2013 Auris 1.6 Touring Thrust Bearing

[matt@theforce]

Hi all,

I've had my Auris for the last 2 years and covered 32,000miles (58k total now).  

For the last couple of months, I've been noticing the clutch pedal feeling heavier/sticky/juddery.  This week its started howling when the clutch is engaged and going silent when the clutch is pressed.  I'm sure its the release bearing and so is the mechanic but he is said this sounds odd as this will be the 1st one he has seen.  

I've done lots of reading and confident we have identified the fault & these things can happen. What concerns me is the relatively low mileage this has happened at. I intended to keep the car for at least another 3 years.

Has anyone else with the 1.6 mk2 had this problem?  I know the 1.6 petrol is quite a rare engine to have, perhaps this is why there is little documented about it & why the Toyota dealer hasn't seen this before.

Thanks

Matthew

[mrpj]

It could depend on the type of mileage you do Matthew. Or even the 26k miles before you bought it.

Lots of town/city driving = lots of gear changes and consequently, clutch operation.

[Catlover]

Does sound like the thrust bearing. What you probably dont know is how was the first 26k miles managed. Was the clutch abused by someone resting their foot on it (assuming thats not how you drive).  Thrust bearing wont be too much to buy, getting at it takes time, time=labour charges.  What you may find when stripped down is that the clutch is heavily worn as well, so you may have to factor in a clutch change as well, and seeing you already paid strip down labour it might be a good idea at 58k to change the clutch anyway.

Edit - mrpj and myself must have been typing at the same time.

 

[mrpj]

3 minutes ago, Catlover said:

Edit - mrpj and myself must have been typing at the same time.

Yes.

I'd agree with Joe (Catlover)about having a full clutch kit fitted at the same time.

[furtula]

58k is not that small of a mileage, especially in a city. Combine that with constant traffic jams, and plenty of clutch/bearing usage, i would just call it normal wear.

As mentioned before, you dont know how previous owner drove it, some people can trash the clutch in relatively short time, and the bearing takes some of the beating too.

Weirdly, if you look at American videos, they  change clutches at relatively low mileage compared to Europe, where some people drive the original one for the life of the car, and consider it normal.

 

[FROSTYBALLS]

The 1.6 isn't a particularly rare engine, as it was a straightforward carry over from the first generation Auris to the second generation - as were the 1.33 petrol, 1.4D4D and the 1.8 hybrid engines. The second generation Auris is just a re-worked first generation rather than all-new, and the hatchback kept the same Type Approval.

Agreed that one doesn't know how the car was treated by the first owner, and this could had have a 'bearing' on clutch wear.

 

 

[matt@theforce]

I bought the car at 3yr old, 26k, lady owner who lived locally, lots of marks in the rear seats so most likely kids too so guessing it was a lot of shortish journeys.

I commute 30miles each way to work, B-roads, A-roads, Motorway, City then City, Motorway, A-Roads, B-roads. I generally spend 3hours per day to complete my round trip commute so there is quite a bit of stop/start in traffic (and quite often accidents on the motorway causing long delays).  The car is always in neutral when not moving with me, the hand brake was designed to hold the car still on a slope/hill, not the clutch.  I'm an old school driver.

I suppose my main concern is not being able to see anyone else saying they've had this as a fault. This is making me think this is a one off/unusual fault and not to be concerned about getting it all replaced and keeping the car for the long term & knowing it is unlikely to happen again in my ownership.

The quotes I've been getting seem fair and around what I expected. These things happen.  

Is it ironic that I purposely bought a petrol to try and keep away from any clutch/DMF problems? 

[Catlover]

Should have bought an Hybrid Auris - no clutch to worry about, and as they have CVT  transmission then ideal for stop start city traffic 

[furtula]

That's why i always go for petrol, it can give decent mpg with cheaper repair costs. The clutch should be single plate, so the whole kit should not cost that much (compared to dieseles cars).

The sound would suggest the whole thing is spinning, and considering your commute, and that the bearing is made from plastic now, it's not at all surprising. 

[Gerg]

3 hours ago, matt@theforce said:

For the last couple of months, I've been noticing the clutch pedal feeling heavier/sticky/juddery.  This week its started howling when the clutch is engaged and going silent when the clutch is pressed.

Perhaps I'm missing something here, I thought a worn clutch release bearing made a noise when the clutch was depressed and was silent when the clutch was engaged.  This is the opposite of that.  So perhaps a gearbox input shaft bearing?

[furtula]

I sure hope it's not. I know  throwout bearing can get so shot it gets mangled and permanently connected to the clutch, which would then produce the same symbols.

The symptoms he described, sticky, judery and heavier  clutch match the mangled throwout bearing situation.

 

 

[mrpj]

23 hours ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

and this could had have a 'bearing' on clutch wear

I see what you did there.

[Catlover]

On 4/13/2018 at 2:50 PM, Gerg said:

Perhaps I'm missing something here, I thought a worn clutch release bearing made a noise when the clutch was depressed and was silent when the clutch was engaged.  This is the opposite of that.  So perhaps a gearbox input shaft bearing?

It wasnt you missing something Gerg, it was me missing an odd brain cell or two when making the reply. 

[matt@theforce]

Not much to report really, apart from the clutch pedal dropping to the floor (without pressing it) while driving along the motorway and not allowing me press the clutch to release the gear :( & then the next day when changing up from 5th to 6th the pedal stuck to the floor and wouldn't release.

My car is now at the dealer for further inspection, we still believe it to be related to the release bearing, time will tell when they get the gearbox off and start to have a good poke around. 

 

[matt@theforce]

Quick Update.

The dealer I bought the car from has inspected the car and confirmed it is the release bearing causing the problems. It also turns out I have a 5yr warranty (not the 3 years I was told when I bought the car 2yrs ago) and the car isn't 5yr old until August.  Another thing to note is, there is a knowledge article for the release bearing fitted to my car advising of these issues and the replacement has been covered under warranty. 

To say I am over the moon is an understatement.  The dealer has been fantastic and the whole process took 2 days from me dropping the car off with them.

My wife & I have owned Toyota's for around 8-10 years and have never had a fault of any kind, we are amazed at the reliability of their cars and even more amazed by the support & friendly atmosphere given by the dealer who we return to year after year for services & MOT's, they are not our closest dealer but we still maintain they are the best dealer out there.

[FROSTYBALLS]

Brilliant!

Although new Toyotas sold in the UK have had a 5 year/100,000 mile new car warranty since July 2010, so a bit surprised the salesperson got this wrong.

[Konrad C]

The thrust bearing is really a concentric slave cylinder combined with the bearing. The Avensis Valvematic use the same item. When I had my clutch replaced, this was changed too.

Here is the concentric slave cylinder/thrust bearing now in my car 

 

 

You are fortunate that the car is in warranty. The cost of changing the clutch is around £500, outside of Toyota dealership.

The following post of an Avensis owner who just had his clutch replaced - 

I responded as both cars are mechanically similar and share some components. 

[furtula]

From the picture it does not look like it's possible to bleed the slave cylinder, so i guess you bench bleed it, and hope it stays like that during it's lifetime?

Why change the slave, when you can do a whole clutch job along the way... 

[Konrad C]

18 hours ago, furtula said:

From the picture it does not look like it's possible to bleed the slave cylinder, so i guess you bench bleed it, and hope it stays like that during it's lifetime?

Why change the slave, when you can do a whole clutch job along the way... 

You have a point, because there is only one pipe into the slave cylinder. Ford for example have two pipes, and one of those is for bleeding. So the Toyota version may need to be prefilled to easy bleeding, as you mentioned. 

In Toyota, the bleed system installed so that the bubbles rise up from the slave as the following diagram shows:-   Pipe linking slave to bleed valve.

The next diagram showing the master cylinder to the same bleed valve:- 

It may take a lot of bleeding, if the slave cylinder is connected without prefilling.