Mc & csc
 

So approx. 1 year and 4 months ago, I presumably experienced the notorious CSC issue: clutch fluid would go down and the clutch pedal operates normally, but feels soft after engine gets to operating temps.

During this time was when COVID was at its peak, so wife ended up quitting her job, thus putting me into a financial bind with 1 income to support 2-person bills. The Z basically sat in storage all this time and the repairing had to take a back seat.

Fast forward to now, I am doing better financially and ready to replace the MC and CSC. I have bought a battery tender since and do drive it around the block every other week to get the oil running and prevent flat spots on the tires.

Few questions:

1. Anyone in the Tampa, FL area that's willing to help out taking on this project? I can't find a reputable shop to do this and don't really trust the stealership.

2. If no one can assist, does anyone know/trust a shop in Tampa?

3. I've read mixed reviews about this. and I'll prob catch some heat on this question. The engine oil was last replaced in 09.2020 (yes, coming up on 2 years), but only has 75 miles on it from being in storage. It is 5W-30 full synthetic. I check the oil and is a light tan color still and I understand the viscosity does break down over time and no signs of sludge. How long can I go before I need to change? Not so much a financial issue, but rather time due to having to work a few jobs to makes ends meet (used to be quite active on this forum pre-COVID, and then became a ghost during/post-COVID lol).

If you near me. I would help you out. You should change the oil. From you short drives. You get condensation formation inside the block. When it mixes with oil, you get an acid compound. You need to get the engine up to temp, and run long enough to evaporate the moisture.

I'm all the way down south in Florida lol. Why are you guys so far away?? :rofl2:

Just out of curiosity, how long does the engine need to run to evap the water moisture? To clarify, when I drive around the block, there is an expressway next to me so I get her up to speeds of 75 and is prob a 5 miles round trip, and I open her up. But yes, I do need to change it out.

The moisture will start to boil out of the oil when it gets around 212 degrees. Take a 45 minute drive a few times.

I wish I could. Anything more than usually 7 miles, I start to lose clutch fluid and the pedal feels really soft (it doesn’t stay down, but def feel less pressure when pushing down). After the short trip, I typically have to top off the fluid.

Actually the process starts at 110F. If you maintain it at 110F. It will never get moisture in it.

How many people have replaced the MC and CSC themselves? After tons of reading and research, I know it can be a project. Do most people take it to a shop or DIY it?

I'll do mine by myself when the time comes. It depends on your skill set and how comfortable you are at doing something like this.

I haven't done my cluth master cylinder, but, I have done my CSC. While I had my transmission out I replaced the rear main seal, pilot bushing, flywheel, clutch and pressure plate.
I'm a professional technician with 9 years of experience. I did the job with my Z on jack stands in my garage.
Dropping the transmission isn't for someone who can really only just do fluid changes and brakes.

If you want to tackle it yourself self, ask away on how to do the job if you think you can handle it.

Rusty is correct about the starting point of 110F. This would be normal for winter driving. However, you need to add time. 1 hour at least. 180F+ is the magic number. Again, 45 min- 1 hour at least in this temp. Start time when you reach 180F+.

This will open up another oil can of worms. :)

Just do us a favor and drive the car! Dont idle in driveway until you reach "operating temp". The worst thing garage queen owners do. Your better off not running it at all.

Very true. In terms of skill set, by no means would I call myself an expert, but I've taken out a tranny before to replace the clutch, though this was a long time ago and it took me a while when I did (back then, awesome forums like this one and youtube didn't exist :icon17:). I suppose my biggest fear is the unknown, as replacing the MC and CSC would be a first for me. The other option would be to take it to a shop, but I don't know of any reputable shops around, other than the stealership and who knows if the person working on my car would know what they're doing or if they will actually use the parts I provide.

Believe me, there is nothing more I would love than to actual be able to drive my car. Problem is the CSC/MC is on its way out and after about 15 minutes, the clutch pedal begins to feel soft and clutch fluid level dropping. I suppose I am one of the lucky ones on getting a warning before going out. It's weird because everyone else have posted this issue hit them out of nowhere and no warning. The clutch pedal never has stuck to the floor and always returns, but does have a noticeable softer feel and less pressure after about a 15-min drive, and I do have to top off the fluid every drive (no leaks on the floor, which leads me to believe it's leaking within the housing bell).

If you are losing fluid in the reservoir. The CSC is leaking.

I did mine recently, two months ago, I was at the ATL airport "parked"/waiting in a non appropriate spot waiting for a friend to come off the arrivals door, and a police officer turned on the red blue lights, OK time to move I said, clutch in, First and... nope!! all of the sudden my CSC failed right there in the worst possible moment. I forced first gear and eventually it got in. I know it's risky but I was a bit scared of all that situation.

I parked as quickly as I could and checked Fluid level, it was good, but quickly it got empty after a few pumps.

So that same weekend I dropped my transmission, on four 6ton jack stands, and it took me 16 hours on Saturday, and 8 hours on Sunday. I didn't bleed it because I wanted to replace the master cylinder as well to start fresh with new parts, that took me about three more hours (I have a G37 and the master is bigger than the 370z, so it was harder to remove it, eventually it got out, and I put a 370z master. The only difference is that the G37 master has a damper to absorb vibrations and give a more luxurious feel... I noticed zero difference with my new 370z master cylinder)

If you already did it in the past, I suggest looking up for THE CARIZON videos related to transmission. I highly appreciate his videos, I wouldn't do it if it weren't for him doing such a great DIY guide.

The only part that gave me a hard time was to put the transmission back in! I lost about 6 or 7 hours, it was extremely frustrating but eventually it got in.

I purchased a Harbor freight transmission jack, the cheapest one (about $125) and that was the issue, it lacks of adjustability. It would been much easier with a better jack, I didn't want to cheap out, I just didn't know.

The transmission jack used by THE CARIZON looks pretty good, I suggest getting one like that.

Also, you could upgrade flywheel and clutch as well, pilot bushing, and maybe rear main seal (I didn't change it).

Get a decent quality torque wrench, and if your exhaust hardware is rusted, buy new bolts and nuts as well so if you need to use a grinder to remove them, you already have a good replacement.

I would say it's a pretty straightforward job, it's not really hard hard, but it's time consuming. I didn't hurry at all and wanted to take my time.

I didn't drain my transmission fluid and I didn't spill anything either, while removing the driveshaft.

I REALLY appreciate your response! Knowledge is power and any advice/tips/etc. is MUCH appreciated :icon17:

Did you have help or did you do this by yourself?

I havent done my MC but replaced the CSC. It's not difficult. The pulling and reinstalling the transmission is an unmitigated pain in the ***.

Convinced more than ever to do this myself. Just weighing out options, I called/spoke with 2 different Nissan Service Dept and both persons I spoke with claimed to be the "Z and GTR Specialist". After explaining the situation:

1. Both "specialists" tried to bully me into going with OEM parts vs the ZSpeed Kit I'd be providing. I asked why go OEM if it's prone to fail anyway, to which they replied that OEM parts have warranty. I informed them that the warranty doesn't mean anything to me if it's prone to fail anyway.
2. One of the "specialists" took the time to look up the part from ZSpeed and was picking it apart and kept referring back to Nissan engineers that designed the car knows it the best. I asked if they knew the car so well, why hasn't the CSC issue been addressed/fixed since the 2007 350Z's?
3. Both "specialists" denied any known issues with the CSC, as in they have never heard of this issue before, at which point I hung up.

Luckily, I at least got a warning that the CSC was going out, and not nearly as bad as some of the stories I've read on this forum. IMO, this is a huge safety issue, so I'm shocked that Nissan has not issued a recall or a lawsuit in favor of this getting fixed by Nissan.

I did it 99% alone by myself, I had such a HARD time aligning it back into the engine that I called a friend and we put it back in quickly. Again, my mistake was the transmission jack, get a good one with as much adjustment as possible and you should be able to do it alone if time isn't an issue.

I went with Z1 lightweight flywheel and full face clutch kit (comes with pilot bushing and alignment tool), I'm about at 650whp and it works perfectly. Then a 370z master cylinder, and concept Z heavy duty CSC. I didn't want to go with the concept Z CSC delete that seems to be the best option, but anyways I'd like to try this one first.

If I had to do it again, I think I could do it in only one day this time, I see everything much clearer and I don't consider it a hard job now.

Good thing I decided to change everything else inside, because clutch took a lot of fluid that the CSC leaked and spilled everywhere.

Nothing but time lol my Z has been out of commission since 04/2020.

Let me know if you want additional practice on this for muscle memory and becoming an expert. I know just the car you can practice on :rofl2: :rofl2:

I recently did mine, I took my sweet time with it as it is time consuming, and my garage was hot as heck. As someone mentioned "The Carizon" has a good two-part video. There are FSM's floating around here as well that have all torque specs needed. A few good extensions are worth it for sure. I had two 20-inch 1/2 inch Kobalt extensions that helped out a ton. Transmission Jack, A good torque wrench, 10mm Flare Nut wrench to remove the old clutch lines, thread locker (I used Loctite 243 as it was supposed to be "oil resistant" you can buy it on Amazon for about 13 dollars, the bottle looks red, but the liquid is blue) or I've seen and read people just using Loctite 242.

Removing the transmission and replacing the parts is relatively easy. I also lost a lot of time putting the transmission back in lol which I found hilarious, but I guess its always easier to disassemble something rather than reassemble it. I did it by myself but doing it with someone else I would imagine would be much easier. My issue is I had a tiny gap that was even all the way around between the transmission and engine, bolt hole lined up as well. So, I ended up doing what most people say not to do and put in one bolt onto each side of the transmission, threaded it by hand on each side and slowly tighten them with a rachet, making sure each side was even. I did that with the plan of if I felt ANY resistance I would stop and back out.

Also, if you are doing the ZSpeed upgrade, I had to remove the Driver Side Catalytic Converter as I couldn't think of any other way to remove and install the new clutch line, but maybe someone else has an easier way of doing it.

Worth it in the end, I learned a ton which was my initial goal.

Good info! No detail too small and every detail is paramount for this process I'm sure, and really appreciate you taking the time and responding.

I also stumbled upon the following thread, so I am assuming don't crank the engine? lol

http://www.the370z.com/engine-drivet...n-t-start.html

I'm literally getting ready to take this on, and do other stuff while down there (i.e. tranny fluid change, oil change, rear diff fluid change, brake pads, etc.).

Good call on performing other maintenance items while doing this job. There's no need to crank the engine while doing this job. When it comes to taking the shift knob off I just used a strap wrench and put it directly in the middle of the shift knob and used some muscle and it came off without damaging the shift knob.

After that I just removed the shift boot area and sat it aside. There's no need to remove the piece underneath it as stated in Nissans work shop manual. Once you're under the car, you can unbolt the bracket (2 bolts on each side) from the trans and the shift stick per say from the rod that comes out of the back of the transmission. This bolt will be covered by a rubber boot. No need to remove it as stated in the manual so you don't have to install it back in sequence as stated in the work shop manual.

Once these 5 bolts are off, just lower the back of the trans by unbolting the trans mount and lower the trans with a floor jack and the bracket will have enough room to come out. Install in reverse order.

If you're planning on replacing the flywheel and clutch, I would buy new OEM flywheel bolts and pressure plate bolts. Definitely ensure that the torx socket for the flywheel bolts isn't worn and that the socket is held in firmly so as to not possible round them out. If doing this, get a chain wrench to hold the crank pulley in place and cover the crank pulley with tape so you do not blemish the crank pulley and have someone hold the crank in place. Definitely think about replacing your rear main seal and pilot bushing too. Let me know if you need help on removing and installing those.

I saw that thread as well. When I removed the Flywheel I just used the two bolts and a wrench trick. Thread a transmission bolt back to its original hole by hand. Thread an original pressure plate bolt back in. Place a wrench in between both bolts so that when you try and loosen the flywheel bolts the flywheel doesn't move. I also used the trick to tighten the flywheel bolts as well. The flywheel moved on a me a few times but I did not have the "won't crank issue" stated in the thread above.

Good Call on the new hardware for both Flywheel and Pressure Plate. I did the same as well. Though I did not replace the main seal (Car was currently at 16k Miles, hopefully I don't regret it :) I did replace the Pilot bushing. And crush washers for the transmission since I drain out the OEM stuff to put Redline Fluid in.

You won't regret not replacing the rear main seal. I did so just because I'm almost at 100k and I figured I might as well do it since everything was apart as well.

The rear main looks stout to me and I don't think I've see people having their rear main seal leak.

I also happen to see this thread. Is there something I should watch out for/not do to prevent breaking the u-joint?

http://www.the370z.com/engine-drivet...r-u-joint.html

Absolute GOLD!!!!!

Match mark the drive shaft and flange with a paint stick before you take it off.

Going on 1 month