Clutch Smell Coming from my Automatic 4th gen

[Riley_monthule]

Wondering if anyone else has had this problem?

Couple weeks ago I had my truck full of people and was coming up a pass to get home. It's about 3k feet of elevation gain over 15 miles and I was going around 75mph. After dropping my friend off at his place right off the highway I rolled my window down to say bye and it smelt like I had just burned the crap out of my clutch in a manual car. This was confusing and I thought maybe someone had burnt their clutch nearby but after getting home the smell filled my garage. Since then I haven't smelt it as I just do city driving for the most part but today I got home after a dump run and I smelt it again once I got in the garage. This drive was again with the truck loaded of course, the bed was completely full of trash, two trash cans, 8 extra trash bags, etc and the road up to the dump is super steep for a couple miles although it's a short trip all around. Once again though there was that very distinct clutch smell coming from the truck.

Now this is very confusing to me because well first off the truck is an automatic haha so the trans is sealed but the only other thing I could think of that would make that smell is the brakes but in both scenarios it happened going uphill barley ever using the brakes. The truck has off gased by this point too so I'm at a lose.

Anyone experienced anything similar to this or have an idea one what it could be?

My truck is in the vin range of possible faulty transmissions so maybe my trans is already on it's last leg at 8k miles lol.

 

[rustytaco]

Very odd symptoms. Did you see if anything was melted under the truck? Even like a plastic bag on the exhaust or something. Maybe a caliper seized? Idk. Tough to say. I would really give it a once over on the undercarriage after a medium/hard drive. Any of the hard shifting some owners experienced with transmission issues? Like even into park/reverse.

 

[Riley_monthule]

Very odd symptoms. Did you see if anything was melted under the truck? Even like a plastic bag on the exhaust or something. Maybe a caliper seized? Idk. Tough to say. I would really give it a once over on the undercarriage after a medium/hard drive. Any of the hard shifting some owners experienced with transmission issues? Like even into park/reverse.

Yeah I got under it and looked and there's nothing out of the ordinary. I thought about the brakes too but nothing indicates they're not working properly. Yup haha my truck has had terrible shifting from day one. Going from park to drive there's almost always a very harsh jolt. It's been so bad it's made me spill water before and then the trans acts up going downhill sometimes where it just wont shift and the rpms will be close to redline. I've had to throw it into manual mode and shift it myself a couple times going down a pass. Honestly has me worried to take the truck on any long trips as I don't want to break down hundreds of miles away from home with my gf and dog. My plan currently is to beat the crap out of the truck over the winter in hopes the trans fails and I can get it warrantied. I can then document the whole process too. As for the smell I still have no idea what it is. Since it's a very distinct clutch smell I can only currently assume it's my trans slowly eating itself.

 

[rustytaco]

Yeah it sounds more and more like transmission. Have you tried to contact Toyota? They would probably tell you to come back when you actually have codes, etc. (I would assume). Just start recording and documenting as much as you can, in case Toyota tries to give you pushback. Keep us posted. Hopefully you can resolve without too many issues.

 

[Riley_monthule]

Yeah it sounds more and more like transmission. Have you tried to contact Toyota? They would probably tell you to come back when you actually have codes, etc. (I would assume). Just start recording and documenting as much as you can, in case Toyota tries to give you pushback. Keep us posted. Hopefully you can resolve without too many issues.

Yup just called a couple dealers. They said they would have it in for diagnostics and take a look. I specifically asked if they could do the warranty without any codes popping up and they said usually not but since mine is having problems and the clutch smell is concerning that they might be able to make an exception but they would have to see what their tech says and then what Toyota says from there. After speaking with the warranty guy he also said that things like suspension and tires shouldn't impact their ability to do the warranty but we'll see.

Biggest complaint so far is that I'm at least an hour away from the nearest dealer and they don't offer donor cars. This is kinda unacceptable in my book. I think donor cars should be a requirement for issues like this especially for dealers that serve a large area where it could be a three hour round trip to get there and back. Also if they end up doing the warranty I'm just out a vehicle for however long it takes? lol. A dealer that's almost two hours away did say they would set up a donor after I told them I'm documenting all my experiences haha. So maybe I'll go with them.

I'll keep everyone updated on what happens.

 

[rustytaco]

Yeah a quick analysis without the expectation of leaving the car their for an undetermined amount of time would be a good way to start. Take a couple hours to look at it and see if they notice anything. Maybe come back another time due to the daily situation.

I've had the donor issue before. But when you really press them, as long as there is an identified issue to take care of, they've eventually given me a car each time.