Attention z owners in the northeast!!!

[brianx42]

Lately, As winter is coming here in Long Island. My car has been running like ****. Clutch seems to stick on cold starts, Car feels clunky at low speed, 2nd and 3rd gear seems to grind (doesn't feel like its going in smoothly. Feels like the gears are biting and clunky)

Has anyone else experienced this in their Z? This is my first sports car / manual car as my previous car was a kia optima turbo

I don't have any mods other than a Beluga CBE.

[POS VETT]

At extreme cold, there are mechanical and electrical systems affected thermally. Your description of clutch hydraulic affects gear shifting mechanism as the clutch disc might not disengage fully. Try and check your clutch fluid level. Has it ever been flushed?

[3.7 ZPA]

The sticky clutch when really cold is normal for me. The grinding is not, though I do grind second gear every once in a blue moon even in warm weather. That was before I replaced the clutch, though. My Pilot Super Sport tires hate the cold. I park the Z during the winter now, so these are non-issues.

Make sure you depress the clutch all the way to the floor before shifting. While the car may feel clunky in the cold, I'm sure your driving is as well. The cold makes you stiff, hence it may be a little more difficult to drive on a cold morning.

[NISMO IX]

Once the car warms up the symptoms subside. Just need to let the oils and such warm up to smooth things out.

[BC416]

All of my cars I've owned have had a manual transmission and when the temps start dropping well below freezing, the clutch was a little slow/sticky on all of them until it gets warmed up.

[brianx42]

Originally Posted by POS VETT

At extreme cold, there are mechanical and electrical systems affected thermally. Your description of clutch hydraulic affects gear shifting mechanism as the clutch disc might not disengage fully. Try and check your clutch fluid level. Has it ever been flushed?

Clutch Fluid is topped off and the color is pretty transparent. Its not dark or musky. I got the car certified used this summer so I'm not sure how the previous owner beat on the car

[brianx42]

Originally Posted by 3.7 ZPA

The sticky clutch when really cold is normal for me. The grinding is not, though I do grind second gear every once in a blue moon even in warm weather. That was before I replaced the clutch, though. My Pilot Super Sport tires hate the cold. I park the Z during the winter now, so these are non-issues.

Make sure you depress the clutch all the way to the floor before shifting. While the car may feel clunky in the cold, I'm sure your driving is as well. The cold makes you stiff, hence it may be a little more difficult to drive on a cold morning.

Ah okay thanks! This is my first manual car so i'm not used to this feeling. Pardon my noobness but i feel like the clutch engagement is pretty high. As in i don't need to press in the clutch all the way in to the floor for the clutch in engage from 2nd to 3rd gear. Almost like ( /--*----) where the * is where the clutch engages. However, when I'm at a light going from N -> 1st gear i press the clutch all the way to the floor. Am i not engaging the clutch fully? If you could give me some tips I'd greatly appreciate it

[JARblue]

You shouldn't need to push the clutch pedal all the way to the floor unless something is wrong. Stock engagement should be pretty much exactly as you are describing. Not to mention that routinely pushing the clutch pedal all the way to floor as well as "stabbing" hard at the pedal are good ways to stress the seals on your clutch master cylinder. I learned the hard way, as I went through them every 20K miles until I made a change in my driving habits (and an adjustment to my RJM clutch pedal).

The Z's 6MT is noticeably clunky for sure, and the cold weather probably isn't helping. It might be perfectly normal. Has the transmission fluid been changed? Fresh fluid might help, and you should consider Redline's MT-85 fluid, which a lot of people say helps the 6MT shift smoother