PLEASE READ MY POST ON THE 2ND PAGE BEFORE THIS... THE CAR WAS MISSING A CLUTCH SWITCH/STOPPER ON THE PEDAL, AND THAT MADE ALLL MY PROBLEMS, A 30SECOND SCREWING IT IN, FIXED EVERYTHING. DO NOT BE AFRAID OF 5SPD CONVERSION ANYMORE



OK - I have not wanted to post this because it is something just with my car, and I did not want to scare off people looking to do 5spd conversion.. because this has nothing to do with it... no other conversions have had the problem I have.

buuut, here is my question. Ever since the first day I have had 5spd, I have had this EXTREMELY tempermental clutch problem, and it has driven me to the point of insanity. the problem is this:

I get in my car, when it is totally cold. The clutch grabs like crazy and feels awesome, spins 2nd all day long if I so wish.. now here is where the fun begins.. if I run my car verry easy, OR if I drive the heck out of it for a few minutes, either situation causes very bad clutch slippage (lagged shifts and slipping when the clutch is engaged under wot)... now at that point I have two options most of the time if i want to get a good run in. wait a couple hours for it all to cool off, or, most of the time taking it on the interstate and cruising for 10min fixes it most of the way. I originally when I did the swap, because of not thinking ahead I was forced into using the existing clutch from the donor car, which had little wear. It slipped, so I was like hm I will just get a new clutch.. I then purchased, not knowing any better, an autozone clutch - which was worthless crap - even when it was cold it wouldnt grab hard. After that I installed a nissan clutch, same problem with the slipping. I then, dumbest thing ever, took my car to pepboys because I was in a rush and they made me a great deal (400$ clutch replacement + lifetime warranty and it would be done the same day..).. They installed two of their clutches, both being defective and f'ing up my syncros (that is how i got my new LSD one... and took pepboys to court). Lastly I took my car to another shop (no time to do it myself, i was in college) and had them install a factory nissan one. Same slipping problem.

I figured, the only thing it could POSSIBLY be is my flywheel was messed up maybe (although I had it resurfaced professionally multiple times...), so I got another flywheel from the junkyard w/ my LSD tranny, and installed all that w/ the factory nissan clutch. Same slipping problem.

I am absolutely blown away and can NOT figure this thing out, can some super-maxima-brain tell me what is wrong and what to do PLEEEEEEEASE!!!!!!!!!!!! I want to do my custom s/c problem, but my clutch would only be that much worse, so first things first... I am almost at the point of selling this thing and finding something else I am soo mad about it. thanks for any help/input...

 

Try an ACT clutch broham.. if that doesnt work. I seriously have no clue.. Guys?

Sorry mang

 

oh yeah two more things..

I have tried to break in my clutches by driving normal for almost 500 miles, not beating on them... and slipping occurs immediately in the life of the clutch, not after 60,000miles on them haha... when I take them off, none of them are worn.

and most of the time, when it slips bad (i can hold it at redline in gear sometimes... when its really bad), I cant remember a time when I have smelled burning clutch from my car from it slipping. I dont ride the clutch or anything like that, I know how to drive a 5spd, very well.


oh, one more thing.. to let you know just how temperature sensative it is... if it is 95degrees outside (now) it slips almost immediately after driving the car, whereas at 40degrees it takes much longer before it starts slipping..

 

Your hydrolic system can be shot to the point where its not working correctly. You check that ?? You slave cylinder ?? master cylinder ?

If I had one simple guess after reading this post, it would be your Hydrolic system/lines/leak >>>something is not working properly

-matt

 

You're replacing the presure plate each time, correct?

 

yes, clutch disc, pressure plate, throw out bearing....

 

I just had my master / slave cylinders replaced around christmas and that made no difference... and the thing is not losing fluid because the resorvoir doesnt ever need refilling... how could I check if that is it, any ideas ?

 

I had the same problem brutha...
The flywheel should not be replaced in our cars my friend. This is because the teeth that are on the wheel are tapered to one side and if some of it is ground off then the clutch will not grab properly even if you shim the flywheel to compensate. It will alter the manufacturer's specifications on the wheel. This problem too me about a YEAR to figure out. Take it from me kid, replace the flywheel, save headaches.

 

 

How well do you trust the shops doing the install? Extra grease or something on the clutch can contaminate it and cause slipping, but I would think that would go away with time.

IIRC, our cars have a "self adjusting clutch" or something of the sorts. I would think there is a problem with the hydraulics, but I couldn't tell you where to look. I'll check my FSM when I get home.

 

did you take the spacer out of the center of the crankshaft and replaced it with a pilot bearing when you took off the auto tranny?

 

The last shop that did my clutch is the most reputable one around here, and does very good work... and since then, I have had my tranny off and made sure the fly was very clean before reinstall..

 

can you explain this more, I dont exactly understand...

just three weeks ago I replaced my flywheel with another used '95 maxima flywheel.... that did not fix it.

 

hey, I think that it is your master cylinder that is the problem. Does your clutch have freeplay?. After I did my installation, my car would grab for a while and then slip more and more. I could not figure out why. It was the master cylinder behind the clutch pedal that was not adjusted to the right distance. I drove it to a nissan dealer and the guy adjusted it for me for free, and havent had a problem since. I didn't resurface my flywheel and I'm still using the clutch that came off the old car (i have to rebuild my 5spd at this time). I would bet money on it that its your hydraulic system thats at fault. The master cylinder does not have to leak in order not to function properly. When mine wasnt adjusted, all it did was suck in fluid into the lines. I was just bleeding the system for a few weeks from the top valve. Ok, I have an idea. When your clutch is slipping, take a 12mm open hand wrench, and open the top bleeder valve and let some fluid out, it might just squirt out, dont worry about it. Re-tighten it and go back in the car. When I had my problem that would fix it, until the master cylinder took in too much fluid again. Ok this post is too long.....

 

thankyou very much for the post... i am taking her to the dealership today I believe, to see what they can do.. my bet is exactly on what you just said about the master cylinder b/c my spacer is not the factory one, , so i bet it doesnt sit right. thanks!

 

Contact EricWong. The dude that rebuilt his tranny. He experienced similar problems and traced to the automatic adjuster on the clutch pedal assembly.

Note: I also dont' understand Maximabebe for the no resurfacing thing. When you get it done, none of the teeth on the outer ring gear are touched. The teeth are there so the starter has something to engage to get the motor to turn over. It might change the distance the T/O bearing might have to travel in order to disengage the clutch but the resurfacing is only a matter of thousands of an inch. I've had my flywheel lightened/balanced and resurfaced over 35,000 miles ago. No problems here.

 

i agree with skello34,

i had this prob on my car, where it would grip at first, then slowly slip and slip and then wont even grip at all. you can feel the change in the clutch pedal. adjusted the freeplay correctly and now its great.

 

anyway,,,,,,u know,,,,,i didnt even use a spacer in mine and have no problems....

 

I agree, it has to be something in the clutch hydraulic system that is not allowing the clutch to fully engage.

 

Hows the preload of the hydraulic system set? If its incorrect, its possible that the clutch is barely engaging and you're riding on the throw out bearing. Is it the engage point excessively high?

 

something with hydraulic system? replace cylinders and what not? if i remember correctly, you got all your parts used and most people i know that did conversion bought act clutch, and new cylinders....obviously i have NO idea what the problem may be but i'm HOPING its cause cylinders are dead or something....AND YES U R SCARING ME!

 

You need to relax bro......this isn't brain surgery. Valium anyone?

 

1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

breath mecca breath

much better

 

what do you mean by "adjusted the freeplay"? i can feel the change in the clutch pedal too

Nissan told me they will not touch mine b/c of the 5spd conversion,...

 

if you read my post , I had both the master and slave cylinders replaced with new ones at christmas along with the fluid being flushed.. also, I have used two NEW nissan clutches, so its not b/c i didnt use a ACT clutch.. but i know what it is now, its the clutch master cylinder adjustment... time to go fix it.

 

well.... IT IS FIXED!!!!!!!!!!

it was sooo easy and the dumbest thing ever to be wrong.. there are two switches on the clutch pedal, a front stop and back stop... my front stop switch/stopper was not even in there!!! so the master cylinder rod came out about 1/2" too far everytime the pedal wasnt being pushed on. I put another switch in there and tightened it down good, and adjusted the back stop to let me psuh it farther slightly (so I could make sure it was pushed in all the way)

AND IT WORKS!!! I just went out, the real test is.. drive for 10 minutes, and see if i can spin through 2nd gear shift, or if it just redlines b/c of slippage... I drove around, and ran it hard ... 5 minutes, spin 2nd gear, 10 minutes, spin 2nd gear, 15 minutes, spin 2nd gear, 20 minutes, spin all day in 2nd gear... !!! !!!! I am taking it to the track tonight now that my clutch wont kill me, that is the real test is if it can make it all night.. I will let you all know how things go and if it holds up and proves to be true... sorry for all the scares to the 5spd conversion potential people haha.. i just went from hating the maxima to loving it !!

 

 

told ya that was the problem. I wish mine could spin 2nd, only rarely, i think the clutch is somewhat worn out. Its hard to chirp second for me. If i drop the clutch into second at like 6k it will slip, if i drop it at 4k it will grab and sometimes chrip.

 

man i couldn't take out that damn spacer for shiet...i had word from kaleb from courtesy nissan to drill it out...thas what he did to his 3rd gen...so i tried that...still couldn't get it out...so i said fukk the pilot bushing...clutch seem to engage and disengage fine...what is the purpose of the pilot bushing anyway...

 

there's a tool you can rent at autozone or pepboys that's specially made to take that spacer out with. it's just a real small pulley puller and you attach a slide hammer to it. we used a front rotor as our slide hammer. still took awhile to do.

 

i rented that tool from autozone...but no luck...wat's purpose does the pilot bushing serve? only thing i can draw from it was that it was use to align the clutch disc...is it use for something else also?

 

you are correct, very often if it gets "eaten" from he inside you might have some wheel hop because it'll be loose, but it is there to keep the axeles and everything else there aligned

Vinipux

p.s. wow, what a simple solution to a "complicated" problem, good that you fixed it, can you show some pics of the front/back stoppers, plus, is there a way to change where the clutch engages, I would rather have it engage right on the top of the pedal, so less work for me

 

yes, there are 3 things you can adjust on it... the front stopper (how far it comes out when you dont push on it - this was my problem, i didnt have it at all..), the back stop - how far you can push it down, and one more adjustment is the actual rod from the master cylinder to the pedal can be adjusted to be further out or in.... you want to adjust the rod to be farther it (you loosen a nut on the end and turn the rod, it is threaded).. I adjusted all my stoppers to be at RIGHT before the clutch starts to engage and the back stop at right after... makes for quicker shift

 

i think it's to keep the end of the input shaft on the tranny stable.

 

i'm so jealous, i have no clue what u guys r talkin about but u all know wat u r doin