Hello all,

So after doing some digging, I've come to the conclusion that multiple weird noises come from our cars whether in gear, in neutral, or when shifting.. Some cause for alarm, some not.. That being said, I'm hesitant to believe the noise that I'm hearing falls into the general loud sports car noises category. I was hoping to get a second opinion from some senior members here..

Vehicle is a 2003 G35 Coupe, 6MT, around 140K miles, with clutch/dual mass flywheel/pressure plate/TB all replaced professionally with OEM parts around 6,000 miles ago.. The works.. It's ran like a dream ever since, I never ever drive it hard, with the exception of a 3rd or 4th gear pull every now and then. Still, no banging gears, no dumping the clutch.. No rational reason that I could have somehow damaged something..

Here is a video of the noise I'm experiencing, I apologize for the crappy cell phone quality.. its all I've got to record with

2003 G35 Coupe 6MT Squeaking in Neutral
https://youtu.be/LBIpP6ksyFU

About a week or so ago, I started to notice this annoying squeaking noise when in neutral with the clutch pedal released.. As soon as I push the clutch in like 1/2 an inch the noise is gone.. release and its back.. basically resting your foot on the pedal for a second, is almost enough to silence the noise.. Fully depress the clutch its gone as well, but it doesn't take much to silence it is what I'm getting at.. I also notice that when in gear, the squeaking is still there when driving. I can hear it up to about 2500RPM until road noise/the exhaust drown it out... Fluid levels are all fine as well and were replaced with the clutch job, if it matters.

Is this really natural and no cause for alarm? Does it fall into the general G & Z noise making category? I want to believe so and that I'm just paranoid about everything when it comes to the G... but at the same time, if this is something that will need fixed sooner or later, I'd rather preemptively get it done now..

Thank you for taking the time to read, if this does happen to be the same noise that others are hearing I deeply apologize for duplicate posting... and would ask if it's possible, to merge this thread with others I have read on here, or delete it if there's no other option. Again, thank you all.

 

It may be a possible that you have a defective throw out bearing but why don't you return to the shop that did the work?
If they tell you that is normal you could always get a second opinion at your local Infiniti dealer.
It is not unheard of for independent shops to tell the customer that they used OEM parts when in fact they do not to try and make additional profit and screw the customer. Or maybe it is just a failing OEM TO bearing?
I learned this lesson the hard way more than 30 years ago with my 1988 Mazda 929 5 speed manual.
After all that aggravation I gave up using any independent shops and only use the dealer.

Good luck

 

Hey thank you for the input, I had someone else tell me the same about the throw out bearing before I read your reply. I’m to return to the shop that did the job tomorrow, and hopefully find out what direction to head in with this.

I did source the parts myself individually, and stopped by during the course of the installation, to see them go in and also check out how bad the old clutch n stuff was worn. I do trust the guy that installed them but I know exactly what you mean.. (I’ve had it happen to me too at a different independent shop, that did a top end rebuild on a Spec V that turned out to have rod knock.. they rebuilt the wrong half)

I unfortunately have to go to the Nissan dealership for my 2nd opinions now as the nearest Infiniti one is about an hour away.

Hopefully I’ll know more by this time tomorrow and will update the thread as soon as I nail down the issue, for anyone else developing the same squealing/screeching.

 

So Friday I went to my mechanic and we put the old gal up on the lift while she was running, @telcoman you were correct in pinpointing the noise as the TO bearing.

Fortunately, it just got a little dry on the shaft and that was causing that annoying noise, we were able to peel back that little rubber grommet/cover where it meets up, and get some premium lubricant inside (while the vehicle was off) I worked the clutch a few times and also depressed it while he lubed it up one last time. This instantly did the trick, and my cluch pedal feels a lot better now too, it returns a lot smoother after being depressed.

I’m unsure how it got dried out after only 6K miles, but I do realize he could only lube it once before putting everything back together.

I can say with certainty though that the issue is resolved and the noise is gone. I just took the G almost 1,000 miles yesterday from PA-Florida and she did excellent. I’ll update in a week when I get back that it’s gone for sure.

Picture of the rubber piece on transmission housing to pull back & Access bearing. We used Westland lube with one of the long thin plastic hoses to access it (kind of like what comes on a can of WD-40 but longer)

 

Unfortunately this is what happens sometimes when you take your vehicle to a private mechanic instead of a reputable authorized Nissan service shop. It's one of those "you get what you pay for" kind of things and why reputable authorized shops typically charge more, they do the job right the first time.

He didn't follow the steps in the FSM, there are multiple grease points that probably never got lubricated. I strongly suspect you will have to do this again probably every 10k miles or less. You're supposed to lube all these points with a lithium based grease. I doubt an aerosol can will be able to get enough grease into these spots but it's a good band-aid.

Here is the picture from the factory service manual of all the grease points.

 

Appreciate the reply cleric670, I’ve come to learn a lot about the whole get what ya pay for aspect with our cars. It definitely holds true to a T. The clutch was one of the very first things I got fixed after I got it, so saving over a grand seemed a good deal at the time.

After that I started going to the dealership for the more complex jobs. Like fixing an over pressurized A/C system, and drier & A/C motor replacement. Which was totally worth it’s weight in gold compared to driving in 100° heat with the windows down lol

I never got to say thanks from awhile back, I knocked out a few of those things too from the maintenance list ya gave me awhile ago, starting with that Cam position sensor first. I went and got some good buckets too for when I end up washing at home, and I love that Opti-Seal stuff it’s surprising how far that bottle stretches! Put some undercoating underneath where stuff looked like it was starting to rust. Got the diff bushing replaced along with the fluid too. Still got a ways to go but wanted to say thanks for the list it was a very great start for me. 👍🙏