So I noticed today that my car smelled funny, sort of hot and electrical smelling, well I happend to be right across the street from a Nissan Dealership, so I took it in and immediately he said it was the clutch and that it may have slipped, he said the Z is a very touchy clutch and they are easy to slip, he said to drive it back to work and let it cool down and it may be fine, but if its not i need to have the clutch replaced, $2,000-$2,500, my car is still under the 36k mile warranty but he said clutch isnt covered!!!??? anyone else have this problem with the clutch? I'm never hard on my clutches and I dont hot rod my car, the previous owner was a couple in their late 50's so I cant imagine they were hard on it, its a 2003 and has 31k miles, someone please help I cant afford to shell out that kind of money

 

clutch is considered a wear item and is not covered under warranty. If you do end up replacing your clutch DO NOT purchase the stock OEM clutch/Flywheel combo off the dealer. They will charge you out the **** for it, and you can get a better replacement for half the price. Also, just because you were riding the clutch like a jackass and smelt your clutch doesn't mean it's toast. Stop riding it and you'll be fine. The clutch can take quite a bit of that kind of abuse before you need to replace it.

 

"riding the clutch like a jackass"

Thank you for that, I didnt sign up on this board to get abuse, I have never once ridden my clutch, I'm never hard on the clutch either, will someone with a real comment please respond to me?

 

Is your clutch slipping under high load in 4th or 5th gear?

Try getting it around 4000 rpm in 4th or 5th gear. Engage the clutchfully, then floor the accelerator... if the clutch slips (rpms jump then come back down) then it's time for a new clutch.

If not, it could be fine for much longer.

Bleeding the clutch line might help if there is some air in the line. Dealers will try to take your last dollar so it's best if YOU tell the dealer what you want them to do to your car, not vice versa.

As for HondaKiller's comment... that was totally uncalled for. Please don't harass people especially if they have not done anything to deserve it...

 

I suggest you have a buddy who's adept in manual transmissions ride along with you to check your shifting style. If you know how to drive stick properly, it's very possible that the prior owner put some serious wear and tear on the clutch (read: didn't know how to drive manual properly).

However, clutches don't just start smelling for no reason.

A telltale sign of actual clutch slip is hitting the throttle in a higher gear and watching the tach to see if it goes up without the car moving faster, then eventually coming back down in rpms to it's correct place.

Here's a kinda crappy video... if you search around the clutch threads in here someone posted a clutch slipping vid not too long ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0JYHYClbX8

If you have clutch slip it's just time before you have to change out the clutch entirely. You can get this done by a third-party auto shop for less money than Nissan charges. In the meantime, be gentle when accelerating in higher gears, as the torque has more of a tendency to promote clutch slip than in first or second, where the gearing is more torque-friendly.

 

thanks for both of those replies, the first time I noticed the smell this morning I could smell it pretty heavily inside the car, since then I've driven it twice and cant smell it inside the car anymore but when I get out and put my nose right up the hood I can sort of smell it, I havent noticed any difference in accleration or RPM's, just the smell, and I will NOT be letting Nissan do it if I have to have the clutch replaced, do you guys have any recommendations on which Clutch kit I should go with if I have to have it done?

 

Go with the JWT clutch and flywheel combo. You can usually get it for around 800 shipped. Search the boards.