So after driving around town sunday, my clutch decided it didnt want to come up all the way anymore. it sat about an inch off the floor. in order to get into gear, i had to push it that last inch. when i got home, i checked my fluids, and sure enough, clutch fluid tank was bone dry. moved it into the garage and drove the truck around for a day. today, i attempted to bleed the clutch. this is how it went.
First, i have no idea how to bleed the Z. I've seen it done before on a bmw, but when i got under the Z, i was completely lost. Where the heck is the master and slave cylinder??
Second, i realized why my clutch fluid tank was empty. I had brake fluid everywhere under my car! i tracked it down, and it seemed to be coming out of a little hole right under the clutch. there was a little black plate covering it, so i took it off.

I circled where it was leaking from. the screw hole is where the screw holding the black plate was.


Third, something on the front of my block was cracked!!! i dont even know what it's called.

close up.

im super frustrated.... ANY help would be appreciated. This is on an 08 HR with 36K miles. 6mt with no grinds... i guess ill be driving the truck around a bit more

 

OUCH, i see it is a HR, what is cracked is the idler pulley, uses a spring load to tighten the belt, on the hr the slave is built into the throwout bearing making one complete unit. it bleeds like a regular slave, problem is if it is wet under there the weak design, thanks Nissan, the unit is plastic and fails quite often, faster under spirited driving. SpecialtyZ has a fix for it. but the tranny is going to have to be pulled, you dont have a choice in this matter. Then you have to make sure the disk inst saturated, and then clean the fluid off of flywheel and pressure plate.
As for the tensioner pulley, they crack when the belt is too small if someone had replaced it. but you access it you will need to get the radiator out to have enough room to work. Nissan had a recall on the Slave/bearing combo, for this reason although it was never fixed correctly.

In any mind, GL ,but you cannot fix the problem by bleeding the clutch since there is now a tear in the Slave/bearing combo and will need to be replaced.

 

damn....thanks for the info man. honestly, the Z has been a pita since day one. after this fix, its probably gonna be time for something new

 

Are you still on the stock clutch? How many miles on your car? You have definitely blown the slave out.

The "Other" slave fix is a modified stock unit which has the same failed seal as the stock slave unit. IMO, what they did to fix it will not fix it, Been there. It also MUST be purchased with there ENTIRE clutch and flywheel set-up to work in your car and then you are stuck with their clutch as their flywheel will not accept any other 350Z clutch kit.

I would recommend the ZSpeed HD slave kit.

 

http://www.zspeedperformance.com/ZSp...ZSPHDSLAVE.htm

 

Both of those should be warranty issues but the clutch issue will happen again.

 

yeah thats what i kinda figured too. drivetrain right?? time to call the stealership...

 

Called all my local dealers (3) and all said no because I'm at 36354miles. Figures.....

 

Well depending on your mechanical skills you could just do it yourself.....

I had my Z for 2 weeks and had a bad CSC so I spent a weekend (shouldn't have taken that long but was schooling an inquisitive friend on car work) fixing it myself.

Nothing like getting to know your car like ripping it apart when you first get it.

 

Those should both be covered under your powertrain warranty. Call Nissan 1-800-nissan1

 

thanks for everyone's responses. CustompartZ, i did call nissan north america, and they simply told me to take it in to a dealer. so im running in circles really... the car's immobile at the moment, and i would have to get it towed to the dealer not knowing if they'd even fix it. i'd rather take that money and simply fix it myself. what a pita....

 

thats exactly what happened to my yesturday I better go check it
GL buddy

 

after replacing my burnt out clutch with 32k on it.....(I know how to drive) something had to be faulty to start bought with 6k on it.... anywho I replaced everything myself with no air tools or lift ( would deff pay the 500 a shop would charge) even though was fairly basic onces everything out of the way. I could not for the life of me bleed this clutch...tried everymethod.. had to have towed to a shop where they bleed.... slave was gone too!! wish I new there was a recall

hate to thread jack but gotta replace a belt anyone know a diy or help guide of some sort remove radiator torque settings etc