Nissan Tida clutch slipping ?

hammer23, Oct 28, 4:00am
The other day while driving on the new smoothtop expressway my speed crept up to plus 120k without me noticing. What did grab my attention was that the clutch seemed to be slipping at that speed and as soon as I dropped back to a 100k on a chip surface the clutch seemed to be o.k. I am not a speeding driver so can any one comment about the clutch slipping at that speed because with the usual driving around town and up and down hills it seems fine having done 30,000k The vehicle is going in for a service next week and I am hoping we are not looking at a new clutch. Thanks for your help.
franc123, Oct 28, 4:15am
Sounds a bit weird, clutch slippage normally starts to show itself in low speed high load situations, say when driving 50-60k in 4th gear and suddenly accelerating. In any given gear its going to rev harder at 120 than 100 for obvious reasons, you sure you were not being confused by that?
hammer23, Oct 28, 4:53am
Franc,you may well be right, because the " slipping" does not appear under load only at a lower speed. 120 in a Nissan Tida yes it did happen.
tamarillo, Oct 28, 1:45pm
That's unusual, a manual Nissan tiida. Normally only see autos.
martin11, Oct 28, 1:47pm
The speed would not have crept up but the revs would if the clutch was slipping .
ntalke, Oct 28, 1:50pm
Most that buy Tida's don't get told they are getting a CVT transmission
tamarillo, Oct 28, 2:25pm
But op talks about clutch which would mean it's a manual. Unless there is some confusion.
kazbanz, Oct 28, 2:58pm
hammer--is your car Auto or manual?
if it is Auto then what you describe is a totally normal function of that type of Auto gearbox.-as in its not a fault of any sort.
On what basis do you feel the clutch is slipping?
hammer23, Oct 28, 5:11pm
The car is an auto and I seldom drive it but Mrs H said the same thing, and both of us "drive' the car and rely on our mechanic to look after it.
I must say that the posts that have been made are very very helpful and not the usual judgemental rubbish that often appears on these boards.Thank you and I will try to never go over 100k again in a Tida
intrade, Oct 28, 5:31pm
ok find out what transmission it has if it is a cvt then i would only take it to guys with expert cvt knowhow.
thes guys seem to know what they do as they sell parts and rebuild them cvt so find out if you got a cvt and contact them with your discription . they might tell you to fix it soonest to prevent big problems or so i dont know.
let us know the outcome
http://www.cvt.co.nz/ from tauranga its 51 min (63.1 km) via State Highway 28 and State Highway 29 http://www.cvt.co.nz/Warning.htm
tamarillo, Oct 28, 5:35pm
Hi again op. If it's an auto it doesn't have a clutch, instead it uses a CVT auto that you may not have experienced before and is very different to usual auto. It's constantly variable transmission meaning it has no gears, or cogs if you like at all. Think of it as a cone with a belt spinning it, but as belt moves up the cone to its widest point it spins it less, and as it moves to tip of cone it spins it faster. The cone then is connected to wheels, hence the ratio is constantly changing. That's the extra revs you are experiencing, they tend to let engine rev up then start adjusting the cones ratio so that speed builds without revs dropping.
Grossly simplified but hope makes sense. Basically what you experience is normal in a CVT box. Later ones have electronically controlled steps in the cone to simulate a gear.
Treat it gently, get it serviced properly, and just accept its kinda weird.
Not a good box for heavy towing .
Sure you'd never go over 100! But if you did its fine.
tamarillo, Oct 28, 5:38pm
Intrade, your assuming it is bust, but maybe all that's happening is they are not familiar with the CVT operation? It's supposed to do that, especially in these less sophisticated ones.
bwg11, Oct 28, 6:11pm
Assuming your Tiida is a 1.5, it is only around 80 kW. Not a lot of power to push a laden car at 120 kph into a head wind or slight upgrade.

I would expect its "top gear" to be around 30 kph per 1000 rpm, so I would expect about 4000 rpm at 120 kph. If it is more than that at a constant 120 kph, you are pushing it too hard. What you describe as "clutch slip" is simply the CVT doing what it should - allowing the motor to rev fast enough to produce enough power for the job in hand. That said, if you accelerate hard from 80 to 120, I would expect revs to go up to around 5500, again, quite normal behavior for a CVT.
intrade, Oct 28, 6:14pm
no your making assumptions , what i say is to find out what you have and then ask the professionals for advise.
are you a expert on cvt now?
tamarillo, Oct 28, 6:22pm
Hi Intrade, no I'm not a CVT expert but I do know how they operate basically and that an excess of revs is quite normal and can totally see why op relates it to clutch slipping. I've driven a few CVT right from earliest daf days. Think it's a fair assumption that it's likely working perfectly normally for that CVT. Since op says it's an auto it's fair to assume it's a CVT as that's what these cars have.
intrade, Oct 28, 7:04pm
they dont all operate the same way some have push and some have apull belt . i would like to ask a professional if its normal on my trans to do this or not if i had a cvt.
assumption is the mother of all f. ups
we dont even know if they got a cvt or not.
bwg11, Oct 28, 7:11pm
But a fairly safe assumption in this case judging by the OP's description of its behavior and the only conventional auto Tiida I have seen is the 4WD version.
kazbanz, Oct 28, 9:10pm
hi hammer--Im almost certain you are describing the NORMAL operation of a CVT auto gearbox.When you put your foot down (-say to overtake) you can hear what sounds almost exactly like a slipping clutch in a manual car.
To help confirm this though please do the following.
get the car warmed up. at ANY speed put your foot down really hard on the accelerator. You SHOULD again hear the slipping clutch sound.
try it a couple of times.
Incidently Nissan recommended CVT oil change be done every 60000km
This reduces the build up of contaminents that affect the performance of the gearbox
ntalke, Oct 28, 11:23pm
Looks like the OP bought their Tida the same place as someone else I know and was not told it was a CVT Transmission

Driven one and sounds about right

They need the correct Nissan Fluid when the transmission is serviced
stevo2, Oct 29, 12:55am
Kaz and the Tamarillo are spot on themoney. A CVT Tiida will sound as if the clutch is slipping when accellerating.
The majority of Tiidas are CVT equipped.
tamarillo, Oct 29, 1:35am
Why should a dealer specifically point out its a CVT? Many many buyers don't give a damn, and wouldn't know what that is. It's an appliance.
hammer23, Dec 18, 4:34am
Good stuff one and all. Mother H loves her Tida ,it is a good grannies car and like most in Tge. it is light green which gets confusing down at the mall,I want to put a black racing stripe down the middle so it will stand out.