Can I Prevent CSC Failure
 

A lot of recent thread have mentioned eventual CSC failure and potential master cylinder replacement on the MTs. Is this, in fact, inevitable? Or it it more a track related issue? If I'm not racing, not redlining shifts constantly, and generally respecting my vehicle, will this truly be an issue? ...and if so, what can I do to delay it as long as possible?

Inevitable? Yes. If you put enough miles on the car, they will fail. How many miles before that happens is the real question. Based on my research on the matter, it seems that hard launching and probably poor clutch operation are the main causes of CSC failure. For every person that had theirs replaced <30K miles, I wouldn't be surprised if there are several who got 75K miles or more out of it. Of course, I don't know the actual numbers. The best you can do with the OEM is have your CSC last as long as your clutch and get both replaced at the same time.

I changed out my CSC after 50K miles as a precaution. I drive my car pretty hard but I'm not excessive with it. With less than 10 laps on a track and less than 5 hard launches over 3K RPMs in it's lifetime, I think can say I've had good success with the OEM CSC. But rather than tempt fate, I just went with one of the aftermarket solutions. My goal was to never have to worry about the CSC again.

The CMC seems to be pretty crappy, too. The two parts are about the same price, but the labor on the CMC is soooooo much easier (or cheaper if you pay someone else). I kept my old CMC and will probably buy a $20 rebuild kit to fix it up before my new one eventually fails.

Thanks!

PMed

The only thing you can do is a fluid exchange every 15,000 miles. Even the older cars with the external slave cylinder were hard on fluid. The problem with why the master cylinder goes is due to all of the debris (cooked fluid) ending up in the clutch fluid reservoir. When the CMC may go south is when it is pumped trying to get the clutch back after a CSC failure. If they run dry and are pumped to get the air out, bad ju ju. It is always best to replace them as a set. I have gotten away with only doing the CSC in the older cars many times. If it failed, I could usually make it home as long as I could get the sucker in gear. I wouldn't use the clutch the rest of the way home and prayed for no stops. That is when it get's tricky. I am not sure how these newer cars will react.

True, but IMO the worst thing that can be done, which I bet most people do because of the Z's shitty clutch feel is to hit the pedal to the floor. I bet I can make a CSC fail within 3000 miles if I continuously slammed the pedal to the floor

:stirthepot:

I don't go all the way to the floor either. The time I am pushing in on the clutch I am shifting out of gear and by mid ways I am in the next gear. It is fast and smooth. I don't sit at a stop light with my foot on the clutch either. I adjust my seat where I have to stretch to go all the way to the floor.

Yes, stomping the clutch to the floor while shifting fast will kill it in a hurry from the (many) posts I've read on this forum. There have been more than a few reports of people whose CSC went out within 10K (or even less) and I believe they were all... Enjoying the car to its fullest potential. Hopefully at the track. :)

Will the extended warranty covers this failure?
Im at 24k miles still no issues with my CSC
Crossing my fingers.

If you're within the 30K miles bumper-to-bumper warranty when it fails, they should cover it no problem.

Outside of that, the CSC coverage is referred to by some as "good will" coverage. Basically meaning that if you spend a bunch of money on maintenance at the dealership, they're more likely to cover it. If you don't do maintenance at the dealer (like me), then even within the Power Train warranty they will likely deny your claim.

**edit** if you do all your maintenance at the dealer and they still deny your claim, fight tooth and nail to get them to cover it. Bitch to the dealer and corporate both until they cover it.

Z1 sells a replacement CSC that I put in when I did my clutch and flywheel. It looks very solid and I've heared many good reviews. Also I think the stock clutch pedal is terrible. I put in a tunable pedal (as a bonus I never bottom out my CSC now.). My clutch feel is dramatically improved and the part is fairly cheap ($300?)

Fixed :tiphat:

:eek: thanks!

Regarding the CSC and CMC....the OEM ones are crap...Of course if you don't drive the car hard it's bound to last a lot longer, however its not a guarantee....A friend of mine who has a 2013 model had his fail a few months ago...Car didn't even reach a year old....This friend of mine does not drive his Z hard at all and babies the hell out of it....More of a hard parker.

In regards to replacements, Zpeformance also sales a HD CSC Replacement....The techs at Nissan were really impressed with its overall material and craftsmanship when they installed it in my 1st Z34.

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j50/Sindalu/Slave.jpg

ZSpeed Performance Replacment HD Clutch CSC Heavy Duty Slave Cylinder Kit

Sorry for the thread revival, but I'm just now reading this and had no idea pressing the clutch to the floor in between shifts was bad for the car! I have been doing this all my life and its hard to break this habit, and is just another thing I have to think about while shifting. Has anyone put some sort of object behind the clutch pedal that will block the clutch pedal from hitting the floor board, allowing the pedal to be fully pressed while not *actually* being fully pressed? Or does the RJW clutch assembly feature an adjusting mechanism such as this?

Thinking about getting the RJW, Z1 SS clutch line and putting in some AP Racing Dot 5.1 in there to buy myself some more time. Any other easy mods that doesn't require taking apart the trans to help delay CSC failure?

I have a question regarding this too.

Is this an issue for all model years, or has it been addressed over the years?

Nissan hasn't done $hit about it. It was a problem in some earlier 350Z's as well until they switched to an external slave cylinder in later models. But they went back to the crappy internal design for the 370Z and haven't changed anything yet.

Let's say it fails under warranty, isn't Nissan just going to put the same crappy part back in?

When Nissan released the TSB about switching to the GTR clutch fluid, wasn't that supposed to be a fix or was it just a band aid?

Yup! :wtf2:

A few people have actually had their dealer install the ZSpeed HD CSC under warranty labor but without offering further warranty support for the install because it's aftermarket. But those particular dealers seem to be few and far between. Most dealers won't touch aftermarket parts.

Band-aid. I'm sure they were hoping the GT-R fluid didn't get dirty as quickly, but the fact is the CMC and CSC designs are fuckin terrible. Period.

by habit, i always hit the floor with the clutch pedal everytime i shift. if i sit far back enough to make it difficult to floor the clutch then accelerator control feels weird.

68000km and still on the original master. had one csc replaced due to disappearing fluid with no visible leak (odd) but the csc never completely failed