Clutch failure
 

My clutch decided to fail on me on Friday while at the track. It was my first day at the track this year and it was the first session of the day. I was taking it easy just getting back into the groove and it happened virtually the same way as some others have described. Clutched in to downshift and the pedal went straight to the floor. Lifted my foot and the pedal stayed stuck. I pried the pedal up from the floor and it stayed out and was very hard to press and only had about a half inch to an inch of movement before rock hard. Shut the car off and pulled into the grass. After I tried to restart the car to limp off the track and the car will not turn over. Sounds like the electric motor is trying to turn the flywheel but it is seized and so all you get is a screeching. Brought it to the dealer and so far they have been trying to deny any warranty work. I'll keep this thread updated with updates/pictures as they become available.

I brought my car to the dealership earlier this year when the engine popped. They noticed the aftermarket clutch and asked me why I didn't bring it in when my oem throw out bearing failed. This is why. Although they replaced my short block.

Do keep us posted, I think its ridiculous that damn manufacturers or dealers keep trying to deny warranty. They sell you a "sports/performance" car and they expect you to drive it like you would a damn prius. Not sure if your car is heavily modded or not but im assuming its not.

Well, that's a bummer .....:(

How many miles on your car .. ??

About how many track sessions ..... ??

Any power mods .... ??

Just curious .... :)


humfrz

Slightly modded with a few track days. Been to 4 track days 3 track nights (2 hour sessions) and 20 min the morning on Friday. 2 full autocross seasons and 2 events this season ( around 20 total)

Car has 14000 miles (22000 kms) I know how to drive a manual all my cars have been manual and I've been driving my own cars for 10 years. My Nissan frontier is a 6 speed manual just over 100000 kms on it I've had it for 80k and never an issue. Many people in my area have more track time or are boosted with no issues yet with more miles on the car.

As for mods I have slight mods. Rims, tires, full exhaust, intake, oft, short shifter, springs, camber plates, adjustable LCA. Nothing that should cause my clutch to fail as it did.

Also for those who don't know scion runs a contingency program in Canada to encourage track use. They sponsor all kinds of events like autocross. Can't quite say your car shouldn't be tracked when they encourage you to.

Ok so the car is now apart and I'm waiting to hear if it will be covered.

as i suspected things look quite a bit like what others have posted

here are some pics of the damage

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMAG0862.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMAG0863.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMAG0868.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMAG0864.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMAG0866.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMAG0867.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMAG0869.jpg

other then the images the bell housing has been scuffed up pretty good, the flywheel is in good shape with no discoloring, and a piece of the clutch got lodged in the starter.

I should find out tomorrow if it will be covered or if ill need to fight some more before i can get it all fixed up.

Now THAT is what I would call a "blown clutch" ...... :eyebulge:

Yep, something came lose in there fer sure.......:(

I would think a clutch, under the conditions you mentioned, should not blow up ..... maybe get burned up ...... but not blown up.

You just tell that to the dealer ...... and that ol humfrz, from the forum, said so ...... :popcorn:



humfrz

WTF, the friction plate (if that's what its called) is disintegrated? No way that's normal. It doesn't look burnt up, but fragmented.

yea and if they argue more, tell 'em that yung koa will beat them up if they resist, and if THAT doesn't scare them, we'll unleash our secret weapon:
@Tcoat

Buddy had one go just like that on his Evo a few years back. We reconstructed it like a crashed plane and determined one of the rivets had popped and ripped the whole thing apart.


http://www.figurerealm.com/userimage...00/38279-1.jpg

And people still think our cars doesnt have torque
Please keep us updated if dealer denied warranty

Sorry to hear.

I've recently noticed something a little weird on my clutch.

When I clutch in all the way down, the bottom 10% feels very rough and makes weird noise.

Other than that, the car runs strong and fine.

Should I take it to the dealer? Anyone having the same issue?

My car was running perfectly up until it was broke haha there was no sign that things were no as they should be

You probably should. That sounds like a failing throw out bearing on its way out.

Will do. Thank you.

My car has been to 7 track days and countless canyon runs. 15K total at the moment.

Wheels/Tires/Coilovers/Catback exhaust. That's it.

My clutch throw out bearing was doing that around 38k miles after >10 track days. Then one day on the highway I downshifted and the clutch made a horrible noise whenever I was disengaging it. Turns out the throw out bearing totally seized. I was able to baby it to a local shop and installed an Exedy Stg 2 clutch that I ordered a week before just in case.

The clutch itself was in good condition, just the throw out bearing was shot.

Ah, thanks for the info.

I just made an appointment at the local dealership. Is this something that they would cover under warranty?

Wow. Clutch go boom.

They say they would if I brought the car in. They may just request to inspect the clutch and you pay the labor to take out the trans, and if they warranty, then they pick up the bill. If they don't, then you have to take the bill. It's a gamble, see what they say they may just warranty it right from the get go.

I didn't want to go through the hassle and figured it was a good time to install a new clutch anyways.

Got it. I'm bring it in on Tuesday... I'll just shut up when I go in first. They will probably tell me if I need to pay before they inspect it, right? LOL I hope so.

On the phone, I just told them the clutch feels very rough and makes weird noise when it's fully engaged. They said just bring it in so they can inspect it.

ok so new update.


My warranty claim was denied last Monday. Citing that I have sticky tires and my car is a race car (news to me... guess that mace me a race car driver?). After being told that the claim was denied I tried to call Scion Canada again to see if I could get someone on the phone who could make sense of this. After talking to the lady she told me it was denied nothing could be done so I asked to speak to a manager and she said I would get a call back in some time. I told her that this was not good enough I had already waited 5 days since my original discussion with Scion Canada and hadn't received a call back yet. I told her that my car was sitting in non running condition and I expected a bit more urgency in dealing with the situation. I then demanded that I get a call back within 24 hours. I was told that she could not guarantee that but we eventually agreed that 48 hours was reasonable for both ends. that again was last Monday and I have yet to receive any contact from Scion Canada. I would call that poor customer service to say the least.

After reading the post by @Tcoat I started to wonder if this could have been the cause for my failure also and found rivets missing in one of the pictures above. today I went to take more detailed pictures of everything.

starter

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMG_1363.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMG_1364.jpg

flywheel looking in excellent shape

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMG_1368.jpg

clutch parts

notice the rivets missing and the piece looking in good shape on the bottom left

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMG_1369.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMG_1370.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMG_1372.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMG_1373.jpg


still a rivet in this piece

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMG_1374.jpg

close up of missing rivets

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMG_1376.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMG_1377.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMG_1378.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMG_1379.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMG_1380.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMG_1382.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMG_1383.jpg

bell housing

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMG_1384.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMG_1385.jpg

you'll never guess what I found in the bell housing

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMG_1387.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMG_1388.jpg

notice in this picture 2 of the rivets are missing their backs but the 1 was pulled out and still has its back attached.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMG_1390.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMG_1391.jpg

another pic of the piece with missing rivets

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMG_1393.jpg


for those who might be wondering why there is blue on the clutch plate i also thought this was odd but when looking at possible replacements I found....

http://www.ft86speedfactory.com/exed...h-kit-988.html

that is a new stock clutch from exedy the oem supplier also with the same blueish purple markings on the assembly

Now with no signs of abuse to any wearing items and no reason to not warranty this clutch I need to get their attention so that maybe I can get an explanation as to what they assume went wrong.

That is almost exactly what I was talking about.
Don't know if you are aware of the Canadian Auto Dispute Resolution Program but if Toyota said no luck I think you have an out standing case for them.
Check it out here: http://www.camvap.ca/media/Auto-Disp...Auto-Industry/

Wtf... those holes aren't even deformed, so how the hell did the rivets come out?


I'll admit I'm usually skeptical when it comes to clutch failures (missed shift causing an over-rev could cause a clutch to come apart) but this is pretty sketchy.

Do you have the denial on paper? I've read before that people have been denied with no paper work. Pretty shady.
I also wonder if you do your own work if they will warranty an item. I've seen people get charged and bend over for the tear down after being denied on the warranty.

dafuq???! How does that happen to the starter? Did someone drop a screwdriver in there and have you start it? Something caught and blew up in there!

Hope its back on the road asap bro.

Being in Canada OP has a great option when his warranty is denied (see my post above).
However... he is better off not discussing any further details of the work or problem on any public forum until after the issue is resolved.

Starter spins the flywheel, clutch contacts the flywheel. Any parts that get flung around can end up in the starter gear.

No I have received no paperwork or even a phone call from scion Canada. Most all I've heard has been through my dealership.

I would suggest you get some paper work before making calls. Otherwise nothing is really official. Or just try another dealer since it pretty much never happened(being denied at the first, unless it is on the computer). Good luck. I hope it works out in your favor.

So a few weeks ago I contacted the CAMVAP program as was suggested.

Toyota was made aware of my camvap application and contacted me to look into the problem further. They sent an engineer to take more picture and make a report and toyota contacted me after his report stating that they still did not intend to warranty the claim. They also stated that there were signs of heat scoring on the flywheel even though the flywheel was rusted as my car sat for a few weeks outside with it exposed in high humidity weather and it was under the car with low light.

I have now brought my car home and plan to fix it myself and ill request reimbursement through the camvap program. After taking the the flywheel off and giving it as good a cleaning as I could i took pictures. I also found some signs of oil behind the shim and was wondering if that was something to be concerned about?

here are the pictures

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMG_1503.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMG_1504.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMG_1505.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMG_1506.jpg

the abrasions you can see on the flywheel is from when the engineer tried to clean my flywheel with some sand paper.



http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMG_1521.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMG_1522.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMG_1523.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMG_1524.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMG_1526.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/f0x12/IMG_1527.jpg