I'm trying to get an idea of lifetime expected from the factory clutch.

It's a 2005 6-speed w/nav @ 176k miles.

This was recently bought from a guy in the medical field and the owner before him was an older realtor lady. Car has been well taken care of and all the papers including original window sticker are present.

There's no slippage to be found when dropping the clutch at high-rpm shifts and gear engagement is fine as far as I can tell.

If only Carfax wasn't asking $39.99 for a report, I'd go ahead and order one for more info. From what I'm told though, it's still the factory clutch.

 

225K and 12.5 years on original clutch and still going for me. If the previous owners knew how to properly drive an MT, it'll last a good long time!!!!

But "a little old lady" and a doctor as previous owners would scare me a bit However, if it's still holding strong, then maybe they handled it just fine....

 

damn 225k on original clutch, nice! That makes me feel a bit better, from what I can tell the previous owners babied it.

 

He never said she was "little". Besides, the previous owners sound much more responsible than some of the newer generation of owners we've seen popping up here recently, many of which probably can't drive stick to save their lives.

I'm at 120k on the factory clutch; still strong and I drive this car hard, but then again, that doesn't equal abusive.

 

Sounds like it'll be fine then. I'm not alone, there are plenty of 3G TL 6MTs that are well into 200K on the original clutch.

I know DMZ has replaced his clutch, but it lasted over 200K. Pretty sure SouthernBoy had over 200K on his 6MT clutch as well. As I said, there are others, too. These clutches will last a good, long time if you drive them right

If you buy that car, I'd highly recommend doing a drain and fill with the GM synchromesh fluid....

 

I don't drive my cars hard anymore. I'm getting old blah I just want to look fast haha. Along with my other TL, I also drive a Volvo V70XC wagon so that should indicate what kind of driver I am

I'm glad that other 3G 6-speed owners are reporting high mileage with factory clutch. I bought this car over a week ago and so far everything has been smooth sailing. I am planning to do the GM Synchromesh fluid change when I can find free time, it's about 2.3 quarts to change right?

 

what if the old lady was bad at driving stick and grinded gears or burned the clutch often?

 

asking clutch life is like asking how long your brake pads will last.

 

Clutch life is hard to describe as the clutches are self adjusting so you don't get symptoms until near the end. Some folks get 30K, others get 200K miles.

I would highly recommend you change your trans fluid to the GM modified fluid so you don't end up with trouble getting into 3rd gear in the future.

 

My original clutch lasted 180K miles. The 2nd one lasted only about 40K. That's how and when I learned to replace the flywheel when replacing the clutch. Tech support at LUK recommends doing that since the dual mass flywheel wears like the brake rotors do with the pads. Since it's only around $200 from rockauto, why take the chance?
.
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If you keep your TL stock and just DD the car, you should be fine for some time. Although, like every thing, it will wear out and need to be replaced, its dependent on how it was used before you got it.

 

If she was bad at driving stick then I guess I wouldn't be able to tell due to our self adjusting clutch? I'm crossing my fingers and praying she was a good driver.

planning on doing it soon, hopefully I'll get some time on the weekend. I read it was 2.3 quarts to change? If someone could chime in on that, I appreciate it.

$172 for the LUK clutch kit and $204 for the LUK flywheel ouch and $27 for a 24 rack of Corona Light for whichever one of my friends decides to help haha

Other than Aesthetics, I plan to keep engine/performance factory. I don't drive hard like I once did, hopefully that'll help prolong clutch life. Since New England is 99% hills, I better stop balancing/juggling the clutch at steep stop lights

 

I'm at 123k miles on my 04 and I expect to at least double that. I always double cluch and rev match when down shifting, never sit at stop lights with my foot on the clutch and when I do put it into first I always go into fourth first.

Hell, my sister has an 06.5 Kia Optima on it's second engine but original clutch and flywheel with 238k miles on it.

 

Never, as in never do this. Holding your car on a hill with the clutch is one of the quickest ways you can do some real damage to the friction disk, pressure plate, and flywheel.

 

Your clutch components and synchronizers will thank you for this.

By not keeping your foot on the clutch (depressed), you will lengthen the life of your release bearing. As for going into fourth before first, that will help extend the life of the first gear synchronizers, though you could do with with 3rd if you wished.[/QUOTE]

 

Evening, friend.... how's it going? When I traded my '04 TL, for which I was its only owner, it was eleven years old with 112,000 miles on the clock. And yes, all of the clutch components were the original parts, as were the rear brake pads.

 

[/QUOTE]

I know I gained that wisdom from you.
I just like for for some reason. I think it has something to do with the 3rd gear issues some have, but not me. I "think" the issues are unrelated, but I'm used to 4th to 1st.

I normally bleed my clutch every time I do the brakes, every two years. That's about the time I change my trans fluid (AC 10-1014) too, or 25k
miles. Does that sound like a good maintenance schedule for the clutch/trans?

Thanks

 

Yes it does. I would venture to say most don't adhere to this as often as you do. As for the potential 3rd gear issues, you're right. Nothing wrong with using 4th for this. I used third because I anticipate the light change (I look for the other side to go yellow or at stop signs, look for the other side to clear) then use third. I don't go immediately into third; I wait a few seconds (maybe two or three) to let the gear sets spin down some. But you're doing fine just doing what you're doing.

 

After how many miles do you change out your GM Syncromesh? I changed to GMSM at about 86000 miles, and now I'm at about 104000. Wondering when I need to swap out

 

^ some of us change it out every 30k miles