clutch broke in half!!???

i'll try to make this short. Truck's at 71k miles. 6spd. been having some intermittant "shuttering" of the clutch in 1st gear only for 20k miles now. have mentioned it to it to toyota in the past and they "couldn't duplicate complaint." this past weekend on the way home from surf fishing i downshifted to 4th on the highway to pass a slow moving car and bang. clutch failure. engine runs, wheels dont go in any gear. grinding sound from trans/clutch area. coasted to a stop. got the towtruck. so i just talked to them and they said my clutch broke in half!!!! wtf! they said the clutch wore down to the rivets and wore through the pressure plate and it f-ing broke. has anyone else ever even heard of this?? (btw i've never had ANY problems with my clutch slipping, towing, beach driving, etc.) they said it's going to be about $2000 for the clutch assembly and related parts and labor... i know the bumper-bumper only was till 60k, and wear parts (clutch included) are covered till 36k. i did get the throwout bearing TSB done at 59k, and asked them to inspect clutch and they said it was fine at that point. also mentioned the shuttering and they couldn't figure it out. Do you guys/girls think that i have any angle to take for them to cover it?? thanks

 

If you have a record of you asking about a clutch problem before it was out of warranty (and them telling you it was fine), you might have a leg to stand on (also depends on the dealership). It'll certainly be an uphill battle but for $2k, it might be worth a shot. The clutch is a wear item so even if you have the record of them saying it was 'fine' at 59k miles, they could deny the claim because you drove 12k miles since then. Even if the clutch was slipping at 60k miles (which you stated there wasn't), short of replacing the clutch, there's nothing you can really do to fix it. I hate to say it, but you might be SOL on this one...

 

soooo. just picked up the truck. the center part of the friction plate with the springs in it and whatnot sheared off of the actual friction part. crazy... they said they had never seen that happen. lucky me. they replaced the clutch cover assembly, flywheel, clutch plate and bearing. by the looks of it, theres borderline microscopic scoring in the clutch cover/pressure plate side and no scoring but 4 "hot spots" on the flywheel side. you cant even feel them. also the bearing that was replaced was 10k miles ago. Is this overkill? cause i was thinking more along the lines of replace friction disc and machine the flywheel and pressure plate. done. did i get robbed? thanks. i kept the parts. should i take this up with toyota corporate level? they did not go over the extent of work to be done with me before doing it.

 

buuuuuttt my clutch feels soooo smooth and awesome now

 

They should have discussed the amount of work and the price to do the work before going ahead and doing it. Either that or you would have had to sign something releasing them to do work up to a certain dollar amount (at least that's what they do up here). Sounds like you and the stealership did not have very good communication during this repair...

 

correct. in the past they have called me after diagnosis and inform me of problem and proposed resolution and asked permission to do work. this time it was ok your trucks almost done and it'll be $2000. it is also the same service manager i've dealt with in the past without incident.

 

A clutch job isn't worth $2000.
Parts are worth about $200-$300 ($500 from dealer).
The job itself doesn't even take all that long. Maybe 4-5 hours for one guy with the right tools.

 

They go off book rate, and on a 4wd I am SURE it is over 7 hours.

The dealer should have given you a full estimate (service writer's fault). They replaced your flywheel because there was catastrauphic failure nearby... and if you had your flywheel resurfaced they would be liable if there was damage to the flywheel. They would have to X ray or fluid penetrant inspect the flywheel to look mor micro cracks and evidence of any other damage. Cheaper to replace than inspect in that case.

They would rather have you angry with them for wasting $300 of your money on a new flywheel than potentially killing someone from a flywheel disentigration at 70 MPH and dealing with the bad publicity and a hefty lawsuit.

Is your truck stock? Clutch wear is accelerated with larger tires, etc, only reason I'm asking.

The dealer can claim that clutch wear isnly only measured in miles, and they are right. I can ruin a new clutch in 10K and so can anyone else. not that you did though. Your clutch was probably showing signs of bad wear and problems 12K ago, but it can't be proved either way. You can try asking them to take a picture or get a get a signature from the person who inspects the clutch. Or ask them to show it to you when they take it out. But they will probably decline.

I would call and ask to speak to the service manager, and let him know that you are frustrated and feel like you weren't given any information or choices, which isn't fair. Ask him if there is anything he can do to make it right. he will either offer you money or future discounts if he is going to play ball, or say "we already did it. What do you want after the fact?". Then you can tell him, "I want my local Toyota service department to show that they care and are a little interested in having a happy customer who feels like they weren't taken advantage of, maybe you could give me half off the labor on my upcoming 90K service?" or something like that.

Sorry for the mile long post bud...