Celica Forums General Discussion General Help! Toyota Dealer Dillema (Clutch)

Well I brought my car into the Toyota Dealership on Monday to get my grinding gears fixed. They found out it was the synchro's and they're gonna replace that under warranty for me. However they also found out my clutch is in bad condition especially for 2nd gear, and I should get it replaced. They quoted me $420 to get the clutch replaced right now, and if I wait till later the problem will get worse and to replace it then, would cost up to $800. (Labor costing $500 alone) Should I buy a different aftermarket clutch and have them install it? Or pay $400 to get the stock clutch installed? Or should I tell them to put the original one back in for now? I need to let them know by Friday the latest. Thanks

dont ever buy shit or get it installed by dealers.theyre jack off whos out there to rip ur ass off BIG time!hold up...is it $420 with labor or without?

well, it's $420 with labor. I know what you mean about dealers ripping you off. I waited till my school started in socal to go to this specific dealer down here because my hommie's, dad's, friend works at the service department.

^^really???which one man.maybe you can hook me up because all the dealers around here r dicks n wont cover shit.my clutch was fucked up ever since 800 miles n they wouldnt cover it.they said i prolly burned my clutch out in one day.i was like fucking bastards giving me that BS wear n tear reasons n shit.

wait your clutch is bad in second gear?!?!??! are you sure he meant the clutch or tranny???? if the clutch was bad you will feel it in every gear not just one.

dealers rip you off.

That happened to me too. took it in to get the tranny fixed, i think it was synchros too, and replaced the clutch and for $400 or so and that was just for the clutch. Didn't pay labor, so I thought it was a great deal. You'll end up paying more later for labor. I'd do it, and if its not too much money for an aftermarket one, go for it.

$420 now or $1000+ later I'll buy trd cluth and flywheel and let them install it.

Get an aftermarket and if it's the clutch that's the problem. Make them give you back the damaged goods if you're going to have them install it. If anything goes wrong after that you know who to point your finger at.

I took it to Norwalk Toyota, but I'm over at Riverside right now.

yep, that's what he said. I think he meant the clutch was slipping and it was especially bad with the 2nd gear. Now I remember when I tried to shift from redline in 1st gear to 2nd, it sometimes wouldn't get into 2nd gear and grind or pop out if I didn't force it.

How can they say it'll cost you more later? It's not like waiting would make it any harder to pull the clutch out.

Hmm ok, well if I were to get an aftermarket clutch, could I get one at the same cost of what the dealer is asking for right now, and which one's would you guys recommend? I was thiking of an ACT stage II clutch, but I'm not too familiar with clutches, so someone enlighten me please. I want one that's good for daily driving but grabs better than the stock one. I need to let them know what I'm gonna do by Friday and get the clutch to give to them by then. Thanks

i have ACT street clutch..it's ok..a lot of free play though..get Exedy Clutchmaster or RPS is cheaper..like 250-300 from suprastore.com..check them out..

the reason it is cheaper now is because they are pulling his tranny other wise they have to repull it to install the clutch later.

Ok, after some thinking I decided to just go with the genuine toyota clutch. I was also thinking about asking about my lift bolts. Would they be easy to access with the work they are doing right now?

Ohhhh, yeah, somehow I missed that.

Hiro, Titan Motorsports is selling the ACT clutch for $305 if you were looking for that? I honestly wouldn't go back to the stock clutch just because I've heard that pretty much any other clutch is better than stock. But yeah, look up This Page [titanmotorsports.com]

Definately get it done, you are saving tons because they have to do the labour anyway. They might as well do the clutch while they are in there. If it was me, I don't like Toyota clutches, so I would buy an aftermarket & drop it off for them to install.

Can you describe the noises the tranny makes when the synchro's are going bad?

Everything seems to work ok with mine, but lately the gear box seems really loud and what I can only describe as mechanical sounding. Like I can really hear all the gears meshing and groaning.

Hiro-Cube ,
Get it done now , it will save you in the long run thats true , the techinician wont have to go back in , saves time for him so he can charge less. Most dealers dont try and rip you off. The technician looks at the car , if theres something wrong with it , or he sees a problem that will become worse , yes .. he wants to get paid to fix it , but if a technician diagnoses something that isnt wrong.. you have every right to ask for the old parts back and call him on it. I am the assistant parts manager at a toyota dealership and i can tell you all of our techs are honest. I cant say that for any other dealers , but our guys dont suggest it unless it needs it . And as for SHO, they didnt cover it because if they replaced it under warranty and toyota called for the parts back , which they do sometimes , the dealer wouldnt have gotten paid a dime for the repair. That is why they wouldnt cover it , the way warranty works is if there is a defective part.. theyll replace it , if it looks like customer abuse they play it by ear and call toyota to ask if they can cover it , they can also do whats called a "goodwill" if the customer comes to thier dealer for all of thier work and maintenance they can warranty it through toyota no questions asked. Im guessing for yours thier not trying to rip you off , but for some reason thier service dept doesnt want to try and get toyota to pay for it because they dont think toyota will pay the claim. sorry for the long post , just trying to clear things up from a dealers point.