Twist741

I hope this is the proper place to post something like this. I've been looking for a few weeks for a decent manual transmission vehicle and I came across an 04 Maxima 3.5SE with a 6 speed in it, it's in good shape and the price is right. So I went and took it for a spin today and I have a couple concerns I figured I'd ask you guys about. This would be my first Nissan since I owned an 89 240 Hatch in the early 2000's and they couldn't be more different.

It has 154k miles on it, the guy has had it for 5 years and had the clutch replaced 4 years ago. He has a lot of maintenance records from his 5 years of ownership, got it inspected successfully today and was up front with me about what it will need in the semi-immediate future.

The first thing I noticed was how stiff the clutch pedal is. I have driven dump trucks with softer pedals. But okay, at least it's probably not dying right?

The next thing I noticed was the point where the clutch disengages is literally the floor. A half inch off the floor and the clutch is engaged and vroom you're moving. I'm used to having a couple inches of play, and that point of engaged/disengaged being halfway up the pedal. Man this 3.5 purrs and it really moves.

I also noticed it feels like the clutch pedal needs just another half inch or so of depression before it would feel fully disengaged. Completely floored, I was able to shift, but it took a bit more force than I was expecting to get it into gear. I grinded 4th once, and I was pretty sure I had the pedal depressed the whole way. Generally speaking, I didn't have a lot of problems, but I couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't quite 100% with it. That it should've been a bit easier to move between gears. Even at a dead stop, there were a couple of times it didn't quite feel like it wanted to go into 1st.

I got on the throttle a few times and there was zero slippage.

In my experience, as clutches wear, they get softer and the point of engagement travels further from the floor. These prior experiences with clutches going out lead me to believe there is plenty of life left to it but I figured I'd ask for some input here before I pull the trigger on this car.

So I guess TLDR version
Is the clutch pedal typically super stiff on these?
Is the engagement usually all the way to the floor?
Does it sound like there may be issues with it?
And can I adjust the pedal so there's a bit more travel before it engages?

Or have I just been spoiled by the butter smooth clutch in the '14 CX-5 I've been driving lately and newer cars in general.

It's worth mentioning his FIL did the clutch job, and he's a drag racer / mechanic. I've asked him if it was an OEM clutch or something after market and he said he'll ask and get back to me tomorrow.

Thanks in advance for any insight you can offer, and apologies if this isn't the right place for this.

Looking forward to potentially rejoining the Nissan owners club. Not a day goes by I don't miss my 240, lol.

aackshun

iTrader: (3)

Replace the hydraulic system. It's garbage from the factory anyways. Unless you like that detached feeling (then get an auto).

New Master Cylinder, 1 peice hydraulic clutch line (ebay purchase, any 95+ maxima will work, it's a full braided stainless steel line that goes from the master to the slave) and new slave cylinder.

Crap I forgot.... I'm in the 6th gen forum.....This is generally a 02-06 Altima and 04-06 Maxima problem (I have heard the ultra rare case of older maximas doing this too)...
Uhmmmm your pedal could literally be falling apart.

Basically these are all easy fixes.

Replace the whole hydraulic system or re-weld your stock pedal, or both.

Enjoy the car.

Twist741

So I got the documentation back from the guy, the clutch was replaced 41k miles ago with a Stage 3 clutch, which I think is why it's so "grabby" and stiff. He also said when the old clutch was going, they adjusted the pedal so it engaged lower. They didn't re adjust when the clutch was replaced. So I hope that's why it sits all the way on the floor.

At the advice of a few others I did order the braided line between cylinders that replaces the spider web of OEM lines for ease in bleeding and stuff.

I did take a good look at the pedals when I was there and didn't see anything obvious, but I'm no professional by any means. My mechanic is doing an alignment Monday and replacing front rotors for me, so I'm going to ask him to check / adjust the clutch pedal for me while it's there.

I appreciate the other input and will look into making those replacements as soon as possible.

Thanks again!

aackshun

iTrader: (3)

The fact that the pedal has a spongy feel up top is the problem. Unfortunately the mech will not be able to see the failure in the clutch pedal assembly so easily while on the vehicle.

https://maxima.org/forums/6th-genera...ml#post9216759

Link to my clutch pedal falling apart above (it had the same engangement you're describing and I was like wtf, the whole hydraulic system is bled and brand new)

How I fixed it (Ignore the long swoopy metal bracket, that's not related to your problem - focus on the extra bars that were welded in the V-shape) below.

https://maxima.org/forums/6th-genera...ml#post9219174

If it helps my 6th gen has some "stage 3" clutch in it as well, but still the stock flywheel.... Coming from a long lineage of Maximas, I've come to terms with the stock flywheel absorbing SO MUCH "grabbyness" from any upgraded clutch, it shouldn't be that drastic compared to cars because of the dual mass flywheel absorbing a lot of the harshness, giving you a somewhat stock feel.

np!

Twist741

So, maybe I wasn't super clear in my original post. There's no spongy feel anywhere in it, it's super resistant the entire way - top to bottom. It's just, let's say the pedal travels about 6" from full release to the floor. Probably 5.25" inches of that pedal press do nothing, then at the very bottom, boom, disengage. And the second I start to release the clutch, boom, engage. Then there's another 5.25" of release that does nothing until the pedal comes back to rest.

Holy hell, that pedal / assembly is absolutely mangled. I'll have to check mine out a lot more closely when I get it here. I just spent an hour pouring through your old posts, man there's a lot of great information there.

If it's cool with you, I'll let you know what I find as I start to look a bit harder into things, lol.

aackshun

iTrader: (3)

Welllllllllllllllll then jump straight to the adjustment part then lol.

My pedal had sponginess up top when the assembly broke.

While adjusting the pedal the mech should be able to see any damage.

Np! Hope everything goes well.

Twist741

Okay, so I bought it. I spent the last week or so looking it over and have identified a handful of minor issues, and a couple major ones.

Firstly, my clutch pedal went dead on me, twice now in two weeks. Resistance is all but entirely gone, sinks straight to the floor, and won't engage. I read about slave cylinder issues with overheating and leaking, but the first time it happened, the car had been parked for hours. It was hot outside, but it's not like the engine had been running and I was in traffic or anything. I turned it off, waited 5 minutes, and the pedal was back to normal, so I drove it home. Next time it happened while driving, I could feel the pedal getting softer, and when I came to a traffic light the pedal was dead again. Straight to the floor with little resistance to speak of. Pumped it for dear life, rev matched where possible, and avoided shifting where possible. 2-3 minutes later the pedal came back to life, and the rest of the ride was fine. This time it had been being driven in traffic for a while before this happened.

I've been monitoring the fluids daily, and throughout normal operation nothing changes. Whenever I have this dead pedal issue, I lose about 1.5cm of fluid from the reservoir. I poked around and the slave cylinder seems wet. So today I ordered a new slave and master cylinder, and I've already got the stainless braided clutch line. I'm wondering how much work I'm in for with removing the old clutch line and replacing the cylinders. I'm relatively mechanically inclined, falling somewhere between novice and intermediate. Over the weekend I did inner and outer tie rods, replaced the front-right wheel bearing assembly and replaced the rack boots while I was in there. But I'm not sure if the clutch line, and to a lesser degree the slave and master cylinders are something I can handle on my own. There's not an awful lot of room in the engine bay, as I'm sure you know. Is there anything else I should replacing just as a matter of fact while I'm doing this?

Secondly, I noticed a small oil leak from the rear main seal. IF it turns out to be the clutch itself, I plan to replace it, have the flywheel machined, and then while I have the transmission off, replacing the rear main seal, the pilot bearing, and the throwout bearing. Anything else you'd recommend I do just as a matter of preventative maintenance while I'm in there if it turns out I need to be?

Overall, I'm happy with the purchase, and it's felt good to get to wrenching again. I'm just working with jack stands in my driveway, so I'm concerned about biting off more than I can chew one of these days.

aackshun

iTrader: (3)

Good purchase, it seems as if it's hydraulic related so that's nice.

its not a hard Saturday project if you've never done it before but have a basic wrenching knowledge, just bare in mind the cowling needs to come off, other than that it's your standard import master cylinder and slave replacement.

You don't need to pull all of the old lines to do the swap. However a nice set of metal shears and a devil may care attitude will be able to make pulling the factory line easy.

It's really simple, a few bolts, twist and turns and you're done (the longest part is really removing the cowl IMO, without having my Milwaukee it would be pretty annoying).



-this is an Altima with an HR swap I did for a customer, but none of that matters, every thing is the same for you in the clutch hydraulic dept.

Twist741

So it's done. Heat was brutal, so it took 8 hours, with a lot of breaks in between. I wasn't able to completely remove the factory lines, but I pulled probably half of it out (judging by the photos in one of your other post). The slave cylinder was shot, the master had a lot of dirt and failing rings, and the metal lines were leaking at what looked to me like a check valve. I was glad that I had both cylinders and the replacement line. Adjusted the pedal properly. It's firm, but consistent, and not as stiff as it was when I bought it. The clutch engages nearly halfway through the pedal travel instead of all the way to the floor, and it's no longer a struggle to mash the pedal as hard as possible in order to barely slip into gear. It feels like a new car.

Is the IAT sensor built into the MAF sensor on these? After flushing/bleeding it thoroughly and putting it back together, I started her up and threw a SES light. P0113, IAT sensor getting high voltage. I pulled off what looked to me like the MAF sensor. It's the only thing I disconnected. The wires look fine, harness looks fine, all the pins look fine. I pulled the sensor out, it looked brand new, but I cleaned it and the connections anyway. Gonna drive it around this week and see if that kills the light.

Thanks again for all your insight and input, truly truly appreciate it.