Burned out clutch at 51,000 miles!

[Cobrajet]

This is a cautionary tale...

My buddy bought a brand new manual Sapphire Blue '15 Mirage DE during the 'Mirage-a-Palooza' rebates in the spring of 2016. He drove it briefly, then gave it to his wife to drive after his knee began to bother him. He has done floor installation his whole life, and his knees ain't what they used to be.

She put about 50,000 miles on it, and loved it. Her teenage son Jake was driving a 2002 Toyota Sienna van, and this van was wrecked a few weeks ago. I never heard exactly what happened, but I figured it was wrecked because of 'teenager stuff'. It was decided that he would inherit the Mirage.

Last week, he was trying to accelerate onto a freeway on ramp when suddenly he had a problem. The engine would rev, but the car would not accelerate. Despite his best attempts, he could not get the car moving. It was stuck on the side of the road, and the car had to be towed back to his house.

My buddy asked me to look at the car since I was familiar with this model (he bought the car on my recommendation). At first, he thought his son had broken the clutch cable or damaged the transmission by being an idiot...more 'teenager stuff'. I asked him how the clutch pedal felt, and he said it felt fine. I asked if the car would go into gear normally, and he said the shifter felt fine...the car just wouldn't move when the clutch was released. On Tuesday evening I went and checked the car out. I had a pretty good idea of what the problem was, but decided I should confirm it nonetheless.

First, I wanted to make sure the car really wouldn't move when I tried to drive it. I started it, put it in first, released the clutch pedal, aaaaand...it just barely crept forward. I was able to feather the clutch pedal and gas pedal enough to do a very slow lap around the cul-de-sac he lives on. I popped the hood to see if there was free play on the clutch release lever.

There was NONE. The clutch was way out of adjustment. It was so bad, in fact, that I had a hard time even turning the adjustment nut by hand. I thought I was going to have to get a pair of channel-lock pliers or something. But I finally got it to turn and set the right amount of free play on the clutch lever. I hoped the damage to the friction disc, pressure plate, and flywheel was not bad, and and that an adjustment would set things right.

No such luck. The clutch is burned out! I tried to relay to my friend that the cause of this problem was not 'teenager stuff'...but a simple lack of adjustment on the clutch cable. Knowing his son, he wasn't buying it...

Moral of the story: KEEP THOSE CLUTCH CABLES PROPERLY ADJUSTED! You want about 5-7mm of free play on the clutch lever, which translates to about an inch of free play on the pedal.

Don't end up like Jake.

[dspace9]

Just seems suspicious that a few weeks after destroying an old Sienna minivan, a newbie manual driver would have issues with the clutch.

Don't mean to be skeptical of Jake... or his friends. Hope it all works out! Kids are expensive.

[Cobrajet]

Great story, but I'm still skeptical. Nobody was tampering with "moding" the clutch? Just seems suspicious that a few weeks after destroying an old Sienna minivan, a newbie manual driver would have issues with this Mirage. Just a thought. Too much coincidence.

Don't mean to be skeptical of Jake or his friends.

That is exactly what my friend thought. I know Jake, and he isn't a 'modder'. His last vehicle was a minivan that he DIDN'T inherit...he chose it. But I believe this was the first time he had tried to take the car on the freeway. I suspect the adjustment of the clutch was adequate enough to keep this 2,000 pound car tooling around town, but once he tried to hammer it up an on ramp the clutch just cut loose. Had he stopped there, the story might have ended differently. An adjustment would have been all that was needed.

But Jake continued to try to get the car moving. Revving the engine against a clutch that was slipping badly due to maladjustment. The heat generated almost certainly fried the clutch.

[Top_Fuel]

I haven't looked at the fine print, but I'm assuming a clutch is not covered by the 100,000 mile powertrain warranty?

[dspace9]

Good point, could have been a lot worse. Not a huge deal besides might have scared him from the 5 speed for a while.

[Cobrajet]

I haven't looked at the fine print, but I'm assuming a clutch is not covered by the 100,000 mile powertrain warranty?

Nope. I made sure to tell my buddy that the car was still under warranty, but this incident likely would not be covered.

[Loren]

Almost nobody regularly adjusts their clutch, and 50k miles is nothing for a Mirage. Personally, I'd be looking into the wife's driving habits. Some people are hard on clutches for various reasons.

[Top_Fuel]

I've ridden with more than one person who had plenty of manual trans driving experience, but I still noticed they were doing things that made me cringe...like using the clutch to hold the car on a hill, resting a foot on the clutch pedal, etc.

I can also see how it's possible that it left the factory with a poorly-adjusted clutch. They probably spend 10 seconds adjusting these up on the assembly line. Damn...now I'm paranoid and I will be double-checking mine at lunch today.

[Eggman]

Replacing a worn clutch still beats replacing a worn CVT.

Sorry about your friends' predicament.

[Basic]

I'd put money on riding the clutch.