Sticky: (Official) 370Z Clutch Pressure (CSC) Failures

DIGItonium

One of the symptoms described in the TSB for the 350Z was the pedal going soft, and they voluntarily replaced the CSC with a revved part. IIRC, it's the same one we're using right now.

Mine had no symptoms, and it happened without warning out of the parking lot. I don't remember seeing any leaks either.

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dubhov

I had them bleed it at the dealership this morning and was going to have them check the CSC, but they were going to charge labor to disassemble the bell housing since I don't have any proof that the clutch failed on me. Guess I'm going to have to wait to see if it goes again to actually get them to do something. That or pray for a recall.

N8GTOL

Could be my imagination but my clutch feels a lot lighter after the replacement CSC. Also the shifter seems to catch on something if I push it to far to the right when shifting into 5th or 6th.

dubhov - glad to hear that the dealer is finally taking care of you...if there are other nissan service departments near you, I would try them. My local nissan dealer is one of the better dealer experiences I've had so far (despite the fact that the service writer tried to tell me that the missing fluid might be pushing out of the top of the reservoir). I've taken my ford truck to numerous ford dealers in the past and have had terrible experiences which drove me to do all my own maintenance when possible.

Chrono_30

So I finally got a hold of Nissan Corp. They are going to cover the cost of the "inspection" and have the dealership take pictures of my car. They will then send them to the warranty center to see if they will cover this issue. The lady from Nissan said that she and her office are "baffled" buy my accusations of my clutch going back only after 12XXX miles...lol. She went on to tell me that she thinks I have been racing my car and just beating the hell out of it. I have barely driven my car....and it sits more than anything. I have gotten on it a few times, but I mean c'mon who hasn't right?? Isn't that one of the reason's we bought one of these? Anyways....if for some reason I am wrong and they don't cover it under my warranty then I'm looking at going after market with the ones from Specialtyz....

GonGo

I'm experiencing Loss of pressure on the clutch pedal once every couple of weeks, worried if this is a sign of an eventual slave cylinder failure. All of these times the clutch pedal looses pressure about 50% or until the clutch engagement point. I usually press it for a couple of minutes and pressure gets restored.

i've verified the fluid level and it seems ok...

any pointers of test I can get the dealer to perform so they could duplicate my problems instead of eventualy TOWING my car to the dealer?

dubhov

I've dealt with a couple dealerships so far and getting them to do anything because of just pressure is damn near impossible. Chances are they'll drive it, and say "Everything is fine" unless it's REALLY noticeable. If that is the case, they'll most likely put it on a lift and visually inspect everything.

I even tried to get Nissan North America involved to try and get them to take the bell housing apart, but they wouldn't. It's a rough situation, but if you really think they're going to find something, you can have them take it apart. If they don't find anything wrong, they'll most likely make you pay for the labor to do it...

I'd recommend bleeding the clutch to rule out air in the lines, which very well could be your problem.

Joka4411

Well my car is at the dealer right now for this same problem after 10,000 miles. Well yesterday morning i got in the z and pushed the clutch only to my surprise, the clutch didnt come back up, the fluid was empty and i couldnt get the car in any gear. This was strange cuse i had no clue that there was a problem going on with the clutch. All i can say is Sh*t. This is also very embarrising concidering how much i bragg about this car, and to make matters worst, The dealer put me in a sentra until my car gets repaired. The car had to be towed to the dealer.

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2010 40th Anniversary Z Owner

Zeto

I'm having this same issue. Should I bleed it first to see if it improves or just take it straight to the dealer?

dubhov

Check your clutch fluid level...if it's considerably lower than the max line, take it to the dealer. If the fluid level looks fine...bleed it and give it a few weeks.

Gaston370Z

I recently noticed that after driving on the interstate for an extended period of time, my clutch pedal would get soft and id have very minimal pressure at the bottom. It would pump back up after a couple uses. So last night I go to leave the house and I cant get it to go in gear because there isnt enough pedal pressure. I check the reservior and its good. I sat there and pumped it and finally got it in gear. I drove to work, came back out to leave and now i cant get it to pump up enough to get it on gear. My Z is a 2010 with just under 50k on it. I have an extended warranty to Hendrick " the dealership I bought it used from". Id like to see if Nissan will cover it under factory warranty, but the nearest dealership is 2 hours away. This is more than likely my CSC correct? Id do the work myself and upgrade everything, but I dont really have the cash to spend on that stuff right now, nor the time and the space to fix it. Ive got a baby due at the end of sept and my wife would flip if I went and spent the money to replace clutch, flywheel, CSC.

Fountainhead

Hi Gaston,

I'm thinking that if the CSC were failing there would be a system leak and loss of pressure, that would result in fluid loss each time you pressurized the system with the MC. However since you aren't losing fluid it may be the Master Cylinder instead of the Slave cylinder?
Or since you say "extended period" then maybe a heat issue and the fluid is boiling? Just a quick thought, the MC is MUCH easier to replace, haha.

Congratulations on the Baby, by the way!

Prosport Gauges

just checked the z and the fluids are perfect... 13k miles.

do you guys think this is just random for some z users are will this happen to all of them eventually?

jstevenson

Been a long time since i posted, and wish I had paid more attention to this thread a couple years ago.

2009 370Z touring/sport, just over 25000 miles. In service for 44 months.

Few years ago when it'd get really cold in LA, I'd sometimes get soft clutch issues. I searched here at the time, but obviously there wasn't much info on it. I took it to the dealership a few times and they'd always never find anything and I'd waste a bunch of time. I had the mechanic that does my oil changes look at it but he never saw anything wrong.

Anyways, as it got cold it was doing it again... tonight it fully gave out. I limped to a stop at a light, managed to get in gear to the next light, and then was stuck. Pedal completely limp, to the floor, no rebound at all. I finally was calling my insurance for a tow when I managed to coax a little life out of the clutch and got moving. Ignoring stop signs and rev-matching, I made it to the front of my apartment.

Clutch it totally dead now, there is liquid on the ground that looks fresh and I'm assuming is my clutch fluid.

Having it towed to my mechanic in the morning. I'm assuming there are no service bulletins that'd allow me to get this under the powertrain warranty?

sigh

jstevenson

Towed it to the Nissan dealership. Was going to go to my mechanic, but he's a former Nissan mechanic and recommended that with my low mileage, I take it to the dealership and demand they fix / or pay for part of it via the factory and/or Nissan Consumer Affairs.

The dealership I bought from wasn't helpful on the phone, but got the service director at the dealer closer to my mechanic and he was really helpful. Had the car towed there and everyone was nice and said they'd do whatever they can.

Called back a bit ago and it's the clutch master cylinder. They said they had seen a lot of these failures. Nissan is closed but they are calling monday to get direction and see what they can do.

So we'll see. Worst case scenario I tow to my mechanic and he fixes it for the price. Best case is the dealership does better than that.

Of course, out the car this whole time.

Nice job with the clutch hydraulics, Nissan.

Zeto

My fluids are fine also.