Qashqai - Clutch Failure after 1987 miles !

[Gwen & Brian]

We bought a new Qashqai Tekna 1.6 Petrol Manual on 31st May 2017 after previously having had a Juke for 5 years which covered 10205 miles, the Juke was faultless and we were happy to buy another Nisan. 

That was until 22rd Jan 2018 when it broke down on a Major Trunk Road and was recovered to the local Main Dealer.  They diagnosed a clutch failure necessitating a complete clutch replacement.  Clutch/Dual Mass Flywheel/Slave Cylinder at a cost of £1900. They could not identify a faulty component and passed us back to Nissan Warranty dept. The car had covered 1987  miles in the 8 months we have owned it!

Nissan have refused a claim ion the basis that the Clutch had overheated and burnt out due to misuse/abuse. We both drive the car which is our second car and cannot accept that our driving has changed in a way that would caused the clutch to burn out in less that 2000 miles, we have never experienced Clutch problems with any other car we have had.  We had not experienced any burning smell or clutch slip while driving it.

Has anyone experienced a similar Clutch issue or such an unsympathetic and unreasonable response from Nisan Warranty?

Also can anyone suggest our best course of action, possibly the Motoring Ombudsman or the Small Claims Courts to recover our losses.

[Trevor]

Hi Gwen & Brian....welcome to the Forum

First thoughts are that if the clutch has been mistreated (which is so very much the situation nowadays with stop/start traffic) then the clutch driven plate would have a blue tinge to it from overheating or the friction lining material on the plate would be excessively worn due to slipping.

The DMF is also something that would have excessive play in the separate components due to excessive on/off driving and short-shifting the gears at low speed (noticeable by juddering when pulling away/accelerating).

Maybe worth contacting the AA or RAC if you are a member and ask if they do an inspection service....at least if you rock up at the dealer and ask to see the failed parts you would have an independent expert to verify that the parts have failed in service due to poor quality or if you have infact caused the damage yourself.

Let us know how you get on with it

Cheers,   Trevor

[Moff]

Continuing from above I used to work in the service department at a couple of dealerships and this happens quite frequently. The most common cause of failure is people treading the clutch pedal as a footrest! Hope you get it sorted!

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[Trevor]

Thanks for the input Moff I had forgotten about that.

Resting the left foot on the clutch pedal, no matter how gently or light the pressure, it still takes up the working clearance between the release bearing and the cover plate which can either cause the clutch to slip (if enough pressure applied) or alternatively to result in the bearing drilling into the cover diaphragm fingers which creates excess noise when the pedal is not depressed (e.g. at idle).

Still, it is worth getting an independent opinion to confirm that it is not faulty parts originally fitted.

[Trevor]

Gwen & Brian . Did you resolve the clutch issue with Nissan ?

[Gwen & Brian]

Sadly not!

We had to pay the cost of replacement Clutch of £1800 plus an AA report of £200.

The AA sent ACE (Automotive Consulting Engineers Ltd)  to carry out the inspection which concluded that the Clutch had over heated which caused the failure. No suggestion as to cause other than abuse and referred to Towing in the report which did not mention that there is not a Tow Bar on the car! The report appeared to me to have a large element of "cut and paste" about it. I tried to contact ACE for more details of the inspection but they did not respond

I contacted Nissan and asked if they could Inspect the components and the Dual Mass Fly Wheel, they declined and suggested I look on the Internet to find someone to inspect it but could not suggest anyone.

The Nissan "Adviser" declined to discuss the matter any further with me and refused to put through to a Manager.

We reject the suggestion that we "ride" the clutch as there is adequate spec by the clutch pedal to rest the foot and we have suddenly become bad drivers.

I took legal advise and my Solicitor advised that we could become involved in a costly dispute.

We are left with a car that my wife is reluctant to drive as she has lost faith in it.

We ask ourselves three questions.

Would we buy another Nissan, would we recommend a friend to buy a Nissan and are we satisfied with Nissan's Customer Care?

NO,   NO,  ABSOLUTELY NOT.

[Trevor]

Sorry to hear that .... it does seem that unless there is a trend which is developing over time (e.g. Honda clutches which are as weak as wet cardboard) then it doesn't register as a fault.

Rather frustrating on your behalf I would imagine....maybe worth getting it sold whilst it has a new clutch in it?

 

[Rockbank]

We bought a nearly new Tekna 1.3 after a previous diesel Qashqai. . It was £27,000 NEW in 2018

We had problems with the child lock engaging when driving and unable to disengage. This was erratic and they replaced one under the warranty but as they couldn't witness the other one, they refused to repair. Eventually, we had to take a video when it (inevitably) occurred again and they agreed to fix it.

We have recently had gear change problems when we try and change gear in the lower gears. We tried Nissan but they can't see us for two weeks so as it's out of warranty, we took it to our local garage who believe it is the slave cylinder and will immediately repair. It also takes  a lot of revs to release the autobrake leading to dangerous situations driving off.

But it only has 35,000 miles on it and we've NEVER had an issue with any other car like this so early on. As the original poster said, we haven't suddenly changed how we use the gears. And our VW which we have from new in 2017 still has lovely smooth gear  changes.

It seems Nissan are going the way of Peugeot and instead of producing good cars are now producing bad ones. This will be  our last Nissan. 😟