Clutch Slippage

[BobZ]

I know this conversation has been brought up before so I apologize. I have a 2005 Scion Tc with manual transmission. It has 67,000 easy miles on it. We just start noticing clutch slippage. There are no other things going on other than slippage. If I try to accelerate it slips. If I let the clutch out in first gear with the brake on it will actually idle for a short period of time then stall. With the clutch pedal adjustment procedured posted by navylife59 help or it it going to the trans shop? I would appreciate any feedback. This is the first major problem we have had with this car and not sure what we should do next. Thanks. Bob (Marine Dad).

[CadenceScion]

Before you start taking things apart or buying parts, try some Lucas Tranny Fix.

[navylife59]

The problem maybe in your clutch slave cylinder. It uses the same reservoir as the brake master cylinder so check the fluid and do a bleed job on the clutch slave. The 8mm bleed screw is at the clutch slave cylinder. Does your clutch pedal feel mushy at all? If so, it needs to be bleed. This might not be the cause of your problem but you should have a firm pedal.

Do you feel any roughness in the pedal when depressing that was not there before? That could signify a bad throwout bearing or busted pressure plate. Of course, with that mileage, your clutch could just simply be worn out.

BTW. Tranny fix only works on autos.

[iTz_JWalk]

Clutches on Scion tC's were not made to last long. There are alot of discussions and controversies with their clutches.

My clutch just went at 77,000 miles on it and I did not abuse my ride

I would recomend getting something like a Clutchmasters Clutch or and Exedy Clutch. Those two have the best reviews. Also if you want to go the extra mile you may want to throw in a light weight flywheel.

[navylife59]

Not sure what is going on with these spate of failures. There is no trend analysis to look at so it is just speculation. It seems to be random and might be more than one issue related to these particular failures. My clutch has about 57K miles on it and has been romped on quite a bit with 230+WHP with no issues. I think alot has to do with engagement of the clutch. I have noticed that with just a tiny bit of throttle, the clutch can be let out fairly quickly. The clamping force of the fingers on the pressure plate will cause it to "torque" bounce with too much throttle and quick engagement of the clutch. The natural tendency in this case is to double clutch but that usually ends up in more oscillations so they proceed to feather in the clutch. This can cause the clutch material to heat up and smooth the surface of the flywheel. Slippage and and overheated clutch face can lead to degradation and early failure.

[iTz_JWalk]

That is very true but I didn't notice any clutch slippage till about 74,XXX or so. It does depend on the driving styles but just through some research I have noticed that the Scion tC OEM clutches go fairly early. Not saying thats the reason, just throwing that out there.

[navylife59]

There was a definite time frame where we had some bad apples in the bunch. Toyota was obviously mute on the cause. This was the trend analysis that I was alluding to.