Tow broke my clutch?

[Digger]

My girlfriend lost the keys to my Tercel and had AAA tow back to my house. When I went to drive off the next day, a loud whine sounded as a pushed in the clutch pedal and it made grinding noises a bit as I tried to put it in gear. What gives? Is my clutch shot? How did the tow affect it?

Any wisdom would be very helpful to this long-time Tercel owner, first-time clutch dabbler. Thanks.

[teranfirbt]

How was the car towed, was it in gear?

[Digger]

I wasn't there, but my girlfriend said it was a flat-bed, and the guy had "some trouble" dragging it up the bed.

[ARCHINSTL]

This is interesting (NOT to make light of your situation!) - when I donated my beloved '86 626 to the Salvation Army, the towing flatbed driver that came by for it dragged it up the ramp and onto the bed with the car in gear and the handbrake off! The front wheels kept scrubbing forward and backward a few inches all the way, but would not rotate. Needless to say, the car "made noises."
I started to remonstrate as, despite the Swiss cheese of the rear suspension mounts, I was quite fond of that car, having owned it for 18 years.
The driver said "We drag cars onto the bed like this all of the time; it keeps them from rolling off if the chain breaks - and besides, this one will probably be scrapped anyway." What could I say?
So - does this happen "all of the time" as he said?
Tom M.

P.S. Welcome to the Club - and keep us informed!

[Digger]

Is it the clutch itself, do you suppose, or maybe just one of the cylinders (master/slave). I've done cylinders before, but how difficult will replacing the clutch be?

[tercel4wdrules]

The clutch on the Tercel is cable operated, there's just a ratcheting pawl mechanism to "self-adjust" on the pedal assembly. There's no slave cylinder...

[Petros]

It is possible the trans was damaged, this is a very expensive fix. Might just a coincidence (which is what they will tell you), or the clutch was fried or damaged, also an expensive fix. You will have to sue the towing company because they always deny that dragging the car up a flat bed will cause damage, they lie of course.

Changing the clutch is a big job because you have to drop the trans, which means pulling both front CV axles (and front suspension), rear drive shaft, starter, and a lot of other stuff in the way. It is about a $600 job.

All 4wd and AWD cars they now tow with a flat bed because they do not want to risk damage to the drivetrain, but with our Tercel4wd they are better off hooking the front and allow the rear wheels to stay on the ground, presuming the car is not in 4wd. I tried to explain that to the AAA once but of course they are smarter than me and sent a flat bed anyway.

Why tow a car just because of lost keys? You risk a lot of other damage with a tow, NEVER do that if you do not have to.