Throw Out Bearing Blues

[Beachin86]

Hi everyone,

I'm almost positive my throw out bearing is on its way out. I knew it would come eventually as I rolled the dice on buying a MY 13, just a bit sooner than I would like (36k miles). Symptoms I'm having are a light grinding noise from something spinning in the transmission area. I can feel a light vibration on the clutch pedal as well, but I'm very nice to my clutch and feels like it has a good amount of life left, so I don't feel that's the culprit. @Tcoat posted this vid on another TOB thread and it's exactly the noise I'm hearing:

I had already gathered a bit of research far ahead of encountering the issue, and from what I remember:

1. The throw out bearing that plagues MY 13 - 14 is the result of an insufficient heat capacity in the lubricant. Over time, it breaks down causing the bearing to heat up and "grenade" in your transmission.

2. Dealerships more often than not will not honor this under any warranty work, especially if the 3yr/30k mile one is up. However, I've read cases where some people got lucky. Any tips for getting the dealership to play nice other than being polite to them? Does printing out all these TOB forum posts, links to vids, etc. help at all?

3. Like an idiot, I gave in to buying Toyota's "Elite Protection Plan." From what I can gather reading this, they won't consider it warranty work if the part is beginning to fail. However, "Mechanical Failure" is considered under warranty, so I take it if the part grenades while I'm driving and leaves me stranded, they would consider that under warranty? Anyone have experience with this plan in regard to TOB?

4. Thanks to you forum gods, I already know that there is a NEW TOB part which SHOULD work better to prevent this failure from happening again. And I've also already learned that while I'm at it, I might as well also replace the clutch fork and possibly the clutch itself. And while I do think the clutch has a good bit of life in it, I went ahead and ordered all these parts already and they should all get here by the end of the week. I'm not sure how the previous owner treated the clutch, so why not? By what I saw on this video below, this guy also says to change the input shaft and flywheel. Now I can see the logic behind the input shaft being scorched, but I never heard of anyone on here getting that replaced along with the TOB as well. Anyone have input on this? As for the flywheel, it looks completely clean to me, I don't see resurfacing being THAT difficult of a job and got the vibe this guy was just selling more parts. Please let me know if I need to purchase either or both of these now.

5. My plan is to have Toyota diagnose the problem and tell me if it falls under warranty, but I'm fairly certain it's early signs of the TOB. If they do consider it under warranty, I'll gladly let them change it. If not, I might just pay the diagnosis fee, take the parts I ordered and find a reputable shop that has done this job before. I'm only just now looking into this and getting ready to call it a night before I dive deeper into the forums, so if anyone has any suggestions for the Greater Los Angeles / San Gabriel Valley area (I live in Whittier), please shoot some my way.

6. If there's anything I left out regarding the TOB issue that I should be aware of, let me know. Trying to dig my trenches before the grenade blows.

Thanks in advance for the help!

[humfrz]

Well, hello, Beachin86 .....

Too bad if in fact your car's TOB may be acting up.

It sounds like you have researched and thought out this situation.

I don't have anything to add except if the TOB is bad, I hope your warranty covers it.

Oh, BTW, Bubba says that if they won't cover the TOB under the warranty until it blows up, just take the car around the block, park it, set the emergency brake, put it into 3rd gear, rev it up to about 6,000 rpms and slowly let out on the clutch. Repeat until the engine spins freely, in gear, with the clutch out.

After it cools down, call the warranty people and tell them you have a claim.

Seriously, good luck.


humfrz & Bubba

[Tcoat]

Just print the TSB off and take it in . It states the work will be done under warranty (if still in the warranty conditions). The people that had issues getting it done were before the TSB came out or like me were well beyond the date/mileage.

[ermax]

And to add to what Tcot is saying. The TSB was released in 2017 so yeah, the majority of threads you read are before this TSB was released. I think you would have no problem getting it handled under warranty, especially if you go in there saying you read there was a TSB on it. If they argue, pull a printed copy out of your pocket.

[bababooey]

why order all these parts IF you still havent sorted out a possible solution with a dealer.

frustrating a 40 dollar part ultimately cost several hundy to replace if dealer doesnt warrant the faulty bearing. many people have reported their disc material was still good @ 70/80/90K miles barring standing burnouts and crazy clutch drops.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by bababooey

why order all these parts IF you still havent sorted out a possible solution with a dealer.

frustrating a 40 dollar part ultimately cost several hundy to replace if dealer doesnt warrant the faulty bearing. many people have reported their disc material was still good @ 70/80/90K miles barring standing burnouts and crazy clutch drops.

Yes. If the TOB is just noisy then the rest of the parts will still be fine. If it blows however it ain't pretty! There will be zero doubt if it blows since you will hear, feel, smell and even taste the results. I still wake up in a cold sweat.

[SLVRSRFR]

Do you have a good relationship with your local dealer?

I got mine fully covered under warranty, but mine is a Subaru, and I'm in Canada, so a few differences there. I was not expecting anything to be covered (even a friend of mine who was a former Subaru technician told me to brace for the worst), but lo and behold my dealer covered it in it's entirety. I think a huge factor was that I had serviced at that dealer religiously since day one, and was on a first-name basis with the Fixed Operations Manager, so he may have pulled some strings in my favour to get it covered.

It never hurts to try. Good luck!

[gravitylover]

Yeah my TOB is pretty well shot too and I'm trying to figure out how to get it covered under the extended Subaru Gold Plan my car has. It's going in on Tuesday morning to have the steering shaft assembly replaced under warranty and this would be a good time to get it done, car has 93k on it and the warranty ends at 100k. It only squeals when it's cold so I'm thinking I should leave it there overnight with the keys in the lock box then it will make ugly noises when they start it in the morning. Maybe, just maybe since they're already getting paid out on one warranty they'll cover a second at the same time I'd even pay them for the disk and pressure plate and maybe even resurfacing the flywheel if they'll cover the labor and put in the new TOB. I figure it's worth a try...

[Beachin86]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Just print the TSB off and take it in . It states the work will be done under warranty (if still in the warranty conditions). The people that had issues getting it done were before the TSB came out or like me were well beyond the date/mileage.

The issue with this is that it's now 2018, the car is a 2013, and I'm JUST over the 36k (36.6). So, fingers crossed.

Originally Posted by bababooey

why order all these parts IF you still havent sorted out a possible solution with a dealer.

frustrating a 40 dollar part ultimately cost several hundy to replace if dealer doesnt warrant the faulty bearing. many people have reported their disc material was still good @ 70/80/90K miles barring standing burnouts and crazy clutch drops.

Simple answer: I don't have the time to deal with dealer shenanigans. I'm already prepared for them to say it isn't covered, and in that case I'll have them put the tranny back together and I'll take it elsewhere to prevent my wallet from getting raped. I also don't want to have to pay to have the tranny opened several times to put a few parts in when I can do it all in one go. Again, just saving myself the time.

Originally Posted by SLVRSRFR

Do you have a good relationship with your local dealer?

I got mine fully covered under warranty, but mine is a Subaru, and I'm in Canada, so a few differences there. I was not expecting anything to be covered (even a friend of mine who was a former Subaru technician told me to brace for the worst), but lo and behold my dealer covered it in it's entirety. I think a huge factor was that I had serviced at that dealer religiously since day one, and was on a first-name basis with the Fixed Operations Manager, so he may have pulled some strings in my favour to get it covered.

It never hurts to try. Good luck!

Unfortunately I have practically no relationship to my dealer, good or bad. I only went there to buy the car and never went back for any maintenance. All it's needed so far are fluid swaps and I'm happy to do those myself and save the $400 dealer charge. This will be my first experience dealing with their service department, and I'm praying it's a good one.

Originally Posted by gravitylover

Yeah my TOB is pretty well shot too and I'm trying to figure out how to get it covered under the extended Subaru Gold Plan my car has. It's going in on Tuesday morning to have the steering shaft assembly replaced under warranty and this would be a good time to get it done, car has 93k on it and the warranty ends at 100k. It only squeals when it's cold so I'm thinking I should leave it there overnight with the keys in the lock box then it will make ugly noises when they start it in the morning. Maybe, just maybe since they're already getting paid out on one warranty they'll cover a second at the same time I'd even pay them for the disk and pressure plate and maybe even resurfacing the flywheel if they'll cover the labor and put in the new TOB. I figure it's worth a try...

Looks like we're both having ours replaced around the same time. I have an appointment for Monday. Let's trade stories when it's all done. Hopefully they end happily ever after and not in horror. haha.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Beachin86

The issue with this is that it's now 2017, the car is a 2013, and I'm JUST over the 36k (36.6). So, fingers crossed.

.

Ya that could be a problem. My dealer said they could have snuck it through if I had been a bit closer to 36K but at 100K they wouldn't even try. Besides it would only have covered the bearing itself and not all the damage that happened when the bearing went so it wasn't worth the fight.

[Beachin86]

Can anyone who had the TOB replaced tell me if you also replaced the Input Shaft as well? I saw one post where it was just lubed up when the new TOB was installed, but according to the second youtube link in my first post, it SHOULD be replaced to help prevent the new TOB from going bad. I'm guessing once it grenades it's best to change it, but if it hasn't gotten that far yet, maybe I'll be safe without it?

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Beachin86

Can anyone who had the TOB replaced tell me if you also replaced the Input Shaft as well? I saw one post where it was just lubed up when the new TOB was installed, but according to the second youtube link in my first post, it SHOULD be replaced to help prevent the new TOB from going bad. I'm guessing once it grenades it's best to change it, but if it hasn't gotten that far yet, maybe I'll be safe without it?

Not the imput shaft that need to be replace. If you damaged that you have way bigger issues. There is a solid housing that the bearing slides over which covers the input shaft ( @Ultramaroon help, I can not think of the proper name) that is what get's damaged. If the bearing isn't bad you should be fine just cleaning it up. If the bearing goes it will be toast. Mine was bad since the bearing completely blew.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Not the imput shaft that need to be replace. If you damaged that you have way bigger issues. There is a solid housing that the bearing slides over which covers the input shaft ( @Ultramaroon help, I can not think of the proper name) that is what get's damaged. If the bearing isn't bad you should be fine just cleaning it up. If the bearing goes it will be toast. Mine was bad since the bearing completely blew.

I've both heard and called it different things. Service manual calls it the "transmission front cover." I've finally settled on calling it the "quill" because that's what the internet seems to like the most.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

I've both heard and called it different things. Service manual calls it the "transmission front cover." I've finally settled on calling it the "quill" because that's what the internet seems to like the most.

It is called a front cover on my service sheet.