Clutch slipping first thing in the morning

Question for the MT drivers out there....

For about the past week my clutch slips / shudders when pulling out of my driveway but ONLY on the first acceleration of the morning in 1st gear (or reverse, depending on which way the truck is parked). As soon as I shift into 2nd gear and do the rest of my driving, for the whole day, everything is normal.

I’ve driven MTs for years now and have only had this happen when I was first staring to learn stick on an old Impreza with a burnt out clutch. I’m not super mechanical, so I’m wondering - are the clutch plates exposed to the humid air at night and getting dew on them which then causes the one-time slip? That’s the only thing I can think of since it only happens in the morning.

Let me know what you guys think

 

The clutch won't bite as hard when it's cold, but if it's slipping it's probably worn out.

My truck likes to lurch a lot before it warms up, but I think it's got more to do with the quirky engine than the trans and clutch.

 

my reverse does that shuddering thing. i just give it more gas and let out a little faster and it doesnt do it anymore but have to watch what your doing or it could end badly... next time try giving it a little more gas and go like you gotta be somewhere and see if it still does it

 

Ok maybe it’s a cold thing.....I wonder if it’ll keep up

 

I don’t think it’s quite that, because I get that “regular” shudder in reverse sometimes.....this is really bad and only the first time I drive it in the morning. Super weird.

 

I get the lurch or hesitation if I don't get the RPMS up enough going fromfirst to second if the truck isn't warmed up a bunch.

 

I have read about a few 3rd gen with destroyed/burnt out clutches way earlier than should happen.

 

Yeah, when it's cold there's absolutely no ass under 2K. Toyota probably only had the budget for a couple hundred hours of tuning to make this engine work right outside of the Sienna.

 

Exactly, if I get it up to 3k and shift to second it's seems fine. Just hate needing to push it that hard when I'm just getting going.

 

You just have to hope the engine is okay with those sort of revs cold because you don't have much of a choice. Time will tell but Toyota does have a good history of long-wearing engines.

 

You are using 0W-20. Your engine absolutely does not care if it's temperature is 30 degrees or 210 degrees because of the flat viscosity index the oil has. This is not 1970 and the oil is not 10W-40. Give it some gas and quit babying it lol.

 

most of the time its just getting going on my road which is 35 mph, and I myself and not ready to get on it.

 

It's not necessarily that the oil isn't performing, it's that the metal parts of the engine haven't heated up and expanded to size. The difference between 0 and 230 F is a big change when you're looking at bearing clearances and piston ring gaps that are measured in thousandths of an inch.

 

I am having the EXACT same thing happening. Only in first gear pulling out of the driveway in the morning. Temp outside has been in the low sixties. After the first shift... Its fine. 20k on the truck. Ahh!!! Any fresh ideas?!?

 

wondering now if it's got something to do with the accumulator, maybe something with the fluid in there? Don't have a good update for sure though.

@tonered put together a great thread on it here: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/mt-accumulator-delete-and-bs-thread.568303/

I'm probably gonna hold off doing the mod myself until my 125k warranty is up, but it'll definitely happen.

 

Engine oil needs to warm up to temp for all the anti-wear additives to activate. I cringe when I see people crank their cars up cold and blast off right away.

 

I get a little bit of a shudder on 1st cold shift with 1st gear. Goes away after that. It's a small amount though. Not worried about it.

 

After sitting this past winter for 61 days I accidently revved my car up to about 5500 RPMs upon start up, I cringed for sure!

 

It could given the design of that POS. @RedBeard1 also feels that it could be the rubber boot on the slave. I believe he said that he tore it off and hasn't had the issue since.

In the garage and with the never really cold PNW weather, I have not had this problem.

 

I will say that all last winter I didn't notice the problem oddly enough. It's been happening here recently only around 55-65 F. My last clutch lasted me just shy of 200k miles. This is my 1st Toyota manual and was hoping for about the same but stuff like this is just weird.