Seems like I read about this somewhere, already.

My car has about 10K miles. I was stopped on a side street, and had to go across the first lanes of traffic to make a left turn. Traffic was coming, so I launched a little more aggressivley than usual - but nothing special. About 3500 rpms, feathering the clutch for traction. As I started to move, I let the clutch pedal out all the way, but the pedal stayed about half-way pushed in until I backed off the gas and the clutch had time to lock up all the way - about a second or two. WTF? It may not seem like a long time, but when you're pulling out with traffic coming, and your clutch won't lock up... a second or 2 seems like eternity. There was some slippage as the pedal stayed only half-way engaged, as I could smell it. This was not a very hard launch, but not the usual 1500 rpm lazy launch in daily driving.

Is our clutch hydraulically controlled? I would assume that it is. It kind of felt like there was not enough spring pressure to return the pedal to normal position, therefore letting the clutch grip all the way... or as if the hydraulic pressure kept the pedal compressed, even though my foot wasn't on the pedal.

Strange.

 

Yeah, that sucks. It was mentioned in another thread . . . And your situation is what I and others were worried about. This should not happen. IMHO . . . It is a potential accident looking to find a home, if you will. Some say that this occurrence is normal. However, normal or not, it should not be tolerated.

I feel that if Infiniti knew how common this is and realized their potential liabilty with regard to this matter . . . They would not be sitting on their A$$es and move on this issue quite quickly.

Perhaps, the numbers of owners, whom have reported this issue are not significant enough to warrant further discovery. I would suggest on bringing this rather serious problem to the attention of your local dealer's service department.

Good luck and be safe!

 

How so? Who?

I've had several manual tranny cars over the years, and have extensive seat time in several others, many sports oriented (Vipers, 3000GTs, 300ZXs, NSXs, Camaros, etc.). Never had it happen before, and never heard that it's "normal" on any vehicle.

In order for me to believe it's "normal", I'd have to know the underlying issues that are causing it. Does anybody have a description of what causes the issue? What in the world would cause the clutch to get "stuck" half-way engaged in this situation?

 

The same thing occurred to me a few weeks ago. Similar circumstances. I was attempting to cross a very busy highway at a median crossing, and... well, you've experienced it.

It scared me at first, because of the safety factor. Then I smelled the clutch, and I knew I had caused permanent damage. Fortunately, the car runs just as it did before.

I called the dealer, and got the typical "haven't ever heard of that before" treatment. In my particular case, I was bouncing the throttle a bit, so I don't know the exact rpm range that caused the issue. Some people have reported around 3500, but mostly I've read 4k. So at this point I've decided to try to not rev so high taking off.

 

Damn, glad to hear you got yourself out of a potentially dangerous situation.

Have you addressed this issue to your service people?

 

I think its the VLSD, it gets too hot when you over rev on a launch and it just slips while the car bogs. Whatever it maybe it is annoying.

 

How in the world would that cause the clutch pedal to not fully return?

 

Beats me, maybe its the clutch over heating and slipping

 

I'm sure it just felt like that..
It was most likely fully returned.. just slipping

 

Nope, everyone that is posting in this thread with a 6MT has experienced this. It is a very annoying problem as everyone has stated above, as well as dangerous.

 

we probably just have crappy clutches. 3500 rpms is a fairly high area to dump the clutch on (imo). the discs are no doubt having trouble gripping each other and therefore is not allowing the clutch pedal to come up. something interesting to note though... most '05's have the crappy clutch chatter. one possible condition of clutch chatter is oil on the clutch discs (i found this info on a bunch of tech websites regarding tranny problems *google it if u don't believe me*). if this is a possible problem due to why our cars have the clutch chatter it would not be surprising why people have problems engaging the clutch at higher rpms with this so called oil on the discs causing a lot of slip. just a thought.

 

Really??
So you can feel it in the pedal, like it's not fully engaged?

 

If you can imagine driving a regular manual car, if you give it too much gas and take the clutch out too fast, the wheels will usually spin or the car bogs (depending on engine power). On this car, if you give it too much gas and try taking the clutch out faster so that you can feel where the tires will begin to slip, well they don't slip, the clutch doesn't come out as fast as you take it out. You can have your foot off the clutch and the gas pedal all the way down and the car feels like it is acclerating with 50hp. After a good few seconds have passed, the car will start going, but if you shift to hard into second gear, it will stick down in second too. You need to let off the off the gas pedal for clutch to fully come out in some cases. This why people have a hard time getting a good launch on the 6mt, if you pass the threshold of too much throttle, better be prepared to lose all power to the wheels.

 

Even when a clutch "slips" because it is worn or whatever... the pedal should still let out fully.

The problem is that the clutch pedal is getting stuck halfway returned after you take your foot off it - it just sits there.

 

i have had the clutch sticking problem too. it is from a stop, and at launch, around 3500RPM, the clutch does not return to its resting position... it seems to hang up and stay somewhere in the middle as i lift my foot off the clutch. i have to release the gas pedal to have the clutch pedal return... not a good feeling. i don't bog down though, as acceleration is just as fast. what i don't like is the fact that the clutch is not in the regular place and causes me to believe i am not in control.

i have not dropped the clutch, but feathered it out so as not to be too hard on the drivetrain. i have not had this happen in any other vehicle i have driven. it doesn't matter if the VDC is on or off. launches at slower RPMs do not cause the clutch to stick. i received the same, 'i haven't heard of that before' from the dealership. i have not had it happen for a little while, but i haven't tried a good launch in a bit. fortunately, i haven't smelled my clutch burn... not to say it hasn't happened.