Csc?
 

I've read about the CSC issue, heard about it, etc., but wanted to get some opinions before jumping to conclusions. This will be my 3rd Z, and never experienced this before.

The other day, I was driving and while reversing into a parking space, I felt less pressure on the clutch pedal when pushing down. The clutch pedal came to its usual position when coming up and wasn't lower by any means.

I parked and checked the clutch fluid, which went from the Max. line (I check this each time before I drive, amongst other things), and the fluid level was at the middle. Parked it and went to work and about 9 hours later, check the fluid before starting her up and fluid still in the middle. No fluid leaks on the pavement. Drive home was normal and normal feel for the clutch pedal. Next morning, checked the clutch fluid, and still at the middle mark. And no fluid leaks in the cabin or on the ground.

Any thoughts/opinions?

It is in the Bell housing of the tranny more than likely.

So a csc issue or something else? I figured if it’s a csc issue, I wouldn’t have been able to drive normally?


She is a ‘13 with 40k miles. After looking at carfax service records, looks like the tranny was replaced at 20k miles and clutch master cylinder replaced at 25k miles.

Change the fluid out to a dot 4 fluid and see what happens.

what made them replace the tranny at 20k?

Just a matter of time before it gives out. Start planning for your replacement. It is a good idea to go with a ZSpeed csc delete. Might as well upgrade your clutch and flywheel while you're at it.

:iagree:
Zspeed w/cmak & whatever stage the you/Joe thinks is best.
You’ll be glad you did :tup:

It is inevitable that your Genuine Nissan CSC will fail eventually the question is when will it fail not if it will fail. Sounds like you are losing function of your clutch it is a tell tail sign your CSC could be on it’s way out. The issue with this failure is if you wait too long it will saturate your clutch with fluid ruining it and clutch/flywheel replacement will have to be done let’s face it a quality clutch/flywheel for your Z is on the expensive side. My advice is replace your flywheel with a new one and don’t resurface your flywheel unless it looks in new condition. Also the fluid can leak down the firewall and into your interior of your Z seen this before and the fluid will ruin your carpet and make your interior smell. Best option start saving/planning immediately. Install the Z Speed Performance CMAK you will thank yourself later. This is the perfect time to replace your clutch/flywheel since it is inside the transmission bell housing unfortunately. There are many options and you can call Joe at Z Speed and he will help you select the proper clutch/flywheel for what you use your Z for. I remember when my Genuine Nissan CSC failed the first time it left me stranded in the middle of no where waiting for hours for a tow truck to come.

Do I have to drain the old fluid or can I just top off with dot4? I read dot3 and 4 are compatible. I get dot4 has a higher boiling point, but what would putting dot4 do?

Doesn’t say. I’m assuming it’s for the csc.

I’m just so disheartened about this that I am leaning towards saving up and trading it in for something else. Too scared to drive the Z now and don’t want to spend $$ fixing it.

I haven’t driven her in about 48 hours and clutch fluid still at same level. If it was leaking into bell housing, would it only leak when pressing the clutch pedal or would it be a continuous leak?

In the beginning. Only when you press on the clutch pedal. As it gets worse. It will start to drip as the seal wears.

Worst case, CSC failure spits clutch fluid all over the clutch plate requires new clutch and flywheel in addition to a new CSC. Transmission replacement would not be warranted for CSC failure; it was likely something much more serious that necessitated the replacement. I sure as hell would have wanted to know what the issue was before even purchasing the vehicle.

It's sad that Nissan doesn't care that this problem plagues it's customers. But there is info all over this forum and a little research would have prepared you for this eventuality. There are people that bought a brand new Z and had the CSC fail driving off the dealer lot, so consider yourself lucky that yours lasted this long.

I think you should install a ZSpeed replacement so you don't have to worry about it ever again. You're going to lose a lot more than the cost of CSC replacement if you try to trade in the car with a leaking transmission bell housing :ugh:

exactly. buyers will find out prior purchasing the car. for example, if I find out the car had its tranny replaced, i would walk away. Biden is gonna send a $1400 check for everyone so you could use that towards that lol

What happened to the $2000 he promised on 1/4/21?

I got $115 :rolleyes:

I actually read it on the carfax after purchasing. I had an ‘09 7AT at the time and wanted a manual again so bad that I guess I rushed into it. No issues and drove like a champ.

Even when I had the ‘07 350Z, I read about the same issue about csc but never had an issue. Bought her with 16k miles and traded in at 80k and no csc issues. I figured I’d get lucky here too lol.

I wouldn’t even know where to take my car to for that kind of work. Def don’t want to take it to the dealership.

I’ve always wanted a gtr. I started a new job that is enabling me to do so and may just leave the Z parked until trade in time.

You are very fortunate you found that your Z had the CSC issue early and you were able to find out information regarding the CSC issue. I had to replace the CSC a total of four times before even finding out about the Z Speed Performance CMAK. If you trade your Z in the current state it is in any competent technician with half a brain will find this issue. They will deduct your trade in value accordingly and you will end up taking a unfortunate loss. Your best option is to park your Z until you can fix it. If you decide to trade in your Z and purchase a different vehicle you will find out that the next vehicle you purchase has it’s own set of issues too. Nissan could honestly care less about the CSC issue that plagues our 370’s and your bet option is fixing the issue and deciding if you want to purchase a different vehicle or keep your Z? We will see if Biden actually lives up to what he says and gives each American citizen $1400 that’s questionable??

He is counting the $600 we received from Dec of last year plus the $1.4k he is going to send makes it $2k lol

There is a video of him promising 2 grand on 1/4/21. Not the $1400. The democrap congress is the one promising $1400 with the $600 already. Which we will not get.

I've traded in a few cars within the past 5 years and at different dealerships. My last trade in was my '09 Z to the '13 Z, and the "inspection" consisted of them going my car, popping the hood, and starting it. They didn't drive it or anything and gave me a rough number from visual inspection. This has also been the base with the other cars being traded in. I will drive my Z here and there just to get the oil going, but won't do anything else. I will tell them to look at the CSC after signing papers.

Had some time today to drive the Z after parking her for a week. I did open the clutch fluid resevoir for the first time today after purchasing about 3 years ago. I've always inspected the fluid level with a flashlight, and didn't realize the gunk at the bottom with the fluid being a light golden color still. Didn't want to empty the fluid and bleed, so I took a few paper towels and managed to get alot of the gunk out from the resevoir, though I'm sure there is probably more within the system.

Topped off fluid with OEM Nissan DOT 4 and drove her purposely hard. No different feel in clutch pressure and no difference in shifting. The clutch fluid did go down slightly from the max line that I topped it off to.

So does this mean the CSC is the issue?

You are good to go. Keep driving. Just do a fluid exchange every other oil change. It will last a while.

If your fluid level dropped from when you filled it with dot 4, it had to go somewhere. You need to look around/underneath the clutch master cylinder and the bell housing

My 2012 had 1600 miles when I bought it. I swapped out the Dot 3 for Dot 4 in the clutch master cylinder and drove it daily for 71K miles before a teenager hit me. Never had an issue with the CSC.

So....it’s possible that it’s not the CSC?

Not anywhere outside or inside the car. No drips and no wet spots under the car, nor anything inside.

So if filling with dot4, would this mean it could just be a matter or swapping fluids and not any issues with the CSC? I don’t think the clutch fluid has ever been changed out.

It's possible you had some Dot 3 boil off, which might explain the loss of fluid and no wet spots. Dot 4 doesn't boil as easily. I changed mine when I looked at the location of the clutch master and realized that there was quite a bit of heat where the line runs. I used a turkey baster to suck out the fluid, cleaned out any residue and refilled with Dot 4 every other oil change, just like Spooler suggested. No issues.

It's possible. But given the history of CSCs in 370Zs, my money is on a bad CSC.

If the fluid level is extremely low in the reservoir for a good while you can also kill the MSC at the same time. It happens.

My theory is that once the fluid boils the first time, it is able to easily get 'around' and breach the seals of the CSC. Note, I have never held a CSC in my hand, just mentally guessing how it's built in my head.

Once the seals are breached the first time, assuming you don't have a catastrophic failure right there, right then, the seals are now significantly weakened and the CSC is on borrowed time.

I had the dealer replace the factory fill DOT 3 fluid on my 2020 with Motul RBF600 before driving off the lot.

We will see if the car having only ever been driven with RBF600 since new along with an annual RBF 600 fluid flush (summer driven car only) keeps the CSC in good condition.

Going on 1 month since getting the Z finally fixed. Haven't really driven her and put maybe about 200 miles so far. Been having too much fun with the new ride.

Going easy on the Z for 1K miles for the clutch settle-in period. Car has 41K miles and it looked like the previous owner had already switched the clutch (ACT I believe?) and also with a single-mass flywheel. Either way, swapped everything out with the ZSpeed Kit (CMAK/Clutch/Flywheel).

1. I can't say that I notice a difference, other than the clutch pedal engagement point being noticeably lower than OEM. Is this normal?

2. As the car warms up and driving around, the clutch pedal feels a bit "rougher" compared to when first cold-starting and driving. After driving about 30 minutes, the best I can describe the "rougher" feel is the clutch pedal feels a bit stiffer to push down and almost feels like it's slipping (but it's not and can change gears/drive normally). Normal?