Clutch Failure, what is this crap in my resevoir?

[m3chhawk]

Lost clutch pressure today. Had about 30 miles on the car today. Pulled in somewhere. Everything good. Come back out 30 minutes later to no clutch pressure at the top of the travel. Still shifts and limped her home.

Already have the Z Speed CSC and this is the same feeling as when my CMC failed during clutch install. Clutch is a Southbend Stage 3 daily.

Checked fluid level and what is all of this ****??

[Fountainhead]

That my friend, is clutch dust, and a small portion of your ORings that wear in Master and Slave cylinder. Mostly clutch dust. Kinda like asbestos or brake pad dust. Your clutch swishes against the flywheel everytime you shift or start off, rubbing the clutch plate surface off as dust. Then it gets on the shaft where the ORing of the CSC rubs up and down as you press/release the clutch pedal. Search for "Ranger Protocol" he'll explain it better than I can.

I would say based on your symptoms your Master Cylinder has failed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBbsy0LjUvE

[1slow370]

yeah it looks like you have a chunk of the master piston seal in there. Seeing all these master cylinder threads makes me so happy I have an aftermarket one in my car.

[phunk]

When I first installed the Z speed CSC in my car I had a ton of gray sludge in the fluid, perhaps the same thing you have there. I had a nightmare of a time bleeding it out, it took several times. Just when I thought I got it all out, the pedal would start losing pressure and I would have to pump up the clutch every time to get any release. I cant remember exactly but I want to say it took me like a month of bleeding my clutch 1-2 times a week before it finally stopped and now I have gone a few years without any problems.

When I had the problem, I had assumed it was a reaction between the Motul fluid and stock fluid or something. I dont know... but its been fine for a few years now. Occasionally I will see a floater in the my clutch fluid that I will pull out.

[m3chhawk]

The entire system was flushed and bleed once with regular Nissan spec clutch fluid during the install because of the dead pedal problem. Then when they did a new CMC install I pulled the GTR fluid bulletin and they used GTR fluid so I imagine all the crap got pulled out at that time with the two flushes.

I've got about 3k miles unboosted and 2k boosted on this clutch so I imagine some of it is break in dust, etc..

I'm picking up a bottle of GTR fluid from a buddy tonight and I'll try the resevoir flush method.

[m3chhawk]

Originally Posted by 1slow370

yeah it looks like you have a chunk of the master piston seal in there. Seeing all these master cylinder threads makes me so happy I have an aftermarket one in my car.

Where did you get an aftermarket one?? When I did my install there wasn't anything on the market.

[1slow370]

U has pm

Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk

[m3chhawk]

No new fluid, but got the resevoir cleaned out and I don't think there was any o-ring material in there. All looked very flaky/carbony.

[SavvyTraveler]

OMG! This happen to me yesterday, the clutch petal but stuck and it wouldn't come back to the normal positions. I took it to my mechanic and they flushed out the fluid and put the fluid that they use in the GTR's. Now the petal is working fine.

[m3chhawk]

Finally got fluid today. Followed the reservoir swap method that Fountainhead posted (huge thanks for that btw). Filled up about half a solo up of black fluid. And it started building pressure again.

Took it for a 10 mile or so drive and pressure bleed off. Got it home and reservoir was black again. Flushed and pumped again and it seems good. Might be a long process, but I think the CMC is in good shape. If it doesn't clear up soon, I'll go ahead and do a full flush.

[chii370]

god we must have the master and slave cylinder from a damn hugo. talk about severe inconsistency in quality control throughout the whole car. from top of the line to ebay second hand garbage all bolted together seemingly at random.

replacing that piece of 5hit as soon as I have the funds before it does damage somehow or leave me stranded. then leave the oem parts in a burning bag on nissans doorstep.

[m3chhawk]

Problem is, there is no "readily available" solution for the CMC.

[chii370]

has anyone considered using the stuff from a 350? Im under the impression its the same 6MT. that or looking in one of their other vehicles. as long as everything FITS I see literally no reason you couldnt use w/e the hell you want. Some people are even running aftermarket clutches and such so that negates the argument that they run different specs on pressures, tolerances, etc.

[m3chhawk]

The 350Z CMC won't work because the ABS bracket is in the way.

Z1 recently developed an external slave setup that gets rid of the CSC

[chii370]

so modify the bracket? question is, is the CMC DIFFERENT on the 370 and 350? is any of it actually..... im sure 99% of the **** was just pulled off the old Z. power steering, aircon, alternator, break MC, clutch CMC CSC. all that ***** probably EXACTLY the same part with slightly different brackets for minor location changes. Ive never owned a 350 so i dont know, but has anyone actually bothered to take 5 minutes to check ? I know a few people here actually HAVE both cars. Hell the whole cars pretty much the same. same transmission, same engine just bored slightly bigger? or is it stroke? not sure which they used to get the .2L and slap on some garbage phone in solution for gas mileage called VVEL "heads" make it a little wider and shorter, erase a few lights, add boomerangs........and your GTG.

I should work for nissan, Got an idea for the new Z. Just take the old Z give it a 4L that mysteriously doesnt make any more hp than the last model but weighs 43 tons and sits higher than the driver, change the rims, add something shiny "people like shiny" change the lights, and increase the price. boom the 400Z is born. thanks me later nissan, i have all your hard R&D covered.