Problem: Clutch doesn't feel like it engages...
 

Hey all :)

last week, before my resonator decided to fall off :)
I was at a red light. When it turned green i thought I would floor it
and just take off fast. So I take off, and thought why not try and
keep the gas pedal down like 80% and try shifting fast to second
and letting go of the clutch quickly... so i try that, I see my revs go to redline and when i hit second my rpms dropped.

Now the weird part... I gave it full throttle and the engine just climbed to redline but my car wasn't moving any faster...

Was my clutch slipping or somehing? I had to press the clutch in and let it go again without giving any gas. Everything returned to normal.

weird... what's your take on this?

Sounds like your second gear never engaged. It may have popped out when you shifted into second, hence the revs climbing to redline and no power.
-hype

hmm since otherwise my rpm should have dropped to normal range instead of just jumping back to readline.

I'll have to retry and see if i'm actually in gear or not...

very odd

:(

I should rephrase my statement. It's possible second gear engaged for a second (hence the rpm drop), and then the gear popped out when you floored it again (hence no power).
-hype

Did you notice a bad burnt clutch smell after? It sounds like your pressure plate is getting weaker or maybe your disc is getting worn out. If it only does this on full on power launches, it's probably good to go for sometime. But I'd start thinking about getting a replacement clutch at some point. How many miles on this one?

Actually naw I didn't notice any smell. When I bought the car about a year and a half ago, the previous owner said he had replaced it very recently. That was at around 88,000 miles... i'm at 100,000 miles now.

When I did floor it in second gear, the rpms didn't jump to redline right away, as it would if you were in neutral... Instead the needle progressed upwards to redline at a bit slower rate than if it were in neutral. Yet the car wasn't moving any faster.

Could it be a weak pressure plate, because the previous owner put in a super cheap clutch or something?

It could be cheap replacement parts. Story. I put in a key value Nissan clutch kit on my 3-gen. It was total crap. It slipped worse than my worn out OEM stock parts. Reason is that kit was made up of inferior non-oem quality parts(even though it was sold though Nissan, they did't use oem nissan parts in the kit). So I repurchased REAL oem Nissan parts and did the clutch job AGAIN! Sheesh!

So it might be just cheap parts. It could be maybe some oil is getting on the clutch disc from a leaky rear main seal(check for oil leaks on the bottom of the tranny where is mates to the engine block). Or maybe something non-tranny related. If I could drive the car, I could probably tell you. Difficult to diagnosis from a keyboard. Sorry not to be more of a help :(

i think its theclutch, my car does the same thing sometimes.

wait till the fun part begins.. when the car no longer moves no matter how much you rev it in gear :wall:

:bawling: Don't even want to think about such a thing...


:)

Mine is getting close!! :(

Ordering parts today.. just have to find a weekend to do the install.


When I floor it in 4th or 5th sometimes it will rev up slightly then fall back down. Not good!

Actually my car does leak fluid... very little... but it does... from the lower part of the transmission. I thought it might be the "bad bearing problem... as found on motorvate.ca :/

Too bad you're not in Toronto - I could hook you up with a great transmission shop...:(

How long would it take for them to fix a bad bearing problem? :)

Well, it does sound like your clutch is on it's way out, too, but when I brought my car in for a clutch & bearing replacement, I got it back same day. (Bearing parts cost less than $75 but it's a few hours' labour to remove & re-install the transmission)

Transmission Depot
416-615-2595



I've sent a number or the Toronto org guys to them and everyone's been happy with their work.

cool, good to know. I have a friend in TO... If I ever go down, I could maybe get that checked out at the same time... :)

Thanks :)

how long are oem clutches supposed to last?

My car does this sometimes because I dont have the pedal adjusted right. Your car a stock 5spd or converted one?

Genuine Nissan OEM clutch parts will last a long time IF properly driven. ie.. over 100,000 miles. Of course if you abuse it, it won't last as long. But I got my 3-gen Ve w/ 75k and it was holding pretty well at 100k when I replaced the clutch. It was getting slightly weaker(ie..wouldn't hold as well into 3rd gear if driven hard) but it probably had 20k more easy miles on it.

But it REALLY depends how you drive and how hard you drive. Stock clutches will hold pretty much every NA mod you could throw at them. But for NOS, SC or turbo, you really should to upgrade to a ACT street disc/pressure plate or something.

can a worn clutch make for a very hard pedal?

my clutch pedal is very hard to depress.. it has gotten worse over time.. however the clutch grabs very well, never slips.. but it's hard as f-ck to press..

could it be the master cylinder or the assembly prior to the plate?
it's just hard as hell to press it and it's not very responsive..
often you have to really ride it for it to engage smoothly, otherwise it just bites hard..

It should not. The clutch assembly is very simple. It can only be a few things. If it's a sticky T/O bearing......:wall:

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....780post1897780



May be a cross reference.:confused: