Long story short...

I have a 92 5-spd, 180,000 miles

Had my clutch replaced & a few days later noticed a pretty good leak of tranny fluid. Shop said they cracked my seal & replaced it. Approx. three weeks later I noticed "growling" noise & few days after that my clutch began "sticking" (would not pop back completely after letting my foot off) and has now progressed into having a very hard time shifting inot gear (any of them).

Went back to shop he drove my car & said that my master cylinder is leaking - needs to be replaced & tranny's going, needs to be rebuilt.
They claim the seal they cracked which caused me to lose fluid has nothing to do w/ any of this. I'm wondering if they're not just trying to take advantage of a female w/o much mechanic knowledge! The car has been well taken care of w/ ALWAYS regular oil changes, I know the mileage is high, but all this seems strangely coincidental to me.

Any advice if they're ****ty clutch job could be the blame for my current problems?? Shouldn't they have seen a leak in the master cylinder when replacing the clutch?

 

My suggestion...
Drive it into Richardson (Dallas).. Take it to Courtesy Nissan and have their mechanic look at it. Call them at 800-527-1909. Ask for Kaleb. he'll fix you up.

 

ofcourse they are responsible for that tranny leak...this all started AFTER they touched your car and they admitted they cracked the seal...maybe the replaced it with a cheap quality one...or maybe didnt replace it at all!!!.

.. sometimes...its the clutch slave cylinder that causes that stickking problem. u can look at the slave cylinder and see if there's fluid leakage around it.

 

i would replace both the master and slave cylinders they will both fail eventially and are very cheap.

do that first and see if your shifting improves if not then you could rebiuld or replace with a used


OMG a person of the opisit sex that drives a VE 5SPD i thought id never live to see that i think im in love for the first time with somthing other than my car hahaha

 

What about the growling noise that started before the shifting prob's & "sticking" clutch? Could that be because of the cylinder's failing instead of the tranny?

Hate to sound so stupid about this, but I'm learning as I go here & just don't want to get ripped off cause they see some blond chick walk in the shop. I wanna walk in & tell THEM what to do to my car not the other way around!

 

growling noise.. is that when you're moving? mostly in lower gears?
input shaft bearing. about a $900 fix it job, if you pull the tranny yourself. Add $200 to pay them to pull the tranny. it's "normal" wear on this tranny, not their fault.
It could also be low fluid from the leak, but I would assume the goons at the shop filled it properly.




sticking clutch?
sounds like a master/slave cylinder problem to me, but I can't say for certain without seeing the car.
bring it to Houston and I'll give it a looksee...

Unfortunately, this stuff is normal wear and tear on a car with this kind of mileage. I track mine at ever opportunity so I can't complain about wear, BUT... I know the car is on its 3rd tranny at 202,000 miles and will be putting another clutch in it. (I was lucky to get 18 months out of the last one!)

the sticking clutch could also be a bad pressure plate, but I doubt that if it was just installed (unless it was defective)

first thing I would do is pop the hood and look at the clutch slave cylinder... it's the big black brick on the front of the tranny with the hose sticking out of it. look for fluid leaking out of it anywhere. If you don't see anything, follow the rubber hose back and see if you can find it leaking anywhere.
If all that's clean, then look under the dash. you'll need a flashlight, but look at the inside of the master cylinder where the plunger goes through the firewall (look at the top of the clutch pedal, and you'll see it attaches to a shaft and goes through the floor)..
look for any leakage around there. you might have to pull up the carpet to see it. If it's going to leak, they leak on the inside of the car, not the outside.

I think that should keep you busy for a little while. If you can't look at this stuff yourself or don't see anything, I highly recommend taking it to another local shop (dealer??) and batting your eyes at them and ask them to check it out for you. Maybe you can get a diagnostic for free (Sears does free inspection/diagnostics).

 

Thanks for the info, I'll take a look in the a.m. & see if I can find anything. I guess my question though is, when they replaced my clutch didn't they have to remove the slave /master cylinder? And aren't they able tell if there's any issues w/ the tranny itself big enough to warrant a rebuild?

 

$900 ????, I guess since my dad did the labor i wouldnt know, if he knew thats what they charged he'd probably be hitting me up. the bearings and a snycro ran me a little over $150.

When they replaced the clutch, they would have removed your slave cylinder, but not the master cylinder.

With out actually taking the tranny apart, the only way you would know if it needed a rebuild is by driving it. When you replace the clutch it involves unbolting the tranny from the engine, you dont really get into anything internal.

 

like i said before...they admit they cracked the seal...hold them responsible.

It cant be coincidence that your tranny was fine before the clutch install and then suddenly after they installed the clutch, it gave out because of wear.

first of all, if they cracked the seal and replaced it, they should've informed u that had to be done when u came to pick up the car. not when u went back to complain the tranny was leaking.

if the leak caused the bearing noise, again they should be held responsible since they touched the seals last (like u say they admitted to that). and yes its related to what they did!

Do you drive the car real hard? , race it a lot and all?? dont drive around much right now or the tranny might get worse.

one way of knowing for sure if there is a cylinder leak is to check the level in the master cylinder and see if it decreases over a period of time.