New G37 Issues/Concerns

[goobers]

Hello All,

I recently bought a new Infiniti G37 S. I a loving it so far, but I have a few questions/concerns. Please bear with me as I am new to the world of manual and cars in general (only my second car). My questions are as follows:

1. My second gear seems to be very clunky. Very often when pushing it hard in first, i miss the shift in second gear. Meaning i try to shift into second but its so clunky it refuses to go in and I simply miss the shift (timing wise). Has anyone experienced this ? Is it simply due to my lack of skill? I wouldn't think so as I am not having this issue when shifting into any other gear near redline.

2. Sometimes when I depress the clutch in first gear I hear a very heavy 'klunk' noise. Its the best way to describe it, its very odd but doesn't happen all the time, and only in first gear.

3. Just today I had my music on very loud (I mean *very*). I hadn't realized I had my foot heavy on the throttle (redlining it) and my clutch still pressed in. Suffice to say my car wreaked of clutch for the next 10 minutes. My car still drives normal and all, but I was wondering if I had done any significant wear to my clutch. I am a worrisome person and feel real bad about this.

Thanks in advance, and in general as a beginner and a new infiniti owner are there any quirks I should know about with my new car?

Thanks!!

[audtatious]

For the clunks and difficulty with 1st/2nd gear I would take it to the dealer. It should not be acting that way. As for the clutch I'm sure you took some life out of it but if it's still working fine you should be OK. Maybe you should consider retrofitting some form of shift light?

Welcome to NICO

[G_whizz]

Welcome to NICO!

I don't have a G37, so I'm sure others will chime in as well.

Is your new toy actually "broken in" yet? Or have you been hammering it since day 1?

The clunking does not seem right to me...I would get that checked out for sure.

As for the clutch sticking. EVERY G does this. If you are referring to launching your car at approx. 5k RPM's, or riding your clutch at high RPM's, it's a piss off, but it's some sort of safety feature. Totally normal...but still sux.

Congrats on your new toy...let's see some pics!!

[joker350gt]

G37 transmission is not as strong as the G35, alot of people have had theres replaced. There is a TSB out for it.

[Poyzinous]

Yeah the break in period applies to the transmission as well, though its not as serious as with the rest of the car. The synchros and gears need to be seated and learn to get along with each other before you start tearing off 7500rpm shifts. The clutch disc probably got a little toasted, but judging from your twitchy left foot, your shift clunkyness may just be you. I know after driving the new G, that the clutch has a short take up and engages fairly quickly, so start pulling out of gear a little sooner. As long as there is no load on the engine from high rpm or accel or decel you can pop it out of gear. The clutch is there to cease torque transfer when you shift from a gear spinning like crazy to a gear thats waiting to be sychronized with the speed of the other gear and continue torque transfer from the input shaft to the output shaft. I may be going too deep into this... anyway, practice shifting a bit slower, pulling out before you pop into (that wasn't on purpose) your new gear and make sure your clutch is depressed all the way. If it still is clunky, then there may be a slight misalignment

[telcoman]

Hello All,

I recently bought a new Infiniti G37 S. I a loving it so far, but I have a few questions/concerns. Please bear with me as I am new to the world of manual and cars in general (only my second car). My questions are as follows:

1. My second gear seems to be very clunky. Very often when pushing it hard in first, i miss the shift in second gear. Meaning i try to shift into second but its so clunky it refuses to go in and I simply miss the shift (timing wise). Has anyone experienced this ? Is it simply due to my lack of skill? I wouldn't think so as I am not having this issue when shifting into any other gear near redline.

2. Sometimes when I depress the clutch in first gear I hear a very heavy 'klunk' noise. Its the best way to describe it, its very odd but doesn't happen all the time, and only in first gear.

3. Just today I had my music on very loud (I mean *very*). I hadn't realized I had my foot heavy on the throttle (redlining it) and my clutch still pressed in. Suffice to say my car wreaked of clutch for the next 10 minutes. My car still drives normal and all, but I was wondering if I had done any significant wear to my clutch. I am a worrisome person and feel real bad about this.

Thanks in advance, and in general as a beginner and a new infiniti owner are there any quirks I should know about with my new car?

Thanks!!

goobers

Welcome to NICO

It took me awhile to get used to the clutch on my G 35 when I first got it.

Here is a little trick or exercise that you can try that I taught my daughter when she was learning to drive a stick.

When a light is about to change green and the clutch pedal is depressed look at your tach. Try to take off in first gear from a standing start without raising rpm or very little increase in engine rpm until the clutch is completely released and your foot is off the clutch pedal.

This will get you used to the grab point of your clutch.

Try matching engine rpm to speed in first gear so when you shift to second gear there is no jerking of the vehicle and it seems almost like you are in a vehicle with an automatic transmission.

Racing the engine prior to letting out the clutch is going to cost you big time. $$$.

Just my $.02 as I've been driving stick for over 40 years and have gotten 200k miles out of a clutch on a few other vehicles.And yes you can call me an old farht.

Telcoman

[goobers]

Thank you all for your responses!!

I guess I was implying that I was revving my engine up and launching it. I wasn't, it was just a simple mishap that happened once and I felt kinda bad about it so I felt I should ask. Driving has been fine since so I guess my clutch isn't worn.

I did drive my car under 3500 rpm until I broke it in (about 1200 miles). I currently have a little over 3k (ive been driving A LOT recently). I havent launched my car because I dont want to put too much strain on my transmission. when im doing city driving, normal speed, shifting at about 2500 rpm everything is fine.

But for some reason when im over 3k in 1st, shifting into second becomes difficult. Kinda like if your slowing down and try shifting into first (which isnt a good thing) it refuses to go in or with difficulty. It doenst grind or anything, but i really have to jam it in.

I'm pretty comfortable with the catch point on my car, like when im doing heel and toe downshifts everything is fine.. even into second (although it is kinda jerky even if I perfectly match my revs). I dont know, pretty much what im trying to say is second gear is clunky.

Anyways, I gotta get my car cleaned its pretty salty because of the roads. Once I do i'll be sure to put up some photos. Its a sexy beast ! (The exhaust note is amazing)

Thanks everyone !