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Bad Rear Suspension Member - 2003 FX AWD - Help!

29K views 52 replies 19 participants last post by  timetomakethedonuts 
#1 ·
I was just told that my 2003 FX35 AWD which has 110K miles on it needs a new Rear Suspension Member - which is roughly a $700 part that requires $1,400 of labor to replace. Apparently the bushing, which is filled with fluid, is leaking and they advise that the whole assembly needs to be changed. Great egineering on Infiniti's part.

If I don't fix it soon they say that a bunch of other things could get damaged.

Has anyone come across this? Is it true that the bushing can not be fixed?

I have a crazy idea - which is really crazy as I have not viewed the damaged part - and I am wondering if anyone thinks that it will work or if anyone else has a quick inexpensive suggestion. I would attempt to completely replace it myself except I do not have access to a lift.

My Micky-Mouse solution is to drill two (or more) holes in the bushing - one in the 12 o'clock position and one in the 6 o'clock position and then blow all of the fluid out with an air compressor and then fill the bushing with some sort of rubbery composite or silicone that would dry firmly.

Any thoughts on (a) if this would/could work and (b) what material I could use to fill it with.

If it doesn't work I would simply be in the same boat that I am in now - being in need of replacing the thing...
 
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#2 ·
Oddly enough, I just took my wife's 2003 350Z to the Nissan dealer for an oil change, and during the free multi-point inspection, they told me her rear bushings had gone bad too. Except they said it was $750 total to replace them. I passed. He said that it could make the tirewear uneven. Car drives fine to me. :eek:
 
#3 ·
davidnoah said:
I was just told that my 2003 FX35 AWD which has 110K miles on it needs a new Rear Suspension Member - which is roughly a $700 part that requires $1,400 of labor to replace. Apparently the bushing, which is filled with fluid, is leaking and they advise that the whole assembly needs to be changed. Great egineering on Infiniti's part.

If I don't fix it soon they say that a bunch of other things could get damaged.

Has anyone come across this? Is it true that the bushing can not be fixed?

I have a crazy idea - which is really crazy as I have not viewed the damaged part - and I am wondering if anyone thinks that it will work or if anyone else has a quick inexpensive suggestion. I would attempt to completely replace it myself except I do not have access to a lift.

My Micky-Mouse solution is to drill two (or more) holes in the bushing - one in the 12 o'clock position and one in the 6 o'clock position and then blow all of the fluid out with an air compressor and then fill the bushing with some sort of rubbery composite or silicone that would dry firmly.

Any thoughts on (a) if this would/could work and (b) what material I could use to fill it with.

If it doesn't work I would simply be in the same boat that I am in now - being in need of replacing the thing...
That sucks. Is this even a possible scenario? I'm no mechanic so I don't know.

I have similar mileage and have no issues, except the fact that I was going to overhaul and replace all the old suspension parts that need replacing, such as rubber boots, shocks, and possibly even hub bearings. Isn't the bushing just a rubber piece you can replace?

I would take it into your local mechanic and have him inspect your rear suspension, not telling him what the dealership said.

Given past experience with dealerships, they could be just selling you since you are a high mileage car and might be seen as an easy target. A family member is a master mechanic for a major car company and he tells me stuff like this goes on all the time, especially with mechanical fixes that are hard to see for the customer or too "complicated" to understand.
 
#4 ·
I have since had my other mechanic look at it and have also talked to the infiniti dealer again - who now has lowered their price to $1650 after i pushed them a little.


They both suggested that I wait until I notice that the bushing is bad... problem delayed...
 
#5 ·
davidnoah said:
I have since had my other mechanic look at it and have also talked to the infiniti dealer again - who now has lowered their price to $1650 after i pushed them a little.


They both suggested that I wait until I notice that the bushing is bad... problem delayed...
What part are you exactly talking about? The bushing is #13, which cost $4.06 at infinitipartsusa.com


1) SHOCK ABSORBER 2) BUMPER 3) SHOCK MOUNT
4) COIL SPRING 5) SPRING SEAT 6) KNUCKLE
7) HUB ASSY 8) LATERAL ARM 9) RADIUS ARM
10) UPPER CONTROL ARM 11) LOWER CONTROL ARM 12) STABILIZER BAR
13) BUSHINGS 14) BRACKET 15) LINK
16) CROSSMEMBER

I'm a little lost in what is leaking and what is being destroyed due to the leaking. I'm just trying to help you out here.
 
#6 ·
#13 is a sway bar bushing, the bushing he's talking about is a liquid filled subframe mount, just like our engine mounts & it's part of the subframe assy #16... don't think it's serviced seperately... not changing it shouldn't damage anything else really, just maybe feel a bit of vibration or maybe even a knocking sound under certain manuvers really...
 
#7 ·
turbocad6 said:
#13 is a sway bar bushing, the bushing he's talking about is a liquid filled subframe mount, just like our engine mounts & it's part of the subframe assy #16... don't think it's serviced seperately... not changing it shouldn't damage anything else really, just maybe feel a bit of vibration or maybe even a knocking sound under certain manuvers really...
#16 is around a $550 part. If you do it from the dealership, order it then see how fast that quote goes down just from the part cost.

Get the quote in paper first so they don't jack up your labor costs to compensate for the lost revenue in parts.

Thanks John for clarifying... I was freaking out myself if this is something I would need to do to rehaul my old suspension parts. Doesn't look like it in my case.
 
#8 ·
668 list price on the part, 5.2 hours labor to replace it after the exhaust is removed, so even at the craziest labor rates it shouldn't cost more than 6-700 labor, I'd think an average mechanic would charge ~$500 or less to install it really...
 
#9 ·
You are right it is the crossmember (#16) that needs to be replaced... the damaged part on mine is the liquid filled bushing that is located in the middle of the crossmember - thankfully not the 4 bushings that hold the crossmember to the car. If you drew a line from the end of the arrow below #16 to the right the same length as that arrow and then down the same distance you will see the bushing on the diagram. The differential mounts to the crossmember at that spot. The bushing is not servicable and the whole crossmember would need to be changed.

If there is someone out there that is enterprising who could develop a bolt on bushing they probably would be able to sell quite a few of them as it sounds like this part fails fairly often... If the part was $250 and required an hour to install it would be a no-brainer! In looking at the failed part from under the car it looks like it would be easy to create a bolt on application that could simply bolt on to the rear of the crossmember with a bushing attached to it with a rod attached to the center of the bushing which could slide into the center of the differential mounting rod (which is hollow).

If any of the machine shops are interested in discussing please let me know...
 
#10 ·
ok, there are also seperate bushings for the dif mount at the front of the diff, left & right... those insulators are ~49 each list, but yeah, the rear one is not a seperate piece it seems, probably pressed in to the crossmember really. would not be easy but I'm sure something could be done, only problem is you'd be looking at removing the cross member anyway, & then trying to press the old one out, which would probably prove to be very difficult now that the whole subframe is already welded togeather... not impossible to come up with another solution but probably not so practical either really...
 
#11 ·
davidnoah said:
If there is someone out there that is enterprising who could develop a bolt on bushing they probably would be able to sell quite a few of them as it sounds like this part fails fairly often...
This is the first case reported here in 7 years. I wouldnt say fairly often.
 
#12 ·
I know viet broke his, but hard launches with the twin turbo's was probably a contributing factor :p somehow I think I'll be breaking mine soon too :lol:
 
#13 ·
Add another to the list.......Just had my '03 FX35 serviced recently and while the car was at the dealership I mentioned to them that I could hear a click coming from the drivers side rear suspension, you could also feel it when accelerating from a stop position. Turns out that the rear k-member bushing leaked out all the fluid and apparently the whole assembly needs to be replaced. Dealership quoted me just under $1600 for parts and labor! Haven't had it fixed yet, not completely convinced that by not having it fixed, its doing other damage to the vehicle. FYI, just hit 100k miles too.
 
#14 ·
edub said:
Add another to the list.......Just had my '03 FX35 serviced recently and while the car was at the dealership I mentioned to them that I could hear a click coming from the drivers side rear suspension, you could also feel it when accelerating from a stop position. Turns out that the rear k-member bushing leaked out all the fluid and apparently the whole assembly needs to be replaced. Dealership quoted me just under $1600 for parts and labor! Haven't had it fixed yet, not completely convinced that by not having it fixed, its doing other damage to the vehicle. FYI, just hit 100k miles too.
If you do, buy it online:
http://www.infinitipartsusa.com/partloc ... atalogid=0

$668.06 retail, $542.80 on the website. Some dealers even charge over retail, way over retail in some items. So even with shipping it's probably a steal.

As John said, ~$500 to install at a local shop.
 
#15 ·
Can't see having it repaired at the dealer for $1600. I am going to have the local shop I use sometimes take a look at it and give me a quote. If it comes back at around $1000, I might get it done, but I am in no hurry as I don't think it is damaging the rest of the suspension.
 
#16 ·
turbocad6 said:
I know viet broke his, but hard launches with the twin turbo's was probably a contributing factor :p somehow I think I'll be breaking mine soon too :lol:
I wish mine was broken... Sigh... ;)
 
#19 ·
I still thing that there has to be an easier solution than to pull the whole thing out...

If anyone has done anywork under these and/or poked around while their car was up on the rack it looks like if someone would creat a a bushing bypass (I like the sound of that - very medical sounding) it sould work.

Here is what I am thinking. The current setup is a liquid filled bushing with the hollow, open rod coming out from the center of the bushing... picture the rear diff having a hollow rod coming off the back of it that is rested in the middle of the bushing - which keeps it from moving about too much. if you could slide another rod into the middle of the existing rod that has a bushing on the other side of it and then attach that to the rear suspension it should do the job... to make things easier there are already a few predrilled holes in the suspension member - so a properly crafted part with all the holes lined up could be installed in aobut 10 minutes once the car was up on the lift...

I hate to say I hope more of these parts fail - but I hope more of these fail so that someone creates a simple fix...
 
#20 ·
If you decide to get the OEM part, see if the dealer will price match the Infinitipartsusa.com price. I did that with our Murano (FWD) when we needed to replace our leaking high pressure steering hose. I asked if they price matched and they yes, just as long as I provided a print out from nissanparts2u.com with the price and part#. I saved on the shipping when the dealer special ordered it. I looked up the high pressure power steering hose for the FX (before we got rid of the murano and into the FX) and it was actually cheaper than the Murano's for some odd reason hence another reason we got the FX =D.
 
#22 ·
Did you ever have your 'k' member replaced or find an alternate solution? I am going on a year of driving around with this bad bushing and to be honest, it is starting to get annoying. I had it checked out again last month to see if it was causing any abnormal wear on the rest of the suspension system, and was told it hasn't, which was good news. The only thing holding me back is the cost.

davidnoah said:
I still thing that there has to be an easier solution than to pull the whole thing out...

If anyone has done anywork under these and/or poked around while their car was up on the rack it looks like if someone would creat a a bushing bypass (I like the sound of that - very medical sounding) it sould work.

Here is what I am thinking. The current setup is a liquid filled bushing with the hollow, open rod coming out from the center of the bushing... picture the rear diff having a hollow rod coming off the back of it that is rested in the middle of the bushing - which keeps it from moving about too much. if you could slide another rod into the middle of the existing rod that has a bushing on the other side of it and then attach that to the rear suspension it should do the job... to make things easier there are already a few predrilled holes in the suspension member - so a properly crafted part with all the holes lined up could be installed in aobut 10 minutes once the car was up on the lift...

I hate to say I hope more of these parts fail - but I hope more of these fail so that someone creates a simple fix...
 
#23 ·
I have been researching this topic and found that the 350Z guys are replacing their diff mounts with solid mounts.

A company called SPL sells these http://splparts.com/SPL_SDB_Z33.html . For a couple hundred bucks, looks like a good solution. The diff neeeds to come out, but at least not the whole subframe.

I checked with the dealer and the G35 (same as Z) subframe has a different part# than the FX35, but the bushings could very well be the same. Someone needs to be a pioneer.
 
#24 ·
Thanks!

I am going in to one of their recomended shops for a fitting tomorrow (pun intended)... and they have one kit in stock... so if all goes well I will have this problem solved tomorrow!!!
 
#26 ·
those are the 2 front bushings, not the main rear one that is the problem here...
 
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