Sticky: (Official) 370Z Clutch Pressure (CSC) Failures

SAmilitaryman

I drove to Florida for my grandfathers funeral from texas last week. No issues until I got back to town. Clutch pedal is getting stuck closer and closer to the floor. 09 with 60K miles on it. No issues until after my trip. My only vehicle so going to have to call the dealer. Should this be covered under drivetrain warranty? I've only had the vehicle for ~7 months. Definetly able to recreate the problem so thats not an issue.

SAmilitaryman

Car wouldn't shift into 1st unless I turned the car off, put it into first, restarted the car. While driving it was very difficult to shift into any other gear and so I took back roads to make sure I didn't cause a wreck.

Stopped at a stop sign right next to work and sure enough it wouldn't shift into first from neutral until I turned the car off and put it into gear that way. Hopefully I can get home today. Going to call the nissan dealership I bought it at and see if my warranty covers it. I bought it used but have only put about 8K miles on it since I bought it 6 months ago.

ChrisSlicks

Not many people have been successful getting it replaced under the powertrain warranty but it has been done. Hopefully your dealership will work with you.

FYI the powertrain warranty is 5 years / 60000 miles.

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SAmilitaryman

Yea, called the dealership this morning and the service advisor said the CSC should be covered under the extended warranty. He also said that the first step is to change out the fluid which I have to pay out of pocket for.

Unfortunately for me I can't get down to the dealership till saturday so my car is going to be sitting at home while I ride my bike to work everyday. Time to get my workout on!

Jsolo

Given how few MT's are sold, probably cheaper to just fix them as they come in rather than issue a proper fix. Some mba crunched the numbers no doubt.

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G37S Sedan 6MT, Eibach swaybars, Invidia Exhaust, Weaker Clutch Pedal Spring

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Zensation

Wellmy csc failed on the highway about 20miles from home. i got to the top of the exit ramp of my exit before it stalled. managed to get it started in 2nd gear by using ignition and then flooring the pedal to keep it going. got to a parking lot 2 miles from my house and called AAA. I took off the transmission today and im going to upgrade to the zspeed HD CSC and use this time as well to upgrade the clutch and flywheel with a competition stage 1 clutch and 17 lb flywheel.

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370z NISMO 0675 327 rwhp 280 rwtq - sold.
FD RX7 single turbo 508hp - sold.
Lexus IS-F 5.0L V8

Fountainhead

So Zensation,

Your CSC failed by losing pressure to move the clutch spring in, correct? So that would mean you were losing fluid pressure right? So then you would have clutch fluid leaking from the CSC (every pedal press), otherwise the closed system would work, unless the master wasn't pressurizing the fluid to move the CSC diaphragm/bellows out right?
That's my understanding of the hydraulic clutch operation, it's a closed system and the primary failure mode is an open in the system.
If however, the clutch must be "pumped" up to work then that would suggest failure of the master cylinder.

I realize I'm beating a dead horse but I'm trying to rationalize the reported CSC failures that apparently have no fluid leaks associated with the failure (I know I'm assuming a lot here). I just don't understand how the CSC fail mode can be anything other than a leak, but guys report no fluid loss when their CSC is totally inoperative, can't put the two together.

So please let me know what the failure mode ends up being, a leak? If so did you lose fluid, etc.?

Jsolo

Clutch failures with no visible fluid leaks usually involve failure of the master cylinder. Rather than pressuring the fluid in the MC/hydraulic line, the MC piston is simply moving back and forth with fluid leaking past the seals in the MC bore. You can call this an internal leak. Level in the reservoir would not change.

So technically it's not a CSC failure and a hell of alot cheaper to replace. However the symptoms are the same --- no clutch pedal [pressure].

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G37S Sedan 6MT, Eibach swaybars, Invidia Exhaust, Weaker Clutch Pedal Spring

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Fountainhead

Right, my point is that guys report CSC failure but with no fluid loss, take to the dealer, dealer "changes CSC", and sometimes CSC and MC, then clutch works, but I'm wondering if they only change the MC and that's the issue and charge for CSC work? Either way it's a PIA.

Zensation

What is probably happening here is that somehow their line may have gotten air in it or maybe over heats bad quality fluid. They may change the master and the slave but then the next thing they will do is bleed the system with new fluid. My guess is all they really needed was to bleed the system in the first place cu if either cylinder fails there with be wet spots somewhere and a notice of fluid loss.

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370z NISMO 0675 327 rwhp 280 rwtq - sold.
FD RX7 single turbo 508hp - sold.
Lexus IS-F 5.0L V8

Jsolo

^^Good point. I know some dealers can be shady, but if it's warranty, there's little a customer can do.

If non warranty, I'd be demanding to see all the old parts before I pay a cent. I suppose same can be requested for warranty repairs too. For the latter, I doubt nissan would approve a CSC labor line without an associated parts line. Not sure if they require return of the original part or not, but that would keep dealers from defrauding the warranty claims depts.

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G37S Sedan 6MT, Eibach swaybars, Invidia Exhaust, Weaker Clutch Pedal Spring

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Zensation

Yeah so i pulled my transmission and the inside of the bell housing was soaked with brake fluid so it must have failed in a big way. I noticed no issues prior to the one time i just touched the clutch and it just fell to the floor. The master is fine though cuz it pressurizes fine when i pulled the line off the bell housing.

__________________
370z NISMO 0675 327 rwhp 280 rwtq - sold.
FD RX7 single turbo 508hp - sold.
Lexus IS-F 5.0L V8

Fountainhead

Ah, definitive proof. I plan on changing mine myself also when/if it fails. Problem is no one knows when! I am debating just going and buying MC and CSC and fluid and storing them in my garage just-in-case.

May I ask how you got your car up in the air? Lift or Jack Stands or what? Your method? I know it's been discussed several times before but everyone has valid input as to how they solved the problem i.e., lifting the car, methods, etc.

Thanks!

Zensation

Yes I put the car on jack stands I am going to write a comprehensive diy when i finish the project (when the new competition clutch and flywheel come in with the hd csc) but basically where im at now:

1. jack the car up front and rear on jack stands.
2. I have the hks exhaust and the resonators on the mid pipe have a cross member welding them together. I had to remove those mid pipes but not the h pipe or the muffler section so that was nice.
3. undo the 4 bolts connecting the drive shaft to the rear diff. it just pulls out of the transmission.
4. Remove shifter assembly from inside the car. (i did this as step one before i jacked up the car). Use one of the many diy's to do this. its pretty easy.
5. remove all the mounts for the main wiring harness at various points along the transmission. remove all the plugs from their sockets as well.
6. at this point the transmission is in a somewhat free state. the next step is to remove the bottom plate under the engine to gain access to the back of the bell housing as the bottom tranny bolts thread in from the engine side.
7. remove all bell housing bolts. they are all pretty easy to get to excpt the top 2. I couldnt even see the top 2 i however managed to use a frankentool as follows(17 mm socket a 6 inch extension then a universal joint connected to a 18" extension into the socke wrench) you can reach up and feel the 2 bolts at the top of the bell housing so just fish the tool up and onto the bolt. this sounds way more complex than it was the bolts arent torqued down super tight as their purpose is mainly to keep the tranny from walking along the spline.
8. Once this is done get some sort of jack positioned somewhere on the tranny and apply a slight bit of pressure up not too much remember it aint going anywhere. Undo the 2 bolts at the back of the tranny holding th cross member black tranny mount to the car.
9. slide the tranny back and out. Have 2 people cuz that B*&%# is heavy!
10 the csc is right there in front of your eyes inside the tanny bell housing behind the throw out bearing. remove set on fire and mold the plastic into something that shouldnt be allowed anywhere near the functional part of a hydraulic system. If you got that far i think youll be good....

this is my first time doing anything this 'serious' with a car and im finding it rather easy. If I can do it so can you. Just took me like 4 hours to get it out of the car.*****also do yourself a favor and drain the tranny fluid and dont smell up your garage like i did. its free to come out the drive shaft opening at the back. GL

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370z NISMO 0675 327 rwhp 280 rwtq - sold.
FD RX7 single turbo 508hp - sold.
Lexus IS-F 5.0L V8

Jsolo

My suggestion, if you're going to start this whole mess, do the MC too. One less thing to bleed and deal with in the future - especially if your car is higher years/mileage and/or is driven aggressively. My 2¢ worth.

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G37S Sedan 6MT, Eibach swaybars, Invidia Exhaust, Weaker Clutch Pedal Spring

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