Same thing happen to me a few weeks ago...

Ken, I wasn't necessarily trying to insinuate that the issue was purely isolated to an electrical or oil symptom, and I know that you were not postulating that either - sorry if I came across as such. I have your DIY open in another tab (amongst a hundred other ones), but haven't been able to thoroughly peruse it. I've only scrolled through to see the pics and get a general idea of how to replace the defective unit, but I'll read through it more carefully tonight. Also, you can just call me 'sabi'

Onzedge, Nissan's decision to completely eliminate the part in the 2012 model (is that verified?) is more insult to the injury - it means that they're likely aware of the issue...

:rofl2: hahaha!!

yah, prior to the 5 days was the car getting nice distance drives? seems 20-25miles does not charge the battery to full per the length it takes my battery manager to float vs after a nice weekend drive which only takes a few min for it to float. :) im just wondering.

these batteries have memory and once it looses a full charge max charge keeps falling unless you float it again using the battery manager...or just dies eventually.

sabi- we're cool. :tup: i want to see if we can find a pattern prior to failure.

Mr. Kenchan, My normal drive is about 1/2 hour twice per day. It is a combination of street and freeway.

everyone who has had the failure should report it to the NHTSA, this is one way to get a recall started.

https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/index.cfm

Mr. Sabi, It is not verified and I intend to ask around a bit this week. The service manager who told me this is a very straight shooter with many years experience and I have know him for a long time. So far, I am taking him at his word.

Wow, seems like a lot of people are experiencing problems with the wheel lock assembly. Mine actually went two weeks ago and I have been told that the part is on back order until 2 Feb. They have me driving an Altima Hybrid right now :ugh2:

Mr.onzedge- thanks for the info! :)

Good info. Maybe Mr.Kenchan can add the link to the original Sticky'd thread?

mike already posted there. :tup:

Better than a kick to the nuts with golf shoes...

Hey everyone, so below is a copy of the letter I intend to e-mail to several car sites/blogs. Ken, I linked to your DIY, hope you don't mind :D Let me know what you think (i.e. tell me what I'm missing)! Thanks, guys!

[Work Address]

January 23, 2012

[Address]

To the staff of [insert publication name],

Hi, my name is David, and I’m writing to you today because I wanted to alert your publication to a serious issue that has been suddenly arising amongst many Nissan 370Z’s and in particular, the 2009 and early-2010 models. Many owners of such vehicles have reported experiencing the sudden inability to start their cars, and have had to tow their vehicles to dealerships; these failures have been cited as being related to a faulty steering lock mechanism in those earlier models. While dealers have replaced the faulty parts under warranty, those without warranty (and the warranties on 2009 models begin to expire this year) have been stuck with repair bills between $500-$1000. Even worse is that the replacement part is currently out of stock, with wait times varying between two to four weeks.

Upon further investigation, the 370Z community at “the370Z.com” discovered that the scope of the steering lock failure issue spread across several Nissan models, to include the GT-R, Maxima, and Altima. The GT-R received a voluntary service recall for the defective part, but none of the other vehicle models have had the same service notice, even though they share essentially the same part (the failure-prone steering lock mechanism in the 370Z, which was subject to the voluntary recall in the GT-R, is exactly the same part). The voluntary service recall cited an issue with the steering lock unit being “over-oiled” thus causing a failure in the electrical components of the mechanism.

As an owner of a 2009 Nissan 370Z myself, I’m highly concerned with this issue possibly afflicting my vehicle, but Nissan’s response to owners seeking clarification has been resigned to canned responses, telling owners to follow technical service bulletins for all servicing-related information. This is simply unacceptable. The part in question is not a wear-and-tear item by any means, and the fact that Nissan has made no public effort to raise awareness to a factory problem means that owners of Nissan vehicles may suddenly become stranded with a non-operable car. Even worse, Nissan has since removed the unit altogether on their 2012 370Z model, which suggests that they may be aware of the issue (note: this has not yet been fully verified by 2012 model owners, but was reported by a dealer).

Hopefully with your help, this issue will be brought to sufficient light so that owners of Nissan vehicles will be better aware of this potentially stranding issue, and Nissan will be forced to respond with better information – that way, we can all work towards finding a viable solution across multiple platforms. Thank you for your time and your consideration.

For more information on this issue, as it pertains to the Nissan 370Z, please see: http://www.the370z.com/diy-section-d...rly-2010s.html

And, as it pertains to the Nissan GT-R, please see:
DIY Write Up: Steering Lock Fix - NAGTROC - The Nissan GT-R Owners Club

For the Nissan GT-R’s voluntary recall of the defective steering lock unit, please see the attached Nissan Service Bulletin, dated March 18, 2010, Reference #NTB10-025.


Sincerely,



David

That is a well-written letter, Mr. Wasabi.

What can we do to help disseminate it?

I'm going to send it off to Edmunds' Insideline, Jalopnik, and Autoblog. Feel free to e-mail those publications or to submit a quick tip to them regarding the issue; and if you want to copy the e-mail and shoot it to another site that I may have missed, let us know. Basically, if this issue/story gets enough momentum, someone is going to want to pursue it.

And one quick q: Was it verified that the problem Edmunds experienced was the same issue?

sabi- sounds good. please put emphasis that the 370Z is using the exact part that was recalled on the GTR as known 'bad' parts: 48700-JF00A, 48700-JF00B.

why nissan did not 'drill deep and wide' to ensure other platforms were affected beats the hell out of me.

Bean counters!

Will do!

:iagree:

At lease your engine didnt blow up on the highway :ugh2: :shakes head:

too much nawz danger to manifold?

Looks and reads very well. Thanks for putting in the effort to do this!

+rep Mr.Sabi

Does it make sense to use some social media (Facebook, twitter, etc) to help get the word out? Would it be best to post links to the Sticky'd thread that Mr.Kenchan started?

Thanks, Mr. GaleForce! It was no biggie :D

Not sure about how effective social media would be in this case, but I guess it couldn't hurt. Personally, I don't have many friends who are car enthusiasts, but I think it would be fairly prudent to inform friends/family who own a Nissan vehicle with this potential flaw.

Also, I've sent out e-mails to the sites that I listed earlier - I will update when I hear back from them (if at all).

also watch out for faux claims that some nissan-hater starts posting up stating they have steering lock failure when in fact they drive a mustang of such. :icon17:

Hey, my Z's steering lock did indeed fail! I just didn't own it at the time. :p

:icon18:

So what are you guys with 09's and 10's doing to prepare for the seemingly-inevitable failure of the lock? I did read about the "hammer tap" and "steering column up and down" suggestions but I have no idea what the success rate is and whether or not that would even help me get out of a jam. I do NOT want to tow this car, but I also don't want to buy the part and do the DIY fix because my warranty will cover the repairs. So what are you guys doing, just waiting until it won't start and then towing?

All I'm doing is praying for a TSB from Nissan since I have like 10 months left on the factory warranty. :shakes head:

in your case you will have to accept the towing part to get your free replacement with undisclosed lead-time.

in my case, it's a done deal. im just helping the others out.

As far as I've seen what other members have experienced, defective part is being replaced free of charge if it's under warranty, but the part is always on back-order.

I am wondering can NISSAN able to do a recall because they don't even have enough supply for the part.

While their priority is on the GTR in this issue, I wish best luck for my fellow Z members/drivers in here!!

:hello:

I'm huddled up in the corner of the room crying while my car sits in the garage for the winter. If I ever actually put enough miles on the car to experience this failure I'll be upset. Rep+ to David for the well written letter. Hopefully something will come of it. If not, maybe we'll both have the steering lock problem together at our local meet.

eggcorn!!! :icon17:

For all we know, it might not be mileage related, but rather correlated to time... :( I mean, that could be why we're seeing this issue pop up en masse over the past two months or so...

But I'm excited for spring to come - going to slap on the NISMO's finally, and fully blackout the car! And if we're stranded, it would be the perfect excuse to goto Jeff's house and have a slumber party/pillow fight with the gang.

:icon18: Jeff=me?

:wtf2:

Is there any other? In my travels, I have met many a Jeff, but my heart only knows one Jeff...

Also, if everyone in this thread could spare 5 minutes to submit a quick e-mail tip to the following e-mail addresses regarding the steering lock issue in Nissan vehicles, it might help the effort a bit.

Edmunds Insideline: Insideline.Editor@Edmunds.com
Jalopnik: tips@jalopnik.com
Autoblog: Dan.Roth@weblogsinc.com

Somebody's going to want to pick this story up... hopefully!

For WIW I only drive 3.5 miles to work which hardly has a chance to charge the battery. With 35k mi on a rev a 2009 model and it's still has a strong charge.

yah, but with 35k miles your z's getting a lot of play time on the weekends to charge the battery.

on the contrary my 09 has 8k miles. :icon17: and under the covers right now hibernating (plugged in ofcourse).

Attachment 40131:shakes head:

it got me

Ughhh.....wtf? :shakes head:

Tell me, we're you given a two to four week turnaround on it?

This is what Nissan Sport Magazine reply to me:

Jose-

"You’re the first 370Z subscriber who has mentioned this. I’ll have to research the topic before making any comment. This may also be a letter in the upcoming issue, so let me know your hometown".

David Muramoto
Editor-in-chief
Nissan Sport Magazine

Here is his email so more people can write him: nissan7gt3@comcast.net

Thanks waaaasabi for drafting the letter!

BTW, not taking credit for creating the letter.