Hello everyone,

My 350z is an '06 base model and I'm currently having troubles with the Manual transmission. Okay so here's what's been happening for weeks:

So I don't use my car for about 12 hours to a full day. I jump into my car but as I put my foot on the clutch pedal, it's lower than usual and I could easily lift it up and play with the "free" space(free space as in I could lift it up and down and there'd be no pressure). So I let the car warm up for a bit but the clutch pedal is still lower than normal. Here's the sad part: I can't shift gears, primarily first or reverse. The only way I could reverse is by turning off the car, shifting into reverse, turning it back on, then reversing. I have to force the gear out of reverse(it makes an awful noise, like grinding gears) and since I can't shift into first, I have to drive around on second gear. BUT, as I drive for a good amount, the clutch slowly starts rising and after driving for 10-15 minutes, the car is normal, I can easily shift gears, and there are no problems. The worst thing happened to me where the car wouldn't let me shift into second gear, so I had to drive all the way to work on First gear! So as you guys can see, my transmission sometimes lets me shift into first but not second and vise versa(but it never lets me shift into reverse, only after I drive it for 10-15 minutes).

I took the car to the mechanic, they said I should replace my master cylinder and slave master. So they replaced the master cylinder (another mechanic replaced the slave master already) and it cost me about $410. So I thought everything would be good. But no, the next day, same problem. So I took it back to the shop and they told me it could be the pressure plates in the transmission. They quoted me 1.2K for the job. I'm a college student, ya'll know that'd be a hefty load on me.

So I'm just wondering: what do you guys think the problem is? I've been reading forums about Z's needing to be warmed up for extended periods before using but that doesn't work. This problem gets really frustrating when I try to go places and my car just isn't reliable.

Oh and it's running about 123k miles.

 

you could have air in the line, if the pressure plates were bad it wouldnt change after it warms up.

 

Would the air in the line have such an effect on the transmission? Because that idea has crossed my mind but the problem seems too major to just be that. Well, that's just my thought process.

 

its very possible, think about it.. when fluids get hot they expand... so that would explain why it would have better pressure after warming up. since you have the external slave on yours get a shop to flush it and then replace the fluid with motul or something, they will bleed it right.... shouldnt be too expensive and could poss fix the issue

 

I'm going to take it to the shop tomorrow and try that out, thanks for the insight

 

So they put in a new master cylinder because they said the one that they previously installed was not working. So they bled and reinstalled everything and now the clutch feels smooth Hopefully this works out!

Oh and after waiting like 5 hours for them to do this (I didn't have a ride ) I went ahead and took my car to an exhaust shop and removed my resonator Now she sounds deeps and sexy.

 

Is not California enforcement of Noise Violations rather strict?

And you said: "I went ahead and took my car to an exhaust shop and removed my resonator Now she sounds deeps and sexy.”

--Spike

 

UPDATE: So today is the second day after taking it to the shop again and having them replace the master cylinder but I'm still having the same problem. ): Only after driving it on second gear does the car warm up enough to allow me to shift into first and reverse. Help! ):

Oh and removing the resonator doesn't create a loud and obnoxious noise, but a more deeper noise so it shouldn't be loud enough to attract the cops.

 

have you changed the trans fluid?

 

I'm pretty sure when changing the master cylinder, the shop had to flush out the trans liquid. I also saw some trans fluid on the bottom of the car when I took it to the exhaust shop. Should I take it to another shop and see if they bleed can it for air?

 

did you take it to a known shop or to a guy with no teeth?

 

I yelped the best shop in town since I barely moved here.