eastex

First post, wall of text, accept my apologies.

I'm having some problems diagnosing some issues with my 2005 xB, manual transmission, 230K miles, all stock. Hopefully I could get some info out of you guys and some suggestions of things to look at.

I replaced both rear wheel bearings at about 210k, the serp belt at about 200k, spark plugs at about 190k. I purchased the car w/ 171K

First off, I drive 108 miles round trip every day of the week. 54 miles to and from work.

A few weeks before the issue started up I was hearing some noises that sounded like they were coming from my driver side front wheel bearing, I've read a few things about xB owners having issues and figured I'd get to it as soon as I could, just as I did the rear. Typically this noise could be heard at very low speeds, and when the car was cold, sounded like what is commonly described as "growling".

Fast forward to the last day I drove my car, I leave for work early (4:30) in the morning, get about 2/3 there and I start hearing something unusual, ticking, whining, clicking, you name it, I appears to be quite random and I pick up a faint smell of burning material... it could easily just be Houston. I get to my work (still making noises of course) and pull in the back alley by the garage and the car just grumbles to a stop, like I had dropped an anchor or something, it was rough as hell and scared the crap out of me. I'm sick. I do a quick walk around the car and start it back up and put it in a spot, doesn't seem to be anything too bad other than the smell of clutch, I cant imagine what the grumble halt was, off to my google machine I go.

This car is great for what it is, its my commuter, has been very dependable for years and I get that everything has a limit. But obviously, I cant just throw in the towel regardless of how many miles are on it. Car books for ~2500 trade in, clutch guy says maybe 800 to 1200 to replace, he admits lack of knowledge for these types of vehicles as he's more accustomed to trucks/american vehicles. I cant justify paying someone half the price of the car to fix it, I'm fairly handy, have an extra vehicle or two, I've got google, you guys!, pfffftttt... lets spend some time and see what we can deduce.

SO.. time to get it home. I start off, my co-workers wish me well. "GOOD LUCK on I-10" they say... jerks.

Car starts easy, backs out of spot with zero issues. First stop light... no prob. Feeder to I-10... flawless. Getting into hot lane... great! I'm cruising! WTF!! Its like nothing ever happened. shifts good, sounds good, smells good. I keep the radio off and stay in the slow lane for most of this trip.

BOOM! 32.9 miles in. Buzzing, clicking, whirring, whining, it started faintly but eases into some scary stuff. It’s completely random, I remember at one point the noises really kicked off, I pushed in the clutch and pop it in neutral, noise gone, put it back in 5th, heavy noise is gone but back to light noises. Start getting some faint smells of burning as well. I accept slight noises as the norm but push in the clutch and glide for the rest of the trip when things get real noisy. I pull on to my street, BOOM, that rough grumble again but doesn't completely stop, I think " oh hell nah, dont die so close to the end!". I limp into my driveway.

So thats it, no engine lights, just random noises and smells. I had read on the interwebs to do a test of putting it in 5th with the brake on and try to take off, if it stalls you have a good clutch, just spins your clutch is gone. I do this, it stalls. WTF!

I pull the front wheel bearing and while it may not be the best, it felt better than the rears I had pulled off previously, I was really hoping it would feel horrible as its so much easier to get to than the clutch. I get that as things get hot they expand and could create the noises/smells if something else is wrong, this is why I figured I'd check the bearing first. I've had a clutch go out on me in the past and it was very sudden, not like this at all. My heart tells me I'm soon to pull my beloved xB to pieces...

Any info/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Tenfeathers1000

That sounds like the clutch throw out bearing, I haven't heard this on scion but have on many hotrods I had.
I'm assuming it's a standard shift

torranosaurus

Sounds like you need a new clutch either way. Make sure you get a good throw out bearing otherwise it will whine. I have done this to three of my early xB's. Labor runs about 800, good parts another 200. I would keep it and fix it otherwise you are buying someone else's problem.