Hello all, since buying my G35 Coupe 2 weeks ago, I have loved every minute of it. However I have come across an odd problem. I searched the forums to find anything that relates to this but cannot find anything. (sorry if any of my questions are odd, I`m still a newb)

My car has about 30K miles or 50K KM's on it. It is a 6 MT, with the sport package, premium package etc. It has been driven fairly aggressively throughout its life, but always driven properly, and always serviced properly.

The car is from Colorado, however I moved it to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada: where i live. Anyways, it is significantly colder here (-25 degrees celcius or -15 degrees fahrenheit currently, and the car sits outside most of the time (i know its a crime), but i keep it plugged in when its anything close to this cold).

I usually warm the car up a reasonable amount (3-5 minutes), however when I first start driving, not only is the gear box somewhat stiff, but the clutch pedal comes up slowly...it still engages and works fine, but on every shift for the first 2-3 minutes of driving it seems as if the clutch fluid is almost frozen, is this possible? Do I need to lubricate any parts within the clutch?

Today I looked at the clutch fluid, its at the right level, but its a little bit murky so i was thinking about doing the ranger protocol (sucking some of the fluid from clutch fill area then replacing it, then pumping the clutch 20 times...and repeat until clean). My question is is what clutch fluid to use, so far all thats ever been used is whatever infiniti puts in there at the dealership. I was thinking of using Prestone Synthetic Dot 4 (http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/brows...ke%2BFluid.jsp) is this any good and will it mix properly with my fluid or should I be buying something else?

I also want to flush the transmission fluid, I am going to have it done by the nissan dealer, but if I can I would like to bring them my own fluid to do so. If possible something synthetic would be great, basically something that can handle heat and cold (to somewhat extremes (+30 and -30 celcius or about -25 fahrenheit to 90 fahrenheit).

Thanks in Advance.

 

anyone?

 

yeah, i have a 240sx 91 and when its cold the cars clutch feels like it wouldn't wanna go up. it feels like the clutch isnt stiff anymore but enough to get it into gear right? when it warms up to its point the clutch feels fine right?

if this is your problem then read on.

leave your car running for 7-8 mins and when it reaches its temp step on the clutch. if it works i say bleed your clutch. that should eliminate your clutch problem.

 

if i leave the car running (just in neutral) after starting and don't touch the gas at all, it will still be warming up at 7-8 minutes. But ya after a good 15 minutes or so when the car is warm the clutch feels fine.

Its litteraly -40 degrees celcius outiside, this is the same as -40 degrees fahrenheit (both Celcius and Fahrenheit are equivelent at this point). If you are outside with uncovered skin for more then 10 minutes tonight, you will most likely have frostbite, 20 minutes and you risk danger. It is F***in cold outside.

So bleeding my clutch is the best bet? I think it should be done either way, i don't think its ever been done. Maybe i just have a lot of contaminents in my fluid which is allowing it to freeze? Maybe there has been some condensation on the system over the years? Could a bubble cause this? I only feel it whenever it is quite cold outside (-10 degrees celcius or about 5 fahrenheit or colder)

 

the clutch will start to feel fine, more so after i use it, i find if i just pump it 5 or 6 times as i'm warming the car up (but without even putting the car into gear), then its perfectly fine, during those 5 or 6 times it is somewhat sticky/slow moving. It seems as if there are parts within the clutch that are freezing or stiffening up. I think I need to lubricate something within the clutch, what could that something be?, would the stealership know about this?

 

dealership*?

they should know.

uhh, then its just you need to lubricate the clutch.

im pretty positive once you do that your clutch should be fine.

 

ya i mean dealership, but my infiniti dealership steals from me, or atleast the bills that they give out are surely theft...surely it doesn't cost them 350 bucks for parts and labour for mud flaps when i can order them through a infiniti dealership in California and have them shipped here including taxes for $180, and infiniti in winnipeg told me it would only cost 70 bucks to have them installed lol, but thats a different story.

What exactly do i need to lubricate/what do i use? is there a diy or is it more involved. I will be bringing it in for my 30K mile service shortly, but they will still charge me an extra 50 bucks to do it i'm guessing? cough "ripoff" cough

 

its the clutch you need to lube.

take some lube go under the clutch pedal and lube around the area and then step on clutch couple of times and do it again.

 

change clutch fluid. bleed the fluid out

 

clutch master cylinder is on its way out.

 

Ditto !! CMC

 

You serious. The car was at Infiniti no more then a month ago and they said it was in great condition. 3 people other then me have drove the car and specifically complimented me/the car on how the clutch feels.
This doesn't explain why if feels fine when the car is warmed up.

 

lol, i doubt thts the problem.

no way that should be going out.

just get it lubed and if that doesnt work, bleed your clutch.

and THEN check those cmc if those 2 cant do the job.

 

ok, will do. I'm getting worried, would the clutch master cylender be covered under powertrain warranty? I just ran out of the 4 year bumper to bumper coverage.

recomendations on fluid to replace the stock stuff with, my local store has prestone synthetic dot 4 brake fluid, any other suggestions?

 

i dont know about that.

what year is your car?

symtoms of a bad cmc is when you cant get into gear. and plus if you do it grinds.