2007 Forester, about 75k miles.

 

Had a car towed in to work today and the complaint was that the clutch wasnt working properly, and after making some strange noises now the car won't start.

 

Clutch pedal was on the floor. Turned the key and only got a loud Clack from the starter. After 2 attempts smelled something burning and saw smoke coming from the starter motor. It was working, it just couldn't turn.

 

Push the car in, pull the airbox off and basically found this:

pics were taken after removal of the trans.

Inside the trans bellhousing looks like this:

 

Pressure plate:

Clutch disc was worn down to the rivets.

 

Talked to the customer and found out they hold the clutch pedal down while sitting at a stop light.

 

Basically TOB wore out and started chewing the fingers on the pressure plate. When those got thin enough they just bent inwards and the TOB shoved through, got hung up and spun around, making interesting noises all the while. Then it finally got hung up on the release fork and yanked that sideways, snapped the pivot stud casting block right off the case, snapped a bunch of the fins, and knocked a chunk out of the opening for the release arm in the top of the bellhousing, jammed between the pressure plate and the case and locked the engine. Engine spins fine now with the trans removed. Don't know if it ruined the thrust bearing, but I'm kinda thinking it probably did since the engine spun about a half turn after the release arm got hung up in the pressure plate before it stopped.

Can't even begin to tell you how much I depress the clutch in stop and go traffic.

I am sure they didn't fully disengage the clutch. They thought it was down but wasn't.

If you live in a metro area with a lot of traffic, there just is no other way.

 

O.

I DD my WRX 95% surface streets but very rarely sit in gear clutch pedal down.

 

those pics are horrifying. I guess a junkyard bell-housing is in order - if they sell them separately ?

Edited May 22, 201411 yr by 1 Lucky Texan

Claiming that sitting at traffic lights while in gear with the clutch pedal down is the cause of this issue is certainly opening a can of worms!

 

More likely the owner was not engaging/disengaging the clutch fully while driving/changing gears.

Claiming that sitting at traffic lights while in gear with the clutch pedal down is the cause of this issue is certainly opening a can of worms!

 

More likely the owner was not engaging/disengaging the clutch fully while driving/changing gears.

 

Agreed.

I agree with Leeroy as well, I've been driving manuals since I was 11 years old. There hasn't been one that I haven't just sat at a traffic light and held the clutch in. This hasn't happened to me in 20 years. And I've broken my share of stuff along the way.

Probably riding the clutch on decel, and using the clutch to hold position on a hill. I hold the clutch in at stops if i anticipate moving agian. if i sit there for more than 30 seconds, i'll shift to neutral, but shift back into gear as i anticipate trffic to move again.

oh sure, if I see a good chance of moving again in 15-20 seconds, I just hold the clutch in.

 

It does seem like that owner up there abused his car if the clutch was as worn as mentioned.

sitting at a light with the clutch in won't by itself cause this......neither will shifting with the disc not fully released (if anything that's easier on the TO since it's not pushing the clutch fingers as far)

 

 

 

IDK.....I just had a 2006 Outback Turbo in the shop with a very similar looking situation..........his TO had shredded......fortunately nothing else got blown up.....but the Daul mass flywheel was shot too....had to replace it all..............$889 in parts for an OE subaru clutch and flywheel......ouch.

 

only 112k miles on that on......wonder if Subaru got a bad batch of TO bearings.

More likely the owner was not engaging/disengaging the clutch fully while driving/changing gears.

Probably riding the clutch on decel, and using the clutch to hold position on a hill.

Neither of these scenarios affects the TOB. These will cause excessive wear to the clutch disc.

What causes TOB failure is constantly spinning while under load due to being in full contact with the pressure plate. This only happens when the clutch pedal is fully pressed down. Sitting for extended periods of time with the clutch pedal held down puts full load on the TOB, which causes it to wear out prematurely.

OK let me put it another way, riding the clutch (which in essence is improper engagement/disengagement) will have a far greater impact on TOB life than sitting at the lights in gear. After all we do a agree a constantly spinning TOB is what will cause it to wear out.

 

Of course that is IMHO and 25 years of anecdotal experience.