Hey all, so I just purchased a 2003 350z 6sp about one month ago. The car has 125k miles and the more I drive it the more I love it. When buying the car, the previous owner stated that he had personally replaced the clutch, pivot ball, and throw out bearing recently. He didn't have any receipts for the parts, but lived in a nice house, with two very large garages so I figured I would trust his word. I also got a pretty good deal, so factored that into it as well. There was no slipping apparent in the clutch for the first two weeks I bought it. Then one day after washing it, I took it out not fully warmed up and missed 3rd gear and went from 2nd down to 1st. Now it wasn't like I was revving it out the way out in 2rd, probably around 4-5k. After this I immediately noticed some slipping when going into 6th gear. Not terrible but under heavy gas in 6th. After that I drove it easy for two weeks and the slipping seemed to go away. Then I decided the other day to really get into for the first time and went from 1st to 4th under hard acceleration. The clutch held up great when shifting but after I noticed 6th gear doing the same slip as before. Any ideas for this cause? Is it possible the new clutch is slipping, or maybe he didn't turn the flywheel? Or is more than likely it the original clutch that just needs replacing? Thanks!

 

I can tell you how to test for the slipping clutch.

Go 35 mph in 4th gear and then floor it.. If the RPM's shoot up without speed increasing then it's shot. I periodically test my car just to make sure lol.

Did he say at what mileage he changed it, and what brand was used?

 

he should have replaced the flywheel when he did the clutch

 

This

 

or he fried it by not breaking it in right

 

Shame he didn't when he was already all up in the transmission. My last rebuild was at about 90k miles and I bit the bullet and did the entire thing (disc, flywheel, bearing) just so I didn't have to tend to it again soon.

 

No I am unsure of the exact mileage or clutch used. The title said he had owned the car for about 2 years and put about 20-30k miles on it so if true it has to be newer. I did the test in 4th at 35mph and noticed no slipping. I've only really noticed it in 6th occasionally. It really doesn't bother me at all but it makes me nervous to really drive the car hard and rev it out the way out. I guess the best thing to do is just drive it like I want and if it gets worse than just replace.

 

do a second gear pull at 4k rpm and gun it. if the torque doesnt make the clutch slip, you should be alright.
And he could have just resurfaced the flywheel, didnt have to put a new one in really.

Also make sure that you slave cylinder is working properly, allowing your pressure plate to fully engage when the pedal is fully released