I have a '03 redline Z and i bought it used from my neighbor for an awesome price (you wouldnt beleive it if i told you) but any way, when he owned the car it always released VERY HIGH off of the floor just as described in other posts, i just thought it was becasue he was very young and really did not know how to properly opperate a MT car. well, the car has 11K miles on it and it is tires are shot as well as the clutch, now the car is a $26000 lawn ornament!!!!!!!!!
I bought the car with the clutch gone out (completely) and now i am having a hard time getting the dealer even to give me a price on the install of a new clutch...... the service manager (who is an idiot) screams ABUSE every time i walk through the door and I personally have not even driven the car 1 mile since i took ownership of it. they are telling me that no one has a labor rate on the install and they cannot give me an estimate on the labor time becasue "no nissan dealer has done one yet" and "no one is stupid enough to do abuse a new car like that". the best estimate they could give me was $1000 w/ parts (which the parts are $200 with my discont.........thats $800 labor at $65 hr = 12 hrs!!!!!!!! WTF!!!!!!! it takes like 3 to do a clutch in a Z32 n/a car!!!

so my questions are :
has anyone had their factory clutch go out? and
has anyone installed one themselves?

thanks
-scott

 

shouldn't this be covered under warrranty?
Try going to another dealership, and tell them that this is a common problem. Many 350z's are getting their tranny's replaced, and it shouldn't be a hastle for you to get yours replaced under warranty. I had my tranny replaced, and it took a few hours. I took it in at 7am it was done by 1pm or so...

 

hehe, has anyone had their clutch go out...
It's a common problem, check out the search function.
Check out the tire feathering threads too, you may be able to get some free tires out it!
Call Nissan NA about your dealer.
Go Hokies

 

i tried doing a search for the clutch going out but no avail
seems that the high point of engagement is a common problem but nothing on the clutch.
and yes! GO HOKIES!!!!!!!!!

 

Clutches are not covered by warrranty, theres no way to tell if the driver abused it or not. I'm not clear on the exact reason (has to do with wear and tear) Why would you need to have the dealer replace it? you can take it to any mechanic should be able to replace it. That way you get a better idea of price.

 

What do you guys mean by "clutch released high"?

thanx

 

the clutch engagement point was aprox 5~6 inches off of the floor

and this seems to be a common issue with the Z
every other car that i have owned (sports car or not) has engaged the clutch within 1.5~3 inches off of the floor board

 

I know personally of one that had the clutch replaced, I was at dealer down here and there was one that I was told had already gone through 2 sets of rear tires and finally had destroyed the clutch, I saw it and the clutch was just a mess, unbelieveable that someone could abuse a car like that, they did the work they were just held up by parts but that was like 8 months ago.

So they are BSing you, as for coverage if the clutch had been destroyed in such a short time and the tires are gone then know it is abuse and wont cover it.

 

i realize that and i am not at all trying to get them to warranty the clutch, but the thing is i think that they are f#@king me on the labor cost and also i am concerned with the growing number of trannys that are being relaced and i dont want the dealer to flag the vin to nulify the warranty. i would also like to put a JWT or Nismo flywheel and decent clutch in it but i dont want the trans to take a crap later and them say it is becasue of the aftermarket clutch! i am sure that trans isnt cheap!!! and neither is the OE flywheel that you cannot turn (WTF is up with that too)

 

Scott,

Nissan pays the dealership less than 4 hours to do an entire transmission swap. That includes Remove and Inspect, then Replace. I would imagine they should be able to do a clutch job in that same amount of time.

I would say to go with the OE parts. I have not seen many/if any other clutch failures that were not due to high horsepower. Unless you are planning high horsepower mods, I would keep the stock equipment to make sure that you don't run into warranty issues later.

JD

 

i am going to try and clarify this with nissan of america tommorow
i also am going to talk with the service dept at another dealer as well, currently the nissan dealer here is charging 67 per hour so that should be around 250 for 4 hours labor. i really cant justify or afford a $1100 flywheel, i just dont see how the would make a flywheel that cannot be turned! that makes no sense to me, i am a ASE certified parts specialist and i know for a fact that desiel trucks equipped with a dual mass flywheel can be turned just as easily as a regular flywheel...... maybe i will ask them that question too.

 

Go back with a stock clutch, it is suppossed to be able to handle quite a bit of power and a Nismo flywheel they are under 400 bucks.

I looked at an aftermarket clutch but didn't want to have the added effort and the Nismo flywheel is not as light as the others so driveability is not affected just some added noise at low speeds.

 

i was instructed by NISSAN today that the flywheel is a R-Tune component and this item will 100% VOID the warranty COMPLETELY on the car! so i guess i am going back with a stock unit

 

Well your dealer sucks, mine put it on and they are mod friendly, they are also smart and understand what things affect what, even if they go by the book they cannot void your warranty, the only thing they can do is turn down a claim that they can attribute to the non covered part like if the flywheel falls apart tearing up your tranny.

Look around for another dealer and go talk to their service director and talk to him/her and see how they are in regards to mods.

 

nissan says that the individual dealers can choose to warranty the parts and associated damages however NISSAN of america will NOT pay any claim associated with a Nismo R tune part or any related damages.(ie. if i get the flywheel and then my tranny starts the mysterious grinding, the tranny bill will be my resposibility) My dealership sells cars with nismo R tune parts INSTALLED (and honors a warranty) however will not install a R tune part OR warranty it after the car is purchased!!!!!!!!
WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

That is ****ed up, I am telling you look around for a better dealer, since it is up to them on warranty issues they can help get the claim approved if they want you just have to find the right one, I lucked out but so have others.

 

i have tried 4 dealers in my area with the same results,
basically they are saying that they can sell a car with the "racing" parts but if you dont choose to buy it that way they wont install or warranty the same items if you choose to add them down the road