Clutch fluid question

My only guesses are larger ports on the fittings or heavier return springs.

 

I'll look into it a bit further. So far though, other than very cold mornings I haven't really had any complaints about the clutch so I haven't really had a reason to think to hard about that.

 

Oh yeah, of course, 10 minutes down the road it's moving freely. Hell, it doesn't even bother my once I'm moving. Like, it's there but I've got other stuff to think about. It's that 4 minutes or so after I start it waiting for the truck to warm up a bit with my thumb up my ass and nothing better to do than to sit and think about why dafuq is this a problem on a truck I just spent damn near 50 grand on.

 

probably because of the electronics for abs system vs vacuum assisted.

 

If it doesn't feel odd to you, then it isn't worth worrying about?

 

I had to do a double take reading the title. Clutch fluid ??? None of the manual transmission vehicles I owned even used clutch fluid lol, they were mechanical clutches not hydraulic.
Yep I’m a boomer and you probably never drove a mechanical clutch manual transmission Millie, we didn’t need hydraulic to do our leg work back in the day.

 

Fair, but sometimes I do stuff just for funzies.

 

Same here.

 

I had a cable clutch when I lived in Germany. Was a Renault, no idea what model. Drove all over the place for a whole year and with one week left in Germany we decided to take a trip to Amsterdam on the final weekend. Bamberg to Amsterdam was a good 6 hours or so. Made it there, drove all over the place, made it back and as soon as I showed ID to get in the gate, the cable snapped. Lol. Was easy to find a replacement but so glad it didn't happen on the road. Funny because every other time we traveled we took the trains.

 

OP has a near new truck, likely still under warranty, wants to experiment with different clutch fluid viscosity:

OP might find a solution to the stiff clutch pedal at extreme cold temps that lasts 5 minutes, only to discover that once things warm up the new non factory fluid is a fail. It's only a $40k truck with a now voided warranty on the clutch components; what's not to like?

 

I bothers me...no other vehicle I've driven does that except my buddies 2nd gen. Even the ADM didn't help much (still worth doing)
All the lines that I've seen are the same size as any other vehicle, maybe the fittings Toyota uses have smaller openings?
It shouldn't be all that hard to replace all the rigid lines with a braided hose kit

But, I dont think its worth trying to fix and certainly not worth changing fluid types over.
I just use it as an indication for when the engine is warmed up

Keep us posted with photos if you dig into it!

 

"Once things warm up"

I see you're in Victoria. When it's somewhat cold it will warm up. It's nothing more than a nuisance most of the time.

When it's -35 it won't warm up for my entire drive though. I've stalled in the middle of an intersection because the damn pedal is stuck.

It's worth exploring options even on a new truck. Not much warranty in a clutch system anyway. It's my biggest complaint about the Tacoma.

 

If the unit fails during your ownership, please report back your impressions of the repair costs.

 

I am retired and spend most of my winters at Sun Peaks where it does go to -30 once or twice a year. I find that pumping the pedal a few times at start up helps. Also clutch engagement is very quick and thus only a short distance of clutch pedal travel is needed.

I'm curious as to what position the stuck clutch pedal was in?

 

Stuck almost fully down since I was at an intersection with the clutch in. It's not stuck, stuck, but takes a long time to return.

Pumping is fine at start up. But even after driving for a while without using it it becomes cold and sluggish again when it's very cold. Doesn't happen all the time.

Once or twice a year wouldn't bother me much either. But we can get temperatures like that daily for weeks at a time.

 

-35... Fucking NOPE lol

My clutch starts to get a bit slow at about -10C, but we rarely see temps below -20 out here along the Atlantic coast anyway.

 

The pedal was heavy and didn't return for me this year when the temperature dropped to -12°C one night. I have felt the heavy pedal before but the not returning part was surprising. After pumping the pedal with the engine running, it freed up enough that I felt comfortable driving it. I have had many manuals and this is the first vehicle that I have experienced this with. At first I was thinking maybe the accumulator.. I have not done that mod yet... it will happen this spring, but others that have the mod reported the same issue. So with the accumulator ruled out, then what else could it be. Fluid doesn't make sense because other hydraulic clutch vehicles I have had didn't do this. So, the last thing left in my thinking is the lubricant on the shaft the throw out bearing rides on. Maybe it gets really thick and sticky at colder temperatures. There are not many here that have done a clutch and serviced this area of the transmission. Just a thought, with no evidence but to me it seems reasonable to think that might be the source.

 

The only benefit is that my truck may not rot away. My last truck spent it's whole life in Halifax. There's a lot of rusty frame remnants left along Nova Scotia roads. The truck lives in Manitoba now but I feel like most of it turned to dust out there.

I also laugh to myself when someone from either coast gives advice about cold. Ha. I've lived on both coasts and many other places in between. Manitoba is pretty brutal in winter.

 

Yes, I've been mulling this over for a bit now. Dot 4 LOW VISCOSITY is what we need... it's a higher performing fluid that should be compatible.... I'm looking further into this in an attempt to verify.

 

From what I'm reading, DOT4 LV is essentially just DOT3 with a higher boiling point