Creeeeeaaak, Creeeeeaaak! That's the sound the G35's clutch pedal makes each time you ease it out. As one editor plainly put it - Not good dude!
No good to say the least - so we took it to Cerritos Infiniti in Cerritos, California to see if we could get just a little satisfaction. We also had a busted cruise control (it turned on but would not engage)...
A quick check of the G35's maint. schedule revealed that we were, in fact, already late for the car's first service which Infiniti says should have been at 3,750 - seems kind of soon to us. And were not talking about a dealer recommended schedule either.
The service cost us $43 (BMW's is free btw), the cruise was repaired under warranty (brake pedal defeat switch not plugged in) and the clutch, well, funny story about that.
"There's nothing we can do" said the service advisior and the technician who worked on the car. The tech did grease the pedal spring with silicone grease and the problem was about 80% fixed - the noise was all but gone...., for about a day. But man was the G a blast to drive without that funky clutch sound. LIke All Summer in a Day, the G35's moment in the sun was short lived but packed with fun.
The next day the creaking and squeaking was so loud it sounded like an old fishing wharf the Scooby kids might have stumbled upon. We're going to try another dealership just for the heck of it but it's gonna take a lot more than a few Scooby snacks to quell this din.
Brian Moody, Road Test Editor @ 4,533 miles
luke4wf says:
06:15 PM, 05/14/07
I had the same trouble on my 97 4runner. Squeaked like mad. The dealer said 'Nothing we could do.".
A few months later one of the clutch levers had bent itself all out of whack. It turned out one of the retaining 'clips' (don't know the right term.) had broken off and the lever wasn't lined up properly any more. Hence the squeak. Hence the broken lever.
Have them check for all of the little retaining cips and grommets or sleeves. All I know is it looked like a half inch tall cylinder that kept stuff in place.
vvk says:
06:37 AM, 05/15/07
It most likely not the pedal. Have them check/lubricate the clutch fork.
If my mechanic told me there was nothing he could do, I would have fired him on the spot. Professionals are supposed to be able to fix it no matter what. It is their job and if they can't do it, they should change careers.
jerrywimer says:
06:53 AM, 05/15/07
It's probably not the clutch release fork, since that's located under the car. If it was the guilty party I'd also expect to be hearing serious complaints about outside noises getting inside the car. It's most likely one or more pivot points for the pedal or related hardware within the cabin itself, as evidenced by the fact that the noise went mostly away with the lubrication during the service visit. luke4wf's post sounds plausible too- if some component meant to guide or otherwise isolate noise making components for the clutch pedal assembly are missing or damaged, it could account for the issue.
There's also always the chance it's just a poor design, with no real components *to* isolate the parts at the pivot from each other. In that case it might not ever be anything more serious than a squeak, but it also likely will never be completely taken care of. Sort of like issues some GM 800 series full-sized truck and SUV owners have had with the steering shaft. The final fix for that seems to have just now become available, and wouldn't ya know it, it's a *redesigned* part, to address a flaw in the original design.
briancam says:
08:30 AM, 05/15/07
Our service advisor and the tech I spoke to were very accommodating - by "nothing" I think they meant that there is nothing functionally wrong with the clutch and that nothing is broken or out of adjustment - but I got the idea there's nothing to adjust anyway.
Still, by adding the lubrication, they did do something, if for no other reason than simply to make me happy. So really, the advisor did his job.
If any Nissan or Infiniti techs want to chime in that would be really helpful.
Brian Moody
benson2175 says:
09:49 AM, 05/15/07
My 94 Infiniti G20 did the same thing. Tech's said "nothing can be done". Silicone and lube helped the problem for about a day. Finally the clutch died way before it should have; turned out to be the cable was corroded and wasn't letting the clutch engage properly.
sodaguy says:
02:20 PM, 05/15/07
The G35 only goes by a 3750 mile interval under severe service. For the type of service that Edmunds is operating under, the service interval is every 7500 miles under normal service.
desmolicious says:
06:02 PM, 05/17/07
Funny how the initial "this time it's better than a BMW" hoopla fades so quickly....