Top 5 Problems Nissan 370z Coupe 2009-20

Hey, friends, it's Len here from 1A Auto. Today we've got a Sixth Gen Nissan Z in the shop, also known as a 370Z. And we're super excited to go over some of the top problems with it. Let's get started. You know me, the first thing I like to talk about is a safety issue. And for this one right here, it's a CSC failure. And CSC stands for concentric slave cylinder. Now, some of the symptoms that you're gonna notice for this would be you step on this clutch pedal, goes down, but it'll actually stay right on the floorboard there. At the same time as this is happening, you would be of course trying to shift and you're gonna notice that it won't go into gear. Now, the reason why this is specifically a safety issue to me is because sometimes you could be driving the vehicle and you won't be able to pull it out of gear.

And if you've noticed either of these symptoms, you're also gonna notice this one. If you look under the hood, you're gonna see this area right here. You can go ahead and grab these tabs, pull it aside, you can see your brake master cylinder, and you're also gonna see your clutch reservoir. You could either look inside or even from the side and you can tell your level. If you don't see any fluid inside this reservoir, it's more than likely leaking from down below. So, now that we're under the vehicle, if you were to look at the driver side of the transmission, you're gonna see the line that leads in, and then this leads to where the bleeder screw is. And then inside of this where you can actually physically see in the transmission housing is where the slave cylinder is gonna be. Generally speaking, it's plastic, it cracks, it leaks out all the fluid and you're gonna see it coming out of strange places in the bellhousing here.

So, now it's time to talk about some fixes on this. Unfortunately, if the slave cylinder broke up inside there, obviously you're gonna need to replace it. But at the same time, as you replace that you're more than likely gonna need to replace the clutch and more than likely either resurface or replace the flywheel. At the same time as doing all this you're gonna want to do a clutch fluid flush. The reason for that is because the DOT 3 brake fluid that's inside of it doesn't have a high enough temperature rating is what you need inside these transmissions. I would go with the DOT 4, it has a much higher temperature rating and it's going to be much better overall. At the same time as doing all this, you could of course, get yourself an external heavy-duty slave cylinder that mounts right out here and that's gonna help prevent this issue from happening again.

The next thing I wanna talk about is a noise that comes from right back here. You ever been driving and you hear this odd clicking noise coming from the rear axles? Well, let's get into why that happens.

Let's talk about the causes. If you were to safely lift up your vehicle, so the wheel's off the ground, remove your lug nuts and take the wheel off. Right here in the center, you're going to see something that looks a lot like this. You would see the lock pin, the cotter pin. You would see this right here. And then of course you would see the nut. Well, what happens is is between these two pieces, they start stretching and it starts getting loose. Even if you had this lock pin in there, it's not gonna hold the nut if the nut can spin around inside this casing right here. What they decided to do was take it all apart, they're gonna get the axle out of there, they're gonna put a little bit of grease between those splines, they're gonna put on a new nut for you. They're gonna put on new one of these things and, you know, those are great most of the time, and then, of course, they're gonna replace that cotter pin for you, right? And that's great. Unfortunately, who's to say that this isn't gonna loosen up again, and you're gonna have movement, right? It's common for this to happen several times. There is a special nut that you can get, it's an aftermarket nut, Kawasaki offers it for their axles, and it will actually work much better. You won't have the use for this right here or of course, that cotter pin, it's actually gonna have locks built right into the nut. So, when you torque this down to the specifications, there's no way that it's gonna loosen up.

The next thing I wanna talk to you about on this vehicle is fuel starvation. And what I mean by that is maybe you're like me, you like to drive it so it weighs a little less so I'll keep the tank around quarter. Maybe I like to drive a little heavy footed. When you start doing something like that, or even just driving like a normal person and taking a sharp corner, you're gonna have slosh inside your fuel tank. The reason why this is an issue in this particular vehicle is because inside of the fuel tank it should have baffles. The baffles should stop things from sloshing around. Well, if it doesn't have proper baffling inside there, the fuel can slosh around and of course with centrifugal force, it's gonna pull it to the side and your fuel tank is over here, but the gas is all the way over here, starts sucking a little bit of air. So, you're gonna start noticing a little bit of spitting and sputtering. All right, so fixes for this would be of course you can keep your fuel tank a little bit on the full side.

The next thing I wanna talk to you about on these vehicles is the steering lock mechanism. If you were to come in here and you try to step on the brake and start your vehicle, you might happen to notice that it doesn't wanna start and the steering doesn't wanna unlock. Of course if the steering is stuck in the lock position, the vehicle's not gonna wanna start. It's just programmed that way. Let's go over a couple steps on why that might happen.

So, some of the symptoms for this may make you think you have an issue with the key fob, possibly a battery. So you'd run in the house, you grab your spare key fob, you try it and it still doesn't work. Generally speaking, you get inside your vehicle, you have your key, you should be able to push this button, it's gonna go into accessory, run, and of course it's gonna start. In this case, it may get into accessory but it's not gonna start. Where you need to look for that is if you would follow the steering column down, right underneath here, you're gonna find your ESCL. Basically what that stands for is the electronic steering control lockout module.

So, a couple of the fixes for this, and these are just temporary fixes is of course, if you can get underneath there and you can feel that unit, you can give it a couple light bonks. Just take your cell phone, give it a couple bonks under there, and it might work for you. There's also another method that you could use that involves pulling a fuse. That's not necessarily something that we're gonna get into with this video, but it is a possible option, not necessarily recommended. The best fix for this though, would be to go ahead and replace that unit.

The next thing we wanna talk about on this vehicle is oil consumption. Something that you might notice overall with this is that you're gonna hear a little bit of an engine ticking/maybe even a knocking noise at some point. Generally speaking, it's gonna be a ticking, especially under acceleration. The reason for this would be because of your oil level. If you were to pull up your dipstick located right here, you're gonna see the little level and it's gonna tell you where your oil level's at. If you start hearing a ticking noise, more than likely that oil level is near the bottom of the dipstick, and maybe just at the lower end of the operating range. If the problem was just about the noise, of course, you'd wanna check that interval, make sure you're not approaching when the oil change would be due. If you're looking all right, you can add a little bit of oil, that's probably going to help with the noise. You could also of course, do an oil change, that's gonna help with the noise if you're up close to that interval. But this particular issue isn't necessarily just about noise, it's about what causes that noise. And like I said, it's about having a low amount of oil inside the engine. So, possible fixes for this would be of course, if you're still under warranty, luckily, you can bring it to the dealer, they're gonna run a little test, they're gonna have to see how much oil is being consumed over a period of time and mileage. If you fall within the right amount of time, you're more than likely gonna get a new engine small block, which would be great. If for some reason you're out of warranty period, and you're just looking for something that's gonna be kind of a quick fix, and it's gonna hopefully work at least better than nothing, something that I would recommend maybe would be something as an oil catch can. Of course another preventative measure would be to keep up on your maintenance.

Okay, so having this car at the shop has been a lot of fun. Hopefully you learned a little something in this video. If you did, go ahead and comment on it right down here. While you're at it, click the like button, subscribe, and ring the bell. That way there you'll be kept up with all of our latest footage. Thanks.

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