looking to do a clutch fluid flush and change as well as upgrading the clutch line to a stainless steel line. ive done a lot of reading and YouTube-watching for clutch fluid on the Z and seem to have some conflicting answers, so here I am on the forums...

what do y'all recommend for clutch fluid on an 03 z? manual says Nissan dot3, but ive read dot4 is fine to use as well. main consensus ive seen is that dot5 or dot5.1 whichever it is, does not work.

I just picked up some prestone dot 4 fluid from Walmart while I was there, and now I'm starting to second-guess my purchase after doing some more reading online.

z1 sells oem dot3 nissan fluid for a pretty decent price + shipping of course, but wondering if what I bought is fine

 

I have used motul in my z and both corvettes.

 

DOT 3 and DOT 4 can be used in addition to DOT 5.1.

DOT 5 CANNOT be used as it is not a poly glycol based fluid.

Personally, when I replaced the clutch fluid reservoir to a 7 oz. Wilwood reservoir with a cap that is compatible with my Motive power bleeder and upgraded the master cylinder to the Tilton unit from ZSpeed with a stainless line, I went with Motul 5.1 and have had zero issues since.

 

I use Motul 5.1 for the clutch and brake reservoirs - that way I only have to purchase one kind of fluid for all my performance vehicles.

 

okay definitely something to consider for the future.

I am planning to replace the OEM clutch line this weekend with a stainless steel line and doing the flush, replace and bleed

as for order of servicing, should I first remove the fluid from the reservoir, then remove the oem line going from the hard-line to the slave cylinder, then install new stainless steel line, and then proceed with adding new fluid and bleeding?

this is my first time owning/servicing a manual lol and not every video ive watched on YT is specifically for just doing a fluid and line change so they're doing things in a different order in each video

 

Use a cheap turkey baster to remove the fluid from the reservoir.

I replaced the slave cylinder and the reservoir (with a Wilwood reservoir) at the same time I replaced the lines. I had a catch pan under the car, removed the slave cylinder, (the lid to the master cylinder was off) then disconnected the line from the slave cylinder.

Removed the lines and removed the reservoir. Replaced the reservoir, reinstalled the lines working my way down, then attached the slave cylinder. I have a reverse bleeder setup or you can use a Motive bleeder to bleed air out of the lines. It takes time, or if you are lucky, an extra set of hands is very beneficial. My wife helped me to bleed the system. All told, it was two hours. I took my time and it cured my clutch pedal and chattering issue, since I replaced the stock burnt out clutch (over 100k miles on it and God knows how many autocross runs between the wife and I) with a Spec Stage 3. Probably overkill for the street, but since we used to autocross Stitch regularly, I erred on the side of caution.

 

Same here. I use Motul 5.1 in both the brake and clutch lines.

OP - you pretty much got it right. Get as much fluid out of the reservoir and then work from the bottom up to get the rest of the fluid out before changing the lines and any other components.

If you're not using some type of bleeder, getting all the air out of the lines can be a little finicky on the Z. Here's a thread on the proper way to do it.

https://my350z.com/forum/maintenance...ed-clutch.html

 

I’m thinking now that I’m going to be doing the line and new fluid I should probably be replacing the slave cylinder at least while I’m down there right? Didn’t order it and now kicking myself for that

 

If you've got some miles on the original slave, then yes - I would do everything all at once. It is a consumable item and not meant to last forever. You can rebuild it for a little cheaper, but the price difference between buying a new one versus a rebuild kit isn't astronomical.

Here's the thread I followed in order to replace the reservoir so it would be compatible with the Motive power bleeder and you can easily bleed it with one person (if you have no friends like me, lol).

https://my350z.com/forum/engine-driv...voir-swap.html

The only thing I did differently was use a 1/4 to 1/2 barb adapter and eliminated the coupler fitting.

And, here's the write-up I used to do the master cylinder:

https://my350z.com/forum/engine-driv...-cylinder.html