Argh! My clutch has gone bigtime

Was on my way to drop a parcel off at the couriers this lunchtime when something suddenly failed in catestrophic fashion! Put my foot on the clutch as I was approaching a roundabout when the bottom of the clutch pedal travel suddenly went light and a horrible grinding noise ensued! Couldn't get a gear, finally managed to clunk into first and let the clutch up which resulted in more grinding. I managed to limp round the roundabout and into a garage just opposite. Seems to be when the clutch is slipped that's causing severe problems, still appear to have drive in first at least so hopefully it's just something fallen to bits in the clutch and not the gearbox itself.

I had to abandon the car at the garage - they're going to have a look later this week when they get time. The worst part is, the garage in question is the Toyota main dealer! Noooooo! It'll have to stay there, can't really transport it anywhere as it would need a low loader and I dunno how they would get it on as there's nowhere to attach a tow rope without destroying the front bumper and you certainly couldn't drive it on. Plus it'd cost a mint.

So bit of a bastard all round really, especially as I managed to scrape the passenger side on someone's wing mirror on the way over there too, so there's a nice black plastic line up the side. Should come off though. At least if I had the bloody car to get it off of!

Still have an RPS Street Max Clutch laying around if you fancy it

Still have an RPS Street Max Clutch laying around if you fancy it

I think the Max pressure plate is a bit stiff for me. Plus I don't know exactly what has broken yet. I've got an RPS flywheel and South Bend clutch on at the moment. Think I'll go back to a stock flywheel even if the RPS one is OK since they'll have to pull the gearbox I expect. I might need a new clutch in a hurry if it's knackered as I suspect. Normally I'd just order another South Bend from the states, it's a nice clutch, but I'll probably have to go for whatever I can get quickly.

Unlucky Simon, hope you're back up and running again soon

I have my uprated clutches in stock, drives like a stocker, 25% more torque handling ability, based on brand new genuine Toyota parts. Could post out to the garage...

That could be just the thing Chris. I may well give you a ring.

Toyota phoned me up this morning, you're going to love this! They said they'd had a look and it was the clutch. Wow, amazing diagnostics there! Then came the classic "of course as it's a Supra that will be an engine out job...". WTF? When I pointed out that in fact it was just a case of dropping the gearbox they said "errrr, well the service manager reckons its 12 hours labour". 12 hours FFS! I could do it in less time than that myself on the drive! And to top it all they charge a frankly ludicrous £75 an hour labour. So it's definitely getting recovered back to Triton!

2-3 hrs mate

They are taking the piss...but then they said you can't setup a TPS and a TPS is not orderable without the rest of the Throttle body at my dealer the other day. I had to explain that their own TSM has details of how to adjust the TPS...FFS.

You can get towed with that bumper on...I managed it (though I'm at the stock ride height)...you require a flat bed truck. The guy operating it will, like with me, ignore the towing eye and use the lower suspension arm to drag the car onto the flat bed...you can drive onto planks of wood to make the angles better...anyway it's possible so don't let that stop you and they have to pay for it to be fixed if they bust it.

IMO I'd get it towed to someone with a clue....

Get one of the tow trucks that just attaches to/raises the front wheels, I've found these to be the best bet with aftermarket bumper. They may need to jack the car up first, before sliding the towing arm under the front of the car though.

Simon, thats a joke, I remember talking to the local Toyota dealer here, they quoted me 3 hours labour for a stock clutch and up to 4 with an aftermarket one - just incase of complications? Sounds like they're busting your balls... maybe because its JDM?

£75 an hour is the going rate these days... £90 at Lexus!

you can get trucks that lower the ramp flat onto the floor, you drive on and the whole thing comes back up. Slightly off topic sorry!

Good luck with it Simon

If your flywheel is damaged and you just need a quick fix i have one here that you can have free of charge(it has approx 60,000 miles on it,

p.s if you need the part numbers and prices for the clutch let me know, i had mine changed last year, it cost £150 in labour.

Engine out job, total piss take and complete con, name and shame the garage ! :thumbdown

Quick update, managed to find a very helpful recovery truck bloke recommended by Triton who is recovering it back there on Monday for the not very princely sum of £33. Bargain! No problem with the clearance, he says he's done a few very low cars and has extra ramps etc (it's a low loading flat-bed jobbie). Bargain! If I'd known that's all it was gonna cost I'd have recovered it straight there in the first place!

I know 12 hours is taking the piss, it only took Triton 3 or 4 to change the flywheel and clutch when it was fitted! That's what I told Mr T too!

It was Westover Toyota, in Wallisdown. At least it's a handy place to leave the car while waiting for it to get recovered! They've got it locked inside too, I went and had a look earlier.

I've actually got a stock flywheel that I took off when the RPS one was fitted - it had 40000 odd miles on it so I'll have a look and see what state it's in. I'd need to find somewhere to have it refaced though so I might just end up ordering a new one.

An update for anyone interested . The car's been recovered back to my usual garage Triton. Would definitely recommend the recovery guy for anyone local that ever needs one, very good and very cheap too. I'll post his details up when I've got them to hand.

Anyway, they've dropped the gearbox and found the problem. I have a South Bend kevlar sprung hub clutch disc, and one of the springs has detatched from the disc. The flywheel and clutch plate are both fine, and there is plenty of wear left. So I could have got away with just replacing the disc.

I ended up ordering a new stock flywheel from Toyota and bought a RPS max street clutch from D3xt3r, so that's going in and I'll soon have a RPS flightweight flywheel and South Bend pressure plate for sale...

Got my car back now, bit of a difference from my Hyundai Getz diesel hire car! Very strange driving it again, especially as the clutch is now a fair bit heavier than my old one. Think I'll have to go into weight training or I'll end up walking in circles.

Anyway, this is what happened to my old clutch disc. It's cracked at what looks like a weak point where the springs are. Possibly metal fatigue?

Gotta love those Triton guys. Tim recommended them when I bought the car and they've been good to me so far.

Sounds like the local Toyota place is just another typical Westover screwover branch then...

Glad you got sorted Simon.