Help! 4th bad clutch on 2014

Got my 2014 back on Thanksgiving 2013. We do a lot of highway driving so not a lot of clutching. At 10k, clutch and part of transmission went bad and was replaced (9,800). At almost exactly 20k, replacement clutch went bad and again was replaced. At almost exactly 30k it happened again and they balked, tried to politely make me the bad guy. I smiled and talked to the service manager. So now we're at 40k and you guessed it, it's like shifting through drying cement.

Spoke to a Lemon Lawyer last night, I qualify but won't get any help from Toyota. Same goes with all the brands now. Her suggestion was to have it fixed again (for free) and dump it at CarMax or such and get another. Take my lumps and move on. Toyota won't replace, won't buy me out, but the dealership might give me a better price on the trade in. But then I know I'll get screwed on the purchase price to make up for it.

10 yrs, 14 various brands of new vehicles, and 4 lemons later, I'd seriously consider used but then 4 people bought my lemons and that could have been me instead.

I've just purchased a 2015 Tacoma 5 speed manual with fingers crossed it was a part higher up the food chain killing my clutches at exactly 10k. Warning to manual purchasers about this problem but there won't be many of you, Toyota only makes the first 5% of the Tacoma run in standard, other 95% are automatic.

 

Not quite sure what to make of this thread.

The title says "Help" but you're not requesting any help or advice.

Good luck with your new Tacoma. If it were me - I'd have made my next purchase an automatic after that string of "bad luck."

 

Uh.. I'm agreeing with Beavis here.

 

I just read that again - when I read that the first time, I thought the "four lemons" were the clutches in your Tacoma.

... but ... you're saying over the last ten years, you've bought four separate new cars, and they *ALL* turned out to be lemons?

I've got nothing to say.

 

"dumping" a vehicle that has issues is not a very ethical move...hopefully the person who buys your old truck doesn't have such "bad luck" and the dealer will help them with whatever problems came from your truck.

 

Keep your foot of the clutch pedal. I had a buddy who did the this and he was going through clutches in 10k miles easy. Found out he'd keep his foot just lightly on the clutch pedal and it would cause it to wear wicked fast since he depressing the pedal a bit.


If that's not the case, you should get some lessons on how to drive a manual, or switch to an auto. There is NO WAY this is just randomly happening.

 

Certainly sounds like user error to me… Never heard of a clutch going out in 10k miles. And, having it happen repeatedly is too much to believe.
It my not be something you know you are doing. Do you drive with your foot resting on the clutch pedal? Do you tow or carry heavy loads in the truck all the time?
If this truly is a defect in the clutch / pressure plate assembly how do you account for it happening four times in a row?

 

Wow, I have a 14' with a manual and haven't had any issues, mine has 20K miles on it. Sounds like user error....

 

which brake-pedal did you use, the left brake or right brake? ;-)



Seriously though, Tough luck- hope the 5 spd works out.

 

Hopefully since it was repaired at a dealer it'll all be on Carfax.

 

Sounds like a typical hard-to-please consumer. While no one wants to pay good money for a problematic vehicle, it's must be understood that vehicles are machines. Lots of moving parts made by lots of different people on different days with different attitudes, skills, ethics, etc. Every vehicle is going to be a little different than the next, even identically optioned ones. 4 lemons in 10 years is a lot. Either you're nitpicking or have the worst luck I've heard of in a long time.

Is "feels like shifting through drying cement" a typical feeling of a worn clutch? I wouldn't know because even though I've had several manual vehicles and accumulated thousands of miles in them, I've never had to replace a single clutch.

 

I had 3 clutches go bad in 60k miles in an 86 camaro. After replacing it the third time we found oil had been leaking slightly into it.

 

This thread made my day!

 

*Note to self; Never buy a used car from Laurie.

 

I dont get it. Worn clutch / brakes are not warranty items. What exactly went wrong with the clutch and 'part of the transmission'?

Actually not sure if you're serious.

 

Combined with a few smokey burnouts that's understandable....

 

I feel your pain brother... I can't tell you how many clutches AND rear brake shoes I went through because the parking brake wouldn't automatically disengage when I was no longer parked!! Toyota - like duh - I'm trying to drive here!

 

I've done repairs for conditions like this. Clutch and throw out bearing worn within 10-12k. When the car came back the 3rd time, I put a video camera so it viewed the pedals. I then had the guy take me for a drive. When I played it for him, I pointed out that he was hovering over and at times resting his foot on the clutch pedal. Had to tell him to get his foot away from the clutch pedal when he was cruising.