GU Patrol Clutch problem

Most of the evidence in and around the repair industry is anecdotal but there are way to many reports to ignore. Nissan will feed you male bovine manure.

Most of the many GU clutch failures reported involve intermittent problems that emulate hydraulic failure, usually diagnosed as a bad master cylinder. In most cases, the problem has been the flywheel, not clutch plate or pressure plate.

Dual mass flywheel technology is not new, ford and holden have used them for years but for whatever reason, the nissan version is bleep.

Rest assured, a genuine dual mass kit will set you back way more than $2200.

Hi Glenn,

I have just had my flywheel, clutch and pressure plate replaced after my dual mass flywheel carked it. However my symptoms were totally different to yours, my clutch worked perfectly well but the leakage of "oil" from the dual mass flywheel was the issue - the engine would bounce around at idle (like a broken engine mount) with the exhaust hitting the chassis, or at least it sounded that way. But rev the engine and all would be fine as the remaining oil would re-distribute itself within the flywheel and re-balance itself.

Upshot of all this is that I had the flywheel replaced and Nissan only sell it as a kit with clutch and pressure plate. But all up the parts were "only" $1,800 for genuine Nissan, so it pays to shop around for parts.

Is your clutch actually stuffed? Put it in 4th gear while stationary and does it stall the engine or does the clutch slip when you try to take off? If the engine stalls, your clutch may be OK and could be air leakage in the clutch hydraulic line itself, or something else along those lines.

Don't be too quick to replace the flywheel/clutch as it may not be the problem. Something that stops/starts working is unlikely to be the clutch and more likely an air bubble in the line IMHO.

My old clutch is in good working order, pressure plate is fine and clutch has plenty of life left - but flywheel is stuffed. Your welcome to have the clutch and pressure plate, but somehow I think the 2.8 and 3.0 will be totally different :(

Cheers

Captain

Giffo,

I'm assuming here that the 2.8 has a spigot bearing (someone correct me if its just a bush) in the flywheel.

The small spigot bearing holds the front tip of the input shaft that the clutch plate slides on. If that bearing is not turning freely, then the clutch plate will rotate even though the pressure plate is released.

If you have the transmission out, then its cheap insurance to replace this bearing as well. On the Toyotas its a $5 part.

Hi, I had the same problem, the thrust bearing was moaning away but sometimes it would not go into gear and other times it was fine.
Turned out to be the spiggott or thrust bearing cracked in half and was twisting the clutch plate in certain positions (cant remember which one the machanic said it was) So i had an extreme 4x4 heavy duty clutch put in and all is good. $840.00 fitted.