Greetings,
I picked up my 04 DG Coupe this past summer and I love it. Its 6MT and I picked it up with 43k miles. Currently the car has 53k miles on it. I had no problems with it up until January. I started to notice that when its cold out (below freezing) and I start the car in the morning, after releasing the clutch (while in neutral) the car slightly lurches forward for a split second. I brought it in to have the transmission service done at the dealership, while I was getting an airbag recall taken car of. Since then, my problems have been getting worse.

My problems include:

• The car wants to lurch forward still, when I release the clutch in neutral when it is cold. The RPMs drop from 1500 to about 500 for a second, but then go back to normal RPM
• I can hear the clutch or some clutch component catching/grinding when the car is warming up in the driveway
• There is a loud whine once I get over a certain speed for the first 5-10 minutes of it warming up, then it goes away completley for the rest of the day
• It is hard to shift into first gear when rolling under 5mph to a stop sign

After researching, I'm kind of leaning towards a bad throwout bearing but I'm not completely sure. This is the first Infiniti that I have owned, after switching from BMW, so I am not too familiar with Nissan products. I am not too happy about this since the car only has 53k miles and the previous owner said he changed the clutch right before I purchased it. I usually do all the work on my cars but being that I am not too familiar with working on this car, I dont really wanna mess with it as it is my only car. Might just send it to the dealer, but I know I'm gonna have to pay an arm and a leg. UGH!

Any help would be appreciated as to what the problem is. Thank you!

 

Can you give a better description of this clutch catching/grinding sound that it makes while warming up in the driveway? Perhaps a video?

 

You should never be shifting into first while moving. From what I recall there is a mechanical gate that is not supposed to open for first gear while moving faster than 6mph or something close to that to prevent catastrophic damage.

Only shift into first while completely stopped or moving less than 1mph. Otherwise it's all clutch and transmission thats eating the extra power from the wheels driving the engine because you're moving too fast for first gear, especially if you're not rev matching.

You can start from 2nd, and should always use 2nd or higher when moving any appreciable speed. Just make sure the rpms don't drop below 1100 or so, or if you're going up a steep hill either keep your momentum to stay in 2nd @ 1800+ or start from a dead stop in first while keeping the rpms consistent with the power that you need.

That said. You have an issue that sounds as if somehow a drive gear is still providing power to the wheels while your clutch is disengaged (clutch pedal in). If it were my car I would have a mechanic look at it before driving it any more. I try to DIY on anything that doesn't take more than a day's work at amateur speed, but this serious enough to end up costing you way more than it has to in money, time and headache by not having a specialist look at your transmission now.

Someone please confirm this, but as I recall the 03 and some 04 models came with a transmission that was almost guaranteed to fail compared to the newer models. Perhaps you have one of the earlier models with a significantly higher failure rate. Someone else way more knowledgable will likely chime in here (listen to them over me).

If you just bought this car and the previous owner replaced the clutch...why did they have to replace a clutch at 43K miles? It could be possible that they experienced the problem, replaced the clutch thinking it was the issue and found out this didn't fix the problem and decided to sell it before sinking a bunch more money into a new transmission. Do you have the service records for the car? Was it taken to a dealership or private mechanic? Anything transmission related in the service records?

Get it looked at.

I have an 04 6mt coupe with 128k miles (i bought it at 52k in 09) and have paid close attention to the health of my clutch and tranny. At 128k and counting including two previous owners who drove it God knows how, the original oem clutch is still going strong (although i suspect I'll have to replace it in the next year or so). The motor is a tank, and as long as it's full of good oil it will drive well for a long time. This is a hell of a car that loves to be driven. Take it to someone who knows a lot about vq35de based powertrains and can tell you what you're up against.

 

Everything you describe except the chattering at idle is due to the standard gear oil being viscous when the weather is cold and the transmission hasn't warmed up yet. Switching to synthetic (Redline fluid) would solve all of this. At 60K miles I did a tranny fluid change but with conventional, and I would hear what you hear in the winter. When I decided to go to Redline synthetic at about 100K miles, it went away for good.

 

^ I have a very slight chatter at idle as well, but I was under the impression that these transmissions are just noisy. Is that not normal?

 

They are not noisy under normal circumstances. Your tranny should be inaudible over the engine and exhaust noise in a healthy G once it's warmed up.