As an update, I took it to the dealer a while back to diagnose the issue, but they were booked up on my scheduled appt, so I did not leave it. I have been out of town, and the rescheduled appt is this Monday.

They are going to look through the hydraulics, but it appears to be a design issue at this point... I doubt they find anything "abnormal" and it comes back with a clean bill of health - a "known issue" in Microsoft speak. Don't know if they will bother with examining the health of the actual clutch. At least it will be in my service records that I noted this issue.

If anybody else is having this issue, please post up, and post what year vehicle. Since this is a wear item, they will NOT replace the clutch under warranty... and they aren't cheap to replace. Now that it's happened a couple of times, and each time the clutch has that lovely smell afterwards... I am concerned about the clutch life. No, it's not slipping under normal use now, but if it goes out at 30K due to this issue, and they expect me to pay for it... I'm gonna be pi$$ed.

 

Do 350zs do this as well?

 

I've had this problem on my '05. This was however after doing a dry skidpad exercise after I lost the rear end and did a 360. I shut off ignition, started up again and the pedal returned fully.

 

I still think it's proportioning valve in the clutch cylinder to stop people from doing high rpm clutch drops. Many of the late model AWD turbo cars are equipped with these valves to keep the owners from destorying the drivetrain. Like the 4thHorseman stated, the LS1 6MT F-Bodies also have a history with this problem and I think the general concenous on LS1.com was that it seemed to only happen when the clutch got really hot from racing or a high rpm launch.

 

I was at a stop sign on an uphill behind a police cruiser. Although the thought of peeling out right behind him weighed heavy on my mind, I assure you it didn't happen Just a gentle, normal, hill start maneuver.

 

I dont have the problem with my car, wondering is this happening for a particular batch of G's , if so can u guys having problems list ur build date

 

Sorry to revive the old thread, but I found something of interest.

Check out this link over on my350z:
http://www.my350z.com/forum/showthread.php?t=134440

If you scroll down to post #11, Javi states the following:
I don't know if this is the specific problem I've experienced, but it sounds like it.

BTW - Admins/Moderators, someone might consider cross-linking this over in the coupe section because I know a few of them have had this problem as well.

 

I have had this happen one time in my G. It was a slowish launch from about 4K. By slowish I mean I didn't just dump the clutch - but when I did release it the rest of the way, it stuck where it was until I pushed it in again. I kicked myself for doing it as soon as I smelled the burning clutch.

What is interesting is that I had experienced the same exact thing in my old 300ZX (1990). I learned in that car that the clutch was very intolerant of slipping, and would cook quickly. I never had this happen in any other manual car (and I have had a bunch). But the 300ZX did the same exact thing from the same type of launch, the pedal stuck and the clutch slipped.

It's probably the same system.

 

Yup, same problem I am have'n. Going into 5th gear @ 130kmh at highway 407 (Canada) there was car coming behind me and the clutch pedal isn't coming back out half way, by the time I know it's not coming out my rpm is at around 6000. mT.Tm Yes, it smell disgusting and I have changed a new clutch 3 days before this happened "underwarranty by dealership due to clutch lose???" (Ya, that's what the dealer said). Back to driving, yes, lucky shoulder on my right hand side, so I decided to pull it over, yes, I burned the clutch!!! Bought it back to the dealer, asked me to drive 1000 to 1500km before bringing it back again due to new clutch. Now it has been 3000km I drove, it still happened, but not as sticky as last time on the hwy. I will bring it back to the dealer ASA I am free. Update you guys for this matter I am have'n. (We are have'n)

BTW: 9000KM when this happened, now I am @ 12000KM with my milage.

Last time I change my clutch underwarranty is because (some other post discussed about this matter already) clicking sound when cold start (4 hr), stick shakes @3000rpm for all gears 1st - 6th (havn't try reverse ), some other small issue and yes, I forgot already.

 

I posted a thread with this same issue back in December or January.

This valve is on more cars than you would think. Does anyone have access to any diagrams of the breaking system to see if one exists on our cars? I know there is one on BMW M3's that can be disabled.

 

No offense but I vote driver error. While maybe this should still not even happen even if you are shifting incorrectly, I doubt it would happen if you shifted correctly without "feathering" the clutch. You shouldn't need to do that to take off any quicker, just shift faster or hold the clutch lower not so high to "feather" but high enough that it is just below the point at which it engages not actually engaging until your finally ready to go, rather than feathering and engaging/disengaging repeatedly. My guess is you engaged the clutch while feathering and when you backed off and on again feathering you just got something stuck lol, did you happen to look at your revs when you are still gassing but clutch won't disengage? the acceleration is probably not doing anything because the gear isn't engaged and clutch is stuck, once you stop revving, the gears stop and let the clutch loose.

Clutch should really be used as little as possible. You shouldn't even touch it if you don't have to, and when you do it should be fully depressed.

just my $.02

I have driven a lot of MT cars over the years and used to live in a very steep area of san francisco where clutch drivers have to replace their clutches annually.

(clutch drivers = people who lightly touch the clutch pedal while in gear and driving, just resting a foot very lightly on the clutch pedal. this is bad and lots of people do it without realizing it. when you are not using the clutch your foot should be 100% off the pedal and next to it)

 

I will admit that it is partially driver error, but only partially. I usually feather the clutch when taking off in 1st, and I rarely rev very high when doing so. But when I say feather the clutch, I'm talking about only a split second. If I don't, then the rears buck as they grab, the tires chirp, and the vdc kicks in. And I'm talking about from a 1k rpm launch too.

In my particular case where the clutch got stuck, I was around 3k to 4k rpms trying to get across traffic. I had unconsciously revved that high, not deliberate. That was driver error. I also feathered the clutch for a slightly longer period of time, but only slightly. That was also driver error. Either way, the clutch shouldn't have frozen.

 

I hear ya BigSash, but there's a problem with the clutch. I learned to drive a manual in the UK and have driven nothing but manuals for the past 15 years. I haven't burned out a clutch yet, but this car has some repeatable problem that seems to occur either with a lot of stop n go (overheating fluid?) or sometimes just on an uphill start (fluid / valve issue?)

At any rate it's something more than driver error. I never had this problem on any other car that I or my wife have owned or still owned (and she drives nothing but stick too)

 

^^ Thanks for the backup doogie ^^
I'd like to stress that this problem is not native to the g, coupe or sedan. There are tons of z's experiencing this issue as well, and I for one cannot believe that 100% of the people that have experienced this have also been the root cause.

 

Uhm did you guys try to double clutch to remedy this problem?

In other words, right when you notice the clutch is not popping all the way into it's disengaged resting position, you resupress it and try to shift again cleanly?