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I just bought a new PreRunner. It's a great little truck but, my
question is; At what point in the clutch pedals upper-most to
lower-most range of movement should one expect for the clutch to
actually engage and begin to move the truck? ( From first gear)
I've been driving a toyota truck and a couple of toyota sedans (all
stick shifts) for the better part of 20 years. I work as a service
tech at a local Caddi dealership so my job requires and allows me to
drive many different makes of manual transmission vehicles.
To date, none of the manual stick/shift vehicles that I've driven even
came close to shifting the way this particlular PreRunner shifts.
Generally speaking, most of the vehicles I've driven had a clutch that
would engage somewhere below the midway point of the clutch pedal's
fully depressed position and its fully released position. The clutch
pedal on this 07 PreRunner has to be nearly all the way to the fully
released position before first gear will engage and begin to move the
truck. Once I get past first gear and have some momentum going all the
other gears appear to be "normal."
Having worked around dealeship Service Writers for some time now, and
given the fact that this is a new vehicle, I was 99 percent sure that
I'd get the classic "Self Proclaimed Expert's" explanation as to why
this PreRunner shifts the way it does when I took it in to get it
checked out.
I say this with complete confidence because I just came from the
dealership where I bought this truck. I had an appointment to have it
test driven with me along for the ride; just to be sure we were all on
the same page. Turned out that their "Master Mechanic" had gone home
for the day so one of their Service Writers did the honors instead.
I was expecting to ride with a "Master Tech" but, I got a ride with a
"BS Master" instead. "Oh, well, these trucks have hydrolic clutches.
They don't shift like other clutches. They have real tight tolerances"
Completely ignoring the fact that the clutch pedal had to be nearly all
the way up in order to engage first gear.
I'm afraid I'm starting to ramble on now so I'll get back to my
original question. I know that all vehicles do not drive and handle
identically but, at what point in its range of movement will the clutch
pedal generally be when it actually engages the clutch and begins to
move the vehicle?
Despite the fact that this is a brand new vehicle, what might be
causing this symptom if it is in fact being caused by something that's
wrong with the clutch, clutch pedal, master cylinder or slave cylinder?
The fact that it may just be me being used to driving vehicle with
different feeling clutch pedals has not escaped me. It could just be
me but, I don't think so.
I'm going back on Saturday to have a test drive with their "Master
Mechanic." In the event that their "Master Mechanic" turns out not to
be the "Master" they said he was, Perhaps someone out there can help or
make some insightful suggestions.
I'm not an expert in transmissions. I work in the Custom shop. The
extent of my transmisson knowledge comes from a life time of driving
stick shifts. Nothing more, nothing less. I'm not asking for witty or
crude remarks; I just need a little wisdom here.
Thanks in advance for your courteous reply.