The wonders of 350z tranny's
 

I have not posted in awhile, but though I would share my transmission experiaces with all. I have a Sunset Lemans Z, purchased it in oct of last year. The first tranny got replaced at approx 5000 miles(3rd gear grinding problem). That trany made it to about 11,500 miles and I started experiancing the same 3rd gear issue, only this time it was worse, seemed like the syncro's could not sync up when shifting quickly, and downshifting to 3rd was even worse. Nissan replaced this tranny as well. I have approx 600 miles on the new tranny and now I notice that if in a quiet spot and I depress the clutch, all sounds fine, but when I let the clutch(in neutral) out I hear this gargleing coming from the tranny, sound like my friends porsche with 110k miles on it. I beleive this is the throwout bearing. At this point I an starting to get a little discouraged with the car. I love the car, and its performance and handleing, but this is getting to be to much. I am about to approach nissan and let them know the GA lemon law is 3 times failing on a major component replace the car. SO I will go to the dealer and see what they say, and then persue my options on replacing the car.

Sorry guess I went al a little long there. Anyhow has anyone else out ther had any similar experiance like this.

That clutch rattle is normal, especially after it's warmed up. My old 2000 Eclipse had the same problem, and the dealer said all of them do it. I've already read a few posts from Z owners complaining of the same thing. I thought moving up into a Z, I wouldn't have these type of issues. It's just the way they are designed i guess. :(

Thanks for the info, I did not remembering hearing this on the other tranny's, and it happens cold or hot. wiil schedule for service and see what they say

mine seems to do the same where when you let the clutch out at idle, that same sound of "grinding" emits from the car. I had a 97 eclipse but never heard it from that car even at 120,000 miles.

jon

Man I had the same problem and they never got it straight. They just kept replacing the transmission three times and not once did they change the clutch, pressure plate, or throwout bearing. I also noticed the spot the clutch engage and disengages was always at different spots. Sometimes it was to the floor sometimes it was really high. Good luck with your car!

I too (currently) own a 2000 Eclipse with the rattle you all are speaking of. THIS IS NOT THE THROW OUT BEARING!!! On the clutch disk, there are springs mounted circularly (not sure if that is even a word) at about half the disks radius. These springs get loose over time and will rattle. I was at my Mitsu dealer, and they actually had a tranny pulled for other reasons, but showed me what was going on. Sure enough, you could move the springs, and at high repetition, made a noise quite similar to what I was hearing when the clutch wasn't depressed. Mitsu actually redesigned the clutch because of this, but would not TSB the noise, as almost EVERY 2000 5 spd had this noise, which would be quite cost prohibitive to them. I've had my eclipse for almost 3 years, and this noise has been there 2 of them. Every time I take it in to have prev maintence or whatever, I still ask and still get the same reply. Hopefully Nissan won't do the same thing :-(

I don't think that noise is good, epically on a new tranny. I had a old Tercel with an insane number of Km and it made a whine when in N with the clutch out. I've not herd that in any other car...

How's the oil level ?

They replaced the tranny 3 times in your Z, how is the tranny now? I am not out to get nissan, but after this time, I want them to replace the car, I am getting a little tired of having to keep putting it in the shop and driving a cheap rental.

I've had the clutch chatter since day one and I, too, think that its the clutch springs now. I used to think it was a noisy throw out bearing but its actually gotten worse. The noise is the same at idle, but it rattles like mad when engaging 1st slowly. That engagement rattle has gotten worse in the last 3 months. My car is currently at the dealer for this very reason.

Bigdog, they never did fix the transmission right. I finally just traded my Z in for another. I don't think they really know what is causing it. My new Z runs completely like a different car. If you didn't know better you would have guessed they were not the same cars.