Replacing a clutch in a Nissan Xterra?

Question

To save gas, I bought a used 2001 Xterra 4 cylinder with a standard transmission and am beginning to regret it.

After owning the car only a year, at about 90,000 miles, the car started making grinding noises when shifting. Since I live so far from a dealership, I had the OEM parts (disc, pressure plate, throw out bearing) delivered from a Nissan dealer, and my local mechanic did the replacement. During the repair, the mechanic said it also needed a new clutch master cylinder, so I also procured a new master cylinder for him to install. When the repairs were complete, the car shifted fine. But after about 2 months the same grinding noises started again. I took the car back to the mechanic to solve the problem. He took the housing off the clutch assembly and showed me a pile of metal dust and shavings inside the housing and covering the clutch. He said that it was my driving that had caused the problem, not his installation. He said that the clutch would not have worked at all if he had installed it improperly. Now I’m looking at starting all over again and having to buy and install all new parts.

I am not the kind of driver that abuses a 5 speed this way. I drove standard transmissions for years, back when that was about all that was available, and I’m very careful with the clutch. I never had such problems with automatic transmission cars, even those with as many or more miles. So I don’t see how the mechanic could be right. Please tell me if it is more likely that I screwed this up or the mechanic did.

Answer 1

Take your truck to another mechanic and get a second opinion.  Metal shavings inside the bell housing can only be caused by: clutch disk, flywheel, throw out bearing, input shaft or the fingers on the pressure plate.  Did the flywheel look to have major scarring on it, was the disk unevenly worn or warped?  There are to many things that could cause this.

Also, make sure the mechanic checks the transmission mounts to be sure they are securely fastened.  If the tranny is loose, it can cause twisting between the engine and transmission which could also cause problems.