I got my 2005 350z Enthusiast last December. One of the selling points for me was that the clutch was incredibly firm and felt brand new, it was grabby and the engagement was smooth. Everything was perfect until two days ago when I got into my car to leave work, (10 degrees outside, coldest yet), and the clutch started slipping. The clutch now feels much less precise, which it had no symptoms of any problems on my way to work that day.

Let's say I'm cruising 45mph in 6th gear. If I floor it, the RPM's jump up about 1.5k and then they fall back and the car accelerates as normal. This happens in all gears, but the lower the RPM is at when I hit the gas, the more it slips. What's confusing me is that I can still launch the car like normal, albeit a little slip, and go through the gears as normal, with minimal slip.

I know these are all symptoms of a bad clutch, but is it normal for the car to show zero symptoms when I park it, and then when I get back in the slip is present? My old clutch fluid was a murky brown, so I did the bleed method until the new fluid came out of the bleeder valve. This seemed to make the shifts smoother, but with any moderate level of throttle the clutch still slips and it seems to be progressively getting worse.

I am really hoping that there is just something dumb that I don't know going on that will be an easy fix. I will be taking the z up to Nissan tomorrow, and if it is the clutch, well, I guess it's JWT time

 

Does anyone know if there could be any simple solutions to this I could give a shot before i take it to the dealer? Any help is greatly appreciated... Thanks!

 

Time for a new clutch (and flywheel since the dealer and most other shops won't resurface it). If I were you I'd get the JWT clutch/flywheel and have it installed by a 3rd party rather than the stealer.

 

You give a perfect description of a slipping clutch. The pressure plate or friction surface is not able to catch and hold the flywheel.

Miles?

 

There are almost 73k miles on the clutch. The part that confuses me is that on my drive to work the car was normal. Then when I left 8 hours later, slipping clutch. I was hoping it was something simple like air in a line maybe, anything. I've researched an it looks like I'll be going the JWT route

 

PS: before I go buy anything, I just want to reassure myself. My plans for the car are to get the basic bolt on's, and then a tune. Are there any other brands that are cheaper that would suffice? I see there are clutch master clutches availabe for much less than the JWT. I'm by no means a cheap a**, but if a JWT setup is way more than enough, I may as well save a few bucks and get something cheaper. If the JWT setup is the best bet as far as quality and will suit my needs well, I will order one tonight. Thanks for all the help guys!

 

90- percent of the time the most obvious answer is the correct answer. Problem with clutch verification is that it can be expensive to remove and inspect clutch-flywheel.