whitneykendra

Hello all!
A little background...I bought my Z brand new in 2006, and it now has 123,000 miles on it. I've had no major problems and have kept up with routine maintenance/oil changes religiously and done my best to take excellent care of it. Everything is stock on it (other than tires and wheels) and nothing major has ever need replacement on it either. However, my clutch has some serious wear on it, and ideally should have been replaced a while back, but I've been trying to maximize the lifespan (for better or for worse).

A couple of weeks ago, down here in Georgia we got some COLD weather (for us, anyway) and right around that time I began to notice the clutch making a strange grinding noise right at the engagement point. However, the noise goes away once the car is warm, and does not return until another cold start. I did a little bit of curious googling and most of what I found points to the throw out bearing.

It was time for an oil change, so I went to the dealership Saturday and mentioned the symptoms described above. When I went back to get the car, the tech was talking to the service advisor and started explaining to me the engine is bad and I need a new engine....
That sounded RIDICULOUS to me, so I pressed him to explain further and why. He said only one quart of oil came out when he did the change (the oil change was actually overdue this time, so this may contributed to that) so he said the engine is consuming oil and going bad and needs replacement. I completely grilled his *** in the middle of the service department (customers staring, employees staring, the works) until he finally told me it would actually be fine as long as I periodically check the oil level and add oil if necessary.

Okay, great. Moving on.

He then says he can't tell if the clutch sound is a tranny issue or a clutch issue, and will have to take apart the entire transmission to diagnose. He said that's 10 hours of labor before he even knows the issue, and already a ~$3,000 bill. Then obviously the repair adds more. His notes on the service summary say "Found trans is coming apart, will have to take apart to diag."
WTF does transmission "coming apart" even mean?

This all just seems ABSURD to me, but I am certainly no mechanic. It just doesn't sit well that he tried to tell me my engine is ruined, and once we were past that, then my transmission likely is too.

I'd really like to know anyone's thoughts, opinions, experience, anything helps! Thank you all so much!

Also, my apologies for this novel. I'm a fan of details.

whitneykendra

A little more info on the feeling of my clutch:
It has that "crunchy" feeling, engagement point is now at the VERY tip top of the pedal release, and the pedal sometimes wants to stick there at the top as well. I learned to drive MT on this car and same clutch, as well as racked up ALL those miles. It's seen better days, plain and simple.

winchman

I doubt you've any serious harm to the really expensive parts unless the clutch has actually been slipping during acceleration. I'd plan on replacing the disc with an OEM unit, and rebuild the master and slave cylinders. If you find the pressure plate and/or flywheel have been damaged once it's opened up, you'll have to deal with those, also.

If you got that much mileage out of the OEM clutch after using it to learn to drive a MT, you've done really well.

Letting the oil get that low is pretty bad practice, but you may have dodged the bullet there.

If it was mine, I'd think seriously about trading the car while it's still drivable, and letting someone else deal with the service problems. I'd definitely stay away from that dealer's service shop, since it doesn't sound like they're going to do you any favors.

Nismo350z#0310

iTrader: (1)

$3,000 bill for just 10 hours of labor? That's $300 per hr labor rate.

Um no.


Average shop labor rate is $80 and when I had my slave cylinder recall (I didn't pay for anything) taking apart the transmission and clutch was like $300.

Bottom line is if you don't still have a warranty do not take it to a dealership. They are morons and will rip you off. I'm not going into what my dealership did. Twice.


I would take the car to another shop, preferably a Z specific shop. May need a new clutch, flywheel. Maybe throw out bearing, slave and master cylinder? I'm not as familiar with the DEs. You're in Atlanta, Z1Motorsports is about 30 minutes away. You might can get an upgraded kit at the same or less cost.

Also, 06 revups are known to have oil consumption issues.

JCat

iTrader: (4)

I had a Ford mechanic tell me I needed a new engine once, and the problem turned out to be a bad spark plug wire. You need to find a good mechanic (which is harder that it sounds).

1. Keep an eye on your oil level. Check it and make sure its full every time you purchase gas. If you let it run (1 quart left) low you probably shouldn't own this car.

2. Vehicles will make more noise as they age, and certainly more when it is cold out. If the clutch is working, don't worry about it. Repair it when it fails.

Zombie-Z

It sounds like you need a new clutch for sure. I replaced mine last summer. I purchased a clutch and flywheel package from Z1 motorsports for about $800 and had nissan install it and the total with parts and labor was $1,500. If you still have a problem after this, then keep looking but get the clutch, flywheel, throwout bearing, and pivot ball done instead of taking it all apart just to look. The Nissan oem parts are expensive so I went after market. The oem flywheel is $1,500 by itself just for the part so look to the aftermarket. I like my Z1 package better than oem...good luck.