Recently inherited a 78 FJ40 that my father in law rebuilt many years ago. Having no experience outside of oil changes I’ve been learning on the job over the last couple weeks and have sorta become obsessed.
Finally got it running and some working brakes (master cylinder and a brake line). Drove it down the road to the store with no issues. On the way back, it was slow to start… 1 mile later it began acting as if it were in neutral (in gear but no acceleration) and pretty heavy smoke from the starter. Pulled over and towed it home.
Solenoid was cracked so I replaced the starter.
Changed transmission / transfer fluid which was extremely low and hadn’t been changed in 20+ years.
It starts great and sounds good while idling. However, I can get it in gear but get no acceleration. I don’t smell any burning or hear weird noises and the clutch pedal feels normal. I’m thinking the clutch went out but I find it very coincidental that the starter and clutch went out at the exact same time. Is there a relationship between the two that I’m missing?
Im hoping there a simpler/cheaper solution than bringing it in to get the clutch replaced (too advance for me at this point).
Any advice?
Finally got it running and some working brakes (master cylinder and a brake line). Drove it down the road to the store with no issues. On the way back, it was slow to start… 1 mile later it began acting as if it were in neutral (in gear but no acceleration) and pretty heavy smoke from the starter. Pulled over and towed it home.
Solenoid was cracked so I replaced the starter.
Changed transmission / transfer fluid which was extremely low and hadn’t been changed in 20+ years.
It starts great and sounds good while idling. However, I can get it in gear but get no acceleration. I don’t smell any burning or hear weird noises and the clutch pedal feels normal. I’m thinking the clutch went out but I find it very coincidental that the starter and clutch went out at the exact same time. Is there a relationship between the two that I’m missing?
Im hoping there a simpler/cheaper solution than bringing it in to get the clutch replaced (too advance for me at this point).
Any advice?
The folks on this site can help walk you through a clutch replacement. It's a heavy job.
