Throwout bearing.
 

OK so this entire situation has been a nightmare. Over the last year every time I have taken my car in for regular maintenance, I had free oil changes from the dealer as part of a service package, I have complained about odd noises and smells coming from my clutch. They make the notes but say that in order to diagnose it's going to cost a lot of money and it may not be warranty as the clutch could be bad and that would be wear and tear. Last week my car broke down. Could not use the clutch. Had it towed to a mechanic, the mechanic opened the transmission and was like whoa the throwout bearing is completely melted, your clutch, pressure plate, and flywheel still have about half life left so those don't need to be replaced just yet if your budget is prohibiting all of that work. I said hold on I think the throwout bearing is covered by my warranty (I'm at 54k miles). I speak with Toyota corporate and they say in fact that part is covered by warranty. The mechanic was extremely nice (THE auto shop in Irvine) and he didn't charge me for anything because he said he doesn't want to take money from me on something that is warranty work. Jason thank you, I will return and give you continued business. The dealership tows my car in, and put me on hold for 2 days because now an inspector from Toyota corporate has to come in to inspect this warranty claim. Now this morning I get a call saying the throwout bearing will not be covered by warranty because my flywheel and pressure plate show hot spots, meaning it's misuse and abuse. So now I am looking for advice. I don't have any engine or transmission modifications. I don't track the car. I don't drop the clutch. I drive the Frs hard sometimes sure, but nothing that this car shouldn't be able to handle.
So. Thoughts? Anything you all may have to help me refute this Toyota nonsense?
Thanks,
B

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You said the throwout bearing melted... The clutch and flywheel have "hotspots".... if the throwout bearing melted wouldn't this have caused the hotsports in the firstplace??

I don't know enough from a technical standpoint about how the parts are related nor do I know how the temperature would be affected by the failure of the throwout bearing.

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I'd call that other mechanic back see if he can give you some inform,ation/knowledge about that and then go back to the dealer and argue with them, quite common for them to try and blame it on misuse but they are the ones who need to determine it was misuse it is not your responsibility to prove you did not misuse it.

BTW anyone know if they make an aftermarket throwout bearing that is of higher quality? my throwout seems to be going too(but I'm supercharged so I figure changing it would just bring the same issue right back in a year or two whereas a reinforced bearing could last longer.

No. Not possible. The melting bearing wouldn't cause anything like enough heat, and is not close enough to the friction surface.

Sorry to say, but hot spots, in the form of visible discoloration on the flywheel and pressure plate is evidence of improper use. Not necessarily intentional, but that's irrelevant.

Dealer could be lying though, do they have pictures / did they show you?

As far as technical information, picture this. All the throwout bearing does is allow the clutch fork (which isn't spinning) to push on the pressure plate fingers (which are spinning very fast) thus releasing the clamping force that is holding the clutch. The wear on this bearing happens when your foot is on the clutch. All the heat and clutch wear happens when the clutch is in transit (mostly when you are letting off)

I'm surprised that they decided to warranty a throwout bearing, they usually don't. It is a wear part. They have denied many throwout bearing warranty claims simply on that basis.

You don't have to drive a car "hard" to hot-spot a clutch. And you can drive it hard without hot spotting it. All the heat generated in there occurs while it's slipping. Poor clutch technique during normal driving will do it. Stop-and-go traffic and hill starts are much more likely to cause spotting than HPDE or track events. The hot spots are created when the friction surfaces literally get hot enough to melt the metal and change the surface composition. A bad hill start roasts a clutch. A "clutch drop" while hard on other components, doesn't generate anything like the same amount of heat.

(You can do the same thing to brake rotors riding the brakes.) On a funny note about brakes, people usually ruin those driving too slowly down mountain passes. There is this funny myth about hard driving and wear that just isn't true. You can utterly destroy your car driving like grandma. I've seen people set brakes on fire driving 25 mph. That's what happens when you ride them for 10 miles straight down a steep grade.

One last note: you can destroy the throwout bearing without causing any wear on the clutch. Simply put your foot on the clutch and rev the engine until the bearing dies.

I work where rotors are made and any warranty claims involving our rotors get sent back to us. The vast majority show very clear signs of overheating from being ridden. It does some very distinctive damage and even though the owners always say "I never did that" we can tell. Oh yes, we can tell.

None available. ACT makes one. Quality uncertain.

Forced induction / increased HP will not affect throwout bearing life. Throwout bearing life depends 95% on driving/clutch technique and 5% on driving / traffic conditions.

There were a few cases reported on here where the fork was not lubed properly and it was deemed the cause of the failure. These were some of the rare occasions where it was actually covered under warranty.

That sounds like you know what your talking about and this seems like a battle I will not be winning. Bummer.

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As far as the dealer lying about Hotspots they didn't determine that. They had an inspector come from corporate to determine if this was warranty work. It seems as though that guy would not risk losing his job to save the dealership a few hundred dollars.

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If the damaged throw-out bearing was preventing smooth engagement / disengagement of the clutch, it certainly could have contributed to the damage to the friction surfaces.

In any case, it doesn't matter since Toyota warranty seems to consider the entire clutch assembly including the throw-out bearing as wear items. 54k is an early death for a sensibly-driven clutch, but it's not unheard-of.

Also, I am assuming the clutch items in this car are Subaru, and subary is known for AWD and terribly weak clutch hardware - especially the throw out bearings. In case your bearing has messed up the transmission snout, there are companies that make a replacement steel sleeve that slides over the scored up snout. They're not free, but it's cheaper and easier than replacing the transmission housing.

-Justin

Subarus seem to kill them off at a faster than normal rate. A friend had one go bad in his WRX at 26k miles. I had a clutch replaced by the dealer on my outback last year and the throw-out bearing started making the awful squeak of failure before its next oil change (I have the parts, just need a weekend to pull the car apart and replace it).

Another friend replaced all the clutch parts immediately after taking delivery of his STi because the stock parts have such a crap reputation.

-Justin

I authorized the replacement of the bearing. But the question is since my clutch has hot spots is that going to contribute to it having a shorter life? The service guy just said it won't be smooth. I don't care about that I just want to make sure that this clutch isn't going to die in th next 10 or 20k miles. They said it is at about half life.

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