Issues with Tacoma 3rd Gen Clutch

Yes, I remember those videos, pretty wild. I remember seeing all that smoke coming from underneath his truck. One would think it was a pretty clear sign that something is wrong...

 

The rev hang and clutch accumulator pretty much ruin the MT experience on this vehicle. They probably take out a clutch disc here and there, too.

 

That sucks man.

They saw mud on you trd off road and won’t fix because you’ve been “off-road”...

My clutch shuddered a bit on hills with the accumulator, shudder went away once I took that POS out.

 

that type o wear/tear did NOT happen n the last instance............................not even the same day

what I'm lookin at is abuse

the dealer has the right

 

My second gen Taco clutch started slipping occasionally while changing gears and would have self destructed if I hadn't caught it in time. Caused by corroded slave cylinder not releasing completely. Truck still under warranty but Toyota would not replace slave cylinder as it was part of clutch assy. Replaced SS myself and been good for last six years.

 

I have the shudder and have a bad clutch smell after towing to taking off aggressively sometimes. I know the dealership will say it’s because I have taller tires or off-road because of the all terrains. Been driving stick since I was 16 and that was a long while ago. Had the truck in for the tsb. Next visit I complained of clutch shudder and it wasn’t addressed at all. Currently a 2019 with 20k miles. Just really disappointing.

 

There's a couple causes for shudder, just like with brakes.


At times, all of our own MTs started to develop a shudder. I have always been able clean it up by consciously slipping them just a bit. So, it has been the best possible kind for us, thankfully.


Smell when getting going shouldn't be there, even when going for max acceleration. The low torque on the Stock tune and the clutch accumulator do not help here. The ADM is basically free and a lot of folks (like me) offer TSB updates and tune flashes. The TSBs help a bit, but the tunes unlock the bottom end torque.


That said just before I got tuned, I did some 0-60s to set a baseline to compare. I did about 20 over the span of an hour or two and only stopped when the whole thing got heat soaked from the runs. Not a hint of smell there, just shifts that started feeling different. My dry clutch bike gets that way on hot days. Although, I have smoked the Taco and smelled it when trying to reverse up a slope with a trailer.

 

My '17 OR has 65k miles with no issues with my clutch yet, My brothers '08 FJ clutch went out at 12k miles. dealer wouldn't warranty it due to it being wear & tear item. It sucks but that's what it is.

 

I think that folks have posted up with as much as 20k on their Tacos and somehow got it warranted, but I do agree with you. It is generally a very short, if any, warranty. I'm okay with that.

 

My ranger developed a bit of a shudder at about 120k miles. I actually cleaned it up the same way, by slipping the clutch here and there and it worked! I sold it with 165k miles with the original clutch still going.

I’m hoping the clutch in my taco should last at least 150k-200k miles, otherwise I would be quite disappointed.

The only time when I smelled a bit of a burned smell was when I just got the truck and was playing around in 4hi. Reversing on even the slightest grade will smoke the clutch. My ranger was a bit more forgiving in 4hi, still though I selected 4lo as soon as i started to see hills and my speeds were low.

 

Do you have the accumulator?

 

Damn that sucks.

I towed about 4500k pounds and taking off even on a slightest hill was no fun. I would not tow more than that where I live. On flat roads, no problem.

I do spend quite a bit of time off-road in summers and my clutch still seems to be nice and smooth, hoping it will stay like that for many years.

I did the ADM and it really helped with the consistency and feel of the clutch. Also, to me it seems like it would slip less without the accumulator.

Actually I remember having a slight shudder when taking off on steep hills, then removed the accumulator and now it’s butter.

 

yes it's stock setup. not sure I want to mess with the delete

 

Fair enough.

It’s really not intrusive at all. MT Vehicles ran without the accumulator for a very long time. This was my first vehicle with the accumulator and it definitely feels different.

 

Took mine to the dealer for the 24k service and mentioned the clutch shudder but they couldn’t reproduce it, but they did mention that their diagnostics noted I drive aggressively. Haha. My diagnostics indicate they made a slow ass truck. Time to go take the tech for a test drive.

 

Do you still have the accumulator?

And what do they mean by driving aggressively?

 

I’m assuming they did something with the ecu and looked at throttle position or some thing. Felt like he was trying to shame me. I still have the accumulator but once it’s out of warranty I may remove it