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Nissan Xterra Manual Transmission Problems

199 messages,  Last post on Apr 29, 2013 at 10:43 AM

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Messages Page 17 of 21

#158 of 199 I caved.... by richsmit

Sep 15, 2010 (6:58 am)

Got an offer through the BBB from Nissan to settle for $500 "in a goodwill gesture".
I gave it a day to think about it, and accepted, as I didn't know if I countered their offer with a higher amount, they may wash their hands of it and go to arbitration. My chances then would be unknown, maybe zero, so I felt it was better than nothing. Besides, it was just as good as taking my clutch to an independent garage for $1600 ( $2100 minus $500), PLUS, the repair is guaranteed by Nissan for a year or 12,000 miles.
Anyway, those of you out there in my situation, stick to your guns and take them to arbitration. They seem to be reluctant to stone-wall owners who stick it out.
On a funnier note, Nissan sent me a Customer Survey in my e-mail a week ago. It was only about my "dealer experience," but I called the dealer who did my work, and whom I had no complaint about, and told the service writer that I had received it, and would give them excellent marks IF I got a free oil and filter change and tire rotation. I had that done yesterday, and filled the survey out as advertised.
To sum it up, the manual clutch in the 2005-2009 Xterra is too weak for the duty it is assigned, and problems result. Nissan will not accept ownership of the problem, and will blame the owners for not knowing how to drive a clutch. Pure B.S. !!
If they don't repair it under warranty( which states that manual clutches are "wear items" and not covered, then I recommend you take it to a reputable transmission shop, have one of the many GOOD aftermarket clutches installed, then take Nissan to arbitration to get some of your money back. My regret now is, I still have a Nissan clutch in my wagon, and can't trust it past 12,000 miles or a year. Good Luck to you all.

#159 of 199 Re: 4th Xterra Clutch in under 16K miles [phxjeff] by Just_Peachy

Sep 29, 2010 (7:51 pm)

Replying to: phxjeff (Aug 16, 2010 11:04 am)
I spent an hour on the phone to the guys at Jim Wolf I highly recommend to anyone giving them a go. True Nissan put a smaller clutch in a vehicle designed to take a bigger one. Thanks for those numbers, the calculated difference is nearly 35% more surface than the JWTand better materials. For those that don't understand materials, it doesn't mean it will last 35% longer, it means that you have 35% more safety margin before the clutch goes beyond the temperature of no return. It could mean the difference betwen 30k and 300k. I took Nissan to the automotive funded arbitration facility in Canada and for the skeptics that think they are biased, they ruled in my favour!!
xterraclutchhotmail.com

#160 of 199 Re: 4th Xterra Clutch in under 16K miles [Just_Peachy] by tidester

Sep 29, 2010 (7:57 pm)

Replying to: Just_Peachy (Sep 29, 2010 7:51 pm)
Please don't include your email address in postings to the Forums.
 
tidester, host
SUVs and Smart Shopper

#161 of 199 mjclivermore by mjclivermore

Nov 10, 2010 (11:54 am)

2008 Xterra Off Road. You would think that a product that has off road in it would have a clutch that did not burn out at 44,000 miles. Even if you did a lot of off roading, which I did not.

#163 of 199 Warranty Repair by jackbear

Dec 06, 2010 (10:44 am)

Clutch failed completely on my 2007 Off Road at 20,500 miles. With 56 years of driving manual transmissions almost exclusively I have never had a premature clutch failure like this.
After reading the comments on this site and others I bypassed talking to the service reps at the dealer and went directly to the service manager and the general manager, who I had dealt with when I bought the truck.
No problem in getting a warranty repair. Service manager pointed out to me that the powertrain warranty - 60 months or 60,000 miles - included the clutch cover, which is Nissanspeak for the pressure plate. I didn't get to see the actual parts, but the repair paperwork described the clutch as inoperative because of "defective pressure plate, one of the prongs was bad".
Parts replaced were the clutch disc, cover (pressure plate), and the release bearing.
Told me that they had also ordered a replacement flywheel, but the original was not damaged and didn't need replacement.
This experience leads me to suspect that the problem with obtaining warranty repair may lie as much with a particular dealership as with Nissan corporate.
Certainly I will be on the lookout for any early warning of clutch failure in the future. If it happens again and I have to pay for it I probably will go to a hopefully heavier duty aftermarket clutch.

#164 of 199 Group Buy Info by orbframe

Feb 01, 2011 (11:30 am)

http://www.clubfrontier.org/forums/f8/jwt-clutch-flywheel-group-buy-3-a-65786/
 
JWT Clutch and Flywheel combo for only 695 + shipping.... We're trying to get a few more in on this...
 
I'm tired of my stock clutch, and the REPLACEMENT stock clutch, going out after only 40k miles. I've driven manual transmissions for 14 years now and "skill" is not the issue...

#165 of 199 Group buy by stickman409

Feb 18, 2011 (4:55 pm)

I want to get in on this but I may not be able to wait very long. How close are you to the required ten?

#166 of 199 Re: Group Buy Info [orbframe] by offroadmike

May 01, 2011 (3:23 pm)

Replying to: orbframe (Feb 01, 2011 11:30 am)
Clutch on my 2005 Xterra just failed at about 59K miles-totally unexpected. In this case, very little warning of a problem-one week vehicle was fine, and the next week the clutch was slipping big-time, as opposed to one other clutch failure I've experienced (after more than 100K miles) where ample warning (gradually increasing slippage) in advance of total failure were evident.
 
This unexpected clutch problem also happened 1 week before a challenging, difficult 4WD back country trip into Utah that I planned to use the vehicle for. I'm very lucky it failed in the city, and not out there. It would have been really tough to tow the vehicle out with the other SUVs on the trip, or very expensive (like $3000 more or less) to have it hauled out to pavement. But that would by my expense and problem, not Nissan's, eh.
 
I've had other sticks and certainly know how to get long life from a clutch-this an inadequate/undersized parts issue, and not a driver issue, as many others on this site have said.
 
I found this Edmunds website and see that lots of you'll have this same problem w/ these Xterra clutches. Information sharing is power! Tx to this website, I'm not wasting my $$ on inadequate Nissan replacement clutch parts. This will be a $2K repair, and I dont want to go thru this again in 30-40K miles, and risk a breakdown in some remote, hard to get to place.
 
On 4/19/11 I ordered JWT replacement parts, at about $1000 (clutch, flywheel, TO bearing, bushing) total. Can I get in on some kind of group discount w/ others who have this problem, for these JWT replacement parts?

#167 of 199 2006 Xterra MT by mysport

May 11, 2011 (9:40 am)

Replying to: stickman409 (Dec 30, 2009 8:05 pm)
2006 MT Well after 3 clutches (3rd done at aamco), failed gas gauge (got $ back when recall finally happened), faulty electric window (body shop repair), rear diff/trans repair ($2300 at aamco). What an incredible experience - even with previous american cars it wasn't this bad from product to service to 'customer service' WOW. Nissan, hard lesson learned. - getting another toyota and cannot wait!

Messages Page 17 of 21

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