Can you advise me if this is a BIG repair or a SMALL adjustment? My daughter's 98 Toyota 4Runner clutch seems to have a problem. On the flatland, the 4Runner appears normal yet when we drive up a few thousand feet of hill on highway from Santa Cruz to San Jose, the tachometer revs and the 4Runner appears to not have power but the engine is whizzing along fine with no missing. I think her clutch is somehow 'slipping' whatever that actually means. A slight smell of something burnt seems to be in the air but it's hard to tell for me because I don't know what to look for.
Back in the flatlands of Monterey and Gilroy, the 4Runner appears fine except my boss drove it in the parking lot and said he thought the clutch was 'engaging too late' near the top of the let-go range. It seems fine to me but I don't know what is actually broken.
Do you know if this indicates a major repair (transmission overhaul for example) or a minor adjustment?
Do you know what tests I can run to find out what needs to be fixed?
Well, to give you boys an update, I finally had the clutch done on my Toyota 4Runner. I picked a mechanic in the AAA list who charged $1300 for the whole job. It took him less than a day as I dropped it off at 10am and he had it back for me by 5pm.
He replaced the flywheel (I asked to see it but he said it was "cored"). He replaced the clutch plate which he showed me as I asked for all parts.
That brownish clutch plate was "shot" he said. I could see on one side the rivet holes were worn to the rivets and had scratched the metal plate on the heavy metal cover with "prongs" circling a hole in the center. The other side of that clutch plate was worn but not to the rivets. Soot was all over the thing, like a dirty fireplace but it wasn't burned nor did it smell bad.
It seemed to be in OK shape on that other side so only one side was worn down such that the metal was slightly grooved (you could see it and just about feel it with your fingernail) on the metal disk inside the heavy cover with the pronged hole in the center.
He said he replaced the clutch oil with something he called "GL5" which he said was better than Toyota required. I never heard of GL5 fluid before but I believed him.
The one problem is that it is VERY HARD to shift now. It's almost impossible to downshift into 1st unless I'm at a stop. The first three gears are really really hard to get now. The last two aren't too bad. But, it's MUCH HARDER to get into gear than it ever was. Is this normal? Will this go away? I'm afraid to ask the mechanic because he said there were no adjustments.
Also, when I press on the clutch pedal, it's uneven the pressure. I never noticed that before. When I press on the pedal, it seems to have three forces. First it's a bit easy, then a bit hard, then a bit easy again. I don't remember these three stages before.
Is all of this normal?
Please let me know before I talk to the mechanic so I am armed with the truth. It's not that I don't trust him ... it's just that the results weren't exactly what I expected but I don't really know what to expect!
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