Yea if your not going to be racing and such, I would skip on the VLSD, and wouldn't worry about rebuilding it to much, like tell the time that you need to replace the isb. It should last a long time if your not driving it hard, to be honest with you I did drive it, not like 5000 rpm clutch drops or anything like that, but yea that car has seen 120 mph more then a few times, and once leaving a mark on the road the length of 1 and a half city lots (after a bad ahhhhhhh fungus experience). For the most part I kept it full of gear lube and changed often. It never had a leak, and shifted well, when you down shift into 2nd it helps if you double clutch ( noticed that on every nissan I've driven).

Is this the first manual car you have owned?

 

yeah, that is all i'd have needed anyhow. basically r/d engage, then the solenoids work in different combinations to control bands and clutches, but the 'normal' state in D appears to be the 3rd gear combination of having such-and-such held in order to engage 3rd. any 2 items held = 3rd gear as i read in i think howstuffworks's explaination of auto trannys. my tranny lost all ability to hold anything. do a/t oil pumps fail much? if it did would it fail suddenly with no warning?

 

I know this q was not me, but fits: This is the 2nd A/T for me - thus I am all in love with it. Maxima: Really royal compared to -70 AMC Hornet... which was already better than stick

This means I really dont know about A/T pumps and how do they fail; a seal bursts, valve jams - all human made tingies may break suddenly w/o warning.

 

I'm betting the pump in the torque converter died. Thats what happened to my auto trans, at 186K miles. I bet that TC lock up switch had nothing to do with its early demise :P

~Alex

 

my clutch pedal pressure increases every few days until the pedal doesn't even think about budging even if i tap the pedal with my foot (it shoud move just a few mm if i tap it.. but it's hard as a rock) so i have to keep opening the bleeder to relieve pressure. any reason why pressure would increase every few days? Once i release it it's too soft for about 5 minutes then it comes back to normal. then it gets too stiff again (usually followed by slipping)

and it appears that once the pedal gets stiff, it starts preloading the PP, which causes the clamping force to decrease, which allows my clutch to slip sometimes.

 

Stuff e(?)xpansion:
- you forgot to disconnect the air compressor hose?
- algore globally heating it?
- copy that effect to your gas tank; I'll buy the euro bean license from you.

 

is the clutch hose new?
did you leave the "block" in the circuit?

 

You might have the adjustment on the master cylinder to far out, so that it's is holding presser like you have the pedal pushed part way down.

 

+1

This is my diagnoses also.

I think it is always pre loading the clutch until he relieves the pressure via opening the bleeder screw, they it just builds back up again after a few clutching cycles.

 

not new but i PMd matt about an ss line a day or so ago.



yeah we talked about this here http://forums.maxima.org/showpost.ph...&postcount=202
i may have to cut the rod after all. it seems that if i can get the rod to pull all the way back in the master cylinder when i lift off the pedal it should fix it.

 

make sure that the switch is not stopping the pedal from coming all the way up

 

it comes up dead-level with the brake pedal.. is that right?

 

not all the time with the issue that your having I would back it all the way out so that the stop (aka the switch) is as far out as you can go then go from there

 

Would a pic of a stock setup help you any?

 

if you can take a pic from an angle showing the profiles of the pedals pointing up toward the defroster vents from the floor... then yeah. i'd like to have a pressure gauge installed in it.. do they make an in-line brake/clutch pressure guage that bolts into the myl and receives the clutch line, that DOESN'T mess up the travel any?

when any one of you had to reinstall the clevis pin after the system was fully bled, could you with no resistance or did you have to push really hard on the clevis rod, or even open the system to overcome the pressure?

 

I've bleed my clutch m/s system many times with no issues what so ever..it's as simple as....my helper(older son) just pushes in the clutch, I open/close the bleed screw, he pulls the clutch pedal back up off the floor, rinse/repeat.

I'll try to get a pic tomorrow.

 

well yeah that's easy. i was referring to how hard it is to get the clevis pin back through the hole once you undo the clevis pin post-bleed, for whatever reason. Mine was so stiff i had to open the hydraulic system to push the rod enough to even move it in enough to position the clevis pin through the holes. that's what i was asking about. Bleeding is a piece of cake. The thing i get is that when i undo the clevis pin, the rod itself is pushing on the back of the pedal arm, and if i moved it out to the side it would extend well past the hole in the pedal... meaning the rod is way longer than it needs to be...i want the rod to be just-about flush with the front side of the pedal arm. So the pic that would help me the most would be a pic of the clevis rod at full extension from the side, also showing it pass by the pedal-arm hole that the clevis pin goes through.

 

Why are you "undoing" the clevis pin post bleed?

 

i was trying to adjust the rod thingy but i couldn't b/c there was too much pressure on the rod to turn it. so i had to undo it to adjust the rod, at which point i realized it was way way too long.

also i noticed that the one thing that is most likely to overpressurize my clutch is prolonged idling in N. Which makes no sense. But i was driving driving driving and then i got slow for the neighborhood streets, and i stopped for a few minutes to make a phone call after taxiing around in 2nd at 1200rpm-ish, and the clutch was stiff as hell when i went to pull off.

 

This doesn't make much sense, since the entire clutch pedal assembly should have been at the "optimum" setting when swapped. as long as it was not messed with prior to the swap.

Heat from the engine/transmission will expand the fluid, maybe why you are experiencing this issue.Especially if the clutch rod is misadjusted.(i.e. in too far)

 

The pedal assembly hasn't been messed with. I replaced the master cylinder, and the rod is really long now. The rod itself can't be adjusted, just the position of the clevis bracket on the rod. but the rod is so long that it goes well past the hole in the pedal arm.. when it should really stop just shy of touching the pedal arm. So i need to mark it just where it would meet the pedal, cut it, and then put the bracket back on and adjust it so the stop on the pedal matches the stop inside the master cylinder as closely as possible. am i explaining well enough or am i just confusing you with my wording?

 

I'm throughly confused..

 

freepic4u coming up

 

I'm thinking if you're using a stock MC and pedal assembly then the pedal mounting has to be off or the MC is wrong. There really aren't many other reasons for the clevis pin or bracket to be off.

 

i'm using a carquest m/c. i can only assume they made the rod too long.

 

I would assume they gave you the wrong part. Did you match the two parts at the store?

 

I'm wondering about the mounting shim/spacer that the factory used versus what was used on the retrofit.

 

+1

 

But would the shim/bracket/whatever he used to make it the clutch pedal fit make it that far off???

From what i can gather from his pics/explanation of how far off this thing is, it would have to be a huge shim.

i'm still thinking wrong part here.

 

I just throw out ideas. IIRC the spacer/shim was like 1"

 

Well if his spacer/shim is indeed 1", but the normal stock 5 speed maxima shim,spacer is not, then yeah, this would definitely be the problem.

If cadaver did do this....then

 

I was referring to the stock spacer. I've only seen pics of it, not in real life.
how thick is the stock one?

 

i used pliers and pulled/twisted/yanked the stock spacer off the parts car's firewall and it is installed on my GXE. in all aspects that i can see the part looks identical, however, i have not performed a true side-by-side comparison. I may do that when i get home, since it's DST now and staying lighter later.

 

as far as i can tell using a screwdriver as a 'ruler' and marking it with my fingertip, the new master cylinder's rod is approximately 1/2 to 3/4 inches longer than the stock one. My diagram was dramatized to show the concept, but the actual clearance is not THAT far off. But the rod contacts the back of the pedal more than it should, and with the clevis bracket removed i will position the rod inside the pedal assembly and mark it where it is just barely not touching the arm, for maximum future adjustility.

 

real pics may help with ideas

 

i am getting off work early today so i'll have plenty of time to document this. i didn't drive the max today, rather, the Pimpmobile Cutlass. I started taking it apart but then i went inside and it was dark by the time i got around to thinking about it again. So i was like w/e i'll do it tomorrow. just whatever i do i'll have to finish today. tomorrow is Probe day. joy. at least i'll officially know how to install an engine tho.

concerning the clevis rods... is the metal soft enough to hack throug?

 

yes, with patience

 

http://s164.photobucket.com/albums/u...-speed%20swap/
look at the last 7 pictures. (it's not on the last page tho b/c the videos are always at the end b/c all my images are IMG_xxxx.jpg and movies are MVI_xxxx.avi)

 

ok so it's cut, bled, and ready to roadtest. i had to keep adjusting the threads to get it just right but it feels OK right now... I'm going to see how slight changes affect it over the next week but for right now the pedal is good.

 

i-never-knew-i-was-that-good-at-Halo update:

drove the car, it functions. but the heat soak did stiffen the pedal up real bad once, and after letting it sit for 3 hours i didn't drive far enough to truly re-warm my engine through and through so i will have to see how it behaves tomorrow. but at least now i can adjust it as i need to (it's set at the most preloaded setting and i can back it out as needed). Does anyone notice their pedal get any firmer once the car warms up or the clutch pedal always feels the same no matter what?