woogie12

haha yea my clutch has been doing that for a while actually. but i'm taking it to a different dealer tomorrow, we shall see.

2004Black350z

iTrader: (37)

got it wholesaled to me 4 1700$

woogie12

Welp, other dealership offered to tear it down and look at it, however I have a warranty through a different company, it will not be covered if there isn't a problem. I decided to have them install an act clutch and flywheel while they have it apart to help cut labor costs in the long run, and bank on them finding a synchro problem.

Hope to god they find one so I don't get charged and get a new tranny.

R-TuneZ

i am surprised they are going to spend the time to tear down a transmission which is known to be incapable of handling the cars power. i hope that they do not do a rebuild on it though, it will only be postponing the problem. good luck.

Spike100

^^ Oh oh… I don’t like the sound of this at all. In fact there is no reliable way they can look at the transmission and diagnose the problem. This isn’t a case of visibly worn “teeth” or “plates.” The problem is based in the fact that the original transmission was faulty from the onset. It doesn’t shift correctly (“notchy” shifts with grinding and poor gates).

Your transmission is faulty, and many have had this replaced under the drive train warranty. Don’t allow any flood of BS from the dealer to divert you from this fact.

And… this is not the dealers’ fault… instead Nissan should be blamed here. Nissan needs to provide better support for problems and help their dealers solve the issues.

--Spike

Spike100

You understand and describe the problem better than anything I’ve seen.

woogie12’s original transmission is clearly faulty (matching the profile of the thousands of transmissions that failed in Z cars). The dealer suggesting a visual diagnosis is totally egregious.

--Spike

R-TuneZ

absolutely spike, however, it does not make sense that they would want to do a breakdown of woogie's trans... i can only think of two possible reasons why they would want to do this...

they are uninformed about the Z trans issue, in which case you should go to the dealer and speak to the service rep. explain to him that there are known issues with the trans (with the syncro mesh, load capacity, and any specific problems you are having), and that nissan has released a new, updated trans assembly in order to replace the original flawed units. mention that a rebuild is futile and redundant. the more you know (or at least seem to know... lol), the less likely the dealership will take advantage of you.

the other possible reason is that they do not want to do the swap and they are simply trying to scare you out of doing it. i suppose you could go ahead and let them, but chances are that they would tell you nothing is wrong with it, or it was due to abuse. if this was the case, they would charge you for the entire breakdown process which will be expensive, and you will be unable to disprove them unless you pay an independent mechanic to diagnose the problem with the trans.

this just sounds like a huge hassle, take your car to another dealer if they do not cooperate after you explain the situation to them. don't sponsor a dealership that has poor customer service and refuses to take responsibility for their product.

Spike100

^^ Your post is 100% correct. In fact I cannot add anthing.

woogie12 should read your message carefully, and fight hard for "justice." He certainly should not pay for a new transmission.

--Spike

woogie12

Thanks guys, this is the second dealer i've been. This one offered more help in the first place, and the mechanic who wants to tear down the transmission was saying that the transmission has been redesigned by nissan 4 different times since the original.


I think I may just call them when I get home and let them know that this is most likely the problem that every z trans has been having and request a new transmission and see where it goes from there.

Thanks again.

Dirty_Z

Hi guys,

I'm in the same situation as woogie with the 6th to 5th gear issue. It just started happening to me about a 1k miles ago. My car is an '04 with 63,000 on it and bought it used. Obviously I'm not covered by warranty, but how long can I drive before the transmission becomes an issue?

Spike100

^^ You have a 2004, so that puts you within the 5 year drive train warranty.

You have 63K miles, so that might put you outside the 60K drivetrain warranty, ...but you are so close... and this is a known problem.

Do this: Check every service invoice looking for any mention you made of any transmission fault, or anything the dealer noticed during routine service. If there is anything on any of these, you're good.

In any case, I would battle hard for a transmission replacement since you obviously have a faulty transmission that has been replaced for thousands of other Z owners. Just fight very hard for this. Write letters to Nissan USA and carefully explain the situation. I really think you can get your faulty transmission replaced if you go about it right.

As to your question if you stay with the original/faulty transmission: If you "baby it," you can probably go a long time without any problem. Don't shift hard into the offending-gear(s), and drive the car carefully. Doesn't sound like much fun or the reason you bought a high performance sports car.

You certainly want to pursue this and get it fixed.

--Spike

woogie12

When I asked the service guy, he had said it would be very easy to spot the offending synchro if it was in fact the problem. Was he ********ting? If I end up having to pay for the labor of the tear down I plan on calling Nissan directly.

What really throws a monkey wrench into the situation is the fact that nissan isn't the one covering my car anymore, it's a third party warranty service that is apparently renowned for weaseling out of their obligations to pay for things.

Spike100

^^ I'm not sure why the technician needs to physically look at the synchro since the problem is obvious by simply driving and shifting the car. The technician at my dealership diagnosed the problem with a very short test drive (literally around the block).

I don't know what to tell you about 3rd party extended warranties. I've had good luck with these, but always purchased the product through my dealership.

--Spike

Ricfutures

iTrader: (10)

In the same boat as you except I have an '03 with 67k. Bought it used and the original owner either never experienced the synchro problem or didn't care. I put a call into Nissan USA and told them of my issue and asked for help. They basically took down my info and said that a regional specialist would be getting a hold of me within 24 hours. I'll keep you guys posted. I'm hoping they can take care of this. My family has leased/owned Nissans since 1989 and hopefully they might be able to throw a bone to a long-time loyal customer.

Petro12

what is nissan north america's number. I too am having these same exact problems with an 03 with 36k mi

Mkriebs

iTrader: (1)

Guys, I need some help...

My trans grinds between 1st and 2nd, and the dealer first told me it s a clutch, and I think it may be the slave, now I think it may be the trans. So, could it be both? Could it be one? I feel I am getting thrown around by the dealership.

Is there a certain year that the trans are bad? I have a 2006 Enthusiast. Is there an official recall on the trans?

Can anyone help me?

Spike100

^^ Grinding on a 2006 Z is probably the clutch not disengaging the selected gear. It could possibly be the transmission, but the synchromesh problem was solved three years ago.

If it's the transmission, you certainly have a unique problem not reported by other 2006 owners. That doesn't mean that you do not have a transmission problem which is certainly possible.

--Spike

gregom

iTrader: (3)

I experienced a situation similar to this a year ago when I had my 06 Hyundai Tiburon... except I wasn't having any grinding issues. I may have had the clutch slip once but i'm not sure. Anyway 18,700 miles during the 15K mile service and inspection by the dealer they found a leak in the transmission and wanted to replace it. That was it... they didn't tear it open or anything like that.

So when they went to replace it they said my clutch was almost gone. They wanted to replace the clutch, PP, ToB, and flywheel for like $1500. I went in and actually looked at the parts myself, and took pictures (another good thing to do) and then, since they were replacing the transmission, and gthe clutch was fairly worn I told them to just replace the clutch only. They replaced it and the PP for about $370. Still too much but I needed the car back fast and I didn't want to eff with it any longer.

In hind sight I would probably should have bought an OEM myself for cheap and have them install it but I would of had to wait for shipping.

But yeah I don't see why they would tear the trans open to look at it... that should be for Nissan to do after they receive it and send a new one for your dealer to install.

I must say though once you've experienced a situation like this through a dealer, you learn how to deal with them and get what you want. Just fight for what you think is right, but don't be a jerk about it, that will just make it worse.