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

Misnomer

It's only been a couple of weeks, but after reading some of the newer posts in this thread I think I'm glad I went for the clutch assembly replacement. Everything feels great (knock on wood), I'm used to the slightly heavier pedal, and most of the new noises have gone away. What's left now is some transmission noise in first and second, but the mechanic thinks that's likely because they upgraded my transmission fluid and it's thinner than what Nissan originally had in there. He said if the noise really bothers me he can put thicker fluid back in and see if it helps. I'll wait another week and see how much it still bothers me (it's a light grinding/scraping sound; right now I'm leaning toward having him swap out the fluid).

I had an '02 Nissan Sentra -- manual, base trimline, all stock -- for four years and I never had a single problem. I even bought it used (in '04), and tracked it once (don't laugh!). The good experience I had with that car was part of why I didn't hesitate to buy my Z in late 2013. It's been a series of disappointments with this car, though: first the known track issues (oil/brake overheating), now the clutch issues.

jwick

Did you upgrade the clutch/flywheel when you did the elimination kit?

The lighten flywheels make a ton of noise. Mine sounds like a diesel F250 in first at low rpms.

If you are going to change fluids, Redline MT85

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'10 G37T 6MT Graphite/Graphite - BP - G37T Build

KoolKarmaJoe

What brand/weight light FLYWHEEL did you choose? Pro's vs Con's - do you think the performance gains out weighed the noise issue?

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

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"Joe"
AAM True 3" Duals / Whiteline Bars & Rear Links / Tanabe Sustec Pro / Mishimoto Oil Cooler / Michelin Pilot SS
ACT HD Pressure Plate / ACT Performance Disc / ACT Streetlite Flywheel / ZSpeed HD CSC on GTR Fluid.

jwick

Z1 Full Face with their lightweight flywheel. This transmission is noisy anyway so I wouldn't prevent doing something because of noise.

As for performance it's hard to say cuz I only had it a couple of weeks before I put the turbo on and obviously the performance changed dramatically after that. It did take a little getting used to because with the lighter weight the rpms drop off quickly when you engage the pedal. I had my tuner bump my idle rpms to 950 to compensate.

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'10 G37T 6MT Graphite/Graphite - BP - G37T Build

Vbp6US

I was in the market for a Sentra SE-R around that time but ended up getting the GXE (new high school grad at the time). I recall my decision being swayed based on the numerous transmission issues reported between 2003-2004. I should have extrapolated correctly and assumed that other models would be plagued by transmission/clutch/clutch assembly issues. Lesson learned.

Misnomer

I didn't do an elimination kit, I had the entire clutch assembly replaced.

With my car, when the shop called Nissan they were told "when the TSB doesn't work we've started recommending replacing the entire clutch assembly." Cheap, lazy bastards...

jwick

I read that as you went back with a CSC. OEM or HD from ZSpeed?

FYI the elimination kit just replaces the CSC. The reminder of the clutch system remains the same.

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'10 G37T 6MT Graphite/Graphite - BP - G37T Build

Misnomer

I have no idea how you get "I went back with a CSC" (whatever that means) from "I had the entire clutch assembly replaced."

Am I maybe using the wrong terminology? I don't know anything about parts, but "clutch assembly" is what the shop called it. Whatever parts make up a clutch in addition to the CSC and CMC, they all got replaced.

Once again, I didn't do an elimination kit.

Zbrah

If you don't know what was included in your new clutch assembly, it's possible the shop just replaced your old CSC/CMC with another oem CSC/CMC. If it is so, you're at risk for another failure later on. May be worth to check your invoice for the parts listed

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