99 Camry has 170,000 miles. I find in the morning that when I start off in first gear, that the clutch starts to jerk. It only happens when first starting up and then stops as it warms up. Is this the sign for getting a new clutch or could it be the fly wheel needs adjustment?
Flywheels are not adjustable. This sounds like clutch chatter, and it could be a sign that it’s time for a new clutch. Or maybe not just yet.
If you’re really careful can you make the clutch engage smoothly? Is the clutch slipping at all?
If this were mine I’d try to live with it unless the clutch is slipping. When it starts to slip call you mechanic and schedule an appointment for a new clutch.
I am troubled by the part that the sympton dissapears once the car is warmed up. If it was the clutch warming up the engine should not eliminate the sympton. I am thinking more likely driveability issues. If you took away the statement about things getting better once the engine warmed up I would be going in a different direction.
I have never described a clutch malfunction as “my clutch jerks”
Mechanics like to use the word “chatters”. This is when the car/engine shakes upon inital movement. Could you replace the word jerks with chatters?
Inital deployment of clutch is not smooth is about as close to jerks as I can get. I like “grabs” for this type of concern.