2008 tc clutch problem

[davids6259]

My son has a brand new 2008 scion tc (less than 5000 miles) and is having clutch problems. They said he has burned the clutch out and it wont be covered under warranty. Has anyone else heard of this in such a new car?

[Graphite]

What's it doing? Is he mis-shifting? Is it slipping?

[Soulbane]

Burning out a toyota clutch in 5k miles is a record if I ever heard one!

I sincerely don't know how he can kill a clutch that fast unless he was constantly during burnouts and dump clutch launches.

[JRBRUIN7@aol.com]

They say it isn't covered but if in fact it is burned out regardless if its a Toyota clutch or not a clutch should not go in 5,000 miles, you could easily fight that one. I have the 2006 model and with 45,000 miles on mine my clutch still works like I just bought it.

[davids6259]

Thanks for your input. Burning out a clutch in 5000 miles sounded far-fetched to me also. There happens to be a engine and transmission specialist from Toyota going to the dealership today and is going to look at the clutch. I'll tell him to dispute their findings.... thanks again!

Graphite.... he says he has never ground the gears or "ride" the clutch. He puts the car in neutral at stoplights and releases the clutch. He has never said anything about it slipping either. He did say that a few times, he took off from a stop in second.... but rarely does that.

[navylife59]

What are the symptoms? You might be experiencing clutch disk contamination. Are there copious amounts of dark dust around the lower portion of the bell housing? Is there a fluid leak in the clutch master cylinder?

Note: The clutch slave shares it's fluid reservoir with the brake master cylinder, hence the master/slave relationship. One fact to note is that the reservoir is segregated in that the clutch slave can be drained of fluid without affecting the usable portion of fluid in the reservoir for the master cylinder operation. It is a fail-safe function. It is hard to see this, but if you look at the front left corner (your perspective) of the reservoir, you will see where it is divided off.

Without knowing exactly what is going on, we are just shooting in the dark. However, we all agree that this should not be happening. Just like my '07Tundra 12K miles should not be getting 12MPG on the highway and the motor rattling, my '07 Camry should not have bald tires on the front at 13K miles, and my TRD S/C on my tC should not have a cracked mounting bracket; we all bought Toyota quality and trusted that this would extend to service/warranty issues. Such is not the case anymore now that Toyota is the world's largest automotive manufacturer. Welcome to GM quality.

[davids6259]

I can't answer any of your questions because I didn't not see this. It is on my son's Scion. He took it to the dealer and was told it was his driving that shreaded the clutch. He is having to pay almost $1000 to get it repaired... $250 for the clutch and the rest for labor. He is in the airforce in Pensacola and they have him over the barrell. An "engine and transmission specialist" from Toyota happened to be in that area and also said it was my son's fault. Who knows the truth!?!

[Azn Chief]

That sucks!!!! i have on 08 and had to learn manual for the first time. lol went through h***. Man.....
But anyway i did some hard launches and stuff learning, have 13000 miles so far, and clutch still works perfectly.
P.S. took me like a week and a half to stop stalling, the other half to be smooth. lol

[navylife59]

Well, your Son sounds adept enough to Serve his Country. I am pretty sure that he can operate a clutch. I would ask to have the old clutch and throwout bearing. If they won't give it to you, something really is a miss.

Does your Son have any aspirations of increasing the performance on his tC, IE turbo or supercharging? Now would be a good time to add a performance clutch. The stock one is easily good for 250WHP (normally).

[davids6259]

He had the clutch replaced (it was his fault it burned out according to the dealer) and it cost him about $900. Hopefully, this one will last longer than the original. I don't believe they gave him the original parts back, even though he asked for them. The parts dept was closed when he got by to pick up the car..... oh well, he'll learn! Thanks for everyones help on this.

David