1st gear noise
 

First off... Hi all, new member and new z owner (always been a nissan/z fan, finally jumped).

Curious if any other 370 owners have heard a whine/noise in 1st gear after everythings warmed up? Out of the driveway there isn't anything... but drive around and get everything nice and warm, and first gear sounds horrible. I had a nissan tech ride with me (and I used to work on cars, even nissan for over a yr), He agrees it sounds horrible but dealer didn't wanna make it official yet so he said he would drive another one or two and they would get back to me.... I'm not worried as its warranteed but... just wondering if many others are hearing this.

I did find one review of the many I read thru (wanna say it was automobile mag web review but not 100%) that mentioned first gear sounding like they stole it from a garbage truck. Just curious if this is uncommon/rare or if everyone hears it...

sounds like a problem some g37 owners were having. you may have got a bad tranny... im presuming its a 6mt correct?

yup

Did they ever find out anything for you???

You know I get this same noise too. It's like a slight rattle/chatter noise when I'm in first and letting off the clutch and slightly giving it gas. It does it switching to second too sometimes. No problems just sounds weird, anyone else have this?

I haven't heard anything more about this other than to bring it back later at this point still. mine is more of a whine, like the usual mt reverse or a garbage truck first gear like I said above... it seems to have lessened some but is still there... plan to bring it up again at first oil change, I just don't get out much lately so not many miles yet...

Gear sets can whine. Mercedes has a test for the gears in their manual boxes before the gears go in the box. I'm not sure what Porsche does but I never had an issue with a factory gear set. When I built close ratio boxes for my club race cars I ran into noisy gears from non OEM manufacturers. Paul Guard's gears were close to the factory as far as no noise went. There was one guy out there that sold gears which sounded like you had a dentist's drill in your head.

Bottom line if you have gear noise the gears may seat into one another if you are lucky. If not I can't imagine that Nisan won't replace the gear.

Have you tried draining and replacing the transmission fluid? I recommend Redline MT-90. I plan to drain/replace my trans fluid as well as my LSD oil when I do my first oil change. Anyway, I don't know that it'll address this whining issue, but it's worth a shot to see if it makes any difference.

I have also noticed when sitting still in neutral you can hear it spinning with the clutch out, push it in and it goes away. Is anyone else getting this or am I alone?

I am getting this too.

Yes, I heard it too. I think this is relatively normal and is just the input shaft free spinning inside the gearbox. Can hear it sometimes in my G35 as well.

sure its not the flywheel?

^ It goes away when the clutch pedal is depressed so I don't think it's the flywheel.

How can you be sure it's the input shaft? It also has a throwout bearing sound to it as well.

Yes, that's another possibility. It's a loose, rattly kind of noise.

This is normal, has been around since the 03 350z.

While it's "normal"... I don't think its a good sound nonetheless.



I would say it normally happens but it's not normal.

mine does it too :)

Took a video of the noise mine makes a few minutes ago....
[YOUTUBEHQ]uB5ChrYkzx8[/YOUTUBEHQ]

i have the exact same noise on first..

BIG +1, im actually relieved this time around as my previous Z, '06 350Z made it much more worse. it's been discussed many times on the 350 forums that it sounds horrible...almost sounds like its going to fall apart.

Yeah, I got that crappy sound too :mad: although it may be a normal occurrence with this tranny, it's definitely not acceptable. I'm sure there has got to be an answer as to what is causing it, and is there an aftermarket solution to cure it?

^ agreed ....it makes it sound "cheap" but i don't think there is a solution for this....i never read/heard of a solution for the 350z. maybe replacing the whole clutch system to an aftermarket...who knows.

yea the cheap thing was what I was thinking too. I posted the video cause I thought mine was louder than others, good to know it's a "normal" thing and I'm not alone.

Well if anyone asks play the ricer card and say it's the F1 traction control kicking in. So much power the TC is holding you back. :D

Yup, same noise here - its a chatter when engaging in first gear roll outs... it doesnt ALWAYS happen but definitly after the car is all warmed up you can reproduce it at lower rpms. Seems like if you roll out at 2-2500k it wont do it but then again I dont like to HAVE to do that just so I dont hear the noise.

has anyone tried using a better tranny oil?

First gear on the test drive sounded like junk to me too, but I honestly think maybe that's what a beefy transmission might sound like. I could be way off base but I asked about the clunkiness/noise first gear made and people say it's normal.

Edit: Listened to the video on page 2.. yep, same sounds easing out on first gear.. I guess they all sound like this which means there's nothing to worry about - I bet it's just a beefy first gear with some gnarly teeth designed for longevity and launching in mind.

I hear that same chattering sound as crbn_fbr and I started having an issue with 6th gear at 5K miles (posted a thread about this).

Any update on this? I'm close to pulling the trigger on a 6MT (coming from an automatic), and I really don't want to spend $35K on something that sounds like a dump truck cruising through a parking lot...

Could this just be a limited batch of cars with this 'problem'?

^ no, read some previous posts in this thread and its mentioned that it also plagued the 350Z, Nissan doesn't seem to have fixed the issue still, oh well.

Does this apply to ALL 370's, across the board? I think I would flip my sh*t if I had to hear that every single time.

Seems like it. But it also seems like it's more an annoyance than a problem.

I got the same noise :-(

My new Z sounds like junk sometimes coming out of 1st gear so yeah i'm gonna venture out and say this is happening to all 6speeds so far.. I think it's just a clunky 1st gear combined with a beefy clutch or something.. I got a very noticeable 2nd gear change sound too.. like a loud click.. It doesn't sound bad, it just sounds beefy.. It's always the quiet transmissions that are usually weak, right? No? Lol.. I'll just use my old WRX's transmission as an example.. it was pretty quiet and shatters like glass.

The clutch isn't that beefy. I've accidentally burnt it a couple of times and now I've got a bit of a shudder. Hopefully that will gradually wear away.

You've just made the clutch disc surface uneven, that's all. Happens all the time if you've dumped or slipped a clutch at an inopportune time (like you've mentioned).. My buddy did this on his G37 and flipped out thinking he broke his transmission because he was getting clutch shudder.. The shudder will eventually go away.. This happened for me all the time on my WRX rolling out of first gear..

all 370s and 350s.

I hear a clattering sound in mine too when I go from neutral to 1st and from 1st to 2nd. All other gears have no noise problems, I haven't got a chance to ask my friends with 350s if it happens to them too.

I've heard this chattering sound in 1st gear as I crawl up the driveway. I think it's the driveshaft noise. If you lift the car and rotate the driveshaft back and forth, you'll hear a similar sound.

post right above you and has been answered/mentioned before. ALL 350s and 370s make this noise :shakes head: