A couple Odd things about my Clutch
 

Ok so recently ive been driving around. And I havent found a solution to this burning question.

So firstly, when im not moving and i depress my clutch to shift into first, were all good.

Then once im going like lets say 14-18mph and depress my clutch it gets wierd. Heres the specific order of what happens and how it happens.

Driving up to speed to get ready to shift to second.
Depress clutch and shift into second, this is where things get wierd.
I FEEL so much feedback coming from the clutch. Like i feel this incredible vibration that i havent felt before. its not violent by any means, but its a feedback ive not felt the entire year ive been driving.

It cant be the CSC problem cause my clutch is still stronk.

And im not sure if its just cold but yesterday when i was driving as i depress my clutch, maybe 3/4 of the way down i hear a, shwink, shwink.
Hard to explain the sound, sounds like when you sharpen knives? i guess?

Sit there and say shwink, shwink, in a metallic feel.

Lol.

Thank

Don't assume you can't have a CSC problem.

Do you know anyone else around with a manual Z? Let them drive it. Don't tell them about the potential issue until after and see if they noticed.

Great Advice, my friend drives an 09z ill have him test it for me monday!
Before that what are some symptoms of maybe not enough clutch fluid?

Clutch fluid is easy to see. Look at it. If it's low you have an incoming problem since it's a closed system. If it's low there's a leak somewhere. If it's black and dirty you have an incoming problem since the black stuff in it is bits of CSC.

:bowrofl:

I love you minsu! :icon17:

Here are some pictures of my Clutch Fluid.
There isnt any sediments floating or anything of the sort.

Ur csc wear out bearings are going to fail soon. Imho.

Elaborate lol please

:iagree:

Notice how the clutch fluid looks darker than the brake fluid? That means the internals of the OEM CSC are starting to come apart. Right now you've got two options. One is to continue driving it until it fails, and then pray the dealer takes care of you on the warranty. The other is to buy the HD CSC now and put it on a shelf, so when it fails you can sweet talk the dealer into installing it instead of the OEM piece when the car shows up there on a flatbed.

Someone soon will chime in about the magical "GTR Fluid" that will cure all your woes. It's a band-aid. The problem is a failing part, and fluid will not save it. It will only prolong the time until the bearing fails.

I believe the feedback ur getting is from them NOT being round, causes the csc to move slightly in and out, also causing ur clutch to move in and out and transfer these vibrations to the pedal since the csc it self is in good shape. Am a mechanical Engineer, in general that makes me think is what's happening. I could be wrong.

Hmmm, thanks for all the advice, for those who had there csc fail did you have alot of vibrating feedback when you shifted into higher gears, doommonkey, what you said makes sense, about the bearings not being round anymore. Thank you.

I'm not sure about any bearings not being round anymore, but the outcome is the same either way. My understanding is that the internal seals are plastic and they degrade, allowing fluid to leak out, parts that shouldn't come in contact with each other to touch, heat up and self destruct. Again, either way the outcome is the same. Clutch pedal on the floor, waiting for a tow truck.

I replaced the OEM CSC with the ZSpeed HD CSC simply as a precautionary measure in order to avoid being stranded in the event of failure of the OEM unit. The CMC was changed at the same time, as recommended. Also installed the ZSpeed insulated SS clutch line and used Motul 600 RBF as the fluid. Since then I've noticed very slight vibrations through the clutch pedal when shifting at higher rpms (3500 - 4,000). Not sure what the vibrations signal … but there appears to some similarity with your symptoms, at least in terms of the vibrations. I plan to get it checked out when I remove the vehicle from winter storage next spring. Not sure if this simply confuses the issue … but I'm also looking for any advice from others. I'm a little perplexed as to how the CSC could cause vibrations travelling to the clutch pedal … but I guess strange things can happen. A number of CSC failures have been reported … but I haven't seen any mention of vibrations being experienced before the CSC let go … besides my CSC is brand new and heavy-duty. Comments/suggestions are invited.

Im just getting confused cause the symptoms of a failing CSC is soft clutch, dead clutch.
But for me, its been fine. Clutch Wise. The only thing thats weird is when i depress clutch to shift into second gear i get this vibration in my clutch pedal that i never felt before. I read through most of the csc failure sticky but found not one person who had this symptom before their csc or cmc went out. So im not sure what the exact problem might be or if itss even worth bringing into the dealership. I bought my car in delaware and im in NJ and its a 2013 so i still have warranty, but do i have to go all the way back to delaware where i bought the car to get it serviced? It wasnt a nissan dealership it was a private dealership. So Iono im just confused and getting worried.

The vibrations happen every time i shift into a different gear btw. not just second. Its alot of vibrations higher into the rpms while upshifting.

If the car is under the manufacturer's warranty, then any Nissan dealership will service the car. It's worth asking locals which dealers around you are worth working with and which are to be avoided though.

Yea im doing that as we speak as well as yelp and other business related sites where I can see reviews. I know this might be a dumb questions, I only assume that my car is under warranty, being a 2013. Is there somewhere I can check the warranty on my vehicle. It was a clean title and such.

The warranty has two restrictions- time and mileage. Look in the book that came with the car. If memory serves, the powertrain warranty is 5yr/60k. Bumper to bumper 3yr/36k. As long as you're under the time and mileage, you're good.

Minsu, please let us know what the dealership discovers. Obviously, since I'm experiencing similar symptoms, I'd be interested in knowing the fix. I was thinking the vibrations might be trqced to the tyranny mount (???), especially since they become most apparent when upshifting at higher rpm when the engine and tranny are under load. Maybe in my case the tranny mount wasn't properly aligned when they reinstalled the tyranny. Anyway, let us know what you find out from the dealer.

There is no way to probably align the tranny mount. Its attaches to the end of the transmission and a brace goes on top of it and bolts to actual mount and the frame. Its idiot proof as far as install goes, trust me. I've seen an oem mount go bad before. It was causing the symptoms you mentioned. The Z1 urethane mount solved the problem.

I disagree. The clutch fluid needs to be changed. It is not real bad, but needs to be changed. It is normal for the clutch fluid to look crappier than the brake fluid. It needs changing more often. Been that way on every Z I have ever owned.

My mistake. I agree … the tyranny mount is a straight bolt-in as you point out. Could be that my mount has gone bad … or perhaps they didn't torque down the mount or bracket bolts enough. I also was thinking of installing an after-market mount … but have seen mixed reviews. Appears you're happy with the Z1 mount which is good to know.

Show me one person who had a CSC problem solved by fluid. Solved, not put off a few thousand miles. I'll wait.

So i just did research all throughout the day and night.
I checked other car forums as well as mechanic forums.
Apparently some other people with other cars have experienced the clutch vibrating issue and says it IS NOT a csc or cmc failure usually.

Some mentioned, throwout bearing wearing? no idea what that is.
Also bleeding the fluid. Or just something wrong with the clutch plate or pressure plate.
Im gonna give it another two days on the road to see what the problem is.

Yesterday the problem went away for about 10 minutes or so while i was driving.

So wierd .

Other cars do not experience csc failure at the very high rate of Zs, so take that with a grain of salt. You've got a warranty, use it. Go in and just tell them it doesn't feel right. Anything wrong is going to be a warranty issue anyway, so might as well at least have one complaint on the books.

Your right, I will also be taking it to the dealer, what are some prevention methods so that the dealer don't take the car for a joy ride. So many storys on our forum alone of the dealer fkin the car up cause of joy rides and other stupid shindigs

Note your mileage before and after. They're going to have to drive it to diagnose, and if you tell them it's a high rpm problem they have to wind it out to see what you're talking about. But if you come back and it's got 50 miles more on it, there might be an issue. If you go to a reputable dealer, you should be ok. Keep in mind most people don't go on the internet when things go well, so the ratio of horror stories to success stories is wildly inaccurate.

I had a very similar problem with my maxima and when the trans was opened up one of the springs on the clutch disc/plate was sideways.

Thanks for the input smashley. Its something I can mention.to the techs when I get there

I just said "shwink, shwink" out loud, and my cranky girlfriend gave me the stink eye. I would definitely take it to the dealership to have diagnosed. I haven't experienced CSC failure yet, but from what i've read, there is no warning. Then again, dealerships have been known to get it wrong, too.

He doesn't have a problem yet, but he will if he doesn't change the fluid. All CSC will fail eventually. Even on the older Z's that were on the outside of the bellhousing, They failed too. Pisses me off because they have always had issue no matter what the brand. What did Nissan do? Go and stick the dam thing inside the bellhousing. Now they are making it a pain in the butt to change. It used to only take 10mins to change one.

Man its weird, the problem is not consistent at all. what in the world is going on lol.

If your very agressive on the car it could be possible that youve worn down your clutch, or badly scored the flywheel due to heat. If your recently not driving as aggressive then the clutch and flywheel surface are evening out again causing the vibration to go away. Just some food for thought. Everyone on here likes to think the csc is the root of all clutch problems. I have 50k on mine with no issues and stock clutch with occaisional track use.
But by all means go to the dealer and have it checked out. However if the dealer finds its an issue related to what i said then it wouldnt be covered under warranty. Clutches/flywheels are considered a wear and tear item and are easily damaged or worn down by the user.
Also the throw out bearing is integrated in to the csc on our cars. Think of the csc as a 1 piece throw out bearing/slave cylinder. So when you depress the pedal the csc pushes out and contacts on the pressure plate. If your clutch and flywheel surface are scored like i mentioned thats when it would transmit the vibration.

Thanks for the info, im piecing everything together. Hopefully its not a big issue.

:bowrofl:

I consulted Ryan at RJM who makes the RJM pedal assembly to obtain his opinion since he's a bit of a "clutch" guru when it comes to the Z. Evidently, he has heard from a number of owners of newer 370s about vibrations felt through the clutch pedal (factory as well as RJM assemblies) when shifting at higher rpms. In these cases, the problem has been traced to the factory clutch, and not the CSC. Changing the disc and pressure plate apparently solved the problem. Unfortunately, it's a costly fix since the clutch is not covered under the powertrain warranty. Anyway, that's the input from Ryan. He recommended going with a Southbend Stage 1 or 2 clutch for daily driving … which is consistent with Joe at Z Speed.

Well thats good to know and consistent with what I said.

Just to clarify, according to Ryan at RJM, the problem has been traced to the factory pressure plate. The problem evidently was solved by replacing the pressure plate. That said, the CSC has to be replaced at the same time since it can't be re-used. Not a good situation!

Dammit.

IDK why all of a sudden the OEM pressure plate is causing this. Other model years didn't have these issues and the flywheel/pressure plate are the same for every year. And once you have the transmission dropped, changing a csc is no big deal, that is the easy part.