Kind of long, I apologize.
Just over three weeks ago (a Tuesday) I walked out to go to work and my car was completely dead. Nothing was left on in the car, but the battery was completely depleted. My son who is a mechanic put a meter on it and verified that it was in fact dead. I had two errors being reported, one was pointing at the ECM and another was something about low voltage. Once we finally got the battery charged up, I had a check engine light on that wouldn't go away. We drove it around a bit, parked it, then waited to see if we could start it, powered right up after sitting for 30 minutes. I called the dealership and took it in the next morning (Wednesday).
The tech who was assigned my QX30 said they couldn't see anything wrong, and that the battery was fine. As they were unable to find anything wrong, they sent it back home with me (Thursday). The two error codes I was told were bogus and didn't mean anything.
On Friday, I go out to go to work, and at least I can enter the car this time. I turn on the ignition and the dash lights up, the car starts (according to the Tach, it was quiet, couldn't tell it was running) and the dash gets an error, "Service Required. Do not shift gears. Visit Dealer". I immediately started taking video (DO THIS, it is proof they can't deny). After the "Service Required" flashed up on the screen, I get another "4WD system currently unavailable". Then it just flashed back and forth between those erorrs. I then proceed to to turn off the car, thinking "WTF is going on now", but now it won't start at all. Same messages, but Tach is stuck on zero.
Other things... At no point was the on dash "R N P D" lit up like it normally is. Console shift knob was also not lit up, would not let you put it in gear even if you wanted to. All lights were on in the car, radio was playing, console screen was on showing the map. At least this time it was not the battery.
I went inside to call the dealership as they were going to have to tow it. The service rep was asking me questions so I went back out to the car and it fired right off. Yeah, I trust this car now (Winter in Colorado and a car having odd issues, no thank you). Check engine light is once again on. They had me drive it to them (about 20 miles in morning rush hour traffic).
Once there the service rep read what the Tech had put int he notes, listened to what I had to say, and then started to get up to see if he could find me a loaner (they were really busy). I said "there is one more thing you need to see". I then proceeded to show him the video I had taken. I offered to email it to them so that they had visual proof that I wasn't making this nightmare up. He sat back down with my phone in front of him and started taking more notes. Again, take video of these weird issues this car is having.
It has now been 3 weeks since I took my car in. They have replaced the ECM, 2 wire harnesses, and the DCU as of last Friday (they believe it is shorting out somewhere). They said (not sure if I believed them or not) that Infiniti has authorized them to take the parts from mine and put them in another QX30 (supposedly the same model, trim package....premium with LED) to see what happens. They are on the phone with Infiniti engineers daily trying to figure it out.
How do you trust a car that not even the techs and engineers can figure out what is going on with it (my issue, the rattling in the roof, mine has rattling in the back around the trunk cover, screen issues, etc)? Has anyone seen anything like this? Reading the posts I see a issues like (one talked about 4WD being unavailable), but nothing quite like my ordeal.
Update: 2017 QX30 Premium, 1.3 years old, <6000 miles on it.
Just over three weeks ago (a Tuesday) I walked out to go to work and my car was completely dead. Nothing was left on in the car, but the battery was completely depleted. My son who is a mechanic put a meter on it and verified that it was in fact dead. I had two errors being reported, one was pointing at the ECM and another was something about low voltage. Once we finally got the battery charged up, I had a check engine light on that wouldn't go away. We drove it around a bit, parked it, then waited to see if we could start it, powered right up after sitting for 30 minutes. I called the dealership and took it in the next morning (Wednesday).
The tech who was assigned my QX30 said they couldn't see anything wrong, and that the battery was fine. As they were unable to find anything wrong, they sent it back home with me (Thursday). The two error codes I was told were bogus and didn't mean anything.
On Friday, I go out to go to work, and at least I can enter the car this time. I turn on the ignition and the dash lights up, the car starts (according to the Tach, it was quiet, couldn't tell it was running) and the dash gets an error, "Service Required. Do not shift gears. Visit Dealer". I immediately started taking video (DO THIS, it is proof they can't deny). After the "Service Required" flashed up on the screen, I get another "4WD system currently unavailable". Then it just flashed back and forth between those erorrs. I then proceed to to turn off the car, thinking "WTF is going on now", but now it won't start at all. Same messages, but Tach is stuck on zero.
Other things... At no point was the on dash "R N P D" lit up like it normally is. Console shift knob was also not lit up, would not let you put it in gear even if you wanted to. All lights were on in the car, radio was playing, console screen was on showing the map. At least this time it was not the battery.
I went inside to call the dealership as they were going to have to tow it. The service rep was asking me questions so I went back out to the car and it fired right off. Yeah, I trust this car now (Winter in Colorado and a car having odd issues, no thank you). Check engine light is once again on. They had me drive it to them (about 20 miles in morning rush hour traffic).
Once there the service rep read what the Tech had put int he notes, listened to what I had to say, and then started to get up to see if he could find me a loaner (they were really busy). I said "there is one more thing you need to see". I then proceeded to show him the video I had taken. I offered to email it to them so that they had visual proof that I wasn't making this nightmare up. He sat back down with my phone in front of him and started taking more notes. Again, take video of these weird issues this car is having.
It has now been 3 weeks since I took my car in. They have replaced the ECM, 2 wire harnesses, and the DCU as of last Friday (they believe it is shorting out somewhere). They said (not sure if I believed them or not) that Infiniti has authorized them to take the parts from mine and put them in another QX30 (supposedly the same model, trim package....premium with LED) to see what happens. They are on the phone with Infiniti engineers daily trying to figure it out.
How do you trust a car that not even the techs and engineers can figure out what is going on with it (my issue, the rattling in the roof, mine has rattling in the back around the trunk cover, screen issues, etc)? Has anyone seen anything like this? Reading the posts I see a issues like (one talked about 4WD being unavailable), but nothing quite like my ordeal.
Update: 2017 QX30 Premium, 1.3 years old, <6000 miles on it.