whining/whirring noise during high load/rpm clutch engagement

[xxmaryduhxx]

I have this. Been battling Toyota since it happened.

[7thgear]

any updates from anyone?

this past tuesday we finally got some negative temperatures and after a day of being out in the cold (-9*C) the noise went away for about 8km then came back

sigh

[tokiokun717]

I have the same issue and it's getting worse. Did anyone find an actual solution? I have my 5k service coming up and I was gonna have the dealer check it out, but if they have no clue what to do I don't want to leave my car there for an extended period of time for no reason or even worse end up getting charged for labor for something they might claim isn't a warranty type issue.

[Flow]

bump for status updates/any new info.

mine is a pretty regular occurence now, and seems to generally occur more often when its cold, but otherwise I haven't taken it in/figured it out out.

[Dang Lad]

Glad some others are having this issue. I drove around some more today and tried to hone in on it. Here's what I found:

- Sounds like a distant horn (could be described as high-pitched whirring as well). The first few times I heard this, thought it was someone actually honking at me or the actual car horn going off.
- Happens about 80% of the time when engaging the clutch/gear (releasing the clutch pedal) around 4500-5000 RPM.
- Doesn't happen when disengaging or just hitting that engine speed in neutral.
- I was able to reproduce engaging into 2nd, 3rd, and even 4th at those RPM.
- No perceptible drop in performance or RPM related that I could sense.
- Been occurring for last week or so.
-- Could be due to cold, but also could be due to age of vehicle.
- I'm around 4600 miles on the car, had it since May 2012.

I'm going to speak with the dealer about it when I take it in for 5k service - probably next week.

[pjb86]

I have it too and would like to know what the hell is causing it and should I be concerned. I've been unable to recreate it but it usually happens for me when I'm shifting from 2nd to 3rd or so it seems.

[Mac1235]

The only times I have had this problem is when I am driving the car hard and high RPM shifting and because of road conditions or something else I am not getting a clean engage of the clutch and because it is high RPM what we are hearing is the sliding of the clutch plate. If you hit the shifts properly you will not hear this noise.

[Flow]

Originally Posted by Mac1235

The only times I have had this problem is when I am driving the car hard and high RPM shifting and because of road conditions or something else I am not getting a clean engage of the clutch and because it is high RPM what we are hearing is the sliding of the clutch plate. If you hit the shifts properly you will not hear this noise.

Do you ever have this problem when pulling out onto a street... in other words, it happens to me, almost always, when I am purposefully slipping the clutch in order to modulate my acceleration. Much more rare, and understandable, is the situation you describe, where I am at high RPM's, and didn't hit the shift quick enough. What's worrisome is that I have been driving manuals for a long time (never racing/track driving though), and have always used the clutch to modulate acceleration, and never had this problem before. So, what I guess I wonder is whether I've been doing it wrong all along, or whether it's something wrong with the clutch itself, since this the first car I've had this issue with.

(Interestingly, one of the reasons I love this car is that its teaching me a lot of things about driving ... things I hadn't noticed before because the other cars had power enough to compensate for my mistakes... so, I wouldn't be surprised if I've been doing it wrong, and plan to take some skills courses to get an expert opinion, but that's not going to happen for a bit, hence the internet theorizing)

[Mac1235]

Originally Posted by Flow

Do you ever have this problem when pulling out onto a street... in other words, it happens to me, almost always, when I am purposefully slipping the clutch in order to modulate my acceleration. Much more rare, and understandable, is the situation you describe, where I am at high RPM's, and didn't hit the shift quick enough. What's worrisome is that I have been driving manuals for a long time (never racing/track driving though), and have always used the clutch to modulate acceleration, and never had this problem before. So, what I guess I wonder is whether I've been doing it wrong all along, or whether it's something wrong with the clutch itself, since this the first car I've had this issue with.

(Interestingly, one of the reasons I love this car is that its teaching me a lot of things about driving ... things I hadn't noticed before because the other cars had power enough to compensate for my mistakes... so, I wouldn't be surprised if I've been doing it wrong, and plan to take some skills courses to get an expert opinion, but that's not going to happen for a bit, hence the internet theorizing)

The ideal start to acceleration is never modulating with the clutch pedal but with the throttle. You want the quickest/smoothest transition from clutch fully depressed to clutch out using the throttle control to get the acceleration you are looking for. Slipping the clutch lets the two plates spin against each other not fully synchronizing together and locking into place. This can cause damage and over time can wear it out. Depending on how the clutch is designed this may show signs of damage during the lifetime you own the car or it may not.

When I am stopped and want to have a normal take off I basically release the clutch at the same speed every time and I can get any type of acceleration I want by modulating my throttle. If you have to really hit it hard to avoid some kind of traffic, you might have to let it out more quickly then normal.

Anytime the clutch is "slipping" is not good for it in the long term.

[gmookher]

Likely glazing...

[Flow]

Originally Posted by gmookher

Likely glazing...

Possibly, but it seems odd that the clutch would glaze 1. from light driving, in my case 2. with only around 1k miles, and 3. for numerous people that, like myself, have been driving manuals for a long time, and 4. there is no noticeable performance impact, just the noise...

Anyone else who has this problem have any insight?

[GT/86]

I have the same issue and started doing it at 8K is driving me crazy I'm taking it back to the Dealer lol

[Jaylyons1]

I know mine was making a "woot" sound but it only does it on occasion and I don't have to be under full load for it to happen. Doesn't sound like the video though. It's only something the driver would notice.

[tokiokun717]

Alright, I have my 5k service scheduled tomorrow and I'm gonna be talking about this issue. Wish me luck! Any suggestions on how to bring it up?