[Avalanche]

Hi Folks,

First time poster on this forum although automotive forums are not new to me. I've got a 2009 Versa SL (6-spd) and for over 100,000km it has given me no problems, until this morning...

I started it and as I put it into gear there was a bang, the tires chirped, the car stalled and the clutch pedal stayed on the floor. I've been driving for 35 years and working on cars for 30 so my brain immediately went to "broken clutch cable". I've had it happen more than once. Not giving it much more thought, I drove home (yes, without the clutch) and pulled it into the garage. My next step was to head to my computer and see if I could find a clutch cable. Now I always assumed this car had a hydraulic clutch but the symptoms screamed cable. Of course, it has no cable. Up on jack stands now, all I see is evidence of fluid leaking from between the bellhousing and transmission. Nothing else amiss.

Here is the question. Has anyone had this happen? I suspect the slave blew up but the transmission needs to come out to determine that. The car has an extended warranty and it would cover the slave, if that indeed is the problem. My concern is getting a call from the dealer Monday telling me what the problem is and that it is not covered under warranty. At that point I'm on the hook for the labor to pull the transmission and, when they're to that point, on the hook for the repair and replacement of the transmission.

What say the experts?

Cheers

Dale

 

[JoshG]

Im no expert but this doesn't sound good. Keep us updated.

 

[08versailles]

Welcome Dale! I didn't know the versa doesn't have a clutch cable. I had to replace it on my old 86 golf when the sheath split. I wish I could be more helpful. I would imagine your extended warranty should cover clutch and transmission but...? I bought an extended warranty a couple times that covered lots of things but not sensors [MAF, ABS, O2 etc] so I'm assuming you might be covered. Hope it goes well, keep us posted. 08v

 

[ADOversa]

Welcome Dale! I didn't know the versa doesn't have a clutch cable.

IMO its why the clutch is so numb in these cars. I told my gf when I was (trying) to teach her to drive standard in my v that if she could learn on that she could drive pretty much any standard car, just because its kind of difficult without being able to feel the clutch take up.

OP: Had you noticed any clutch slippage before? It sounds like it might be screwed.. maybe the throwout bearing?

 

[Avalanche]

OP: Had you noticed any clutch slippage before? It sounds like it might be screwed.. maybe the throwout bearing?

No issues with the clutch prior to this. The dealer service rep tells me the throwout bearing and slave are an integral unit which would explain the complete and sudden failure. I was just curious to see if anyone else had a similar experience.

 

[JoshG]

Did they say anything about it being covered under warranty?

 

[Avalanche]

Did they say anything about it being covered under warranty?

The service adviser indicated if it was a slave cylinder failure it would be covered but if anything else failed it would likely not be covered. My issue now, of course, is if the slave failed, will they replace the clutch disc as a warranty item as well? The disc will certainly be contaminated and will have to be replaced...

 

[JoshG]

That's a big point. I'd ask them. What if its not covered though? Would you replace it on your own?

 

[Avalanche]

By the time they get to the clutch they'll have the transmission out and might as well replace the clutch disc. They likely wouldn't even charge labor on it at that point. The clutch was fine and had given me no reason to think I was going to replace it any time soon. I don't abuse clutches and have had them last 200,000km and more. No reason to think this one wouldn't have done the same.

 

[robj80]

My money is on slave as well. They better replace at the very least the friction plate. Those don't take to well to being wet. The pressure plate could be inspected and cleaned up.

 

[JoshG]

By the time they get to the clutch they'll have the transmission out and might as well replace the clutch disc. They likely wouldn't even charge labor on it at that point. The clutch was fine and had given me no reason to think I was going to replace it any time soon. I don't abuse clutches and have had them last 200,000km and more. No reason to think this one wouldn't have done the same.

True, I'd buy it and have them install it. Shouldn't be too much for a replacement clutch.

 

[SoCal Versa 2008]

Hey... something similar happend to me on Monday. I was comming out of an intersection and shifting to accelerate and the clutch pedal went to the floor and of course the car lost drving force. I had the radio on so didn't hear anything but the vibration from the pedal felt like something snapped. Of course, just like you, I assumed the clutch cable broke. I was stuck out of gear though, not in gear like what yours sounds like. After playing with it for a bit I was able to engage it into gears without the clutch and hobbled to a local shopping center parking lot where I could look at it. Other stuff happened like wife calling AAA and stuff but not important for my point. Anyway, I looked under the dash board to see the pedal and saw what looked like a small ball joint on the pedal and next to it was a connecting link disconnected from the pedal. So I grabbed the link and snapped it back on. I pushed on the pedal and there it was, it worked again. It's Thursday now and it has been popping loose every so often where it still is working but I have to pop it back. This morning I wrapped some black tape around it to keep it from popping off and went on here to see if I just have a worn attachment and if someone else has had this problem. Either way it seems minor and may look for a new part this weekend.

 

[Avalanche]

Bumping this one back from the depths. The dealer did replace the slave under warranty and told me they inspected the clutch disc and it had not been contaminated and was not worn so they re-installed it.

Fast forward 18 months and the slave has again blown out. This time the extended warranty has expired and the other part is off the 1yr/20,000km warranty. Replacing it is an engine-out process. Lucky me! Good thing I have a couple of old Volvos that can be fixed when something goes wrong...

Dale

 

[JoshG]

Any idea of what caused the slave to go bad? My V is manual as well.

 

[Avalanche]

Any idea of what caused the slave to go bad? My V is manual as well.

No idea, other than it's made of plastic. Dumbest idea ever...make something that's impossible to change out of a material that's far more prone to fail than...oh...I don't know...steel???

However, these are not the only cars with this issue. A good friend has a 2013 Focus ST and he's starting to hear of them having the same problem...in as little as 3000km. And the good part there?? Ford is refusing to cover them under warranty. Someone in that community already has a steel replacement unit available. I can find no such thing for the Versa...

Dale

 

[JoshG]

Plastic? Yeah, not very smart. Specially if they can't withstand bad weather.

 

[Boothby171]

I've got a serious CLUTCH problem!

My wife inherited her uncle's 2009 Bare-Bones 5-speed Versa in 2012. He had put 5000 miles on it, and in the time since, she's put on just over another 5000 more.

So, the car has about 10,500 miles, and...THE CLUTCH IS SHOT.

Yes, shot. Slips in all gears. Can barely get up a hill.

Now--my wife and I have been driving stick shift for over 30 years, each. Her uncle had been driving stick shift for probably over 60 years! We've never had a car whose clutch failed before....actually, we;ve never had a car whose clutch failed (until now), and we've brought quite a few cars up to and past the 100,000 mile mark.

So it's not us.

We brought the car to the dealership, and contacted Nissan North America.

Yes, the car is out of its 36 month (36 month?!? Should have bought a Hyundai!) warranty. No, it's well WITHIN it's 36,000 mile warranty. And yes, a clutch is a wear item. I know this.

But, seriously. 10,000 miles? That's all a clutch is good for these days? 10,000 miles?

I thought it was pretty reasonable to ask NNA to cover the replacement of what is obviously a faulty clutch.

After about 2 weeks, Nissan North America called back and told us that they would NOT be helping us. In any way. They considered providing the repair as a courtesy, but then decided,..nah. No courtesy. Nothing.

And the dealership wants $2200 for the repair. And told us, outright, "But you know....we might find more problems in there when we open 'er up! Might cost a little more, even!"

At this point, I would never even consider looking at a Nissan, ever again.


(Oh, and I should mention, when we were leaving the service area, one of the salesman told us, "Maybe it's time to trade it for a new car!" Yeah. I'll be needing a new car every 10,500 miles. Maybe if I buy a NISSAN, but I don't think I'll have that problem)

 

[07Versa6MT]

Why does everyone assume every car uses a cable. Hydraulic is the norm for me, you fuckers must be old! Slave blew, could need a pressure plate too, who knows, maybe a bunch of fingers broke off, and the slave went beyond normal travel to where it popped out and jammed, leaking all fluid out. Although i don't think that's likely since the fingers would probably all jam up in the shaft and prevent the input shaft from rotating.

 

[robj80]

this car ever get flooded? Clutch failure at 10k is ridiculous and not the norm. Either defect from the factory or driver error. But considering how old the car is with the low miles other things could have come into play. My clutch still feels brand new but I have almost 160k miles on it. It's also an 09. Maybe your car is just mad at you for not using it enough LOL.

Goodluck! Maybe a rodent chewed through a line from the car just sitting for extended periods of time.

 

[Maximus Decimus]

Bumping this one back from the depths. The dealer did replace the slave under warranty and told me they inspected the clutch disc and it had not been contaminated and was not worn so they re-installed it.

Fast forward 18 months and the slave has again blown out. This time the extended warranty has expired and the other part is off the 1yr/20,000km warranty. Replacing it is an engine-out process. Lucky me! Good thing I have a couple of old Volvos that can be fixed when something goes wrong...

Dale

Hey did you get it fixed? My clutch gave out on the highway. Had it towed to shop. There is clutch fluid leaking. Shop said it was most likely slave cylinder issue. Told me it was located in the bell housing and needs to be taken apart. They want close to $1000. Car is 09 bare bones with 70K miles.