NHTSA Complaint #10307630 — 2003 INFINITI FX35

I HAVE AN '03 INFINITI FX35 WITH 90,000 MILES. I'M NOT AN ABUSIVE NOR NEGLIGENT OPERATOR AND HAVE HAD ALL MY SERVICES WELL MAINTAINED. CAR BEGAN BY OVERHEATING 15 HOURS INTO MY 16 HOUR DRIVE HOME FROM YELLOWSTONE THIS SUMMER. IT STARTED OVERHEATING WHEN I SLOWED DOWN IN TOWNS AND SUCH...REPLACED MY THERMOSTAT....FLUSHED EVERYTHING....DROVE FOR QUITE A FEW WEEKS MORE WITH NO PROBLEMS...THOUGHT IT WAS SOLVED :/ NOT QUITE. OVERHEATING BEGAN ONCE AGAIN...THIS TIME I HAD MY HEATER GOING AND NOTICED IT GOING COLD THEN WITHIN MINUTES MY TEMP BEGAN RISING. I PULLED RIGHT OVER KNOWING WHAT DAMAGES CAN BE INCURRED. I HAD COOLANT BEING EXPELLED FROM MY SPARE RESERVOIR JUST LIKE THE OTHER INSTANCES. I WAITED FOR IT TO COOL, FILLED IT WITH WATER/COOLANT AND MADE IT A WAYS FURTHER, THEN REPEAT, REPEAT. TOOK MY CAR TO INFINITI OF BEAVERTON WHO TOLD ME THAT MY ISSUE WAS A CRACKED RADIATOR. THEY WANTED 900 FOR IT. REPLACED IT, CAR STILL OVERHEATED. REPLACED WATER PUMP. STILL OVERHEATED. HAD MY CAR TOWED BACK TO INFINITI WHO FAILED TO HAVE A LOANER AVAILABLE (EVEN THOUGH I CALLED A DAY IN ADVANCE AND THEY SAID THEY WOULD). THEY MADE ME RENT A CAR! THEY TOLD ME THEY STILL COULDN'T DIAGNOSE IT AND THAT I HAD TO DRIVE OR HAVE IT TOWED TO A DIFFERENT SHOP AND PAY TO HAVE A 4 GAS HYDROCARBON TEST DONE. WELL SURE ENOUGH A ONE-WAY PINHOLE LEAK IN THE HEAD GASKET NOT DISPLAYING YOUR TYPICAL TRAITS OF GASKET BLOWOUTS...ONLY A SLIGHT RISE IN HYDROCARBONS, BUT ENOUGH TO SHOW IT HAD A LEAK ALLOWING AIR INTO THE SYSTEM WHICH THEN OVERPRESSURIZES MY COOLANT SYSTEM CAUSING THE SPARE RES. TO BE MY RELEASE LOCATION. ONCE AIR IS INTRODUCED AND REPLACES THE COOLANT AN AIR BUBBLE DEVELOPS AND SYSTEM OVERHEATS. WHAT I AM GETTING AT IS THAT INFINITI IS NOT RECOGNIZING THIS AS ANY PROBLEM. I HAVE BEEN GOING THROUGH INFINITI CONSUMER AFFAIRS WHO TOLD ME THEY COULD NOT HELP ME AT THIS TIME BUT WITH A $300 CREDIT TOWARDS THE $7000 ENGINE REPLACEMENT THEY WANT TO PERFORM. I'M DISAPPOINTED WITH INFINITI. *CN