Update on clutch/slave cylinder problem
 

As posted before, in May 2014, my clutch pedal went to the floor and I had to drive home in 3rd gear stopping for nothing. I made it home (it was late at night) and, as soon as I pulled in the driveway and rpms dropped, it stalled and died. I had it towed to the dealer. According to this forum, it was most likely the slave cylinder which is in the tranny. I told them this as the fluid was not low in the reservoir. They flushed the system, told me it was dirty, and was good to go. It was fine until September when it happened again. I got the car there, they flushed the system, charged me, and it was good to go. I argued about the slave cylinder and that my warranty expired in the middle of October. Yep, on Friday November 28, it happened a third time. It is there now. They said that Nissan is unlikely to honor the warranty as it expired in October. I argued the car was brought in twice, same problem, before the warranty expired, was not fixed, and should be covered. I waiting to see what they say. I told them do no work, I need a diagnostic. I also asked where the clutch fluid went? No leak in my garage or in the car. I don't have the money to fix this out of warranty (they said around $1500). Any ideas? At this point, I am ready to sell the car.

damn dude, im sory bro... Im afraid of this happening to me. sh1t, this sucks.

I would raise a major stink. Since you had at the dealer more than once for the same problem, it should be covered.
It sounds like you have the same bunch of jack-wads working at the dealership you go to as the one that I formerly went to. In typical Nissan dealer fashion, they "know it all" and think those of us on the forums are idiots.
I wish I could find the post that Joe from Zspeed posted years ago showing why the CSC is poorly engineered and what he designed to overcome it. It makes perfect sense when you see it.

Thanks everyone
 

The service manager said he never heard of this problem before. I went on this forum and found pages of this problem, copied them, and am taking them with me. It is a design defect, it is poorly engineered, and it should be subject to a recall. Now, anytime I go anywhere, I'm afraid to drive my car any distance and have to look into renting a car. This shouldn't be. I've had it with this problem.

I would call Nissan HQ and file a complaint detailing for your situation. This is BS and Nissan should cover it, make your voice heard otherwise they're only hearing from your dealer and deny your claim. Best of luck.

Zbrah
 

Thanks, should hear from them today or tomorrow. They told me they had new mechanic and a new set of eyes might see what the others have missed. Did not inspire me.

Here is the contact info in case you need it:

Nissan Consumer Affairs
P.O. Box 685003
Franklin, TN 37068-5003
Phone: (800) NISSAN-1 (or 800-647-7261)

Monday through Friday:
7:00 AM to 7:00 PM CST

as stated above contact nissan above, they're usually really good at wanting to keep customers happy.

I agree
Escalate it.
Be very professional, unemotional.
Give them facts, dates, names, the info from other members here (search this site-lots and lots of facts here).
They will come through for you.
Good luck!!

if you call nissan consumer affairs, you are talking to a dumbarse canned message lady..you're not going to get anywhere.

that said, give maximum emotion... tell them how you REALLLY feel :tup:

How do I proceed from here?
 

The dealer called and told me that Nissan told them a "special" clutch fluid will fix the problem. I asked what "special" fluid is and they just repeated the claim. Online, I found 3 special fluids...DOT 3, 4, and 5. How can "special" fluid fix a clutch pedal that goes to the floor every 2 months? Also, if clutch fluid of any DOT, leaks into the transmission because the CSC is bad, what does this do to the transmission? Is transmission fluid the same? If not, this must screw things up. was told; "We told Nissan your car has been in 3 times in 7 months for the same problem and they said try the special fluid and we'll go from there." In short, a ticking time bomb when it goes again leaving me stranded and, if the fluid is bad for the transmission, that goes too. At this point, I am considering getting rid of the car before it all breaks down. I'll call Nissan consumer affairs and give them a shot at this today. Thanks for your help. I feel sick every time I get into the car, which has been well taken care of, babied, never raced, touch the clutc, and it doesn't feel right.

The clutch fluid cannot contaminate the transmission fluid. It may cause damage to the clutch, but it can't get inside the transmission.

Take a look at the FSM, and you will see the bell housing containing the CSC is separate from the transmission fluid housing.

My guess is the "special" clutch fluid is Nissan's GT-R clutch fluid.

And yup, it is a ticking time bomb. I replaced mine before it failed. With aftermarket solution. So I don't ever have to screw with it again like some of the guys on here that have replaced it 3 times or more :ugh:

If it's the CSC you definitely need to call customer affairs as stated above. Do you research ahead of time and don't take no for an answer. I just went through this exact ordeal last month.

Went to the dealer, told them I thought it was the CSC when I dropped it off. They call two days later and confirmed that was the problem only to tell me it wasn't covered under warranty and would cost me $1,200 to fix. I argued with my service guy, the tech, and the master mechanic with them telling me that because it's in the bell housing it's not covered under the transmission. I told them regardless of where it is it's still a part of the power-train and not a wearable part so it should be covered. They conceded that it was a part of the power-train but there system only showed it as being covered by the 3 year 36,000 mile basic warranty and not the 5 year 60,000 power-train warranty. They showed it to me on the screen so there was not much left for me at the dealership and that's when I called customer affairs.

The first lady I talked to was a total dunce. Typical canned responses from someone who didn't know what they were talking about. She even went as far to tell me the CSC wouldn't be covered because the warranty only covers mechanical failures. When I informed her that it was an internal part and there was no other way for it to fail she must have hit the bottom of her list of excuses because she forwarded my case to the next level up which is where you want to be.

This guy called me to discuss my case and then told me he was going to need a few days to do some research. Sure enough a few days later I get a call back and "the powers that be" determined that the part would be covered under my warranty.

Now I don't know how many miles you have on your car, but if you're within the factory power-train warranty there is no reason it shouldn't be replaced for free. If you're not and you don't have an extended warranty I don't think you have much room left to argue unfortunately.

The Dimer
 

And others, this really helps me big time. I am calling Nissan consumer affairs today and get started on this. I have no doubt it is the CSC. Again, thanks everyone.

i mustve spoken to the same lady :rofl2:

Update
 

It cost me another 100 bucks. They flushed the system and replaced the standard clutch fluid with a "special" fluid that costs $40 dollars. It works great now. I asked how replacing clutch fluid could fix a cluth going to the floor problm. No real answer. I asked where the missing clutch fluid had gone. Again, they don't know... Now I'll wait and see what happens. If there is a fourth time, the car is being sold

Fluid cannot fix the problem. It can get you down the road a little bit, but the root is the plastic OEM CSC. If you're planning to sell the car if it happens again, go ahead and sell it now. The CSC will fail unless you put in an aftermarket metal one.

The dealer is wasting your time and money. It will fail eventually. Probably sooner rather than later.

Thanks
 

I hate to sell it but I know you are right. I am looking at a Dodge Challenger. What a shame they did this. I've had that car there 3 times and they have it a week each time and it costs me money. I wanted to tell them they've had it so long, they should make the payments

Depending on the trade in value, it may still be a better option to save up and replace the CSC rather than trade in the car. I'm sure you could get it swapped out with a new clutch and flywheel for $1500-2000. If you're going to get raped on trade it may be a better idea to just fix the car you have.

Did you contact consumer affairs? the CSC has failed you 3x, why are you not bringing this to the next level and have them fixed for good!

Why are you not calling up consumer affairs? You asked for advice and this is what many people on the forum asked you to do,they even posted the number and what exactly to tell consumer affairs and even who to talk to.
If you still can't call them up good luck, a Dodge Challenger might be better for you.

I don't think the CSC has actually failed completely 3x. I think the dealer has just made him bring the car in 3x for the same failing CSC. Regardless, he needs to contact NNA.

Lemon it lol

Presto
 

I am. I took down the information and will do so. I work full time, my wife works swing shift, so I have the kids at home to help with homework, cooking, you name it. I am teaching a course I have never taught before so am scrambling to keep my head above water. I average 4 to 5 hours of sleep, and, you get the point. Busy beyond normal. This week, things calm down, kind of, and I should be able to contact them. Don't take this wrong, I appreciate all that you have said, sometimes life gets to be a bit much and I'm in over my head.

The car had Nissan GT-R R35 fluid (DOT 4) put in. It works fine...for now but, as some of you noted, sooner or later.... I'll keep everyone posted.

You also need to go to a different dealership. The oil is only a Band-Aid and it will fail! The repair should only take two days, three tops if they don't have the CSC in stock(week at a time is absurd). Don't sell your car due to a bad experience at the dealership. Mine took two and a half days and they didn't have the CSC in stock.

Chill bro!:tiphat:
On another note my bud just bought the Scat Pack edition in black. Gets it Thursday.

if mine failed i would just get the aftermarket one installed at a local speed shop.
they probably know more about this than nissan.. lol

and i rather not be using same parts that fail..

I was going to do that when mine failed, but it's hard to pass up free parts/labor even if it's an inferior part. If things hadn't gone my way with customer affairs I was going to take to straight to the shop down the street to have an aftermarket CSC put in and do a clutch/flywheel while I had it all apart.

oh yah, by all means use your warranty if granted. it's not like all of the factory csc fail. hell my G uses the same or similar and still good after 10yrs.

my car is old now and probably past the warranty period anyway... and nissan really did their homework by putting dumbarse canned message ladies at consumer affairs and really making it a pita to make a claim. :tup:

:ugh:

Same Problem -- Few Questions???
 

Thanks for posting in such detail fellas. Had the same problem except I stuck my in 2nd gear after getting off the highway and stopped for nothing on my way home.

Looked at it with a couple gearheads, said it was the slave chamber and that they couldn't help...referred to Trans guys who quoted $1,880 (while replacing the clutch because I am at ~60k miles - he said $900 was parts) and promised a one day turn around. To which I said, whoa...too much

I have two questions guys:
1.) What would you suggest for a long term fix (aftermarket parts at a speed shop, full replacement?)
2.) What range should be considered "fair" for a Slave chamber and clutch replacement?

Can one of you guys post links to the kits for what is needed to completely fix this.

And someone has mentioned replacing the clutch & flywheel while you're at it, what are the benefits of doing that? And please post links for that.. It would be greatly appreciated, as always. Thanks fellas.

I'm getting a new clutch, lightweight flywheel, upgraded CSC, new master cylinder and SS lines (and more) for less than that from Joe at Zspeedperformance in two days.
Can't wait to see the difference and be confidence that the CSC won't fail.

This is where I am...
 

I did contact Nissan consumer affairs, I could mostly understand the nice young lady at the other end, they made a case and have submitted it to someone who will call me within 24 hours. My clutch is working but it worked the last 3 times it was "fixed" until the pedal hit the floor and would not ome up again...all three times. I told them it must be the CSC and will they honor the warranty which expired 16 October considering it was in for this problem in May and September. I'll let you know what they say.

I have not raced this car or driven it hard. At what odometer count does the clutch have to be replaced? How much will that cost? Thanks everyone.

There is no set mileage, as everyone drives the car different and in different conditions, I got about 160,000 miles on my clutch, and it was the CSC that went, but while the tranny was out had them do the clutch, as it was almost done anyway. Cost, that will depend on your area, but expect about 6-8 hours, if it's just the CSC the part is about 150-250, I'm in Canada, so pricing is very different then yours. If you don't have a lot of miles, I can't remember what you said it was, the clutch could be fine...what I would do if they are covering the repair is have them put in a CSC that you supply, if they will, and get the one from Z1. The clutch isn't the expensive part, it's the labour and the flywheel. OE at least.

Thanks 90ST
 

I have 45K easy miles on it. I will decide what to do based on what Nissan Consumer Affairs tells me.

Probably good for another 45k then.

Same issue
 

The same thing just happened to me.

Clutch started feeling soft, then went to the floor. Managed to get into and stall it in a parking lot. Hydraulic fluid was leaking pretty bad underneath.

Had it towed from there to Nissan where they determined the slave cylinder was bad. I was about 1000 miles and 2 months out of warranty. I complained (politely) that this is not something that should go this early, particularly since I don't race or abuse the car. I asked if there was anything they can do to extend the warranty in this case.

The manager was very nice and understanding. He said he'd talk to the warranty dept. and see what they can do. Got back to me a couple days later and said it's a $341 repair and Nissan will cover $300 of it.

If you express your displeasure firmly yet respectfully, they'll typically work with you to keep you a happy customer. Of course this can also depend on the person you're talking to. I've been taking my car to this dealership for about 3 years and have gotten to know the manager there.

The clutch has been fine since, however, its only been a couple weeks since the repair. I'm hoping I don't have a reoccurring issue like you. Best of luck!

:confused:

No way they are replacing the slave cylinder for that price. It requires dropping the transmission, which is pretty much a guaranteed $700 in labor minimum.