Nissan 370Z Forum - View Single Post - Help me diagnose my valet-wrecked car

TR675 · 05-28-2010, 06:39 PM

Gents, thanks in advance for your help - I'm a noob to Z-cars and high speed auto driving in general (my thing is bikes), and not real mechanically inclined so please excuse my ignorance.

I have an '09 370z with the sport/syncro-rev package. I dropped it off at a valet stand last night. When I picked it up two hours later, there was a god-awful smell coming from the car - it filled the parking lot and could be smelled 20 feet away. If you ever set a GI Joe on fire when you were a kid, you know the smell I mean. I've never smelled anything like that before coming from an auto and just assumed one of the valets was doing burnouts with my car. Today, 18 hours later, after driving the car I can still smell it.

When I got into the car I saw a warning light on the dash telling me the Synchro-rev was malfunctioning. I also noticed extra miles on my car and a decrease of 12 miles in my estimated range.

Today driving into work I noticed that when I accelerate in first gear from a standstill, and sometimes when shifting into second the car will lurch forward and I hear a "clunk" coming from, I assume, the transmission.

I'll be taking the car into the dealership for a workup and will pull the ECM data to see what the hell the valets were doing while I was having fun. In the meantime, if any of you have any thoughts about what could be the issue with my car, please chime in.

So far, I'm guessing that they were either doing burnouts and fricassing the tires, or the driver had no idea what he was doing and burned my clutch out. I did spend about 25 minutes cussing the valet attendant up and down the street and filed a report with their company. They're blowing me off for now, but since I know a good lawyer (me), I'm going to ream their butts out if I have to.

Again, I appreciate your help.

05-28-2010, 06:39 PM	#1 (permalink)
TR675 Base Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Dallas Posts: 1 Drives: 09 370Z CY M6 Rep Power: 15	Help me diagnose my valet-wrecked car Gents, thanks in advance for your help - I'm a noob to Z-cars and high speed auto driving in general (my thing is bikes), and not real mechanically inclined so please excuse my ignorance. I have an '09 370z with the sport/syncro-rev package. I dropped it off at a valet stand last night. When I picked it up two hours later, there was a god-awful smell coming from the car - it filled the parking lot and could be smelled 20 feet away. If you ever set a GI Joe on fire when you were a kid, you know the smell I mean. I've never smelled anything like that before coming from an auto and just assumed one of the valets was doing burnouts with my car. Today, 18 hours later, after driving the car I can still smell it. When I got into the car I saw a warning light on the dash telling me the Synchro-rev was malfunctioning. I also noticed extra miles on my car and a decrease of 12 miles in my estimated range. Today driving into work I noticed that when I accelerate in first gear from a standstill, and sometimes when shifting into second the car will lurch forward and I hear a "clunk" coming from, I assume, the transmission. I'll be taking the car into the dealership for a workup and will pull the ECM data to see what the hell the valets were doing while I was having fun. In the meantime, if any of you have any thoughts about what could be the issue with my car, please chime in. So far, I'm guessing that they were either doing burnouts and fricassing the tires, or the driver had no idea what he was doing and burned my clutch out. I did spend about 25 minutes cussing the valet attendant up and down the street and filed a report with their company. They're blowing me off for now, but since I know a good lawyer (me), I'm going to ream their butts out if I have to. Again, I appreciate your help.