| Author |
|
Coastie
Newbie
Joined: Aug 29 2008
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 38
Member's Gallery:
View Gallery
Location:
U.S. - New Jersey
|
| Posted: Sep 24 2008 at 10:44am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Update 9/24/08
The dealer / tech line wants me to dish out $1k to take the tranny down and determine if it is warrantable or not. The reason, there is alot of "clutch debris" on top of the throw out bearing, I told them no way.
I called Nissan consumer affairs, filed a complaint and have to wait 24hr for a return call from the manager.
I then "found" the tech line number and called it. After some button mashing I got through and talked to someone. Just acted like I new what I was doing, game him the vin, he gave me the case # and asked if I was the tech. Lie Lie Lie, I didn't and he basically said that they really can't talk to civilians so I asked for a supervisor.
I then talked to a real nice guy named Tim. He actually listened to me and I explained the situation...
At 4k miles the truck started making noise. It went into the shop 4 times and had been miss diagnosed as a noise from the cluster. When I bought the truck the dealer had to drive it from PA to NJ, there were scratches all of the dash. They replaced the cluster cover over the speedo, this led them to beleive they didn't tighten something down and noise was coming from this area.
This sunday we found the noise coming from the clutch, tech rides with me yesterday and I show him the noise. I show him how you have to slip the clutch a little to get the noise to happen. He in turn inspects the tranny, find the debris and calls tech line. His story of me telling him to slip the clutch and the debris obviously makes them think that I'm a bad driver.
I was able to explain to Tim that I'm not and the only reason that I slipped it or told the tech to was to help in diagnosing the problem. I don't drive with my foot on the clutch, ride the clutch or anything like that. He understood what I'm saying and how the previous 3 visits for a noise in the cluster were related and will call the consumer affairs manager. He gave me his direct line and I'm to call it if I don't hear back within 24 hours.
That's all I have for now. I'm going to get my truck out of the dealership and await the phone call. I don't want to pay for another rental until I get final word from Nissan.
On another note, if they don't cover can I just remove this beris and put some more lube on the thorowout bearing in hopes that it goes away? They said that the debris could have dried the bearing up causing the noise...
I now have carpral tunnel and can't type.
Thanks for all your help so far!
__________________
2007 KC SE w/6spd 4x4
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Boomer
Senior Member
Nissan Guru
Joined: Aug 13 2007
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 632
Member's Gallery:
View Gallery
Location:
U.S. - Pennsylvania
|
| Posted: Sep 24 2008 at 11:43am | IP Logged
|
|
|
My two cents. Sounds like the throw out bearing is toast or close to it. At a minimum, replace it. Also sounds like the clutch face is wearing too fast or erratically and will need to be rplaced. A damaged clutch plate can also score the flywheel badly enough to require replacement of that part. I do NOT think that there is sufficient pressure on the Nissan Frontier clutches when fully engaged and that this is causing you and many others this problem.
__________________
2007 Nissan Frontier SE 4X4
Crew Cab, short bed,
2003 Saturn L-300 sedan
2013 VW Passat TDI
State College, PA
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Coastie
Newbie
Joined: Aug 29 2008
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 38
Member's Gallery:
View Gallery
Location:
U.S. - New Jersey
|
| Posted: Sep 24 2008 at 2:26pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Boomer, are you a Nissan Tech? I ask because you said "I do NOT think that there is sufficient pressure on the Nissan Frontier
clutches when fully engaged and that this is causing you and many
others this problem. - Boomer". I've hit the district level of Customer Support. A very nice lady from Nissan called today and wants me to get a second opinion. I will gladly due so and if there are other documented cases of problems even close to resembling mine that you know of this would help my cause. If in fact Nissan doesn't use sufficient pressure plates and this caused my malfunction there will be no question that it's Nissan's fault and they will warrant the repair. An opinion won't mean much to them, an opinion with a documented fauilure will.
Right now, a Clutch and Flywheel aren't covered. These are considered consumables, rightfully so. Because of this, the first dealer doesn't want to warrant the repair, they want the $1k to drop the trans and then I'd probably have to pay the rest I'm assuming $2500 for the total repair. My truck started making the noise at 4-5k miles and it was taken to the shop at 7k for it's first documented warranty repair about this noise. A new truck shouldn't have these types of problems at 5k or even 10k for this matter, right?
I'm trying to convince the district rep that I'm not a bad driver, I don't have a bad driving record and I don't ride my clutch. My last car was an 05 sentra w/ 5spd. I had 33k miles on it when I traded it in. This car never went in for warranty work, never had a problem with the clutch, throw out bearing or flywheel. How do you develop a bad dricing habit over night? Out of the 29 cars I've owned, 27 of them have been manual. Only in my Camaro did I have to replace the clutch but that was due to racing and the HO of the engine.
- Do you or anyone have any other input for me?
- Any ideas that I can use to work with the district rep and get this solved?
- What about the debris on top of the throw out bearing. I'm not denying it's there but I think it's from faulty hardware not the driver. How do I prove this to the rep and the dealer it's going to tommorow? If I was a mechanic and I saw it the first thing I'd think is abuse.
- How do I not convey that or persuade them that it's not from me?
There is so much perception of the issue that this is very difficult to decide on.
Thanks again,
Kevin
__________________
2007 KC SE w/6spd 4x4
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Boomer
Senior Member
Nissan Guru
Joined: Aug 13 2007
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 632
Member's Gallery:
View Gallery
Location:
U.S. - Pennsylvania
|
| Posted: Sep 24 2008 at 3:22pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
No, I'm not a Nissan tech, just a retired chemist with an interest in cars. I made that statement because when I was looking at Frontiers, I was interested at first in a stick shift. When I pushed in the clutch, I was stunned by the tiny amount of effort it took. I asked the salesman if this was normal. He said it was and I told him at the time that I didn't believe the clutch would hold up as it would slip under load. I bought an auto trans.
I have seen numerous mentions of fried clutches on our trucks on various sites so I stand by my original thoughts. But that is all they are...my thoughts. I doubt whether they will hold any value to the folks at Nissan.
If you are going to have to replace the clutch, flywheel and presumably the pressure palte, I'd look at some good aftermarket setups.
__________________
2007 Nissan Frontier SE 4X4
Crew Cab, short bed,
2003 Saturn L-300 sedan
2013 VW Passat TDI
State College, PA
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Coastie
Newbie
Joined: Aug 29 2008
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 38
Member's Gallery:
View Gallery
Location:
U.S. - New Jersey
|
| Posted: Sep 24 2008 at 4:28pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Thanks boomer. I do plan on having the broken components replaced.
I'm hoping that the NE regional rep will be able to straighten out the billing. If they don't cover it I will use some components that are better than oem. I'm hoping to not have to drop a dime so we'll see.
__________________
2007 KC SE w/6spd 4x4
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
kcidmil
Moderator Group
HI! My name is Ben and I have Car ADD.
Joined: May 02 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1342
Member's Gallery:
View Gallery
Location:
U.S. - Utah
|
| Posted: Sep 24 2008 at 4:30pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I hate to say it, but you're going to be hard pressed to convince Nissan to replace it. You're going to need probably at least 2 other documented cases where a clutch has gone out within the first 10k miles. 2 other opinions saying it was a manufacturer defect and not a result of riding the clutch... and a call to the BBB. Basically your SOL unless you want to fight them all the way.
I would find something in the aftermarket that is stronger and better, and tell Nissan piss off. Zoom makes some nice clutches.
__________________
Fight back this year, do your Tax Return in Roman Numerals.
05 Toyota Tacoma X-Runner
90 Nissan Maxima SE
12 Nissan Xterra S
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Coastie
Newbie
Joined: Aug 29 2008
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 38
Member's Gallery:
View Gallery
Location:
U.S. - New Jersey
|
| Posted: Sep 24 2008 at 4:55pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Right now the rep told me that she would replace the clutch out of good faith and customer loyalty in a second if she knew that it was the problem. She wants me to get a second opinion and make sure that the whole trans doesn't need to go.
She is an extremely nice lady and wants to make things right with me but this is all over the phone. I want to cover my butt and make sure that they are going to cover everything, not the gamble that I might have to foot the bill.
I'm gonna talk with the service adviser and the tech tomorrow and see what I can get out of them. If I knew I was going to have this problem I would have gotten an automatic!
Here's something funny though, she told me that I was the first customer to ever call the tech line and complain  . I must have had 5 different Nissan reps/employees ask me where I got the number today.
__________________
2007 KC SE w/6spd 4x4
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Coastie
Newbie
Joined: Aug 29 2008
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 38
Member's Gallery:
View Gallery
Location:
U.S. - New Jersey
|
| Posted: Sep 24 2008 at 6:01pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I've been doing a lot of research and the 05, 06 and 07 xterra 6spd's have had numerous clutch failures at 6-14k miles. Do they employ the same trans in these vehicles? I thought the pathfinder, frontier and xterra were pretty similar? I know the gear ratio's and final drive might be different, but for clutch and other parts, are they the same?
__________________
2007 KC SE w/6spd 4x4
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
frontierguy
Senior Member
Master Mechanic
Joined: May 20 2008
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2591
Member's Gallery:
View Gallery
Location:
U.S. - Pennsylvania
|
| Posted: Sep 24 2008 at 9:31pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
The clutch is not covered due to the fact of how it is used,just like brake pads!
The pressure plate,t/o bearing, flywheel are all covered for 5yrs/60,000 under your powertrain factory warranty. The part in question(making the noise) appears to be the t/o bearing vibrating on the trans. input housing, due to lack of lube/debris or both. Either way ,the dealership is jerking you around. The clutch is not slipping, you are concerned about a noise. Why do they feel they can charge you $1000 just to remove the trans on something covered under warranty???? At best, it would take about 1 -1.5 hours to remove the trans. -$1000 ?????????????? Thats like lawyer or doctor fees, not repair shops! Hope you get some satisfaction with consumer affairs at Nissan.
__________________
'10 Altima SL
Traded 08 Frontier for 16 Frontier SV CC Long box, quite an upgrade. I do miss the 6 speed and Dynomax ex.
Nissan Technician 25 + years
2011 John Deere X720SE
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Coastie
Newbie
Joined: Aug 29 2008
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 38
Member's Gallery:
View Gallery
Location:
U.S. - New Jersey
|
| Posted: Sep 25 2008 at 4:08am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Thanks frontier guy, I will bring this up to them that all there other components are the ones in question and need to be replaced. Since the rep already told me she'd spot the clutch they might as well replace that since there is so much wear on it, assuming from the debris they saw, BTW, It's now 5am, I woke up at 2 am because of an upset stomach from the stress of this whole ordeal.
On another note, even though a clutch is a wear item, I noticed this at 4k. If a clutch is wearing at 4k that's not drivers fault. From reading on other forums some guys have had broken flywheels, misaligned pressure plates, and just faulty clutches from the factory. Difference between me and them is that their tech diagnosed it early on and they got it replaced, some under warranty. I've heard mine since 4k, it's now 14, that's 10k just to find it out! I should have come to you guys 10k ago!
If I'd of know that the clutch was going to wear in 14k I wouldn't have bought the truck let alone a manual. The rep seems to be doing right and I'm going to work with her and the manager of the Tech Line to see that this is documented correctly. My goal isn't to just get mine repaired but make this a big deal and not the dealers have customers foot the bill.
Since I got home from work I was able to collect 25 pages of incidents related to this. This is including frontiers and xterras with the 6spd. There are over 27 different cases similar to mine within these pages. 50% were misdiagnosed as a noise from the cluster. Of those 75% were eventually traced to the trans weather it be clutch, flywheel or bearings. The average mileage was 17k when the clutch went / service performed. Of the people who had maintenece done only 20% got it covered under warranty. I don't like these odds and I'll be damned if I sit aside on this one.
Like I said, I'm going to work with the rep and tech line boss. They seem to be pretty powerful people in the Nissan organization who can make things happen. They can cut through the red tape and expedite the process of a TB. Too many people with this setup (6spd) have had this problem. Nissan tech line told me that only 1 other documented repair has been performed, 1...my @$$. The reason I think is because the dealers are making a killing saying it is wear and people are being bullied into paying. No one's stoodup thus complaints haven't made it to the levels they needed to reach and they have no idea that there is a problem other than the clutch.
This is my .02 and I'll keep you all informed as that how this goes. I'm using all the help I got from this forum and others.
Thanks again!
__________________
2007 KC SE w/6spd 4x4
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Active Topics 
Memberlist 
Search 
Help 
Register 
Login
Nissan Frontier Forums : Problems / Technical
Topic: *Found* Noise 07’ KC SE 6SPD w/ Video
