Engine Clutch problem i think

Clutch problem i think

So bare with me while I try to describe this but I need help. I was driving the other day and an SUV shot out of a side street and almost ran into me, to avoid hitting him I dropped gears really fast (from 4th to 2nd) I avoided hitting him but things got a lil squirley at the end and I started to fishtail sort of. Later that day when I would get into second gear my car would kind of jolt, like it was having a seizure. I drove it real carefully for a few days and it went away. A week later I was at a light and I floored it on green just messing w/ my room mate and my clutch started to burn real bad. Ever since then it has been real effed up. Like when I hit second the car revs really fast w/ little or no acceleration and then when it almost hits red line it drops down to like 4000 rpms and begins the normal acceleration. Its really weird. I was showing it to one of my friends tonite and it did it the first time I showed him, he wanted to see it again so I did the same thing and it was normal..didn't do shit...then we get back to my apartment thinking wtf is going on and my clutch is burning again....

Is my clutch shot?

Yeah, it sounds like your clutch is on its way out... get it fixed before it completely dies (trying to drive a car with a clutch that doesn't work AT ALL isn't any fun...)

I've narrowed it down to the clutch or the intake. Its been doing that revving up thing basically since i put my new intake in...its ebay so I think that might be either the cause or part of the problem.

Well, an easy way to check, put your stock Intake back on and check it out... but if you could smell your clutch burning while it was revving oddly... odds are...

Upon my most recent drive I made a new observation. It will rev like that even if i'm not just switching to a gear. I was in 4th gear going 45 and just outta curiousity i gunned it to see if it would accelerate fine. No. It reved instantly to redline, got that burning smell and it dropped to about 4000 rpm again and began normal acceleration. I'm lost. I don't think its the clutch if its doing it in a non clutch environment.

It sounds like the clutch is sticking...

How would one remedy this? lol. I'm a n00b still kinda.

a good way to test if your clutch is bad is to put it in 2nd and do a clutch drop(around 4-5k). if your car stalls your clutch is fine. if it slips and burns your clutch is shot.

Sorry to sound ignorant, but whats a clutch drop?

when you hold the clutch, rev the engine to 4-5k and then quickly release the clutch without letting go of the gas.

awesome...thanks man. imma have to try that out.

no second gear if you want to test the clutch. if you just want a great launch do it in 1st

yeah sorry i totally forgot that you had specified second.

Okay so I just took it out to clutch drop it. Didn't stall in second or even third gear. No smoke though, just that unmistakeable smell of burning clutch.

I guess that only means one thing.

Any one know what Toyota's warranty deal is with clutch or how much I'm looking at to replace it?

Well, I tried a second gear clutch drop from about 5k rpm in my Integra... hehe... laid a nice strip of rubber down...

i guess imma have to give in and jst take the rolla in and see what the verdict is.

put it in secodn going 30 miles or so and gun it if it redlines quickly and you moveno faster then your clutch needs to be replaced soon... wait too long and you may mess up the flywheel but good idea to resurface it no matter what anyhow!

Hopefully they will work something out with you - chances are, you are SOL - have to buy a new clutch, resurface flywheel, possibly more depending on how things look in there.

Price quoted from different dealerships for my 2003 MAtrix XRS (probably very similar to yours - labor wise) were from $650 to as much as $1250 just for labor. I was going to do it myself, but it a bit cold right now - Matrix XRS have a bad rep for burning up their clutches. This one is on its second clutch in 40K miles - was a little weak when I got it, but was planning to teach the wife how to drive standard - so burning it up wasn't a big deal.

oh and toyota wont replace your clutch.... its a wear and tear item at least thats what they told me when mine burned out at like 17K or something insane like that!

i got mine online for $100 and then had it installed for $400. they didnt even bleed it tho so i had to do it myself. saved a lot of money tho. If you want a mechanic to buy the clutch and give you a guarantee then you'll have to dish out around $600

Yeah my car completely died today on the interstate. I had to wait 3 hours in the cold for a fucking tow truck to show up. I called Toyota about it first thing *before it died* and they told me the clutch would be covered under the 36000 3 year bumper to bumper. I'm sure that will change tomorrow when they see parts that aren't exactly stock on it. I was going to put as many stock parts as possible back on but uh, didn't count on it just up and dying like that. Gay.

Best part of all is my CEL didn't pop up...not that it should with the clutch but it gets thrown every time I hit a pot hole...I just figured yanno.

if its poping up on potholes its probably a loose connection and yeah it shuld pop up on a clutch... man im pissed i think i have the worst toyota around... i spoke to corporate and they allsaid wear and tear item too bad

It ended up being the clutch, fly wheel, and transmission barrings. Or so I was told. The clutch wasn't covered being as it is, yes a wear and tear part. Total cost to repair....$858. If my car wasn't stuck there I would tow it back here and put in a racing clutch or something. Oh well, I have a bad ass Tundra for a loaner car.

ok..... i'm gonna step into this ignorant conversation here.

first off, one of the best ways to tell if the clutch or pressure plate is SLIPPING (not 'sticking'... you WANT your clutch to 'stick') is to be in a higher gear at lower rpm and floor it..... if the motor revs faster than you accelerate, then the clutch is slipping.

what does the slipping mean? It merely means that the pressure plate isn't holding the clutch against the flywheel like it should. It could be a comination of things: worn weights/springs on the pressure plate, a worn pressure plate surface, a worn clutch surface, a worn flywheel surface.

However, if you need to fix any of the above, it's best to fix all. Get a clutch kit (ie, clutch disc, pressure plate, and t/o bearing) and then have your flywheel machined. If it's out of spec, get a new flywheel (they're all of ~$40-50 after core).

as for the guy who paid $100 for his clutch, $400 for install, and 'saved a lot of money because he bled the system himself'..... i'm guessing the clutch they put in wasn't a kit -so expect it to go out again. $400 for install isn't all that great. Before I had the ability to do the work myself, i found a local tranny shop to do the work for $380 including a new clutch kit. Third, bleeding the system takes a shop about 5-10 min because they usually have a vacuum pump, so you really didn't save any money.

$858 is way too expensive, even if it is dealer cost. An oem style clutch kit from beck/arnley (which are just as good as Toyota parts) is $300 or less. Dropping a tranny isn't that tough, and the 'transmission bearing' is just the throwout bearing, which is a $50 max bearing (but usually comes in the clutch kits). That leaves about $500 for labor... which IMO is way too high, since dropping a tranny to do a clutch job isn't that difficult especially when you have a lift and a tranny jack. That price better include a realignment for the front as well.

Yeah I was pissed about 858 considering its something I could have done on my own if I had known it wasn't going to be underwarranty. I was initially informed by the dealership it would be so I had no problem with it. By the time they corrected themselves the car was already there and I'd have to have it retowed and such back to my apartment which would mean I would be out of a car until I had a chance to fix it. So I'm pissed about 858, but considering I don't have time to replace it and that Toyota gave me a hell of a loaner car free of charge I'll deal with it this time. I just know now for future reference not to concern them with my clutch problems.

Um, if they told you it would be under warranty and you had your car towed there.... I would contact the dealership owner and tell them that you're not satisfied....

it sounds like they're doing you wrong here.....

I talked to a supervisor about it. The person that told me it was covered was just a mechanic apparently and didn't know the financial aspects of it I guess. I mean I know I could fight with them, but I think its just going to be more harm than good. Plus I'm on a lease with a few modifications done to the car so I don't want them to end up throwing that in my face and screwing me over. I'd rather take the peaceful route with this one even if I do get the short end of the deal.

it doesn't matter.... the mechanic talking to you wasn't talking to you on his behalf... he was talking to you on TOYOTA'S behalf..... to give you an idea into why corporations have the weird policy's that they do..... I work at Schucks auto supply... We as employees (on the clock) can't work on anyone's car, and for the most part if it involves using a wrench we can't do it. Why? because we are liable. When we're on the clock we are representing the company, not ourself. So, say I were to replace an alternator on a customers car, and a week later the belt snaps. The customer could say that I had installed it, and did something wrong. At that point, they could claim I was at fault for the belt breaking.... So, even if the supervisor tells you that 'oh, well he doesn't know any better' it doesn't matter. The mechanic being an employee there talking to a customer about the customers car - and services for that car - the mechanic is representing Toyota. Whether the mechanic made a mistake or not, it's not YOUR mistake.

who cares about modifications on a leased car? if it is all stuff that can be put back to stock, then no harm no foul......

You may think you're taking the peaceful route.... but that's damn near $1,000..... i have bought 3 cars totalling less than that..... and if they DO decide to throw the modifications in your face, big deal... what's going to happen, they're charge you $858 for the job? oh wait, they're already trying to do that.

now that I think about it..... there is only 1 way for them to get out of this. If the mechanic had no idea what was wrong with your car and mis-diagnosed it (and didn't charge for diagnostics) and then they got into it and found other problems, then there might be ground for them saying you will have to pay for it.

(Kinda like if you go to the parts store and the guy behind the counter tells you the part is $50... but turns out it's the wrong part and the right one is $100... although it is their mistake, they can still sell you the wrong one for $50... but obviously you won't go for it because it's not the right one).

So, in short.... If the mechanic was talking to you about what is wrong with your car and that is what they are fixing, and he TOLD you it was covered by the warranty you have on the car... then THEY are liable to pay for it, not you.

my clutch was a kit. it was a "generic" brand racing clutch. works fine except they forgot to bleed it.