11,000 miles Clutch Failure?

You missed the decimal point he said 27,500

 

Some of us like to row our own gears. Its night and day difference in driving experience in the MT

 

HA, No 27500 as I typed "~27500mi" you adding zeros my man

 

It is conceivable that there could have been an assembly or install error that led to the early failure. Anxiously to hear the results of the repair, and dealer/tech findings related to the cause of failure.

 

Maybe something like the Throw Out Bearing not releasing could cause accelerated wear.

 

Normally clutch life is 100% dependent on driving style. One guy can have a clutch last 500,000+ miles while the next can destroy one in a day.

When a clutch fails at low miles it needs to be inspected. That inspection will tell very fast if it is due to a mechanical failure, improper installation, or flat out abuse.

On the last gen 1GR Tacomas Toyota had an issue with the clutch disc themselves breaking where the hubs physically broke. The came out with a revised design to reduce that. Mechanical failures can be from the rivets that hold the friction material on pulling out, the hubs failing, the springs breaking, something going wrong with the pressure plate and so on. Those types of things other than caused by our right abuse should be covered under warranty if it happens in a short time, but Toyota normally will not as they group all clutch issues into the same bucket as the clutch is a wear item like brake pads. Most cases the clutch, but could be, not worn out it is broken, I think that is a difference.

We see a lot of clutches screwed up from improper installs and improper adjustments. That is not something you can blame on the driver or the clutch parts. Lately we have seen a rash of pressure plates coming loose from the flywheel. Crazy how that can happen.... Bolting the pressure plate down unevenly bends the diaphragm spring and the plate will never lift of compress evenly after that and it will always shudder. So many professional mechanics do this. Bolt one side down and then the other and ruin the thing. Next issue is hanging the trans on the input shaft trying to get the trans back on the engine. That bends the clutch hub and it will spin around like a potato chip and prevent full release and will shudder a good bit on engagement. Very simple things/mistakes that can ruin a perfectly good clutch during the install. The next thing is dropping the plate on the floor. That causes things to shift inside the pressure plate and through things off and they don't work well after that. So, if you drop a pressure plate during the install, best to just get a new one before you put it all back together.

Abuse is easy to understand. Reving it up and doing clutch dumps or kicks and snatching gears can wear them out fast and break them. Any clutch can be ruined doing that.

Driving style is also becoming more prevalent these days. A lot of folks never learn how to properly drive a stick. The most common area is driving in reverse. People seem to let the clutch constantly slip and that burns them up. Had a guy that kept complaining that his clutch burns only when he is backing up. The clutch has no clue if you are going in forward or reverse it works the same. He was not far away so I made a road trip to go see issue. Sure enough, the guy was trying to back out of a parking garage all the way up a sloped ramp and out to the street letting the clutch slip the whole time. I demonstrated the proper way to do it, but he was convinced it is the clutches fault.

The picture of the burned up friction material in this thread from a 2.7L, that really looks like it was really way over heated causing the friction material to brake down.

 

Thanks for the great post.

 

Not trying to beat a dead horse but I had this exact situation happen to me 10 years ago with a Mazda speed 6. My story is slightly different because they had a scapegoat... I'm a woman.
The Mazda dealership actually said to me It was my fault because I'm a woman driving manual... I don't know if this statement helped me in the end because I fought them for weeks and they eventually replaced it. Either way my advice would be don't take what they say... because I've had it turn around. Especially since you were not driving it for a period of time.. how would you wear it out in 11,000 miles?

 

I liked your post, mainly to unlike the attitude of the dealership. My MOTHER, yes true genetic XX female, taught me how to drive a manual. What a stupid attitude for a dealership, let alone a human being to have.

 

Haha to be honest at the time I was actually pretty surprised. I come from a 'car family' and auto was not even an option growing up so I was just kind of confused... then really really irritated lol.

 

Likely a bad part but, good luck getting a clutch done under warranty in 2018. Like everything in life these days, Too many dishonest assholes have ruined it for the rest of us.

 

Getting all the way in reverse is tough on 3rd gens though. It's so damn tall.

 

Is there a right way to do it?

 

Be ready to go fast backwards.

 

many suggest using 4Lo if you're not turning (and on pavement). if you turn in 4Lo on pavement it will bind.

 

That was this dude's 3.5L https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/issues-with-tacoma-3rd-gen-clutch.548424/

 

Couldn't be more wrong.

 

True, unless you plan on going 15 mph in a straight line, reverse on this transmission is pretty stupid.

I tried backing out of a small ditch and it was literally either dump the clutch and slip, or roast the clutch. 4 lo was the answer. But thats no excuse for thr poor reverse gear ratio.

 

So you try to bash someone for their choice on my hey didn’t buy a manual? Who in LA wants to drive a manual trans Tacoma? I don’t even want to drive a manual trans Tacoma where I live, let alone one in a place with traffic like that. Personally I hate the way the clutch is, how long the pedal travel is and the longer throw. I’ve driven a semi with a more comfortable clutch and better driving experience. Who gives a shit if he didn’t want a manual? Well apparently you do... but why? It’s his own damn choice. If you want him to have a manual maybe you should pay his truck note or something, or just sit the fuck back and keep your trolling comments to yourself.

 

Wondering if any progress with this.

My clutch started slipping/smelling/burning from the beginning when reversing 3000lb trailer up a slightly sloped driveway.
Just passed 37000KMS now and issue has steadily worsened to slipping bad under moderate acceleration while in gear, unloaded.
Dealer verified by test drive today and booked appointment for next week to remove and inspect the clutch and see if Toyota will cover the issue or not.
If head office refuses to cover it, was told I would have to pay for the labour of inspection (clutch job, 8hrs at $135/hr), with the option to have them install another POS Toyota clutch at my cost while everything is apart, or be truckless while I order URD or something.

For reference, I have been towing the same trailer up the same driveways with 1999 Pathfinder 3.3L, 220000KMS on original clutch and it never slipped once in over 5 years.

This one feels like it belongs in a vehicle about half the weight for zipping around town unloaded.

Anything I can use to improve my case with Toyota would be swell, especially printouts of the service.