You seem to be fairly knowledgable about this vonsudderth. What is your opinion/impression of the problem many of us have going into 2nd and 3rd gears? I only have a few thousand miles on the latest transmission part number and the bearing you refer to is already very loud. I also have the habit of putting the car in neutral and letting the clutch out when I'm stuck in traffic, which is every day, and at every light. That could explain the accelerated bearing failure if what you say is true but I had problems going into gear, particularly third, right out of the box. It does not grind really but it does "clunk" into gear and you can feel it sort of kick back at you. You can see it in my hand as well. It's also very erratic depending on RPM's and who knows what else. Any thoughts?

 

you guys with issues what are your built dates

 

I've had this rattle for over 25K miles, or ever since I've had my car. No problems with grinding gears; car shifts awesome! Does this mean thant my tranny is still messed up? My Nissan dealership says that this is normal.

 

Remember guys we might be taking about different rattles. Mine also rattles a little bit, very soft, when I get home after driving around, but I have to be very quiet and listen for it. It seems most definetly to be the release bearing (in my case). Other might be getting a tranny noise in neutral, but mine is definetly clutch activated...

In the other hand, the constant sqeak inside is probably NOT tranny related, it happens most often when my GF seats on the passanger side, so maybe is her butt...

 

i have the same freeking problem with my 04.5 roadster.

what did the dealer do for you?

 

it's out of loss of hope and desperation that i've decided to post this here...
I have been a lurker for quite a while now, learning about the Z out of fascination as well as being a Nissan fanatic.
I own a 91 maxima and a 94 maxima, both SE 5spds. The 91 has been parted out pretty much totally due to having a tranny problem and my not wanting to deal with it. Well guess what? the 94 I picked up started the same problem as well...the same rattling noise you guys are experiencing when the clutch is let out. The 91 started like that and progressively got worse till it started popping out of gear. Today, the 94 started refusing to go into gear and I had to wait a few minutes clutching in and out before it finally accepted the gears, after a cold start. I had researched this problem when I first started having issues *after* my first tranny rebuild with the 91 and from what I gathered from one performance tranny expert, he said the bearing being used by nissan was too small and he had overcome this problem by using increasing the size of the bearing holder to accommodate a larger, beefier bearing. Unfortunately, you have to rebuild the tranny to do that and that doesn't really sound attractive. It seems once the tranny has been touched once, it is never the same again.

Well, it seems that I'm not the only Nissan having this problem which is sort of a relief as I thought I was somehow adept at screwing trannys up. Luckily I have a spare I bought a couple of months ago and I am looking at swapping it in, in the next week or so. I'd advice anyone who has a warranty that's about to lapse to either get an extension or a new z because, believe me, it will only keep happening until you find a final solution to it which will most likely take lots of trials, errors and lots of downtime. Good luck fellow nissan bros. (and sis')

 

I replaced my tranny about 3 months ago, with almost 11K miles on my Z, I had 1-2 grinds and heavy vibration while the car was in gear and was decelarating rpm's. They replaced the tranny without question, since the replacement, i put 3K miles, i still have the vibration feeling while decelarating, and now i get this Hummmm or RRRRRRR noise when the car is in neutral and the clutch is out. I've been reading that many of you are hearing a rattle in this same situation, whereas, i hear a whiny RRRRRRR. Is there any difference or are you hearing the same thing?

 

I am hearing the same freeking thing.. I have had it since I drove the car home with 6 miles on it. Plus, mine has a really rough idle.. this sentra (err Z) has issues

 

it seems like the noise gets louder when I drive Z harder than usual and aggressive.

 

I have a Roadster Built on 1/04. Same issue with 2nd & 3rd gear getting more knochy.

 

Is the noise still gone? I have read posts that the throwout bearning noise was not affected by a tranny swap

 

my 04 g35 does it sometimes too. Once it was so loud i heard it with my radio on too. Then i turned down the volume and it sounded like a pulsating rubbing sound. ALso when i tap on the clutch alittle, I get a rough pedal feel.

 

The solution to this noise is Tranny replacement. There is a BAD bearing inside the Tranny and it's not worth repairing and Nissan will replace the whole tranny. They are replacing mine today. This noise is not coming from the throw-out bearing, even though it sounds like it (I thought this too), you should not have the noise on the 04 models though.

 

It seems like all 350Z have this noise unless it has less than 100mi.

 

Revivng old post but I have the same rattle at idle in neutral. Going to the dealer Friday to have my rim replaced. We'll see what they say

 

Here's a 4.57mb movie clip of the noise I hear when the clutch is out. I wouldn't consider it a rattle, more like a growl? Is this the noise you guys are hearing too and is it normal?

right-click me

 

Yep, thats the noise. It seems to be more prevalent when the engine is warm. I have an 04 Touring build date 9/03.

 

thats it .. thats the fkin noise i have.. the nissan sales guy at first had the ***** to tell me 1) he didnt hear it 2) its normal

 

 

your saying the only fix to this problem is to get a whole new tranny ? how about other people who have had their tranny replaced. .did it fix the problem ???