2008 Infiniti G37S 60,000Km (37,282 Miles)

I was driving over a rough set of train tracks when I pushed the clutch in and it didn’t come back up. I remember the lurch I felt shudder across my body as I realized that the clutch slave cylinder had just failed on me like it had on so many before me. I snuck my foot beneath the pedal, brought it back up and drove the G37 home. I made an appointment with the dealership (Hyatt Infiniti Calgary AB) and brought it in to be diagnosed. As soon as I arrived, my service advisor did his preliminary inspection of the car invited me into his office and when I asked he promptly told me my car has been out of its powertrain warranty for 20 days and I would be responsible to cover any costs of the repair. I asked them to diagnose the problem, adding in that I suspected it to be the clutch slave cylinder to hasten the diagnosis, and we would go from there. I left the dealership saddened and concerned.

4 hours had passed by before I decided to call them and see if they had confirmed if it was the clutch slave cylinder. They told me they still hadn’t figured out what the problem is but will call me as soon as they do. I guess you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. At the end of the business day they finally contacted me confirming it was in fact the clutch slave cylinder that had failed and needed replacing as well as a whole laundry list of things (Fly wheel, manual transmission service, rear differential flush, etc.) bringing the grand total to $3400+. I had asked the service advisor if there was anyway corporate Infiniti would cover any of the cost since the car was only 20 days out and had only 60,000km of the 100,000km warranty limit; this was met with a firm no. I was shocked and upset that my service advisor wouldn’t even make the effort to contact corporate, so I declined any service from them, got the 1-800 number for consumer relations and took the car home with me.

As soon as I arrived home, I contacted Infiniti Canada Consumer Relations (Aug 20 2013) in hopes that they would cover the whole cost of the repair if not a portion of the cost. They first apologize to me profusely, then I was given a “Client Care” number, was told to fax them the invoice the dealership had given me, and that my warranty claim would go up for review and I would hear back from them in 48-72 hours. They had seemed so sympathetic to my situation that I was feeling good; I’d go as far to say I felt like I was being taken care of, big mistake. One week goes by without any contact from Infiniti Canada so I call them again, I’m told that my claim has been passed on to their senior consultants and that I should have an answer by the end of the week. Fast forward another week, I still haven’t heard anything so I call Infiniti Canada Consumer Relations again, this time I’m told that they are waiting to contact the dealership and that they don’t like to put a timeline on things but I should get an answer soon.

As I had been calling Infiniti Canada Customer Relations once a week for the past three weeks I figure I shouldn’t break with tradition and I’d call again (Sept 10 2013). I get the original Consumer relations representative I had from my initial call nearly a month ago now (I know her name but won’t include it in my post), she recognizes my case and is surprised the warranty claim hadn’t been resolved yet. She concludes the call telling me that they will contact the dealership for certain that day and I will hear back for certain in the afternoon if not the very next day. I neither hear back that afternoon nor the next day. I call again on the Thursday (Sept 12 2013) and as I’m sure you can understand, am quite frustrated by this point. I consider myself a calm guy, but when I’m told for the umpteenth time that there has been no further progress in resolving my warranty claim I become very agitated. I told the guy if I don’t hear back from them within the day, I don’t know what I’ll do (an empty threat, trying to get the point across). I told him I had been pursuing this for close to a month and not once had they taken the initiative to call me and update me regarding the processing of my claim. I reaffirmed the lack of contact on their end was completely unacceptable and was no way to treat any customer, especially a customer who has invested in a premium brand for the majority of his driving career expecting premium service in return. I left it at that and returned to the waiting game. I guess I got my point across because I was contacted that same day with an answer. “We are sorry to inform you, we won’t be covering the cost of repair to your vehicle”.

At this point I’m over the failed clutch slave cylinder, because after all money is just money. I’m angry and upset that Infiniti doesn’t stand behind their product, and that Infiniti had displayed absolutely no concern for me as a consumer of their product and above all walking away from this experience I feel disrespected as a person. As Henry Ford once said “A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business”, Infiniti doesn’t understand this concept and as I read through many of your dealings with them I doubt they ever will. I bought the G37 when I was 18, I had a G35 before that, and I am now 20 and can honestly say I will never buy another Nissan/Infiniti product as long as I live and I will tell anyone who is willing to listen why they shouldn’t either. You can bet as soon as the car is fixed, I will have it listed and wash my hands of Infiniti.

To my fellow G37 owners I wish the best of luck to you and your cars,

Winkerbean

TLDR Infiniti blew it.

 

What you just wrote here would be much better directed if it was in a letter in a sealed envelope sent directly to Infiniti.

 

Several points. First off, I completely understand the OP's frustration. Infiniti dropped the ball in terms of quickly responding to the concern. Someone in their chain of command should of told you early on this was not going to be covered instead of beating around the bush.

That out of the way, from everything i've read here and on the 370z sites, CSC failures do not fall under the power train warranty, rather only under the basic (4yr/50K mile) coverage. Why???? No clue, nissan doesn't consider a CSC to be part of the drive train explicitly it appears. While technically it's not an internal transmission part, it is a required to couple the engine to the trans. How this is not part of the power train is beyond me. Is a rear differential (or transfer case on awd) not part of the drivetrain coverage either....?

Anyways, with that said, it's best to get the heavy duty aftermarket replacement and cut your losses short.

 

if I was you I would check the master cylinder first. Try replacing that first since its fairly inexpensive and don't need to drop the tranny.

 

I feel your pain right now!!

I am having major issues with Infiniti Consumer Affairs as well!

Basically im having a issue with what I believe to be my flywheel. Theres a rattle/chatter sound at a low rev when the clutch is down. I have spent weeks dealing with this at two different dealers as well as hours on the phone with consumer affairs.

They even have flown a Infiniti engineer out to look at the problem. To us his exacts words were "I have never heard any Infiniti or Nissan make this sound" but what he tells the dealership and consumer affairs is that the "noise cannot be duplicated" and "its a normal noise". My car is still under the 4 year warranty until next month and I know they are trying to just waste time till the warranty is up.

The woman I talked to at consumer affairs was the RUDEST person I have ever dealt with. I even mentioned my brand loyalty as well and her answer was "oh i dont see that you owned anything previous" in a super rude voice I'm 24 years old and ive already owned several 300zx's,240's and i still own a 240 and G35 and this G37 right now...Ive basically only driven Nissan since i could drive and they really could care less. If they were smart they'd realize we have ALOT of years of car buying left in us at our age and overtime could make the company alot of money..

 

oh and what do they need to do to the flywheel?? I was told that part was $2000 plus labor! be careful they might try to get you there

 

I am truly sorry to read your story. These kinds of things suck for everyone involved, but I can't fault infiniti too much on this one, you were clearly out of warranty here even if it were covered under the power train which I don't think it was anyway. The way you were treated wasn't the right way I suppose... Manual transmission vehicles have more parts prone to failure, the csc being one of them. The work involved in replacing that part is rediculous. I definitely wouldn't let the dealership rape you on the price and get a second opinion on the flywheel etc.

 

I would have fix the car myself or take it to a shop, not a dealer.

 

A clutch replacement with csc should be about ~1500 from a small reputable shop.

Unfortunately BMW & Audi are just as bad if not worse. Lexus might be a little better, sometimes depending on the circumstances, but it's a wash. We have an IS250 in the family and they flat out ignored our calls for a long time after we escalated things to a regional director. This went on for a few months. Step down a tier to ford/chevy/honda, and it becomes a joke since they care even more about their margins. Read about problems people having with their transmissions on the Mustang GTs and what ford does about it...

Of course you need to make your decision with your dollars, and any negative experience is certainly justified by crossing them off your list. I'm just saying that if this turns you off from a make, prepare to start crossing off a lot more companies because they all suck in some way or another. For me, I'm personally okay with the fact that this is pretty much the only significant problem on the 6mts, because it means I don't need to visit the dealer for other things. The major problem list on my old 325i was pretty long by comparison...

 

Winkerbean, I had a similar issue exactly a year ago. I too live in Canada and can tell you I had the same poor service that you did. At one point during the wait I considered walking into the Infiniti/Nissan Canadian HQ as I drive by it regularly, however without a car, I'd be asking a favour of someone else and decided not too.

Anyhow, I went with the Z Speed HD CSC, and a southbend flywheel & stage 2 clutch. I asked for my old parts, they seemed to be in fairly good shape (car had 90,000 km). If you're thinking of selling the car, I wouldn't replace the flywheel and clutch.

 

$583 for CSC at an independent shop

 

I went to a place called, accurate transmission here in NW Calgary. They looked at the CSC and said it looked fine but was going to replace it anyways for a cost of $900. Still better then what the dealership wanted. My current Job requires a lot of socializing and I was talking to a customer about his BMW 3 series warranty woes. He had the transmission re-programmed under warranty because it took five or so minutes for drive to engage. when the car was 1 day out of warranty it was happening again, they refused to do anything about it, billed him for over $8000 for what i assume was a whole new transmission, and now he is in the process of taking them to small claims court. Lesson is, it could always be worse.

 

It's too bad a lot of manufacturers treat their customers in such a manner as to potentially loose them for future sales. And it's usually over such little money in the long run on their part. I've been very lucky when I've had warranty issues on my 1991 NSX from Acura. But I found it wasn't from the goodness of the factory as much as how much my dealer was willing to fight for me with the rep. to get the problem covered by them even though it was a few years out of warranty. Possibly it was because the NSX was Acura/Honda's flagship at that time and they wanted to make sure it kept a good reputation for their workmanship on the car. I've also had problems with my Audi and Volvo and it was a pain to get even problems covered under warranty done without first second guessing if I had modified the car, raced it, or any other excuse they could come up with before finally fixing it under warranty. This was especially true for the Volvo. I'll never, never, never, ever buy another Volvo because of this and most of it was due to the poor dealer in my area. I would be in the market for another Acura/Honda again once they finally get a better looking vehicle back onto the market and it has the performance features I want. I'm crossing my fingers right now on the 2012 G37S holding up for the next 8 years or so without giving me problems. I do like the look and feel of this car.

Al

 

I had an Audi 5000 and it was the worst car I've ever owned, and that's saying a lot since I've owned British cars...

 

First; I would post this on FB and copy everything you said here on FB. Second; I'm surprised that they did this because I had a problem with a CV and my previous car a 2005 Nissan Maxima SE for which I had purchased the extended warranty...they covered a good portion of the cost as a courtesy as it was only like in your case just outside the warranty period. But I was very polite and I also pointed out that I did almost all my work at the stealership including almost all my oil changes and most of my aftermarket parts' installation. I did have to change my front exhaust header with the built in precats and that was very expensive....and outside of warranty. But I've owned VW, GM, Ford, Mazda and 3 Maximas. I can honestly say that the service that I got at Nissan was the best and although my Mazda was a heap of junk my dealers service was quite good. I'm in my first G now and I'm keeping my fingers crossed!