370z Slave Cylinder
 

Hey guys I just need some insight/feedback. I bought a brand new Z back in May of 2014 with about 13 miles on the car. It is now March with 23,301 miles on it. My slave cylinder is out and my flywheel is "burnt." I went ahead and had my vehicle towed to mossy Nissan in Escondido to have it serviced. The dealer looked at it and said it "might be covered under warranty" and that if it wasn't I would have to pay for the inspection which was $110 plus the tow (an estimated $80) I of course agreed to this thinking I'd be covered under warranty.
The following day I got a call from Service Advisor stating it was in fact my slave cylinder that had gone out but that they would also "have to inspect" the flywheel for misuse of the car and that if it wasn't covered under warranty it would be an additional $878 for just looking at it. I again said okay thinking I was fine.
A few hours later I got a call from my SA again. He told me due to the flywheel being "severely burnt" they wouldn't be able to cover the slave cylinder under warranty. I asked as to why but they told me it was misuse of the vehicle and if that I wanted to I could open a case with consumer affairs. (In which I did)
It is now March 13th and I received a call from the consumer affairs specialist "Zack" informing me that my 2014 370z with 23k+ miles will not be covered under warranty and they will not be able to help with fixing it either (financially) I went ahead and informed "Zack" that my car is my daily driven vehicle. In just 10 months I put in 23k+ miles and that I am constantly in stop and go traffic. He stated that they still would not be able to help due to "evidence of misuse" I'm really disappointed with Nissan at the moment. I have purchased 3 brand new vehicles from them, always been satisfied, and have never had a problem until now. And now that I need for them to cover under my warranty they will not. I have an 06" Nissan Titan with 60k miles running strong (badass truck by the way) and an 08" Nissan Sentra with 150k miles running like a champ. No problems what so ever with either of them. I simply want what is right. And nissan doesn't see it that way. Just a little bummed out and wanted some feedback. :(

Was there no pressure in the clutch? Meaning did you push in the clutch and the clutch dropped to the floor and stayed there?

Man, you just got screwed. Your dealer is the issue. A good dealer would have just let that one slide right by. What a shame.

Yes, the clutch would not engage. Simply just stayed there until I manually pulled it back out.

I know man. I have never had any issues with the car. It randomly just happened. Really disappointed with Nissan right now. :(

If you do a search you will see that the CSC is a major issue on this car (hit or miss). Some claim to have been a victim while others have not. Per other threads some have gotten lucky to have it covered under warranty while others have not.

Mine won't be covered where I use to work years ago, last day back on Feb 19, 2000. I asked. My old service manager is no longer there. Sucks to be me if it goes out but I will just upgrade it myself. I still buy parts there at a discount.

Your options are to raise hell at Nissan and push to get it covered under warranty. Replace it with oem that people say will fail again…or after market that will prevent it from failing. Search on this topic on Google under the370z csc failed etc etc and read on options and opinions bro.

:iagree: and if not possible then go aftermarket not oem!

The csc failure should certainly be covered, if the flywheel is as burnt as they say then they really arent screwing you over on that aspect. Its considered a wear and tear item along with the clutch, It would only be covered if there was a mechanical failure with it. I would possibly try a different dealer and call consumer affairs again hopefully a different person deals with you.

Agree. The CSC should be covered. Even drag racing isn't going to effect the CSC or CMC. They should just charge you the parts and labor for the clutch and flywheel and cover the CSC and its associated labor which include removing the trans.

Try another dealer is a good suggestion.

Even if the CSC was covered under warranty he is still getting screwed. A new flywheel and stock clutch disk with pressure plate is going to be over 1k dollars. And about him going to a different dealership, well he is screwed on that as well because obviously they have his transmission already removed. They aren't going to remove it and reinstall it for free.

OP, I have a hard time believing that the flywheel is in bad shape with only 23k miles on it. Unless you were drag racing every weekend. I would go down to the dealership and ask to look at it yourself.

Did you ever track the car? What causes the burnt flywheel?

I never tracked the car. It's my daily, usually in heavy traffic but I occasionally do a spirited run here and there. I think it might be the synchro Rev match of the car. I would have it on often as well.

Typically a slipping clutch. Whether the the slipping was caused by a defect or by the driver is a debate for the ages.

OP, work with your dealer to understand why your flywheel is burnt. Collect pictures of the supposedly burnt flywheel. Ask, politely, if your dealer is able to show you a non-burnt flywheel (probably won't be able to). You can always look this up online. Do not fight/argue with your dealer. Your battle is with Nissan at this point.

I suggest you post pictures here such that others may weigh in. There many members here who have experience with what an "abused" flywheel will look like. There are some heat markings on almost all used flywheels and flywheel pictures I've seen.

If it is indeed burnt, ask Nissan to review the pictures, and also explain how a burnt flywheel translates to a CSC failure. Do not settle for anything less than a technical representative answering your question (the consumer affair specialist is just a middleman). They will have difficulty doing this. At the least your CSC r+r should be covered unless they can prove that your flywheel is "burnt" and that subsequently caused a CSC failure. Take to the media if Nissan refuses to cooperate with the above process.

That's total bs bro... You need to call 1800nisaan1

Hey guys I was able to get pictures of my flywheel. And here they are. Let me know what you think.
Attachment 101376Attachment 101377Attachment 101378Attachment 101379

That is your clutch disk and pressure plate.

Lol sorry was driving while posting meant "I wasn't able to" and that I got a pictures of my clutch disk. Just probably looked like an entire noob. But as far as the flywheel they couldn't actually let me see it since my technician was out for the day and he "misplaced" it.

What did they do to the Pressure Plate. Put it on the plate surface and kick it around on the floor. It actually looks to me that your clutch CSC fluid ended up on the clutch disk. That is what made the hot spots. This does not resemble an abused clutch. The small speckles of hot spots on the pressure plate resemble this. Flip the clutch disk around if you have it. I want to see what it looks like. I think you have a good case to take to Nissan. An abused clutch will have hot spots the size of silver dollars all over the pressure plate. It would not be speckled with hot spots. That to me represents clutch fluid contamination.

I am so sorry brother. This is just not right.

When I say speckles, I mean the black speckles. That white crap looks like where they kick it around on the concrete floor.

I actually do not have anything in my possession. I was able to get in and out of the dealer. They where closing up at 6 and I had just gotten there at 5:57 so I was being rushed. I did however see my transmission on the ground and it looked perfectly fine to me. There were no signs of abuse nor any clutch fluid (break fluid) anywhere. I played dumb so they would let me get my hands on it but as far as my flywheel I do not know where they might have put it or placed it.

Take those pictures and present them to Nissan. I beat you can win the case. They will ask for all parts involved at the dealer to be sent back for an engineer to analyze.

The clutch disk absorbed the brake fluid. It didn't just go missing. That is what caused the speckled hot spots on the pressure plate.

I spoke with a consumer affairs specialist and they had said they recieved pictures and notice of it misused so they "closed my case" for it "not being covered under warranty"

That's BS.

I will be seeking legal help if I can't work it out directly with Nissan.

Where is Andrew?

Get all of the parts. You paid for the replacements. The old parts are yours. Then, have a third party look at them and give you a determination of the cause of the hot spots.

The pressure plate does look heat scored, and they probably didnt remove the flywheel from the engine.
I dont think the heat scoring was due to misuse either though, i agree that its contamination.

Yes, but they won't be speckled like that if it was abuse. Clutch fluid on the disk however would make those hot spots. I have seen several abused clutches. They don't look like that.

Yeah i added that in after lol

Who is Andrew?

I'll be going to the dealer tomorrow early in the morning at around 7ish they open up at 7 and I'll be there at that time. Luckily I'll be working by my dealer tomorrow. If there's any amo that you guys know of, that I could use against the claim that would help out!

Get all of the parts. Pressure plate, CSC, Flywheel (they should have replaced it), and Clutch disk.

They haven't touched it beside taking it apart of course. I haven't authorized them to do anything until I can get this settled first. (Covered by warranty)

Good luck bud.

Thanks man. I'm going to need all the luck I can get.

I think your best bet is to try to work with the dealer to see if they can help you out with some discount or compromises. You can go the legal route, but that could mean without your car for awhile and still end up paying. Not to say Nissan is right, but you have to weigh in the time/money would be involved in fighting the case with them? Perhaps you can also look into having an INDY shop to save some money.

I personally felt that Nissan should have taken care of you since you bought the car new as well as your other cars, and have history of servicing your cars there, but I suppose Nissan isn't big on helping out its customers.

Good luck.