[paulyt]

i know that this has been a common issue for many, but does anyone have a resultion to this.


the symptoms of mine are... heavy juddering when taking up drive in 1st, it doesnt do it when you pull away in 2nd, and it is not something that can be created, it just happens, although i have noticed it does it when you pull away with a bit of lock on it more.



it does it when its hot and cold, and feels at times like wheelspin in the wet, although its not actually wheel spinning.



dipping the clutch or over revving when pulling away often makes it smoother, but doesnt cure it.



i have tried various old fashioned techniques like being really heavy on the clutch to try and burn off any oil deposits if they are there.



the clutch doesnt slip, the gear changes are as they should be and the gear box doesnt crunch or grind.



its been to nissan but they couldnt see the problem and recommended to let it develop, which was not helpful.



the car is now out of warranty so i dont want to be spending money on it replacing parts to see what cures the problem.



im sure if all these little niggles (wandering at speed, knocking steering, knocking clutch, rattling trim, leaking boot, loose windows, mouldy carpet and squeeky front seats) were resolved, it would be a very good car.

 

[SneakyElephant]

Welcome to the site Paulyt....you didn't say what year and model it is. Could it be something to do with the traction control? I'm sure someone here has the answer. My car doesn't have any of the problems you mentioned (yet) so unable to advise personally.

 

[paulyt]

Hi Mr Sneaky
mines a 1.6 Tekna - 58 plate.



i did wonder about the T/C being as i seem to recall the fault only started 2 winters ago. i have tried a plug in diagnostic check but it doesnt bring up any faults on that, presume a full nissan one may do.



i toyed with the idea of removing the T/C fuse and reattaching to see if anything reset, not sure if it would work though.

 

[mdvineng]

clutch judder is usually associated with warped clutch plate and or the springs mounted in it that are the transfer shockabsorbers, the main cause of plate distortion are sitting at the lights with gear engaged and foot on the clutch just biting, this overheats the flywheel and warps either it or the plate and sometimes both.

 

[paulyt]

squeeky front seat sorted thanks to a picture on here somewhere of which bolts to nip up tighter.

 

[Hodsgod]

There is no single cause of clutch judder, there must always be two problems. Imagine a warped clutch disk, between the pressure plate and flywheel that is perfectly aligned. How can it judder, the contact pressure and surface is constant. It could slip but never judder. It judders when you have misalignment between clutch cover and flywheel, plus a problem with the clutch disk itself.

 

[mdvineng]

clutch judder is symptom of slip and grip and thus changing the loading on the engine, various causes are and in no particular order; dirty flywheel /worn clutch plate /weak diaphram spring/weak or broken clutchplate damper springs/ warped plate or flywheel.

 

[mnl]

It can be made worse by worn engine mountings too.

 

[Hodsgod]

It can be made worse by worn engine mountings too.

How does that happen?

 

[mdvineng]

the engine moves more violently side to side magnifying the feeling you get sat in the car.

 

[Hodsgod]

But the engine and gear box are still bolted together and I can't imagine the clutch juddering because of that. I am not saying you wouldn't get some noise vibration, but I don't see the judder.

 

[mdvineng]

No, the already juddering symptoms are exaggerated by poor engine mounts not caused by them.

 

[mnl]

im sure if all these little niggles (wandering at speed, knocking steering, knocking clutch, rattling trim, leaking boot, loose windows, mouldy carpet and squeeky front seats) were resolved, it would be a very good car.

Mine has the knocking steering, and the squeaky seats, something inside the backrest, lean back "sqwik", rock backwards and forwards "sqwik, eeek, sqwik, eek sqwik" Drives me nuts some days, others I don't notice.

It shouldn't wander at speed, either something is wrong with the steering, it is very gusty windy, or you are holding the steering wheel too tight.

 

[ians1386]

I've cured my knocking steering, at least for now anyway, see the knocking steering post under this forum.

 

[Drpepper99uk]

Hi,

Did you manage to get your clutch judder sorted out in the end?

 

[Briggsy]

The inputs from the engine into the clutch/flywheel system excite the resonant frequency and cause the system to judder. Nissan didn't spend the money tuning the resonant frequency to be outside that of the engine inputs. They just need to make the system a bit stiffer and problem solved.

 

[Hodsgod]

The inputs from the engine into the clutch/flywheel system excite the resonant frequency and cause the system to judder.  Nissan didn't spend the money tuning the resonant frequency to be outside that of the engine inputs.  They just need to make the system a bit stiffer and problem solved.

That isn't true, you are describing resonance and not judder. You tune the clutch to stop the engine vibration exciting the naturall frequency of the vehicle.

As I have described in an earlier post, judder is usually caused by intermittent high and low levels of drive. This is caused by two defects, it is never caused by one defect. Such as misalignment between engine and transmission, plus a slipping clutch.

Your comments about Nissan not spending he money to tune the clutch are also false. The clutch manufacturer will do that as part of the service.

How do I know all this, I worked in the Nissan engine plant for eight years, I have worked for the two largest clutch manufacturing companies in the world, and I worked inside the clutch factory that supplies Sunderland.i have tuned clutches for Toyota and Ford personally and I have been managing director of two clutch manufacturing plants. Judder has nothing at all with damper springs, per damper springs or hysteresis devises, I.e. the tuning.

 

[Midasi1]

Wow - glad mine's an auto

 

[ians1386]

Ha ha you got done!

 

[bigvern10]

Hi paulyt,

Did you ever get this fault sorted? My wife's 2008, 1.4 petrol has exactly the same problem (juddering when setting off in 1st when cold). Just wondered what the outcome was, and more importantly how much it cost to sort!

Cheers, BV