Clutch Fork Squeaks
 

Hi everyone,


So I'm 36k miles and the other day when depressing the clutch pedal I had the sound like a leaking master or slave cylinder, but as it turns out it may be just the clutch fork. This apparently happens a lot on our cars and just wanted to inform you all that you can get marine grease and lather that sucker on the unit. :)

Mine has been doing that for the last 4k miles. It started when it reached 20k miles. I've been keeping an eye on this thread, but there doesn't seem to be many people with this problem compared to the other problems. The thread gets buried quickly.

How easy is it to do this? I'm debating to bring my car to Servco because this only happens after I drive it for 1/2 hour. They usually take the car early in the morning and don't work on it until later. The noise would go away by then.

Its exposed. No tools needed. Just wipe away the old gunk with a towel and smudge on the new lube. 30 secs. The logest part of this process is going to the store and buying haha. Ill include pictures in next post

Oh after you lupe, the sound will still be there give it about a day for it to work in. Here's the pic.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=1&theater

I had this problem and took it into the Toyota shop last week. They lubed it and told me to give it a week or two. The noise went away but is back again. I don't really want to go back to the shop again but looks like I may have to.

Keep putting marine grease on it. It'll go away.

Update
 

So the squeaking came back and I took it to the Toyota dealer yesterday. They spent about an hour working on it and I drove away to do some errands. Sure enough, the squeaking came back. I was pissed to say the least and drove it back to the dealer. The technician took a look at it and confirmed that the noise was coming from the inside as opposed to the exposed clutch area. They took an hour researching the issue and the rep told me that the technician spoke to Toyota's engineers and they only found one case where this was an issue. In that case, they opened up the transmission and determined that it was a lubrication issue. He told me that if it was a lubrication issue, it would not be covered under the warranty and I would have to pay for it.

The rep said that it could also be a clutch issue in which case it would also not be covered. He said that they could open it up and if there is indeed a part that is covered under the warranty, then no problem. I asked him if the one case that was a lube issue, did the customer have to pay. He couldn't tell me so I spoke to the service manager. I explained to him what was going on and he said the squeaking was actual common. I was pissed and told him that was not what the rep told me. Any way, he spoke to Toyota and they will cover the charge to open it up and lube the fork or fix any other problems, except if it is the clutch. I said fine, do it.

I spoke to a tech at a different place and he said it sounded like the throw out bearing. He said Subaru has had this problem and it was just a matter of replacing it and putting a rubber sleeve around it to protect it. I will find out Monday what happens.

I got my car back today and the tech told me that it was just a lubrication issue. He said the fork was bone dry. They did not charge me for the service and it is now running like a champ.

Anyone got this fixed by Servco? Just wondering if anyone already got it fixed by them. I'm taking mine in next week.

No point having them take your car for over an hour haha... Just get marine grease ($5) and grease the fork location, just make sure to clean it first. Takes less than 5 mins of work.

Yup. I've done it like 10 times since I saw this post in December. The noise keeps coming back in a few weeks. :(

warranty
 

It will most likely keep coming back like mine did. If you are still under warranty, ask them to do a courtesy service. They had to pull out the tranny to get to the fork I was talking about it my recent post. They wanted to initially charge me over $1200 because of the labor. There must have been other issues reported because Toyota USA covered the charge.

Fantah,
How did you lube yours? Maybe I'm lubing incorrectly. The longest it lasted is 3 weeks. It usually comes back in a week. I wipe the old lube with a cloth. Then apply a thin layer to marine grease with fingers rubbing around the silver metal part in that picture with red circle. Is that how you did it?

Having the squeaking issue too and it sounds like it's coming from inside the cabin

Yes it will sound like that. lube up the fork in the picture and press the clutch like 50 times and it'll get better.... eventually hahaha.

Can't wait to try it. Will Autozone or Pepboys have the marine grease?

I would think so. I bought mine at Walmart. Let us know if the noise goes away for longer than a month. I want to know how you applied yours and do the same to mine. So far, mine lasts only for 1 to 3 weeks.

Yeah any auto store. Its like $5.

So what actual work did servco do to fix the problem? They only lubed the clutch fork? Has your squeak come back at all? Did they completely rule out the throw out bearing? None of the work was covered under warranty but Toyota USA covered the work done? Thanks in advance. I just got the squeak today...

do you still regularly lube the clutch fork or was it just a one time and done sort of thing? Thanks in advance.

He's not from Hawaii.
I saw your posts on another thread too.
I'll let you know next week Monday who in Servco you should talk to about this problem. If you talk to the wrong person, they will charge you $600-$700 just for diagnosis (not including fixing cost). If you talk to the right person, they will fix it under warranty. Is your car still under basic warranty?

Yes, car is almost 2 years with almost 17k miles. Thank you! :thanks: I could feel it today when I was driving home today, kinda a stiff push back when fully depressing the clutch.

I know exactly what you're talking about. You can feel it on your foot. When I talked to them, it sounded like this issue is covered under the basic warranty and not the powertrain warranty. Toyota on the mainland seems to be covering it under the powertrain warranty. Not sure if Servco is ok to make their own rules, but I didn't go any further since mine is covered under warranty.

Is this still your DD?

Yes, still my DD.

If you are having the squeaking issues and it continues to come back, I would go to Toyota and ask to speak to the service manager directly. Tell him you have spoken to others about this issue and the only fix was to take apart the tranny and lube the fork or whatever part it is they call it. It was not the bearing in case they ask. After the service guy was done with it, he admitted that it was bone dry and would have caused major problems had they not performed this service. Mine wasn't just squeaky though, there seemed be a sort of crunchy feel to the clutch when depressed. Ask them to submit a request to Toyota to cover the service. Good luck. BTW, the clutch sill runs like a champ.

where did u lub?
Should I spray all the way down to inside of dust boost?

I just rub the exposed metal, then step on the clutch about 50 times. It gets better the more you do it.

I have the same issue starting last year at about 70000 km. It feels crunchy as if clutch (linkage, pushrod, return springs etc ) is binding. I tried applying grease to the slave cylinder pushrod where it contacts the release fork, tried flushing the hydraulic fluid. These seemed to improve it until it came back. I replaced the hydraulic fluid again, and could objectively say it had no effect. I then tried lubing all the moving linkage components inside the car ( very complicated linkage setup) where the sound seemed to come from in my case. The problem, if your getting crunchy clutch is probably the pushrod going into the clutch master cylinder is dry. You will need to find a compatible lube that won’t break down the seals and cause further problems