[Carl]

Has anyone ever confirmed what the PN differences entail? Or is it just a general assumption that the new part number has fixed something?

My general knowledge is they will change the parts # if the supplier changes or they change the item. My guess is they didn't change anything until '25 and people are just hoping that there is an explanation for why they lost their clutch early.

 

[Wsidr1]

Same discussion on Yaris site.
Burning Clutch Smell | Toyota GR Yaris Forum

 

[st165]

Has anyone ever confirmed what the PN differences entail? Or is it just a general assumption that the new part number has fixed something?

So the 2024my has a different clutch p/n associated with them. If you have toyota replace the clutch in a 23 they will put a new updated version that is in the 2024my. They know there is an issue with the 2023's but wont do anything about it for now until they get the massive engine recall taken care of for the tundras

This is an incorrect conclusion. Part number supercessions do not automatically mean "updated" or "better". Also, it has nothing to do with 23MY and 24MY. It was like mid-year 2023 that they changed the part number. In the system, it is a "like for like" part number change up. This means a 2024 can take an early 2023 clutch and installing that would be valid in Toyota's eyes.

Part numbers change for so many reasons that concluding that it's a "better" clutch is way too premature. If they change the box, it's a different part number. If they pack it in 6 clutches at a time in a big box, instead of 4 clutches, it's a different part number. If they decided to use recyclable packaging it's a different part number. If you didn't eat dinner last night, it's a different part number. If a parts guy farted on the clutches, it's probably a different part number.

So far, the conclusion has been that there's nothing wrong with 2023 clutches other than lack of skill and too much excitement. 60 GRC's here in our local club, 1 clutch issue in 2 years. It was abused at the port and there's videos of it doing pulls and the clutch was glazed at 2k.

Side note: Toyota isn't even phased by the engine recall for the Tundras. That's a piece of cake after having done the frame replacements for Tacomas. Techs were doing that shit in 5 hours flat including changing extra pieces customers ask for.

 

[MYount]

This is an incorrect conclusion. Part number supercessions do not automatically mean "updated" or "better". Also, it has nothing to do with 23MY and 24MY. It was like mid-year 2023 that they changed the part number. In the system, it is a "like for like" part number change up. This means a 2024 can take an early 2023 clutch and installing that would be valid in Toyota's eyes.

Part numbers change for so many reasons that concluding that it's a "better" clutch is way too premature. If they change the box, it's a different part number. If they pack it in 6 clutches at a time in a big box, instead of 4 clutches, it's a different part number. If they decided to use recyclable packaging it's a different part number. If you didn't eat dinner last night, it's a different part number. If a parts guy farted on the clutches, it's probably a different part number.

So far, the conclusion has been that there's nothing wrong with 2023 clutches other than lack of skill and too much excitement. 60 GRC's here in our local club, 1 clutch issue in 2 years. It was abused at the port and there's videos of it doing pulls and the clutch was glazed at 2k.

Side note: Toyota isn't even phased by the engine recall for the Tundras. That's a piece of cake after having done the frame replacements for Tacomas. Techs were doing that shit in 5 hours flat including changing extra pieces customers ask for.

"If a parts guy farted on the clutches, it's probably a different part number." My vote for post of the year!!!!

Yeah - part numbers capture all sorts of info -- much of it with nothing to do with the part per se. So, lots of reasons it can change.

 

[RedRolla]

Just to think outside the box since you mention the smell is stronger after longer pulls in higher gears- Are you 100% certain it's clutch and not a slight leak with oil or coolant burning off on the exhaust? If the clutch was slipping from high load you should notice the rpm rising with a distinct lack of acceleration. This is usually most noticeable in higher gears where the engine can build full boost with more load to resist it.

There is not really a difference in smell based upon driving. I could be in first gear driving around a parking lot or doing 80 on the highway and get off and it will smell the same. I can be in sixth gear 65mph and go WOT and the clutch will not slip whatsoever.

 

[RedRolla]

Has anyone ever confirmed what the PN differences entail? Or is it just a general assumption that the new part number has fixed something?

Seems there are less issues with the 2024my's. I saw a Toyota Technicians post on here and he said the clutch is difference in the clutches from 2023 to 2024. Most notably is that the clutch grabs way harder on a 2024 vs a 2023. I could be very wrong but this is what I have gathered after scouring this forum for hours.

 

[RedRolla]

My general knowledge is they will change the parts # if the supplier changes or they change the item. My guess is they didn't change anything until '25 and people are just hoping that there is an explanation for why they lost their clutch early.

Whether or not they changed from 2023 to 2024 or even 25, they know there is a defect with the clutches or google wouldn't fill in my search for "gr corolla b ....... urning clutch smell". we will see what they decide to do next year after the election. I don't think anything will come in the near future as they already have a massive uphill battle with the Tundra engine issues. Hopefully by mid-year next year their will either be a lawsuit or a recall. You can't advertise a car for spirited/aggressive driving and slap a clutch in it that struggles to hit 20k in some cases, or even this smell that I am getting with mine.

 

[RedRolla]

Same discussion on Yaris site.
Burning Clutch Smell | Toyota GR Yaris Forum

Read through that whole thing. Just wanted to get this started on my account so I can get as many viewpoints as possible, and get notis.

 

[RedRolla]

Yea in your case the dealership you just got the car from needs to inspect it. They shouldn't be selling you a car with a clutch that close to failing.

Car is at the dealership I bought it from and the mechanic and service manager agree with me on the clutch smell. they will be calling toyota tomorrow and advise me with an update. I have only put 300 miles on this car since purchase and 200 of it was driving home from dealer and driving back down to get it looked at.

 

[RedRolla]

No, you cannot abuse the clutch on this car. It is not invincible. All cars should be driven with mechanical sympathy if you want them to last.

There have been many cases of people replacing clutches within 5,000 miles but equally as many cases of people going well over 20,000 miles with no issues. I honestly think it is driving technique. It could be the previous owner.

With this car, there are several things I recommend:

• Do not launch or clutch dump the car. This is extremely harmful to the clutch.
• Do not drive through the rev hang. The car comes with a decent amount of rev hang. You can't force the car to shift faster than it wants.
• You can get the car rolling without using the gas (on level surfaces). This will minimize clutch wear.

I personally have never smelt the clutch on my car from day one. I'm currently 14,000 miles with several track days as well.

Understandable with the launches. Any clutch doesn't like to be dropped thats just the basics. However being advertised as a sport/casual vehicle for enthusiasts the clutch should be able to take some mild abuse such as quick shifts, having to slip the clutch to get moving on a grade, this is also just basic of a clutch. The GR owner should not have to worry about burning his/her clutch out because they have to pull out on a grade.

Now in my case I do not touch the gas when pulling out unless the car starts to stall. I make sure to be off the clutch after every up/down shift before getting back on the throttle but it still reeks no matter what.

 

[RedRolla]

If by " it smells like crazy" you're talking frequency, then yeah, I think you have a problem. Mine smelled maybe 4 or 5 times in the first 4000 miles.

BTW, I am 67 years old and have driven many manual vehicles, so that 4000 miles wasn't me learning to drive MT. It was just the clutch creating a smell under certain circumstances that normally would not smell. And by normally, I am including not a brand-new clutch. I am on the wait and see plan before I discuss with dealership.

Yes it is every time the car is driven no matter the circumstances. I am by no means new to MT all except 1 of my vehicles were MT. The car is at the dealership I bought it from and they are keeping it overnight and will be calling toyota in the morning. I think I am in good standing as I have only put 300 miles on the car and 200 of those miles were coming home from buying the car and going back to the dealership to drop it off. So if they decide to do anything it will be their fault as they sold the car as a certified pre-owned toyota.

 

[RedRolla]

If you're smelling clutch during normal street driving then there's either something wrong with your clutch, or something wrong with your technique. Since you got a used GRC that could have been abused by its previous owner(s), the former seems more likely.

At ~4500 miles, I almost never smell clutch, and when I do it's because I was slipping it for an extended period e.g. parallel parking backwards up a hill. I drive this car like I would drive any other MT car, trying to minimize shocks and time spent slipping the clutch at high RPMs, but also taking what I need from it and absolutely not "babying" it. So far I have no indication that this is leading toward an accelerated clutch failure.

I have been doing nothing but trying to baby the clutch but no matter what I do it still smells. I said it in some other replies more in depth, but I am in no way new to MT, and like you said I believe there to be an issue even thought its not slipping

 

[RedRolla]

They should replace it with the updated p/n, which more than likely superseded the '23 p/n. But thats something you can double check with the service manager before scheduling the warranty service.

Car is at the dealership now. I am kind of playing dumb because I don't want them to think I am trying to manipulate them, which I am not but I don't want the warranty admin to just throw the repair order in the trash if I am coming off to strong trying to get them to just slap a clutch in it.

 

[RedRolla]

This is an incorrect conclusion. Part number supercessions do not automatically mean "updated" or "better". Also, it has nothing to do with 23MY and 24MY. It was like mid-year 2023 that they changed the part number. In the system, it is a "like for like" part number change up. This means a 2024 can take an early 2023 clutch and installing that would be valid in Toyota's eyes.

Part numbers change for so many reasons that concluding that it's a "better" clutch is way too premature. If they change the box, it's a different part number. If they pack it in 6 clutches at a time in a big box, instead of 4 clutches, it's a different part number. If they decided to use recyclable packaging it's a different part number. If you didn't eat dinner last night, it's a different part number. If a parts guy farted on the clutches, it's probably a different part number.

So far, the conclusion has been that there's nothing wrong with 2023 clutches other than lack of skill and too much excitement. 60 GRC's here in our local club, 1 clutch issue in 2 years. It was abused at the port and there's videos of it doing pulls and the clutch was glazed at 2k.

Side note: Toyota isn't even phased by the engine recall for the Tundras. That's a piece of cake after having done the frame replacements for Tacomas. Techs were doing that shit in 5 hours flat including changing extra pieces customers ask for.

You are 100% correct. However I myself am a dealer tech and a lot of part number revisions come with updates to the parts and sometimes a part gets updated without a part number change so to your comment and mine we basically do not know we can only imagine. I agree with the port issue, but the end user should not be liable for this. I found a gentleman on youtube HappyHillsGarage and he had his clutch fail at 18k. They gave him the old clutch after replacement and you can easily see how the clutch was improperly machined or manufactured as the hotspots were all over the place and there were weird marks about the disc. So in my eyes their is for sure an issues. So with your club 1 in 60 lets translate this basic google search 6600 2023s to USA. 1 out of 60 is 1.66% lets round up and you get 2% of 2023 gr corollas that have issues based off of your experience with your club. If you go based off this forum that number would be way way higher if I had to guess I would say 20-30% possibly even more have issues with their clutch or have had to have it completely replaced. Now this could be completely invalidated due to the issues at the port but thats another coversation to have. I genuinely think there is an issue with the clutch but thats me.

 

[24heavymetal]

I agree on having the dealership document it, but at the same time I'd say too early to get worried. I am in the "mine smelled occasionally until about 4000 miles" camp. I'm now at about 5500 and haven't smelled anything recently. I am hopeful that's the end of it.

Mine smelled when I had a slow release to hop over speed bumps in parking lots. It also happened a few times backing out of the garage until I started letting anti-stall apply pedal as needed. I never had it happen due to hard acceleration, but I never do any hard accel from below 3500 rpm.

9300 miles on mine - smelled the clutch occasionally up to 5K or so, seems to be OK now even after the big track day when I got my rear diff to overheat... Also - I smelled the clutch after backing into my garage - maybe because the smell would dissipate faster outside, maybe?

 

[caconym]

So the 2024my has a different clutch p/n associated with them. If you have toyota replace the clutch in a 23 they will put a new updated version that is in the 2024my. They know there is an issue with the 2023's but wont do anything about it for now until they get the massive engine recall taken care of for the tundras

My '24 had a bit of clutch smell in the first few thousand miles, but only under higher loads (hill starts, etc) and I almost never smell it now at ~4500. So I don't think there could have been an update for '24 that eliminated clutch smell.

I can only imagine that people never smelling clutch are babying it to an extreme degree, giving very little gas when starting from a stop, and I've even heard some people say they completely rely on the "anti-stall" to give it gas. Personally I prefer not to lug the engine this way because it can cause knock if the RPMs drop too low, and I'd rather wear out my clutch than my pistons and conrods. 😇

edit: I suppose there's also the possibility that my car was abused at the port or dealer prior to delivery. I'd be surprised if that sort of thing was as widespread as reports of the GRC generally having a stinky clutch in the first few thousand miles, but professional standards are super low these days so who knows.

If this did happen with my clutch, it seems to have largely recovered.

 

[st165]

we basically do not know we can only imagine.

So with your club 1 in 60 lets translate this basic google search 6600 2023s to USA. 1 out of 60 is 1.66% lets round up and you get 2% of 2023 gr corollas that have issues based off of your experience with your club. If you go based off this forum that number would be way way higher if I had to guess I would say 20-30% possibly even more have issues with their clutch or have had to have it completely replaced. Now this could be completely invalidated due to the issues at the port but thats another coversation to have.

Yeah, that's what I mean. But "they know there's an issue" is too premature because it's inconclusive what the part number change means in this scenario. If it's a part issue, Toyota always (I've worked in Toyota parts/service), there's an accompanying TSB or WEP for the bad part.

What I really want to see is someone's failed clutch where the burn marks are consistent across the entire surface area of the pressure plate/flywheel after it's fully broken in. I've only ever seen failed clutches where the surface area hasn't broken in yet and the hotspots happen because the clutch has only had 50% surface area contact to work with. I've been tracking this since the very beginning (I even have the very first damaged clutch/pressure plate/flywheel set in my hands). When we finally see a failure where the pressure plate/flywheel has flattened out and is properly worn in, then we can judge if it's actually improperly spec'd for the car, but it hasn't happened yet.

Here's a not-to-scale drawing of what I mean.

 

[Wsidr1]

Yeah, that's what I mean. But "they know there's an issue" is too premature because it's inconclusive what the part number change means in this scenario. If it's a part issue, Toyota always (I've worked in Toyota parts/service), there's an accompanying TSB or WEP for the bad part.

What I really want to see is someone's failed clutch where the burn marks are consistent across the entire surface area of the pressure plate/flywheel after it's fully broken in. I've only ever seen failed clutches where the surface area hasn't broken in yet and the hotspots happen because the clutch has only had 50% surface area contact to work with. I've been tracking this since the very beginning (I even have the very first damaged clutch/pressure plate/flywheel set in my hands). When we finally see a failure where the pressure plate/flywheel has flattened out and is properly worn in, then we can judge if it's actually improperly spec'd for the car, but it hasn't happened yet.

Here's a not-to-scale drawing of what I mean.
View attachment 30876

Agree 100%.

I worked for Toyota for over 20 years and can say part number changes can occur for literally hundreds of reasons. Many, many of those can be unrelated to what we end users would see as actual performance of the parts. Things as simple as a supplier, such as a clutch supplier, changing the source for where they buy a bolt they are using. Or maybe the plating chemicals for that bolt change due to environmental regs or costs, or, ...

The part number changes are for traceability. The VIN number of the first vehicle built with the new part number are retained by Toyota. If in the future there is an unintended (and negative) result due to a change point, the scope of affected vehicles can easily be determined. It is very convenient to tie those changes to a model year change vs during a model year run. So, if there was some small change made to the clutch it is no surprise that it was implemented at the start of MY 2024. In no way does this indicate Toyota "knew there was a problem".

 

[rcswift1]

I've only smelled the clutch (a handful of times) when spinning the engine too fast before releasing the clutch to go in reverse. Irritates me every time (because I've been driving MT for over 35 years--most cars with more than 300hp). I've had to "recalibrate" how much gas to give when reversing (basically, a lot less than normal). I've got over 8K miles on the car and don't notice any slipping when in gear.

 

[Carl]

Car is at the dealership I bought it from and the mechanic and service manager agree with me on the clutch smell. they will be calling toyota tomorrow and advise me with an update. I have only put 300 miles on this car since purchase and 200 of it was driving home from dealer and driving back down to get it looked at.

You only drove the car 300 miles since purchase? Your first post made seem as if you put 6k miles. It really sounds like you bought a car that has been beat on.