I talked to a service manager about this issue today, and he said with a straight face that they haven't had a 350 need a transmission replaced like this yet. I know they're liars (I even told him I figured he wouldn't tell me if they did have problems), but it's a data point.

I'm still worried about it, mostly because I want to put in a short shift kit, which might create warranty issues (see my post here http://www.the370z.com/engine-drivet...sterday-3.html).

The service manager did do the usual snotty thing and say that a car that needed five transmission replacements probably had driver error, and went on to talk about people who needed a new clutch at 10-12K. Personally, I don't see how anyone could drive a car poorly enough to go through transmissions at that rate, unless they were trying.

Anyway, this sucks. Does anyone have any numbers on the percentage of 350s or G35/37s that were/are having this problem?

imag:

Road & Track's January 2009 issue had a 350Z owner survey (277 owners responded). Manual transmissions were discussed as a problem area, but is was less than 5% of the respondents. Perhaps if you were to contact the technical editor there they might be able to shed a little more light on the incidence of failures.

Got a kick out of the attitude that it must be the driver, but sometimes it is. Once had an employee that went thru clutches in 3 -4,000 miles and he always said it wasn't his fault. Rode with him once - starting out technique every time was to bring revs to 2,500 - 3,000 rpm and then let the cluch out slooowwwly...

spmcpa

I used to live next to an old man in his 90's, deaf as a doornail, nearly blind. He had an old Datsun that he used to rev to probably at least 5000 rpm before he slowly let the clutch out. I'm sure he didn't know he was doing it, thank goodness he didn't drive much.

:icon18: Sounds like my Dad!

Thanks - 1 in 20 isn't *that* bad. I figure that it can't be much higher, or we'd be hearing about it all the time. G37 owners are supposed to be happier about their cars than anyone:

Study surveys 25,000 owners, reveals most highly recommended vehicles

Those two clutch tales are astonishing. I remember doing that one time while reversing up a hill when I was 15. My dad stopped me and said, "You smell that smell? That's money."

imag:

"that's money" all right...I learned to drive a stick on a 1968 F-350 tow truck. The only warning to me was that if I trashed the clutch I was the one to replace it. After crawling under there once and seeing the size of the trans and PTO ('power take off') AND knowing that truck would not go up on a lift you can be d@#* sure that I treated that clutch like it was made of wifey's fine china!

spm, cpa