Speed Limiter or Bad Clutch

Background:
I bought my 03 Taco used with a bad clutch. Knew I'd probably have to replace it, but have not in 3 years yet. To give you an idea: in 1st gear at 1/2 throttle it slips after 3,000rpm and engages in a wave motion - on/off rapidly especially on a 100F day. Mostly during the winter and in other gears it's 100% fine.

Yet, I was testing the top speed the other night as I do with all my motorcycles and cars. And a repeated number of times the 2.7L pulled hard to 100mph indicated on the tac & 104mph indicated on the gps (about 4,250rpms in 5th gear). Then the revs would shoot up to 5,000 and I would lose all power for about 1 second dropping me back to ~90mph. Then the truck would pull hard again and repeat the slip.

Is this a clutch problem or is a 2003 taco really speed limited at ~100mph?


On a side note, managed to get 16.7mpg @100mph for 100 consecutive miles which in my experience is quite lean. But most of my experience is with much shorter stroke engines. Also that engine pulls surprisingly hard. It's definitely good for 120-130mph.

 

Sounds like it needs a new clutch.

 

I think there is a speed limiter.

 

Bad clutch
Speed limiter would limit engine rpm, not let engine rev up and slip the clutch.