As I write this, my 125k '03 6spd Max has been resting in the driveway for a few hours and the clutch has returned to normal operation.

3 Hours ago, however, i was driving home from work and downshifted from 4th to 3rd at about 35mph and the clutch just stayed on the floor. Attempts at trying to pump the clutch to regain pressure with the car in neutral (after stop) were fruitless. This was the 2nd time this had happened in about a week. The first time it was on the highway and only happened for a 5 second period and then returned back to normal without much trouble. I chalked that one up to a freak thing and forgot about it, until now.

This time it wasnt coming back even as i sat at the stop sign for a good minute pumping the clutch. I decided to take off and the car stalled. The clutch lay limp at about 1-2 inches from the floor. So i had about 1-2 inches of grab to engage the clutch and made shifting quite tricky. I was able to do it and get the car home, but needless to say i was concerned, for my wallet, and for my safetey.

I immediately checked the fluid and it was spot on. I then did a few searches here on the forums and found that several other people experience this, or similar, issues with their max's. I checked the recommended things that i was able to (Leaks at the Master and Slave Cylinders and under the carpet where the MC enters the interior) and nothin. Again, the fluid appears to be fine.


Like i said, the pedal has returned to normal operation. Being a novice do-it-yourselfer i feel inclined to do things on the cheap, but after what i've been reading this issue can be anywhere from replacing fluid (doesnt look like it for me) to replacing the MC/SC and even the entire clutch assembly...yay.

I feel at this point I gotta bring it in to the mechanic, although i'm not psyched about it. I trust this guy as much as a you can a non-family member mechanic, but what other options have i?

Since the problem is not easily repeatable, what should i have the mechanic check/replace?

Why has it only happened on Hot days? (Today was the hottest of the summer and I was going all day)

Is it worth having the fluid bled/replaced as a first effort?

Since the car has 125k on it, could it be the clutch is gone?

I mean, does a clutch just up and go like that? My 99 5spd Max had 190k on it and the clutch was fried when i gave it up, but it was a gradual death, not all of a sudden like this. And even then, it felt much different. I'll admit I'm still not the greatest shifter but i dont beat the hell out of the clutch either.

One last note is that over the past month or so I have noticed that it feels like the transmission is sorta grabbing even at cruising speeds at 2500RPM. I'm used to it feeling a bit smoother. I didnt think TOO much of it, until now. It sorta feels like it's trying hard to accelerate than it has in the past. Hard to explain.

If I had to guess (and I have to) i'd say something is pooping out on me and that this isnt a gradual wear and tear issue..but who am i to say?

Any suggestions would be great. Let me know if you need any more info or i should check anything else.

 

Is there any noticeable slipping when the car is in gear? It couldn't hurt to flush/bleed the clutch as an initial step. How is the freeplay in the clutch pedal when everything is normal? Have you tried readjusting the pedal?

 

As a normal diy'r It shouldn't be hard if you are going to HAVE to replace ur sc/mc. It takes about an hour and half however most of that time for me was bleeding. +1 on bleeding it. Adjusting I wouldn't reccomend. A buddy of mine tried once and after that his clutch pedal just "whored" around. Would switch places everytime the car stopped/rolled.. Gl.

 

No slipping whatsoever when the car is in gear. In fact, i just took it for a drive and if I were on a test drive of this car for the first time I would've thought that everything was it it should be in this car... money. No signs of poor clutch performance. It lets out nice n high and the clutch gives back a great pressure and snaps if you let it off the floor. It's not mushy. Really, it's the same as it's always been.

and then BAM, gonzo. So weird.

I read through all of the threads with people having this issue and the only ones that came back to say they solved the issue were either filling up the fluid/fixing a leak (duh) or replacing the MC. One guy even had the stealer replace his entire clutch assembly...

We'll see..i'll be bringing it in soon enough to see what the Mech says. Depending on what he says will determine where i go from there, but probably replace the MC and bleed with new Dot4 fluid.

 

for us altima guys, it's a notorious problem that many members fixed by simply swapping out the OEM dot-3 fluid for either dot4 or dot5.1, but never dot 5. i would try that first before going into the mc/sc...

 

Mine was having issues on extremely hot days with not disengaging, fuild/bleeding solved it.