Went to the dealership today with severe feathering (no visible tread on inner 1/4 of tire) Grinding into 5th gear and a slipping clutch. I was told that the clutch is a "matinenace" part and isn't covered at all. The tires are only covered until 12,000 miles (i have 14,000), but he could give me a quote to purchase some. And to top it off, if 5th gear doesn't grind like i say it does it will be a $85 service fee for the inspection. What rights do i have and what should be my action to try and get this resolved?

 

I'd contact NNA regarding the tires and the transmission and possibly find another dealer as well. The tires are covered under the umbrella of their TSB which constitutes, IMHO, their acceptance of repair responsibility over and above the standard warranty. Sounds like you waited way too long to bring it in though. The business regarding the $85 to try your transmission out is nonsense and would further lead me to try another dealer. You may have no recourse on the clutch. In fact they could attempt to blame the broken transmission on the faulty clutch. Why is your clutch slipping? Forgive me for asking but I must ask, have you raced or otherwise abused the vehicle? You should get more than 14K out of clutch.

 

I'm just as confused about the clutch as you are. I rarely race the car, maybe 5 times. They agreed to fix the transmission but still insist that the clutch isn't covered under warranty at all. I noticed the problem before the 12,000 mile curtain but was drving cross-country and waited until i was home to get the car serviced. i will give the NNA a call and hope it will be resolved. BTW Has anyone had their tires replaced after 12,000 miles???

 

according to Nissan's website, It does state your clutch and trans is covered. Here is a copy of it in .pdf

Scroll down a bit and you can see it.

http://www.nissanusa.com/m/cma/i/200/2003_Wrnty.pdf

 

according to the warranty booklet it lists the clutch housing and cover and "all internal parts" under the transmission heading of the warranty. The clutch is also not listed under the parts not covered section. The first heading states that nissan covers all parts not listed in the "not covered page of the booklet". So do i have the right to ask for a new clutch under warranty? any help appreciated!

 

Thanks for the link Dave. From Page 5:

"Case and all internal parts, torgue converter and converter housing, automatic transmission control module, transfer case and all internal parts, seals and gaskets, clutch cover and housing, and electronic transmission controls"

I believe that "case and all internal parts" refers to the transmission and/or transaxle as appropriate, however, from this it sounds like the pressure plate, if that's what they mean by "clutch cover", is covered but the actual clutch disk or throwout bearing is not. Talk about muddying the waters. Anyone ever replaced a clutch disk without replacing the pressure plate? Not me. Actually the pressure plate usually goes before the disk.

So just rephrase your complaint bravesball. Tell them your clutch is slipping because the "clutch cover" has failed which in turn trashed your clutch disk.

 

True it doesn't list the clutch disk under the transmission heading but it also wasn't listed in the whats not covered section either. Hopefully if i make a fuss about it they might just go ahead and replace it. Thanks for all the help!!!