Hi All,
I don't post much, but figured you might enjoy this. My 04 TL was in need of a clutch, it was starting to slip. I have had the car for about 20,000 miles, it just turned over 201,000 miles. I assume it is the original clutch.
I replaced the clutch, flywheel, rear main seal, and all motor/transmission mounts in my garage with jack stands and floor jacks. I also fixed a tiny oil leak for the camshaft thrust covers. It is a straight forward job, lots of bolts to turn, but doable for a competent shade tree mechanic. There are lots of posts about this job so I won't get into details. I got the car all back together, started it up and shifted through the gears while still on a jack stand. Everything worked great. I got the car back on the ground and went for a test drive. Slowed to a stop after about a mile of driving and the car stumbled and barely idled. I got it home and it would not stay running below about 1,000 rpm. I double checked all the wiring I had unplugged, checked vacuum lines going to motor mounts. Everything checked out. Frustrated, I just walked away for a while. A couple days later, I decided to check things that could cause a rough idle. The EGR is easy to get off so I started there. I pulled it off, the valve had a tiny piece of sand stuck in it, holding it open. I got it out, put it back together and the car runs perfect again! It was all a total coincidence, had nothing to do with what I had taken apart. Fortunately I found it quickly and it was easy to get to.




Notice the tiny pice of sand stuck in the valve

 

^

 

Nice, impressive work. I'm at 142K miles, I've replaced clutches before mostly on Honda's and was wondering how easy/hard it was on the 3G TL.

 

Its fairly easy. You can even change the clutch without removing the tranny/engine, just move the tranny to the side. Probably more comfortable to complete this job outside the engine bay for overweight or large handed folks.

 

I left the engine in the car, just supported from above with a brace I made from 2x2 square tubing. Then remove the subframe which allows plenty of room to drop the transmission out from the bottom. It is fairly straightforward, just a lot of things to move out of the way.

 

Do you have any pictures please?

 

Here are a few pics, showing the amount of room around the transmission you get by removing the subframe. Also of the motor support I built. Super simple, goes from the strut tower brace to the core support, couple welds and it's done. I dropped a couple long bolts through some holes in the core support just to keep it from sliding, but probably not even necessary with the weight of the engine hanging on it.

 

Nice job on the brace!
@Thefireball
Gunny Highway would be proud.

 

Thanks Zeta,
I have seen some pretty nice braces people have made, but this is simple and easy and I had the material on hand. KISS, Keep it simple stupid!

 

Love the pics! Thank you and great job!