the car is a 2004 Nissan 350z with 56000 miles. had a jwt clutch and flywheel in the car, and it started slipping. replaced it with a clutch kit rated for 385hp and an OEM flywheel.

I've noticed a decrease in acceleration from before and a new high pitched metallic sound when I floor it. my service engine soon light is on, haven't gotten a chance to diagnose it yet. I tried to get it to reset by disconnecting the battery, but it came back after a while. there seems to be a little more exhaust than usual but it could just be the cold. also my clutch pedal sticks at the last few inches now.

any idea what these symptoms could be? thanks.

 

Sounds like whoever did your work messed up pretty badly. They probably got the flywheel 180 degrees out, and that brings on the SES light and decreased acceleration. You may have some interference between the clutch fork and the other clutch parts. The clutch fork pivot ball may be involved, too.

It's probably going to have to come completely apart to see what's going on.

 

Do you have any idea what the SES light would say if what you're saying is correct? I'm going to see if Autozone is open yet and I'll post the code here.

 

There's a sensor on the block that picks up crankshaft position from part of the flywheel. If the FW is installed incorrectly, the computer won't have all the info needed to make the engine run properly. I think it will show P0335 (crankshaft position sensor) code based on other threads I've read here.

You can search here for crankshaft position sensor and flywheel off or something like that.

 

Your car is in limp mode and that's the crankshaft position sensor. I'm 99% sure your flywheel wasn't aligned properly. It happened to me and I had the same symptoms. You'll have to redo the install

 

Luckily Meineke honors other Meineke shops if they screw up, so I should be able to get it fixed without charge. Thanks for the help.

 

the codes were p0021 and p0011. symptoms in both of those suggest cam/crank sensors out of phase

 

So I took the car in to a different Meineke with a screenshot of the forum posts and the code readings. The mechanic there says that he thinks it was probably installed wrong -- 180 degrees out. Since the flywheel that I supplied them with was used, the original Meineke will not pay for it. They insist that the problem is that the flywheel was bad, not that they installed it wrong.

Now if that's the case, and the flywheel was bad, then I have no problems. But does this sound plausible? Or are they just covering their own asses on a bad installation?

 

I highly doubt the flywheel was bad. I'm confident it's an install error. Everything you mentioned is indicative of the crankshaft position sensor issue aka the flywheel wasn't installed properly. There are timing marks on the flywheel to ensure proper alignment. I can't blame Meineke because a lot of setups don't have to be aligned the way the Z does. But it's an install error.

 

FWIW: Be gentle on the clutch and flywheel while you're breaking it in. Flooring a new clutch isn't going to improve its lifespan, and it probably explains why your first one was toast at 56,000 miles.