more issues with me and my time issues - too much work!

Chris, I will let you know tonight, as i will be going to vicroads again this afternoon at 4pm. I belieev I should have the things required, but I'll probably make a stat dec @ local police to state that all my documents are done electronically!

Rianto,

For starters, all of your batteries have a warranty and you should have been able to return the first one under warranty.

If you run a battery dead flat it will not halve it's life. The only thing that will kill a battery is to store it on concrete.

You have to expect problems with paperwork when importing a car because as you know there is a lot to it. Import brokers have more pull with their suppliers or agents in Japan and when there are problems they are fixed quickly. The import process also has a procedure to reduce the risk of problems like these from happening. You need original documents.

You have had a fairly large amount of hassles and this will hopefully help you enjoy your car more than if it was easy breezy.

Don't sell it, love it. :(:):D

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • The other problem was one of those "oh shit we are going to die moments". Basically the high spec Q50s have a full electric steering rack, and the povo ones had a regular hydraulic rack with an electric pump.  So couple of laps into session 5 as I came into turn 2 (big run off now, happily), the dash turned into a christmas tree and the steering became super heavy and I went well off. I assumed it was a tyre failure so limped to the pits, but everything was OK. But....the master warning light was still on so I checked the DTCs and saw – C13E6 “Heat Protection”. Yes, that bloody steering rack computer sitting where the oil cooler should be has its own sensors and error logic, and decided I was using the steering wheel too much. I really appreciated the helpful information in the manual (my bold) POSSIBLE CAUSE • Continuing the overloading steering (Sports driving in the circuit etc,) “DATA MONITOR” >> “C/M TEMPERATURE”. The rise of steering force motor internal temperature caused the protection function to operate. This is not a system malfunction. INSPECTION END So, basically the electric motor in the steering rack got to 150c, and it decided to shut down without warning for my safety. Didn't feel safe. Short term I'll see if I can duct some air to that motor (the engine bay is sealed pretty tight). Long term, depending on how often this happens, I'll look into swapping the povo spec electric/hydraulic rack in. While the rack should be fine the power supply to the pump will be a pain and might be best to deal with it when I add a PDM.
    • And finally, 2 problems I really need to sort.  Firstly as Matt said the auto trans is not happy as it gets hot - I couldn't log the temps but the gauge showed 90o. On the first day I took it out back in Feb, because the coolant was getting hot I never got to any auto trans issues; but on this day by late session 3 and then really clearly in 4 and 5 as it got hotter it just would not shift up. You can hear the issue really clearly at 12:55 and 16:20 on the vid. So the good news is, literally this week Ecutek finally released tuning for the jatco 7 speed. I'll have a chat to Racebox and see what they can do electrically to keep it cooler and to get the gears, if anything. That will likely take some R&D and can only really happen on track as it never gets even warm with road use. I've also picked up some eye wateringly expensive Redline D6 ATF to try, it had the highest viscosity I could find at 100o so we will see if that helps (just waiting for some oil pan gaskets so I can change it properly). If neither of those work I need to remove the coolant/trans interwarmer and the radiator cooler and go to an external cooler....somewhere.....(goodbye washer reservoir?), and if that fails give up on this mad idea and wait for Nissan to release the manual 400R
    • So, what else.... Power. I don't know what it is making because I haven't done a post tune dyno run yet; I will when I get a chance. It was 240rwkw dead stock. Conclusion from the day....it does not need a single kw more until I sort some other stuff. It comes on so hard that I could hear the twin N1 turbos on the R32 crying, and I just can't use what it has around a tight track with the current setup. Brakes. They are perfect. Hit them hard all day and they never felt like having an issue; you can see in the video we were making ground on much lighter cars on better tyres under brakes. They are standard (red sport) calipers, standard size discs in DBA5000 2 piece, Winmax pads and Motul RBF600 fluid, all from Matty at Racebrakes Sydney. Keeping in mind the car is more powerful than my R32 and weighs 1780, he clearly knows his shit. Suspension. This is one of the first areas I need to change. It has electronically controlled dampers from factory, but everything is just way too soft for track work even on the hardest setting (it is nice when hustling on country roads though). In particular it rolls into oversteer mid corner and pitches too much under hard braking so it becomes unstable eg in the turn 1 kink I need to brake early, turn through the kink then brake again so I don't pirouette like an AE86. I need to get some decent shocks with matched springs and sway bars ASAP, even if it is just a v1 setup until I work out a proper race/rally setup later. Tyres. I am running Yoko A052 in 235/45/18 all round, because that was what I could get in approximately the right height on wheels I had in the shed (Rays/Nismo 18x8 off the old Leaf actually!). As track tyres they are pretty poor; I note GTSBoy recently posted a porker comparo video including them where they were about the same as AD09.....that is nothing like a top line track tyre. I'll start getting that sorted but realistically I should get proper sized wheels first (likely 9.5 +38 front and 11 +55 at the rear, so a custom order, and I can't rotate them like the R32), then work out what the best tyre option is. BTW on that, Targa Tas had gone to road tyres instead of semi slicks now so that is a whole other world of choices to sort. Diff. This is the other thing that urgently needs to be addressed. It left massive 1s out of the fish hook all day, even when I was trying not too (you can also hear it reving on the video, and see the RPM rising too fast compared to speed in the data). It has an open diff that Infiniti optimistically called a B-LSD for "Brake Limited Slip Diff". It does good straight line standing start 11s but it is woeful on the track. Nismo seem to make a 2 way for it.
    • Also, I logged some data from the ECU for each session (mostly oil pressures and various temps, but also speed, revs etc, can't believe I forgot accelerator position). The Ecutek data loads nicely to datazap, I got good data from sessions 2, 3 and 4: https://datazap.me/u/duncanhandleyhgeconsultingcomau/250813-wakefield-session-2?log=0&data=7 https://datazap.me/u/duncanhandleyhgeconsultingcomau/250813-wakefield-session-3?log=0&data=6 https://datazap.me/u/duncanhandleyhgeconsultingcomau/250813-wakefield-session-4?log=0&data=6 Each session is cut into 3 files but loaded together, you can change between them in the top left. As the test sessions are mostly about the car, not me, I basically start by checking the oil pressure (good, or at least consistent all day). These have an electrically controlled oil pump which targets 25psi(!) at low load and 50 at high. I'm running a much thicker oil than recommended by nissan (they said 0w20, I'm running 10w40) so its a little higher. The main thing is that it doesn't drop too far, eg in the long left hand fish hook, or under brakes so I know I'm not getting oil surge. Good start. Then Oil and Coolant temp, plus intercooler and intake temps, like this: Keeping in mind ambient was about 5o at session 2, I'd say the oil temp is good. The coolant temp as OK but a big worry for hot days (it was getting to 110 back in Feb when it was 35o) so I need to keep addressing that. The water to air intercooler is working totally backwards where we get 5o air in the intake, squish/warm it in the turbos (unknown temp) then run it through the intercoolers which are say 65o max in this case, then the result is 20o air into the engine......the day was too atypical to draw a conclusion on that I think, in the united states of freedom they do a lot of upsizing the intercooler and heat exchanger cores to get those temps down but they were OK this time. The other interesting (but not concerning) part for me was the turbo speed vs boost graph: I circled an example from the main straight. With the tune boost peaks at around 18psi but it deliberately drops to about 14psi at redline because the turbos are tiny - they choke at high revs and just create more heat than power if you run them hard all the way. But you can also see the turbo speed at the same time; it raises from about 180,000rpm to 210,000rpm which the boost falls....imagine the turbine speed if they held 18psi to redline. The wastegates are electrically controlled so there is a heap of logic about boost target, actual boost, delta etc etc but it all seems to work well
    • hahah when youtube subscribers are faster than my updates here. Yes some vid from the day is up, here:  Note that as with all track day videos it is boring watching after the bloopers at the start.  The off was a genuine surprise to me, I've literally done a thousand laps around the place and I've never had instability there; basically it rolled into oversteer, slipped, gripped and spat me out. On the way off I mowed down one of the instructor's cones and it sat there all day looking at me with accusing cone eyes as I drove past. 1:13:20 was my fastest lap, and it was in the second session, 3rd lap.  It (or me!) got slower throughout the day as it got hotter.      
×
×
  • Create New...