2011 MT Yaris races on upper gears

[gitmoyaris]

Hi, I have been all over the forums and have not seen anything like this addressed. We live in South Florida and have a 2011 Yaris hatchback with 5 speed Manual Transmission. The car only has 66k miles and has had zero problems since we got it 10 years ago. The clutch is very unforgiving, but that seems to be a characteristic of this design, and we drive it very little so we don't get flawless at it.

The problem I need to address is that when we are shifting, specially going into third, accelerating beyond 2,500 RPM will usually cause a racing effect, where the engine roars, but the acceleration does not increase. This is a little less noticeable going into 4th and even less into 5th. Now I am noticing the car doing the racing thing while accelerating when it is cruising at 60 to 65 MPH on 5th gear. We never drive on two lane roads where you have to pass others quickly, but I would be scared to do so if that happened.

My mind says Clutch, but I cannot see why the clutch would have any bearing when the car is already firmly on gear, and my foot is not on the clutch such as on third gear, or the more recent 5th gear cruising speed racing effect. We recently changed the front brake pads and rotors (they were perfectly fine, but my daughter insisted) and cleaned and re-lubed the caliper slide bolts. We have not yet bled the brakes, and when we do we will bleed the Clutch Slave cylinder, as they are both the same hydraulic system. If this has any effect, I will update.

Appreciate any ideas. I have done my share of tinkering with cars for 60 years, but have not run into this. The Yaris has been trouble free so I don't know the mechanics of it.

[mitch9521]

Are you inadvertently riding the clutch a bit as you ease off it and start accelerating?

These cars are pretty brutal for their rev hang too, if you aren't used to it it can cause lurching when you come off the clutch too fast.

[remcafee]

the symptoms you describe are a classic case of smoked clutch disc, the clutch material might still have life left, only 60k miles, but it may have overheated and changed the metal permanently from over heating, if bleeding the clutch doesnt help, you will need a new clutch, replace/machine flywheel

[gitmoyaris]

Appreciate the responses, but I am still having difficulty blaming the clutch for the following reasons. When I shift into third I basically just slap the clutch long enough to shift (1 second) and then I start accelerating with my foot OFF the clutch. If I keep it under say 2600 rpm, then I am OK, but if I go beyond there, I can get the racing effect. Same issue when I am cruising at 55 to 60 MPH. I have not had my foot on the clutch for maybe 5 minutes, but if I have to accelerate to pass someone, the engine will race after I go to say 3,000 rpm. The clutch has not been involved for minutes, but I still get the racing effect. There is something else at play here, but I don't know enough about this car to even guess at a cause.