Toyota - Solara :: Hard Time Engaging The Clutch / Burning Smell Emitting In Car
Apr 5, 2016
My girlfriend has a 2001 Toyota Solara. I've been driving it, infrequently, for about 3 years, and while it's an older car, I never had any problems engaging the clutch. My girlfriend also did not have any issues with the car. I don't have a lot of experience with manual transmissions.
Recently, we let our friend use it for the day. I dropped the car off at his place and did not notice anything wrong with it. The next day, I got a call from my friend who said that the car was emitting a weird smell and that he was having a hard time engaging the clutch. By the end of the day, he could no longer engage the clutch and had to leave it on the side of the road.
We got it towed to a garage, and when they looked at it, they said the clutch was totally burned out. My friend insists that he has plenty of experience driving with a manual transmission and that there must have been a problem with the clutch before we gave him the car. Is this possible? It seems unlikely to me, as neither my girlfriend nor I had any problems with the car. It's not like we were struggling to engage the clutch- it was fine when I dropped it off, and then the next day it's totally burned out.
View 14 Replies
Advertisement
Recently my 2001 Solara started emitting a scraping noise from one of the rear wheels. Mechanic says its a frozen caliper, and suggested a complete brake job (rotar, pads, etc). My question is, I've got reasonable skills, by buddy has major skills when it comes to working on cars, is that something that a shade-tree mechanic can safely do ? Also, as its a frozen caliper, does that imply I need to replace the caliper, or could it have frozen due to the pads ?
View 5 Replies
I have a 2001 Toyota Solara. Whenever I make a hard right turn the car turns off. When I stop and put it in park I can always crank right back up. I can turn left with no problems. What the problem is.?
View 2 Replies
I've got a Dodge Caliber '07 that has a weird Click that happens most of the time when I start engaging the clutch, it doesn't happen when starting out in first gear, but when shifting to 2nd, 3rd and now as it's aging sometimes 4th and very infrequently 5th. It happens when I pass the friction point on the clutch and can feel it in the pedal - as a note - I've found that if I gingerly/slowly release the pedal through the friction point it won't do it most of the time.
It is fairly loud at lower gears, as I can sometimes hear it with the window open bouncing off buildings or things. I'm just wondering what this is?
I have asked at the dealership several times already about this - but the mechanic always reported nothing found and that it's normal for a transmission with that many km (I'm in Canada). I bought the car with 50,000 km and it has done it the whole time - I've now got 128,000 km.
My first thought was something with a bearing or something - as it almost sounds like the gear isn't quite in place and when the torque starts being transferred it clicks into place... I'm not sure - which is why I'm here!
View 3 Replies
So about 200 miles into brake in and I backed up my steep driveway, a feat previously easy with the stock clutch. Backed up with my new setup (SB OFE disc) and all I could smell was burning clutch. Aside from this I have been strictly adhering to clutch break in best practices. The clutch will be ok still in the long run, or did I potentially cause permanent damage?
View 5 Replies
OK, so I got stuck in some decent snow in my buddy's yard. I know I did a number on my clutch (was rocking back in forth etc.)
Clutch smell was awful that night (had to crack my windows overnight).
The clutch feels fine and still grabs in the same spot, also I was messing around with some guy today on the road and was driving pretty hard and it started to smell really bad again.
Should I just take it easy for a while? Or can I bleed the clutch or anything like that?
View 8 Replies
I've got a 2000 Subaru outback with 170k miles on it. I recently pulled a code for a bad line pressure solenoid and replaced it. About 500 miles later the oil temp sensor light started flashing so I turned the car off and when I turned the car back on it wasn't flashing and hasn't come on since. No CEL. I'm now about 2k miles after changing the line pressure solenoid and now whenever I drive over 10 or so miles my car smells like the clutch is burning. He idle is a little rough, i.e. it vibrates a little more than usual and the car is a little slow to respond when I gas it.
View 19 Replies
I have right around 2k miles on my '13 base model 6MT. I've noticed recently that after faster highway driving (75-80mph sustained for 10-25 min, up to 95 passing occasionally), I can smell something when I get out that reminds me an awful lot of the clutch burning up in my old 350 as I hauled a way-too-heavy trailer. Drivetrain is still very responsive, no noticeable slippage. Never shifted out of 6th when passing at speeds above. Just paranoid? Something I should look into?
View 3 Replies
Big time burning smell in the cabin at the end of a high speed run. smells like belts burning maybe.
There's a stretch i take on the way home sometimes, and i can open up and get up to about 120 easily. did it last week and got a strong burning smell, kinda smells like rubber a bit, but it could be fluids... kinda hard to tell, but absolutely a burning smell. but i wasn't sure if it was me.
Did it again yesterday, car pulls perfectly fine, but the cabin was again filled with a burning smell. no CEL's, no nothing that i can tell. cools down perfectly and everything, no beats skipped. All my maintenance is up to date.
View 12 Replies
After battling the general nitwit public earlier. I was on my way home and as I neared my house, a party bus was blocking the road. Well, I got angry, shifted to reverse, revved the engine while letting out the clutch to back up and take a different route. Then this horrible burning electric/plastic smell inundated the inside of my R. I knew I rode that clutch while backing up. My question is did I do noticeable damage my clutch, or is it one of those: it'll be fine just don't do it again thing?
View 4 Replies
I recently moved to Pittsburgh where I constantly use my parking brake from Rochester, NY where I rarely ever used it. After I've moved to Pittsburgh (7 months after I've owned this 2004 Subaru Forester). After I drive for a significant amount of time (30+ minutes) and come off the freeway and stop or even slow down, the cabin of the car has a distinct, but faint burning smell. I am wondering if this could be the parking brake rubbing just slightly and when I slow down the smell stays in the cabin or if it is possible that the brakes are smelling (or something entirely different). Keep in mind that the smell doesn't happen when I only take a short drive, which is often. And of course, no I haven't taken this into an auto mechanic yet.
View 9 Replies
I have a 96 camry that has a minor oil leak. I have taken it in to get checked, and the mechanic told us that as long as I'm willing to keep putting oil in it every month, I don't have to fix anything. However, lately the car has been making a burning smell, especially when I turn on the heater, and when the car is low on oil. Also, my oil cap has some yellow gunk on it. I'm concerned that this means water is mixing with my oil.
View 3 Replies
Burning oil smell but can't figure out where or why.
No Drips (checked standing on dry ground).
No Drips (checked after spraying water down on ground).
Checked Oil, level doesn't change.
Checked Transmission, level doesn't change.
Only thing that has changed is that i went with a 5w-40 oil about 4000km ago. Could it be burning minute amounts of oil during driving under hard conditions (mountains/hills)?
View 12 Replies
While driving my toyota corolla 2006, I smelled a burning smell and saw a small amount of smoke for about 30 seconds coming out right by the windshield wiper, this happened twice within an hour period.What could this be?
View 4 Replies
My father gave my daughter his one owner 50k Corolla. The clutch seemed to be slipping so my local gas station mechanic replaced it. She drove and soon felt that the clutch was slipping again. She took it to Toyota dealership. They said the clutch needs replacement. They did the job and now a few days later the clutch feels like it is slipping again. What is the cause?
View 5 Replies
I have a 2001 Toyota Avalon with 139,000 miles and runs excellent. I recently just got an oil change and it smells like something is burning. More of like a burning rubber smell. I know my car does not have an oil leak but what else could it be. I plan to take it out of town very soon. Should I not take it anymore? Also, when my A/C is on and I'm sitting idle it sounds like my car wants to turn off every time the the a/c kicks on but it doesn't. My RPM'S are fine. (600-700).
View 18 Replies
I have a 4 cyl 2000 camry. I notice the smell of burning oil when I shut off the car and while I'm driving. There is no black smoke coming from the tail pipe and it uses minimal oil. I removed the spark plugs and found oil on the threads of spark plug # 2, but not on the electrode. What's up?
View 1 Replies
Yesterday I made a 3 hour round trip with my car, and on the last leg coming back into town, I noticed my check engine light came on, and I saw white smoke coming from underneath the hood of my car, along with a burning smell. Luckily I was able to make it home just fine. I've googled this issue, some people have suggested coolant leak.
Also, I checked the oil levels today and they appeared to be slightly below the lowest level tick, which could be why it was having issues yesterday. Last time I got an oil change was November of 2015. I'm surprised it's this low considering I normally don't commute farther than a couple miles each day.
View 4 Replies
Noticed a smell like rubber burning about 40 minutes into driving my car today. When I turned off the heater it went away. What this may be? Possibly the last legs of my heater melting away?
View 6 Replies
1992 toyota previa Le.. This safe too be driven I bough as second car drive but now I'm scared be driven hear that may caught fire what do need get fixed on it stop dripping is valve cover gaskets I was toll were replace two yrs. ago I don't know what need be replace is valve covers,or O-ring and disturber assembly or what is the issue? I'm at end my rope it fun drive don't want sell it off I payed $1,000 for month ago was what should I do should sell it or try fix just want oil stay in engine and stop dripping and burn oil smell too stop
View 6 Replies
My mechanic cannot figure out what's wrong with my car My car is a manual trans 1996 Toyota Corolla with almost 154K miles. I had the oil changed two weeks ago (about 1000 miles with my commute), and at that time, I let my mechanic know that it's been losing oil and so check it over. At that time, he changed the oil, cleaned the engine, and added a dye to the oil to show up any leaks.
I took it in this past Thursday for him to locate the leaking, and the mechanic let me know that 1) It came in mostly dry (no oil), 2) there was no visible leaking except for a seepage around the oil pan, which he says could not account for the loss of 4 quarts of oil in two weeks, and 3) it's not burning it out in the exhaust system.
A bit of the history of the car. I got it when it was at 59K, used, and there were a number of things wrong with it that I didn't discover until later, such as that no maintenance had been done to it at all in the 60K someone else had owned it. It came to me needing a timing belt, brakes, and an engine and radiator flush (the radiator fluid was brown instead of green).
At one point at around 70K, as a stupid teenager, I did let it run dry. The oil light came on, I panicked, shut it off, dumped in two quarts (which brought it to full on the dipstick, which I thought was weird), and took it straight for an oil change, where they told me it was dry, which was odd, because I'd just put 2 quarts in it.
After that, there were no issues until it hit about 120K. At that point, I started smelling burning oil and there was smoke coming from under my hood, so I towed it to my mechanic at the time. He replaced the valve cover gasket, the rear main seal, and the head gasket (with engine block machining and all). That more or less cleared the problem up, but then I took it across the country on a 3K road trip, and it ended up accidentally running dry again. Oil light came on, I shut it off, dumped in oil, took it for a lube job.
Since that time, it's been occasionally throwing me an oil light when I go downhill (I figure that this is because it's low but not out, and the change in pitch reduces the pressure?). Each time it does this, I've shut it off, coasted to a stop, dumped in 2 quarts (which brings it to full on the stick), and gone on, berating myself. These times have become more frequent, however, even though I now check the oil regularly.
So before I endure the deserved lectures about being dumb, yes, I blame myself, but regardless of my lazy maintenance, it's becoming ridiculous. My car is now finding a way to lose a gallon of oil over the course of 1000 miles, with no discernible leak or consumption.
Also, why my oil light comes on when it's only 2 quarts down on the stick sometimes, and then sometimes goes almost dry without throwing the oil light? I just got it back with the oil topped up, more dye in the engine, and instead of going for 2 weeks, I'm going for 1 week to see if maybe he can catch it in the act of learning this magic trick of vanishing oil.
View 16 Replies
