Clutch failure at 27k miles

[jazzyb88]

So I was driving to work this morning and everything was as normal. Then when I stopped at the traffic lights and went to pull off, the car felt a bit odd (2.5-3k RPM to get it to move) but then it moved off fine so thought nothing of it.

Got to the roundabout, shifted down to third, went to shift up to fourth and bang! Lost all power to the front wheels!! Never experienced anything like that before! The clutch has totally gone.

Worse still, I then had to wait 7 hours for the recovery truck to come!!! :mad:

I bought the car used, with 11k on the clock and have always had clutch judder in the cold since I've owned it. I was never sure if this was normal or not as reading on various forums suggested some judder might be normal in the cold as moisture is on the clutch surface? I also tried the stall test a few times and it would always stall, and the biting point seemed ok. There were no tell tale signs other than the judder that there might be anything wrong?

Mine is the 1.0L and most of the clutch issues seem related to the earlier 1.33 models or the MMT boxes. I am not the world's best driver but I know how to drive a manual, so have not been resting my foot on the clutch or leaving the clutch depressed in traffic - in fact I always shift to neutral and try my best not to slip the clutch going up hills by keeping a distance.

Wonder if the previous owner killed it?!

Anyone seen this on a Yaris before? Felt embarrassed seeing it on the back of a recovery truck! :laugh:

[JustPassinThru]

No on seeing it before - not that I'm an expert there. But I've never, EVER had a clutch go out on ANY car with 30,000 miles.

If you had clutch chatter (shuddering) since you bought it, the previous owner almost certainly cooked it. There's an outside chance it was defective from the factory.

Doubtful you did it. Once it's damaged from heat, its lifetime is gonna be short.

[IllusionX]

mine always jutter when cold.

yours seems to wear prematurely. maybe previous owner didn't know how to drive manual.

[Exiwolfman]

not sure but i would see if its covered under the 5yrs 100km warranty ...see if u can find delivery date for original owner cos its an 09 maybe delivered late 09 early 10 ...never know....just may ..never hurts to ask.

[jazzyb88]

not sure but i would see if its covered under the 5yrs 100km warranty ...see if u can find delivery date for original owner cos its an 09 maybe delivered late 09 early 10 ...never know....just may ..never hurts to ask.

One of the very first things I checked when I bought it and unfortunately, it was bought a month before Toyota rolled out the 5 year warranty!

That said, they may class it as a consumable and not cover it. I'll wait and see what the garage say now! :smile:

[jazzyb88]

Called the garage and the clutch has definately gone.

I have been reading on the net and this seems to be a common weakness on the Aygo/C1/107s and since I have the same engine, it could be linked. Interestingly, it lets go around 25-30k on Aygos and the earlier replacements have only gone on another 20k! That said, the older Aygos had a 180mm clutch and the fix Toyota now applies is to put the 190mm Yaris clutch in (basically, the one I should have on right now).

From what owners say, it looks like something snaps inside the assembly, rather than it actually wearing out. This would explain the lack of any warning when it let go and it sounded like something completely broke.

I think I'm going to opt for an aftermarket clutch and stay away from OEM this time and just put it down to bad luck!

[bronsin]

Definately driver driven problem.

My own clutches longevity:

1974 VW Beetle 250,000 miles clutch and driven plate, new throwout bearing 125k.

1975 BMW R90/6 153,000 miles, everything

1992 Honda ST1100 109,000 miles, everything

I have NEVER personally wore out a clutch in 40 years of driving.

[jazzyb88]

Definately driver driven problem.

My own clutches longevity:

1974 VW Beetle 250,000 miles clutch and driven plate, new throwout bearing 125k.

1975 BMW R90/6 153,000 miles, everything

1992 Honda ST1100 109,000 miles, everything

I have NEVER personally wore out a clutch in 40 years of driving.

I'll wait and see what the garage say, but if something in the assembly has snapped, rather than worn out, that to me indicates a manufacturing fault. If it is something like the friction plate wearing out, then yes, would look like driver error.

Also, the Aygo/C1/107 forums are littered with threads on this. The C1 owners club, for example, has gone so far to produce their own clutch kits built to a different spec than the manufacturer! :iono:

[bronsin]

I see your 2009 Yaris has the 1 liter engine. I would imagine that trying to keep up with city traffic in that car would put an immense strain on the clutch, given an undisciplined driver. Most of my driving was long distance in the three mentioned vehicles. However, even with my 86 Toyota Tacoma pickup, 79 Mercedes 240D and 01 Toyota ECHO which were all driven primarily in city traffic, I had no problem. Basically I drive all my vehicles very slowly at least as far as acceleration goes. (top speed another story on the motorcycles!)

If you abuse the machinery failure is sure to result. Although I must say 11k to fry the clutch they must have worked very hard at it!

[nookandcrannycar]

I have NEVER personally wore out a clutch

I don't think I have either. Off the top of my head, I think of 5 manual transmission cars I've owned....4 of them purchased new with about 720,000 miles combined put on all 4 of them (3 of the 4 with 151,000 miles or more) and just under 30k (IIRC) on the 5th one (which I imagine had had a clutch replacement at some point before my ownership) before the engine 'exploded' while I was driving across the Mojave Desert (on my way to Las Vegas to celebrate New Year's Eve).

[nookandcrannycar]

Basically I drive all my vehicles very slowly at least as far as acceleration goes.

Me too (except when I had my GTI :biggrin:).

[jazzyb88]

Got the car back - it was a release bearing failure.

Feels a little different, but no juddering and no rattle on idle (which I am now guessing was the old clutch bearing).

Garage can't say if it was down to misuse or faulty from factory though, but glad it is fixed and hopefully will last a lot longer!

[bronsin]

Gee if thats all it was and the rest of the clutch was OK that would seem to rule out abuse as the cause.

But my advice is take it easy accelerating and driving in traffic. I hope you arent the type of driver who is always in a hurry and who thinks they have to pass everyone and get there first?

Are you?

If so then there is another clutch in you not to distant future!

[jazzyb88]

Gee if thats all it was and the rest of the clutch was OK that would seem to rule out abuse as the cause.

But my advice is take it easy accelerating and driving in traffic. I hope you arent the type of driver who is always in a hurry and who thinks they have to pass everyone and get there first?

Are you?

If so then there is another clutch in you not to distant future!

Hehe quite the contrary. I am always aiming to get the highest MPG figure! After all, the Yaris (and a 1.0l at that) is no sports car :laugh:

I went for an Exedy clutch.

[junorico24]

My clutch is original i have 127 000 km on the clock it's still OK. But my gearbox occasionally crunches when cold.

[bronsin]

Hehe quite the contrary. I am always aiming to get the highest MPG figure! After all, the Yaris (and a 1.0l at that) is no sports car :laugh:

I went for an Exedy clutch.

Hmmm maybe the PO rode around with there foot resting on the clutch. That might trash the release bearing.

Im after mpg too.

What I wouldnt do for a 1 liter engine! :bow:

[nookandcrannycar]

What I wouldnt do for a 1 liter engine! :bow:

:thumbsup: Me too!


I just did djct watt's Standard Clutch Test (post #12 on 06SilverYaris's '45 k clutch is going' thread), but I forgot to engage the parking brake :bonk:. Did I shorten the life of the clutch by neglecting to engage the parking brake :redface:? (I'd like to get at least 300k out of this clutch)

[jazzyb88]

Hmmm maybe the PO rode around with there foot resting on the clutch. That might trash the release bearing.

Im after mpg too.

What I wouldnt do for a 1 liter engine! :bow:

Possibly, although will assume the older gentleman is innocent until proven guilty :rolleyes:

The 1.0l is good from an economy point of view, but understandably slow when accelerating. They are surprisingly quiet for a 3cyl but still have that nice thrum.

However, it will sit comfortably at 70-80mph if you want, but I usually try to keep it to 60mph if I can where the revs are approx 3000 RPM. In all, I am getting about 55 mpg (imperial) or 45 mpg (US).

To be honest, I think the best is the 1.33l or 1.5l that you have in the states. That seems like the right mix of economy and power :)

[bronsin]

Yes I know many 1 liter engines dont get all that much better mpg (if they get any better at all) overall and of course like you say when you want to GO you cant as well as a 1.5.

My 1.5 liter ECHO manual got 40 mpg driving is 6 miles to work and back and if you went 60 mph on the highway...53 mpg!

Sadly the Yaris is much heavier than the ECHO.

You probably have noticed the Civic, which used to weight sub 2000 pounds now is about as big as my parents 1973 Chevrolet Bel Air.

The V6 Honda Accord gets 16 mpg!