My whiny little b**ch thread.
 

Cue the sirens, send the guards, establish a perimeter - there is malcontent!!!

I've driven motorcycles, big diesel trucks, kubota tractors, minivans, sports cars, sedans, domestic, asian, european, airplanes, a 42 ft motorhome towing a sedan, trucks with boats and trailers - hitch, 5th wheel, and a few rather unlucky women in college. Never have I felt the need to be a whiny little bitch more than I do now with my 09 6M.

My first transmission had bad synchros and was replaced. Nice and easy, cool. My car has 14K on it, and I STILL feel like I'm getting behind the wheel for the very first time. Sometimes the gearbox will refuse to go into first at a light, I don't mind 1 to 2, but it's not a consistent feeling, and sometimes 2 is hard to get into - I feel like I have to crunch it in. Sometimes the gearbox seems to like being shifted slowly, and sometimes it needs to be shifted quickly. Sometimes the revs build quickly, other times, they are absolutely glacial. Push in the clutch, and sometimes the damned flywheel thinks it's a perpetual motion machine, and a small parasitic worm in Borneo can evolve intelligence in the time it takes for the damned revs to fall. Other times, the revs fall like Lohan on boxed wine. Today I ground the gears going into 5th on the freeway because the damned stick stopped short of the actual gear. The other day I was nearly creamed by a suv at costco because the driver reversed without warning, and my flaming pink rainbow unicorn gearbox refused to go into reverse. I had to throw it into first, rock it forward, then crunch it into reverse - but still too slow, and I had to watch with helpless horror as the white reverse lights of the expedition grew.

Having some good horsepower is no excuse for having a transmission that is hewn-by-claw-by-blind-squirrels-out-of-shale clunky. There are easy enough things that could have cheaply been designed to make the shifting experience better. Why bother putting a great suspension and a balanced chassis together with what absolutely must be the prototype to Fred Flintstone's rock-o-mobile?!

You can say that I blow as a driver - I just might, but why the heck do I blow the most with a damned sports car that's engineered to accelerate, turn-in, brake, and corner smoothly? It should be easier to drive than the others - this isn't a Gumpert Apollo, after all.

Am I knocking the car? Heck no, I love my baby! But this is a plea to Nissan to knock it off with the clunky manuals. I know it's kind of a tradition, but so is feet binding, ritual cannibalism, and head cheese. The manual is a primary way the driver interacts with the car - don't make it unpleasant.

And no, I'm not a whimp; I'm not afraid of pain, learning curves, failure, embarrassment, or large hairy spiders wearing tutus. I'm just wondering why we have to keep settling and pretending all is okay with these cement mixer manuals. We COULD have better, but over and over, it is decided that we shall not. Don't get me started on 7 speed autos and gear ratios.

This brings us to the end of my whiny little b**ch thread.

TOO LONG, DIDN'T READ: why do we have to keep settling for manual transmissions made by three year old elephants out of clay pots?

Hmm. Your transmission seems extra clunky. I know mine clunked and didn't have particularly good feel, but it wasn't like you're describing.

Yoooo I completely understand what your going thru. I am now on my 3rd tranny. I had it completely rebuilt by my tranny tech here in Louisiana. It has Kevlar synchros and cryo shift forks. Also alot of other adjustments that he uses in his 240 trannys. It shift like a mofo now. I'm about 5000 miles in now no problems. Cost me about 3000 but I'm running a twin turbo setup and the trans is bad *** now.

Most entertaining read of the month,

Has the transmission been revised since 09?

The synchros are really crappy on the trans, especially the early 09s, but don't expect a reasonable response here.

The nice thing is Nissan is pretty good about taking care of it for you. Hopefully you can get hooked up with an '11+ trans before your powertrain warranty runs out.

:|

yes, several times.

There were at least 3 updates during 09, and then at least one late in the '10 run. Supposedly another during the 2011 run as well, but didn't hear about that one from the same source.

Sorry to hear about your transmission. I will agree that the tranny is noisy and clunky, but thats how most Nissan Transmissions are. Other then the noise my tranny is warm butter smooth. 2010 with 18k and no problems at all. This is not a knock at you but I think most peoples problems stem from abuse and not properly knowing how to dirve a stick while abusing it.

My whiny little b**ch thread. Can I buy a vowel??? :icon17:

Hope Nissan works it out for you.

Is it tradition for Nissan to make less than great Manual transmissions ? ? ? or is this specific to the Z . ? .

I think Nissan makes good automatic transmissions. They hook up nicely with their V6 engines.

My '09 and current '10 MT works just fine even when I go through the gears shifting at 7000 rpm. Did you buy your car used?

It is funny stuff. I am sorry for your troubles. I don't think I like his thinly veiled diaparaging comment about ritual cannibalism though.

Is that issue only with the 6MT or also with 7AT as well?

What issue other than it clunks in 1st?

I too, seem to have an annoying, noisy box.... My transmission is kinda klunky too!

THANK YOUuuuuuuu, I'll be here all night. :tiphat:

After all the grief I read about when the G37 first came out, I got the 5-AT in my 2008 G37S.

After reading they really weren't a lot better in the Z's, I got the 7-AT. I learned the paddle shifters on the G, and never missed a beat with the Z.

Now most of my friends have the 6-M and never complain, so maybe things have gotten better.

My main reason for getting the 7-AT is that my Z is my daily driver for my Houston commute, but I was a little gun shy of the 6-M.

Lordamercy. My 6mt is notchy going into 2nd sometimes, but never crunchy.

This is awful to hear.

You don't need to back yourself up! Lol, I keep having to. IMO the AT on the 370 is more superior to the MT. And if manual was so great, all supervises and F1 cars and such would still have them

(Not trying to really bash manual, I do miss it sometimes)

Never had a single issue with my '10 trans. 1st gear lockout when the car is rolling is normal to me on every man car I've driven but that's just my 2 cents. I'm just lucky or your unlucky.

It is not that buttery smooth M3 clutch and transmission but it is not an M3 either. I would say you are too critical but you did describe yourself a whiny b*tch, so can't say you did not warn.

:rofl2:

Mine only has problems going into second :( Still pisses me off though.

Mine goes into gear like butter. My only problem is getting a smooth 1-2 shift.

maybe a light read in here could make 1-2 shifts less painful
Review of RJM adjustable clutch pedal bracket - MY350Z.COM Forums

I'm sorry to hear about your tranny, but you do write a good story!

F1 transmissions are manual (single clutch, dual layshaft) design with electromechanical actuation. They are nothing like the torque converter, planetary design in the AT.

you figure it is just a disproportionate number of people buying Z's that don't know how to drive, then? Especially considering the 350Z "seemed" to have similar issues.

Nissan had reported replacing ~3500 transmissions as of mid-2011, mostly in early 09s. You think all those people just didn't know how to drive? I feel like they wouldn't have covered that many if that was the case.

I'd like to read more on that. Can you provide a link?

:iagree: me too...

I like how Red_Zed the person who I'm suppose to be "avoiding" has to single out my post and quote it LOL!. But yea I think most of it is what I said. If you dont properly know how to drive a stick and you start racing it around your going to do alot of damage. I have known and know many people with 09's 10's 11's who have 0 complaints about the trannys other the the noise and feel. I totally believe Nissan has made revisions over the years due to complaints but what the OP is describing is an isolated incident possibly from abuse or something IDK?

Nope. Nissan is not in the business of putting themselves out of business.

I'm sure there are easier ways to get a hold of this information than what I did, but I can only speak to the "buy a car that has the trans blow up before you even take delivery that proceeds to grenade several diffs while the paint peels off, then make good friends with the guys at NNA" method.

You might try to get a hold of the NNA guys yourself if you have questions. In my experience, most of them are pretty happy to talk honestly about issues (off the record, off course).

My experiences with NNA:
http://www.the370z.com/nissan-370z-g...370z-saga.html

That statement means nothing then. All 3500 where all for the same reason? Why are they being replace? Complete failure? Just to noisy and clunky?

I heard all Nissan transmissions blow up and it is 100% fact. Also I cannot provide any proof. Just trust me, I'm on the Internet, totally legit.

Actually, what you say may be true. But it would be difficult for anyone to take it as fact without further evidence. Hence "off the record"

Yeah, it cracks me up when people compare a paddle shift automatic with a torque converter, like the Z, with an F1 car. I still like a real manual gearbox....even with it's flaws. I drive everyday in Chicago traffic and still would never consider an automatic. Spend a lot of time in neutral though.

I don't have any issue with people not taking what I say at face value...it is well-understood as relatively unsupported. NNA is not difficult to get in touch with yourself if you are curious, and this was much-discussed in my documentation of my issues here:
http://www.the370z.com/nissan-370z-g...370z-saga.html

red, the issues are synchro issues. If calling NNA takes too much time for you, there is plenty of documentation of the issues here, on this forum.

I bought my 09 used, it had 11k miles and on it when I picked it up and I am now pushing 20k with zero issues with the tranny. Sorry to hear about the issues but after owning an auto 350 and driving a 7AT 370, I was sold on the manual even with its shortcomings. If Nissan used a dual clutch set up like Porsche's PDK then I would have probably gone that route since PDK is more in line with a manual while the 7AT is just an auto with paddle shifters. I drove a Cayman S with both and the PDK is a lot of fun.

Not to throw any fire on the subject, but do any of the 5.0 guys know what is going on with the TSB for the GT's manual? Last I heard it was just people complaining about it being a little stiff but of course it turned into a big deal.

To my knowledge, about the same as the 370Z issue. A combination of a crappy early run, combined with some people that can't drive.

Based on what I've heard (no experience with Ford, as my car has been fine), Ford as done a far inferior job of stepping up to the plate and handling issues as they come up. Nissan's 'no questions asked' policy probably costs them a little more in the short run, but it did a lot to avoid sullying the brand in my experience. From what I've seen, Ford has really dropped the ball on handling the issues in the early run.

That sucks to hear, it seems like that is the only real issue with the 5.0, besides the live axle :tup:

So you do agree with me that some of the problems are from lack of driving skills.

sure, in some cases.

whether it is a significant proportion or not is up for debate though.