Too much worry?

[JB33]

So, I’m the new owner of a 2008 HR with 56k miles. All history up to date and nothing to suggest looking problems. I just worry I’m going to have the concentric slave cylinder problem, is oil galley gasket problem, or transmission problems and I’m going to end up forking our loads of cash and being depressed lol. 

 

Why cant I just enjoy the car? I do nothing but imagine the worst and read all of these horror stories. 

 

Its making me think “should I just cut my losses and sell it now before it starts?” 

 

I know the HR unit is prone to this dreaded oil leak or concentric slave issue. 

 

I’ve also heard people say these things are built like tanks, why do I focus on the negative? 

Edited November 13, 2017 by JB33

[Redsky]

From what I remember and im no expert just to put that out there. But i think the HR comes with the stronger transmission, oil gallery gasket is sort of hit and miss it'll happen eventually but can vary on miles. Had to redo my slave cylinder on day 3 of ownership but that was at 75K miles seen other people pull over 100K. If you wanted there are lots of CSC upgrades like stronger units and things like that, im sure someones got an upgraded CSC and can weigh in a bit.

 

I would say just enjoy the car  If it happens it happens same as anything else in life, go for a jog and fall over and hurt yourself you getup and carry on. Just see how you feel with the car, I had mine 3 days and I was already totally taken with the car so when it came to replacing the slave and clutch I was willing to pay. I will admit to sitting there thinking "Do i sell it on, do I maybe get an M3 or try for a cheap boxster" but at the end of 6K miles and 8 months I can say hand on heart i am really glad I didnt go for the M3 or the boxster, I just think theres something about the 350 thats grabbed me entirely.

 

So rambling aside thats my little 2 cents kind of thing, see how you feel about the car and see if in your mind its worth the "risk". Every cars got its issues just have to embrace them and roll with it  

[G1en]

To be fair, most 10 year old performance cars come with a degree of uncertainty that could bite you in the ass. Just enjoy it buddy and if you can save a bit up, replace the “weaker” areas when you can. I have done the clutch/fly/slave and upgraded at same time. Gearbox in the HR is the uprated one anyway. Not done the gallery gaskets yet but oil pressure is fine. Just keep an eye on things. 

Enjoy it!

[Sargara]

If you want a perfect car with no faults, buy a new 370z and treat it the way you want from the get go. If you cant afford a new car then stop worrying about stuff you have no control over, old cars have problems its part of the reason they are this at this price point.

[JB33]

Thanks for the replies. I’ve spent £1,000 so far in a week of ownership

service £360 (incl spark plugs)

rear tyres: 260

rear bearing 355

i know it needs all round brake rotors too, but I’m doing those myself. 

Yeh, not expecting it to be perfect but just worry over the big things happening. Maybe it will fade the more time I spend with the car. 

[Jack94]

Try not to get too hung up on the cost of brakes, tyres etc mate, they're consumables so every car has to have them done sooner or later and the parts are always going to be a bit more pricey than if you were buying them for a fiesta or something. 

Again, every car has to be serviced at least once a year. 

 

The wheel bearing is bad luck but most things on any car have a finite life so sadly things are gonna start failing eventually, gotta keep in mind that the car is nearly 10 years old.

 

[Ponsonby]

9 hours ago, Redsky said:

From what I remember and im no expert just to put that out there. But i think the HR comes with the stronger transmission, oil gallery gasket is sort of hit and miss it'll happen eventually but can vary on miles. Had to redo my slave cylinder on day 3 of ownership but that was at 75K miles seen other people pull over 100K. If you wanted there are lots of CSC upgrades like stronger units and things like that, im sure someones got an upgraded CSC and can weigh in a bit.

 

I would say just enjoy the car  If it happens it happens same as anything else in life, go for a jog and fall over and hurt yourself you getup and carry on. Just see how you feel with the car, I had mine 3 days and I was already totally taken with the car so when it came to replacing the slave and clutch I was willing to pay. I will admit to sitting there thinking "Do i sell it on, do I maybe get an M3 or try for a cheap boxster" but at the end of 6K miles and 8 months I can say hand on heart i am really glad I didnt go for the M3 or the boxster, I just think theres something about the 350 thats grabbed me entirely.

 

So rambling aside thats my little 2 cents kind of thing, see how you feel about the car and see if in your mind its worth the "risk". Every cars got its issues just have to embrace them and roll with it  

I think that I would be more worried by a 'cheap boxster' than a 350Z

[rabbitstew]

Its funny. When I bought my HR Roadster, it was 3 years old and had 22k miles. I used it as my daily and stuck 20k on it in 18 months before I sold it. I dont know why but I was worried all the time that something was going to go wrong on it and id have a big bill. I ended up not really enjoying driving the car as much as I should have. And that, as well as the mind blowing depreciation of the car at the time (£5k a year) is why I sold it.

 

Roll on a few years and my daily is a 997 turbo, no warranty and im happily doing the same mileage and not worrying at all about any bills. Not that im suddenly a millionaire or anything, but I dont know why my mindset is different. I figure most cars will need stuff doing to them at some point, and if you work out the cost of ownership over the time you have the car, you may not find much difference between owning a porsche and owning a 350z.

 

Forget about it all and just enjoy the car!!!

[coldel]

In 4 months my car reaches 23 years old  10 years, just a young pup!

[PPod]

You are lucky you don't have extreme zeditus yet because I've currently spent nearly double of what I have paid for the z on upgrades that weren't needed .    Just enjoy the car and save a little each month incase something goes. Who knows in your ownership from now you might not have to fix anything again. 

[brillomaster]

as with the case of any car, try and have some money set aside for repairs should they worst happen. Also, stop reading internet forums, you only hear the bad stories.

 

just before I bought my BMW 335i a couple of years back I read all the horror stories about high pressure fuel pumps and costly turbo wastegate repairs.... decided to mainly ignore these and bought one anyways - did 20,000 miles with no problems before selling it.

[Hayd350]

On a HR with that low mileage i'd say you could just relax and enjoy your new purchase. I've had my HR 9 years, driven it daily

and now kicking around the 115k mark. As already mentioned servicing and tyres is a part of ownership and your wheel bearing is just unfortunate. I literally got one of mine done last week and it's the first one I've had go.

When all this gallery gasket talk started on here i panicked and found myself  thinking pressures were low. Had it in at Abbey for a remap and he said all was well, pressures running good and no need to panic. Good enough for me. Granted i'll be getting it done for peace of mind but it doesn't keep me up at night.

I changed my concentric slave when i did my clutch cos it was sensible. I did neither because they were due, i wanted a light weight fly.

Clutch showed no signs of slipping or anything and i was at 105k at the time.

 

It'll be reyt, soon enough you'll be spending hundreds on cosmetic stuff you don't need so when it comes to spending money on the things you do it won't bother you.

[leonk]

I think it's all in the mind and how you feel or "bond" with a particular car. I (over) stretched myself to buy an exotic Italian car and would drive it listening for every little strange noise and worrying about where I parked it. To be honest I never really enjoyed it worrying instead about a massive repair build. The 911 before that, I would just jump in and enjoy without even worrying it was going to break down. This was before the Internet even existed to panic me.

Jumping to present day, driving my wife's Mercedes I had to be towed off a busy motorway because the throttle pedal decided it didn't want to talk to the ecu. Now I can't drive the thing without thinking it's going to happen again and having flashbacks of nearly being killed on the outside lane of the M6.

My old Seat diesel I'd happily drive to the South of France without even checking the oil. 

 

Happily for me the Zed fell into the jump in and enjoy category. 

All in the mind 

 

[Hayd350]

6 minutes ago, leonk said:

I think it's all in the mind and how you feel or "bond" with a particular car. I (over) stretched myself to buy an exotic Italian car and would drive it listening for every little strange noise and worrying about where I parked it. To be honest I never really enjoyed it worrying instead about a massive repair build. The 911 before that, I would just jump in and enjoy without even worrying it was going to break down. This was before the Internet even existed to panic me.

Jumping to present day, driving my wife's Mercedes I had to be towed off a busy motorway because the throttle pedal decided it didn't want to talk to the ecu. Now I can't drive the thing without thinking it's going to happen again and having flashbacks of nearly being killed on the outside lane of the M6.

My old Seat diesel I'd happily drive to the South of France without even checking the oil. 

 

Happily for me the Zed fell into the jump in and enjoy category. 

 

All in the mind 

 

True ^ I did a 1600 mile euro trip in mine in July and planning another next year. Never even gave a thought to weather we'd make it back.

[JB33]

These replies have totally put my mind at ease. I’ll stop thinking “what if” and start enjoying my car. 

My previous car was an e89 Z4 and was fantastic but the fuel pump was on its way out, dealership warranty covered. So, this is my first buy not from a dealership and not protected with a fancy warranty. So, was feeling a little nervous but enjoy learning more about the car. 

[1CE]

I've had my DE Z for 2 months now and so far it's had every problem on the list happen to it. I tend to just turn the stereo up now so I can't hear any problems but even that isn't very loud now  .

[JB33]

Should have went the HR route 

8 minutes ago, 1CE said:

I've had my DE Z for 2 months now and so far it's had every problem on the list happen to it. I tend to just turn the stereo up now so I can't hear any problems but even that isn't very loud now  .

 

[1CE]

Haha!

 

In all honesty don't worry. Just enjoy it and worry afterwards should anything happen. I've always been told they are solid cars! The majority of issues you'd expect with a car reaching 10 years  .

[docwra]

3 hours ago, brillomaster said:

 

just before I bought my BMW 335i a couple of years back I read all the horror stories about high pressure fuel pumps and costly turbo wastegate repairs.... decided to mainly ignore these and bought one anyways - did 20,000 miles with no problems before selling it.

So youre the guy with the one that actually worked then, I thought you were just a legend

Seriously though, Ive owned plenty of CA18's, SR20's, RB's and currently have an N54 and all of them are legendary for going wrong in various ways, where a VQ35 is known to be one of the more dependable units out there - its well designed and built, N/A and unstressed, why would it go wrong?

 

At the same time, its a performance car and things like brakes, tyres and clutches will need replacing and will cost money, but thats a fact of life. If you go into these things with your eyes open then you wont get bitten - I budget around 3K a year to keep my BMW on the road but its a different league for reliability ........ and performance 

[Rob350]

3 hours ago, Hayd350 said:

True ^ I did a 1600 mile euro trip in mine in July and planning another next year. Never even gave a thought to weather we'd make it back.

Sames... i bought mine, a few months later set off to the nurburgring for 10 days with 95k on the clock, did 16 hard laps of the ring, a hard 30min session on spa, and drove round Germany on day trips out, in all I clocked up 2000 miles in 12 days, about 200 of which were racing the z to the top revs.

 

Next year I'm planning on going to the ring again only for 3 days this time, but then down over the alps through Switzerland into Italy to have a go on mugello hopefully (if not then Monza or imola will have to do) then to south of France, then back home, I'll be well over 100k when the time comes and I still belive the beast will handle it no problem...  (fingers crossed)   

[Redsky]

9 hours ago, Ponsonby said:

I think that I would be more worried by a 'cheap boxster' than a 350Z

Well yeah xD Whats the old rule "Dont buy a porche unless you can buy two" I think was the saying xD

[AMT]

As all have said in the numerous replies, don't worry about 'little' things that come with a reasonably high performance car; servicing, tyres brakes... a constant thing.  I've spent (due to my annual mileage) around £22K over 5 years running my HR and then (including the recent W brace and end bracket) a further £3K in repairs,replacements over those 5 years.  I also now worry about the oil gallery gaskets, tbh I only found out about it a year or so ago I think, having done lots of research but that one eluded me it seems! As long as your sitting at 60mph,6th gear, 60psi approx...starts from cold 120ish your all good and I just need to keep an eye on it as I don't have the cash to fork out for it just now (some say 6-8 hours to do it some say 4...meh).  

 

My clutch is also fine over 100K miles and its been through 5 years of drag racing (once a year, numerous times, but I kept the launchs neat not just dumping the thing). So I have that too where you would do the flywheel... so two big expensive things that could be looming! Although I've heard someone on here at 150K on the original clutch! Can't mind who it was.

 

Oh and speaking of new things... what the heck is the deal with the concentric slave thing??? I've not heard that one before! (see always picking stuff up from forum and I've been on it for years lol)

 

Enjoy it and just keep it maintained, if something happens just deal with it, its always gonna be better than financing or purchasing a new thing. Thats how I look at it... £800 odds repair to keep it going for ages or years of finance again lol (I'll do that when I'm considering the Q60 redsport... if I don't hate the steering and noise too much)

[JB33]

7 hours ago, AMT said:

As all have said in the numerous replies, don't worry about 'little' things that come with a reasonably high performance car; servicing, tyres brakes... a constant thing.  I've spent (due to my annual mileage) around £22K over 5 years running my HR and then (including the recent W brace and end bracket) a further £3K in repairs,replacements over those 5 years.  I also now worry about the oil gallery gaskets, tbh I only found out about it a year or so ago I think, having done lots of research but that one eluded me it seems! As long as your sitting at 60mph,6th gear, 60psi approx...starts from cold 120ish your all good and I just need to keep an eye on it as I don't have the cash to fork out for it just now (some say 6-8 hours to do it some say 4...meh).  

 

My clutch is also fine over 100K miles and its been through 5 years of drag racing (once a year, numerous times, but I kept the launchs neat not just dumping the thing). So I have that too where you would do the flywheel... so two big expensive things that could be looming! Although I've heard someone on here at 150K on the original clutch! Can't mind who it was.

 

Oh and speaking of new things... what the heck is the deal with the concentric slave thing??? I've not heard that one before! (see always picking stuff up from forum and I've been on it for years lol)

 

Enjoy it and just keep it maintained, if something happens just deal with it, its always gonna be better than financing or purchasing a new thing. Thats how I look at it... £800 odds repair to keep it going for ages or years of finance again lol (I'll do that when I'm considering the Q60 redsport... if I don't hate the steering and noise too much)

Thanks fella. Yeh the concentric slave on the clutch apparently can go at any point. ZMANALEX confirmed this too when we met and I picked up some stuff. There is no warning, the clutch pedal just goes straight to the floor. A recovery job. They’re plastic in stock form, so only a matter of time. But when mine goes I might as well get the clutch and fly done.

enjoying it so far. I still laugh at everyone that races up behind me, usually 17 year old lads in their 1.2 eco flex Corsa with their girlfriend (probably sister) in the car. 

[Keyser]

1 hour ago, JB33 said:

Thanks fella. Yeh the concentric slave on the clutch apparently can go at any point. ZMANALEX confirmed this too when we met and I picked up some stuff. There is no warning, the clutch pedal just goes straight to the floor. A recovery job. They’re plastic in stock form, so only a matter of time. But when mine goes I might as well get the clutch and fly done.

enjoying it so far. I still laugh at everyone that races up behind me, usually 17 year old lads in their 1.2 eco flex Corsa with their girlfriend (probably sister) in the car. 

 

 

A great place it could go would be just as you pull out of the car park and head onto the Ring especially if it happened to the Zed in front of me - which it did to Andy

 

However after we pushed him off the road and completed our laps we topped up his fluid and he managed to drive it all the way back to the south coast including getting on and off the train for the chunnel

and the repair wasn't that bad.

 

Additionally Andy now holds the record for the least number of gear changes for a trip between the  Ring and Bournemouth

 

Things happen worrying won't stop them do try and have fun

 

@leonk  Tsk Tsk - always check the oil

 

Edited November 15, 2017 by Keyser

[JB33]

54 minutes ago, Keyser said:

 

 

A great place it could go would be just as you pull out of the car park and head onto the Ring especially if it happened to the Zed in front of me - which it did to Andy

 

However after we pushed him off the road and completed our laps we topped up his fluid and he managed to drive it all the way back to the south coast including getting on and off the train for the chunnel

and the repair wasn't that bad.

 

Additionally Andy now holds the record for the least number of gear changes for a trip between the  Ring and Bournemouth

 

Things happen worrying won't stop them do try and have fun

 

@leonk  Tsk Tsk - always check the oil

 

Made me laugh about the gear changes lol.