Tooked these a while ago today to show people what kind of noise this thing makes when the clutch assembly goes bad.

first vid shows me moving the outer pulley. You can hear it perfectly.

2nd video i had someone turning off and on the compressor to show how the noise stops and go.

This problem is caused by both parts of the clutch assembly touching each other. They are basically grinding each other. The sound goes away when its on due to both parts moving at the same speed. but another noise takes it place. A whine that increases as you raise the rpms. Nissan knows about this problem and even released a service bulletin. But their fix is to simply replace the compressor. The sound comes back anyways on the new compressor after a year or two. I thought about changing out the clutch with one from an 04' maxima. But since i cant get no measurements im stuck here with this sound.

 

Thanks for the videos. This confirms the exact issue I am having. I tried to get the dealership to recognize the problem a few months ago but I had no luck.

 

Thanks for posting the videos. So does that mean if it sounds like that and I have my ac running its going to ruin my clucth faster?

 

To be honest i have no clue. Mines has been doing it since when i bought it back in may '10. so far so good. It isn't placing additional load on the compressor from the looks of it.It's all sound me thinks.

 

Omfg!!!! U finally solved my compressor issue.. I am on my 3rd compressor.. and each year when I had it replaced, about 12k or a year later it would start again. I trouble shoot and show the dealer by doing what ur doing, turning the AC off while my foot is on the gas, and the noose goes away. All they do is replace the compressor which makes it go away for a year.. I know that when I had a poll here, alot of people also complained about this issue. Btw, what generation is ur car?


So the question now is, what do we do to fix this??? U said the clutch is grinding to something?

 

Btw... I found this post about someone whos clutch fell off..

https://g35driver.com/forums/general-tech-questions/382879-c-clutch-disc-fell-off.html

Could it happen to us cause of the grinding?

 

It's a 2007 sedan model with 58k miles on the clock. My guess is that its grinding against the outer part of the inner clutch. I think to fix this were gonna have to get a clutch from another similar compressor. I was gonna take the clutch out and inspect it but i had to remove bumper, radiator support, fans, to get at it but i ran out of time.

 

lol at the guy who saw it spinning next to him. I doubt that will happen in this situtation. Hmm now that i think about it, there needs to be space between the two spinning parts. As i was checking it out, they were both touching all around. Perhaps a spacer would fix this?

 

This **** blows knowing that this compressor is a ticking time bomb. I have a 08 with 59k miles.... how many compressors have u gone through?

 

It's still on the original one. ima tear down the whole front on thursday and see what i can do about this.

 

I'm thinking it cannot be the clutch causing this issue directly.. meaning, what r the odds that 3 compressors in a row suck? I'm guessing something else is causing the clutch to go bad.. maybe improper installation of one of the other components wearing out the clutch?

 

Well it also could be a design flaw in the clutch as well.

 

Could be, but then wouldn't everyone have this issue?

 

I dont think its a widespread problem. Out of all the 2nd gens i seen on the road only one or two had that unforgettable noise.

 

Let me know if u ever fix this issue