New member and new (not-so-happy) Tacoma owner

Greetings from Pittsburgh! Purchased my first Tacoma (and first Toyota) a little while back and am finally getting around to joining what appears to be a nice robust community that you have here.

Unfortunately, my first post is a not so positive one based on the news I just received from my dealership. I took home a brand new black 2018 TRD Off Road with the 6-speed with 60 miles on the clock and couldn't have been more thrilled to say the least. However, what appeared to be transmission issues surfaced quite quickly. I was getting what I would consider major clutch chatter right off the bat which made me question whether my MT driving skills had been lost overnight! In addition, since day one there has been an ungodly metallic clanking noise that occurs when the transmission is in neutral or the clutch pedal is held in and I hit any sort of bump. Very unsettling and not normal to say the least. Add to that what I believe to be some throwout bearing noise and the fact that the clutch started slipping quite noticeably last week. All within a mere 2,000 miles. I'm no newby to driving standard by any means, and I was as nice as possible to this truck during these initial miles so I have to believe I would need to be trying pretty hard to burn up a brand new clutch so quickly and easily. Makes me question what brand Toyota used as OEM.

The dealership has actually agreed that they think something is up and talked to Toyota and are currently tearing down said transmission. I'm not sure whether I think that's good or bad at this point, but all I can do is hope that this doesn't cause long term issues and that they don't try and stick me with any of the cost. I'll certainly be getting as much documentation as possible prior to taking it home again.

Do any of you veteran Tacoma owners have any knowledge of this particular transmission and any known issues that you can share? Not to mention pointers on how to navigate a situation like this with a Toyota dealer.

I've still got confidence that I made a good purchase, and I hope to be a part of this community for a long time to come!

 

Sounds like a few bolts are loose and your clutch plate isn’t engaging to the flywheel properly. Your truck has the same six speed as the second gens which are notorious for eating throw out bearings. I need to replace mine for a second time. Inclined to let it grenade and fix it later. Can’t afford to have Toyota replace it again. Good luck. Hope they find out what’s wrong, and transmission falls under your power train warranty. There should be zero issues with it at 2k. Make them fix it.

 

With 60 miles at purchase, it is possible someone else did not know how to drive stick. I have had to move plenty of vehicles for lot porters and other sales people because they could not drive standard.

The dealer should be happy to jump on it. Warranty work should be quick easy money for the mechanics. Did you check to see if there are any TSBs for your VIN?

 

welcome to TW... Good luck!!

 

Welcome, when you took it for the test drive the truck didn't exhibit any of these issues? I would guess at only 60 miles on the ODO these symptoms must have been present prior to you purchasing the truck.

 

Welcome to TW! I’m sure it will work out, but it sucks you have a problem with a new truck.

 

let the dealer take a look and please report back. MT guys are always interested to know about what's going on in MT land. once you get more info there may be plenty to say about it, but a dealer investigation is the next step.

 

I just bought my 2018 TRD Off Road 6 speed manual about a month ago (w/ 10 miles on it). My transmission is pretty similar to how you described it. I thought it was just me forgetting how to drive manual (even tho just about all my vehicles have been manual). I found that revving it to ~1600 when taking off helps with the chatter-y feeling a bit but I still have a lot of metallic clunky noise when shifting (feels like it might be the drivetrain bouncing around like it was fully loaded up and released). I don't remember the other 2 trucks I test drove (or mine when leaving the dealer lot) driving like that but I figured that maybe it was normal / me still learning the truck.

I'm interested to see what the dealer says. Keep us posted!

 

Welcome, lemon law this truck.

 

I thought manuals were gods gift to the 3rd Gen but after reading this who wants a manual ?

 

Thanks for the replies everyone. Picked the truck up yesterday and I'm glad to say it now drives like it should have from the start. Dealer ended up replacing flywheel, clutch, pressure plate, throwout bearing, the whole nine yards at no cost due to the truck being so new. Clutch action is smooth and engages quite nicely, much much better than before. My best guess as to what the issue was is something like Darth_Yota mentioned. Flywheel from the factory was most likely not quite as flat as it needed to be which caused the chatter and in turn the slipping. Dealer was unable to "pinpoint a cause", but I'm satisfied with their willingness to replace everything without a hassle. I'll be double checking the clutch pedal adjustment to ensure the throwout bearing isn't engaging the pressure plate when it shouldn't be to hopefully help ensure its longevity. In my opinion the transmission itself still seems loud in terms of gear mesh noise and whatnot, but that's likely because I'm used to the much more precise gearbox in my Saab and not sitting directly above the transmission. So far so good, and hopefully it stays that way.