TheVengefulCo

Well they decided to give me a new transmission.... They then told me that if this happens again that theyre going to open it up and see if its being abused... im not abusing the car so imnot really scared but Im sure this is their way of saying its not a lemon and the driver is abusing it. Total BS because it is pretty much a lemon. Even if i did abuse it, im pretty sure it would be more likely to have been 1st and 2nd gear not 5th and 6th that are effed up. Ive already made up my decision that tomorrow when I get the Z back im going to Carmax to try and sell it since they apparently give the best deals. I want out and im buying a 335i. Anyone want to buy a 2007 350Z Grand Touring? lol

MaelstrØm

I was just going to tell you to sell it immediately after the work is done. Sounds like you are already going to do that.

TheVengefulCo

yeah Im getting rid of it ASAP. Posted it up online and hopefully ill get it tomorrow with the new tranny and take it to carmax along with my old g35. Should be able to get a good deal with those two but idk. Just for the hell of it yesterday when I dropped it off, i went to talk to their manager for sales. I knew they wouldnt offer much for the car but I was surprised at how low they decided to go. The dude told me 12-13k or 15k if i wanted to buy a knew 370z... I literally laughed and told him that aint going to fly and left. I mean come on, THEY ARE THE ONES WHO SCREWED UP THE FIRST TRANNY PRETTY MUCH. I took it in twice before they changed it and each time they gave me that checklist that they did all the fluid checks and everything. And all of the sudden in the span of two weeks, all the tranny fluid is gone and it caused mechanical failures? The car did not have ANY leaks. THEY just didnt do their job because if they did they wouldve seen the problem. I also theorize that they purposely let it run low on tranny fluid and expected it to break down after my warranty expired since it only had 1,500 miles left. but anyways I hate to sell the Fairlady but hey, whats got to be done has to be done. Just imagine if these problems were out of warranty.... nightmare.

albaugh81

Learn to luv it cuz alot of them do sound like a cement mixer.

reserved

iTrader: (18)

I don't have to imagine; I've been there - TWICE!!!!!!!!!

Nismo1534

iTrader: (15)

I'm a little late, but 08 Nismo owner here.

6-5 grind with clutch pedal fully pressed to the floor. 30K miles. Only happened when car was cold. No problem when warm.

Had the transmission replaced under factory warranty

Issue reappeared after 5K miles! Even worse this time. Never raced, abused, mis-shifted, etc. All other gears shift perfectly.

Nissan dealership is currently deciding what to do with this. I did not realize there were different revisions of the transmission. I'll have to pop under my car tonight and see what revision they put in there for the replacement.

Do I push for a rev. 9 if I get another new one?

Any chance that this is NOT a transmission issue? The nissan technician was saying it could be any number of things from shifter cables to shifter bushings. I didn't know how to respond.

MaelstrØm

The CD009 is physically different from the other transmissions. The initial problem, as I remember, had to do with the synchros slipping and thus grinding when they spin up. There were ways to take the tranny apart and fix the spinning problem, but it took a very specific fix. I would push hard for a CD009 tranny.

pbn85

iTrader: (2)

I've been there. Last month I actually BOUGHT a brand new HR tranny from z1 motorsports b'c of the 6-5 gear grind. It put me back roughly $2100. I'm at 1000 miles on the new transmission. You don't know how much I cross my fingers that the problem doesn't repeat. I actually get worried driving it sometimes now for fear of the problem re-occuring.


The cd0009 transmissions won't fit HR cars.

Question to the OP and Nismo1534 - do you guys rev match when down shifting? And it still occurs? The OP only had 1300 miles on his new transmission and if he rev matched his down shifts the whole time and the problem STILL occurred, then I'm at a loss for words. Then these transmissions really are garbage. However, even lack of rev matching shouldn't cause problems, especially with that little mileage

TheVengefulCo

Damn, good luck with your transmission man. They gave me a new one and now im selling the car. Hopefully you dont get any problems! And yes it still happened when I revmatched, in fact it was probably worse. You gotta think that at a certain point its harder to be put into gear for the synchros when the rpms are higher. Honestly I think these trannies are garbage. Nissan seems to have a knack for crappy ones i mean look at the first 2009 GTR trannys, those were terrible. Im not sure about the 370z ones but id expect them to be a litle better. And The only way it wouldnt grind is if I shifted VERY SLOWLY, ike ridiculously slow. However, my clutch feels way different and they didnt give me a new one, maybe they adjusted it correctly? But overall Ive had enough 350z for now lol Ive decided against a 335i since their feul pumps go out so im going WRX and maybe STI. Those seem to be bulletproof. My worst fear is to have to pay 2100 bucks for a new tranny that doesnt work. I dont know, maybe I was just unlucky and im sure your tranny will be fine. I would advise selling the car if your problems arise again. Good luck man! and did you get a warranty of any after purchasing your tranny?

TheVengefulCo

Did it happen out of nowhere for you? Because both times it happened to me, it was almost out of nowhere. For the first tranny, it was a little more common that it would grind, and would happen every now and then, like somedays it would be fine and others it would do it once or twice. I took it into the dealer to be checked out and they said it was okay. Then out of nowhere one day, 2 weeks later, it would grind on command. It literally happened what seems to be overnight. It went from rarely doing it to doing it like crazy. Sorta the same for the second tranny. I went 2500 miles or so with no grinding and then all of the sudden it started grinding again. It was the weirdest thing. Up till that day it didnt even grind and then I went to my buddies and on the way back home it started doing it again... I have no idea why.

As for not being the tranny, i would have to guess it could be the clutch adjustment, the shifter adjustment, low tranny fluid, or something around those lines. If i were you I would give it some time since you have only 30k miles and are provided under warranty. I would take it to the dealer one or more times too, just to see if they can help you find the problem. If they cant figure it out and the problem wont go or is worse, I would press for a new tranny again, then its up to you to sell the car or keep it.

pbn85

iTrader: (2)

yikes...thanks dude. This is really sad though. USUALLY, manual transmissions are stronger than automatics, but with the 350z it seems to be the complete opposite.

hellman_x

iTrader: (3)

Nissan needs to ask honda how to do a transmission correctly because I've driven both a Civic SI and Honda 2000 and their transmissions are smooth as silk, not the notchfest that we have.

pbn85

iTrader: (2)

have you not heard about the extremely prevalent tranny problems Honda had with the automatic transmissions found in the Prelude, Accord, TL, CL between the years 98 - 03? Those trannies were made out of glass. SO many people had problems. Seems like Toyota gets it right with their engines and transmissions.

skitso1080

in reading all the comments, I have an 03 and experienced grinding and gears being locked out of gears. however i do not notice it anymore maybe because i have learned how to avoid it, or it broke in. however it seems you may have had two bad transmissions.

hellman_x

iTrader: (3)

Wasn't talking about automatics.

MaelstrØm

Yes, yes, yes. The Civic SI manual is buttery smooth.

MaelstrØm

I was told they could be made to fit with a little modification. Is that incorrect?

Having had a failed transmission from an '03, I can tell you: it didn't matter what you did. You could rev match, push the clutch deep and slowly shift and it would "catch and grind" a bit on the way in. It was intermittent, and I could never put my finger on why it would happen.

I think your second sentence is the correct answer. As I said before, I have a new CD009 and it is rough on shifting into most gears, but it is NOT grinding yet.

pbn85

iTrader: (2)

That's certainly a possibility, but I know out the box HR transmissions are different and won't fit.

IDrm350

iTrader: (8)

Or how about the it S2000 randomly popping out of 2nd under hard acceleration?

ronn1

iTrader: (1)

Wow..you must be cursed. I have an 08 6speed with 44K mi..like BUTTER.

Also, if you look at JD POWERS surveys on people who have their 08s for a couple years...slightly better than average drive train reliabilty.

Also found this:

Why do I see a lot of 350Z transmissions have been replaced?
During the 2003 introductory year, many 350Z owners reported problems with the 6 speed manual transmission. The symptoms reported included: gear grinding, trouble shifting, hard shifts, getting locked out of gears, among other problems. This is something any potential buyer should be aware of when looking into a 2003 (and some 2004) 350Z model.

Why did the G35 not experience the same problems?
This is not an easily defined answer, but it is most likely due to the driving nature of the 350Z owners versus the G35 owners. The symptoms are much more evident under hard driving conditions such as fast shifting, or shifting at high engine RPM. With few G35 owners pursuing "spirited" driving, there is most likely a lower reporting rate of problem transmissions. The G35 and 350Z use the same transmissions, so the failure rate given all other variables the same should be even.