Toyota dealer screwed up engine (1 Viewer)

[gjh]

A guy that works for me has an 02 LC. He brought it to the Toyota dealer for a 50k tuneup, incl oil change. On his 7 mile ride home the truck started to sputter & finally shut down, no lights before it did this. Then it would not restart. He got out to check it out & saw oil everywhere in the skid plate & on the ground. Towed it to Toyo & they said they would take care of it. Called him a couple of days later & they said it as a defective oil filter & everything was all set. He picked it up & before he could get home it started runing rough. Would not idle smoothly & the next day when he started it he could hear what he describes as a low knocking sound. I told him sounds like his engine is shoot & to demand a new, not rebuilt one. Toyo took it back & said he just had a loose cat shield; sounds like a load. He has a meeting with the Toyo mgr Tues & I told him he should settle for nothing less than a new factory motor.

Your thoughts? This really sucks, but at least he had it at a dealer so he has some recourse with Toyo Mfg if needed.

I think a rebuilt would never be as good as new...

 

[Jim_Chow]

Sounds similar to what happened to one guy w/ a 4L V6 1GR-FE. In his case, he used an aftermarket oil filter and the gasket on the filter was defective and didn't seal well. Anyways, the oil leaked out the filter, engine went dry of oil, wife ignored it and continued to drive until it died. After changing the oil, it made a knocking sound (rod/bearing damage or something), and he knew he had to replace the engine on his own dime.

 

[BMWSTOY]

I have to agree, they don't know the extent of the damage they caused or Toyota caused with the bad filter - not really the dealers fault?, but in any case there had to me some damaged caused even if minor that Toyota should have no problem compensating for.
Best of luck them - but how come they are not writing this - get them in here

 

[SWUtah]

Wife had a 92 ES300 when we lived in Atlanta. Had Hennessey Lexus maintain it and at 85K miles they did a oil/filter change. They forgot to put oil in it Drove out of the dealership and by the time the light went on and I got turned around and back to the dealer the engine had been running for 5 minutes. They gave me a free 90K service and a warranty on the engine for any oil related problems from the "Dealer" for up to 120K miles. At around 110K miles it started smoking for about 5 minutes on morning start up. Got it good and warm and traded it at the Springfield Missouri Toyota dealership. I should of just kept driving until it quit and gotten a new engine. Tell your friend he wants a new engine not just a short block. Never know what parts might have a shortened life. If it takes it he should get a lawyer and sue there ass for the new engine and any inconvience. This is not a warranty issue its a negliengence issue.

 

[e9999]

an independent assessment by another Toy dealer seems desirable here...

 

[DesertCruiser]

I agree with e9999. And I definitely would not tell the other dealer the full story behind it. If they know it is another dealership in town, they may not be as apt to tell you the truth (i.e. if it needs a new engine they might not admit to it).

Definitely keep us posted on this so we can all learn from it!

 

[jp213a]

an independent assessment by another Toy dealer seems desirable here...

Who's going to pay for the assessment and what should it entail. It could range from a visual inspection of the engine exterior which doesn't accomplish much to a compression test to dropping the oil pan and bearing caps ($$$).

I'd say try like hell to work it out with the dealership that did the oil change and if that doesn't work, bring in Toyota USA. I wonder if the dealership is furnishing a loaner vechile. That would provide some foreshadwong on how this is going to go. With all that BS about the cat shield, it doesn't look good.

 

[gjh]

Buddy meet with a bunch of the staff & serv mgr said they would rebuild bottom end & whatever was required up top & warranty for 36k; my buddy winced & the Sr Mgr told the parts guy to go order a new shortblock.

Being worked on as we speak.

 

[jp213a]

Buddy meet with a bunch of the staff & serv mgr said they would rebuild bottom end & whatever was required up top & warranty for 36k; my buddy winced & the Sr Mgr told the parts guy to go order a new shortblock. Being worked on as we speak.

It’s encouraging to see a dealership stand up and take responsibility for their mistake or the mistake of their parts supplier, in this case Toyota. It would be nice if they would throw in a new water pump and timing belt to go on that short block along with a loaner vehicle but that’s probably too much to hope for.

 

[cruiser88]

i stay away from the stealership around here

 

[gjh]

They threw in a baby-baby LC a RAV 4!

 

[Skim]

Good to see the dealership stepped up.

 

[Filmpros]

I wish we had dealers like that up here. A local Lexus dealership, Rallye Lexus in Glen Cove, NY, failed to tighten two main bolts after a front end alignment and wrote up a bunch of bogus work that they claimed needed to be done.

The loose bolts were discovered, and fixed, the very next day by my trusted Toyota Dealer, who also did the work the truck actually needed....which had nothing to do with what Rallye Lexus of Glen Cove, NY said it needed.

When I called Rallye Lexus of Glen Cove and spoke to the Service Manager asking for a refund, he said there was "Nothing he could do for me" ... and after complaining to Lexus HQ ... Lexus HQ told me basically the same thing.

I reversed the charges on my credit card and I am filing in small claims if that fails. It is not the money, I just don't like getting screwed and having people get away with it.

I had a similar problem with Millennium Toyota of Hempstead, NY. I won that case in SMall Claims Court.

I advise staying away from both. I use Westbury Toyota located in Westbury, NY. No problems with these folks....albeit, the mechanics don;t know cruisers like you folks know cruisers....but they do OK with the basics.

Good to see the dealership stepped up.

 

[gjh]

Saga not over yet

Well, he got the truck back last Friday & put 30-40 miles on it. Comes into work today & says he hears some kind of noise. I have him bring the truck in after work & I have a listen. I could hear a slight valve train noise in the right hand bank of the motor. I ask him to hit the throttle & sure as heck it starts to rattle.
Sounds like they need to make an adjustment in the valve train.

Unfortunately he is starting to loose faith in the truck.

 

[SWUtah]

Well, he got the truck back last Friday & put 30-40 miles on it. Comes into work today & says he hears some kind of noise. I have him bring the truck in after work & I have a listen. I could hear a slight valve train noise in the right hand bank of the motor. I ask him to hit the throttle & sure as heck it starts to rattle.
Sounds like they need to make an adjustment in the valve train.

Unfortunately he is starting to loose faith in the truck.

It would bother me to have a local grease monkey take my engine apart and then put it back together. Never would be like the factory spec's.

 

[jp213a]

Well, he got the truck back last Friday & put 30-40 miles on it. Comes into work today & says he hears some kind of noise. Sounds like they need to make an adjustment in the valve train.

Since the dealer installed a short block, the old cylinder heads were re-used. If the valve clearance was correct on the old block, it should be correct on the new short block. There is a strong probability the valves, lifters, cam bearings, or cam drive gears were damaged when the oil filter failed and it ran with no oil. I'm assuming there was no upper engine noise before the oil filter failure. I'd request that both heads be removed, inspected, and completely rebuilt. Unfortunately, I don't believe Toyota offers factory rebuilt head assemblies for the UZ-2FE engine so having the dealer rebuild the original heads is the only option.

 

[gjh]

Latest word from dealer is that one of the cam gears was defective from the factory; my ? is I assume they just replaced this also, even though it is not part of the short block since they re-used his heads.

Big question, can someone tell me how to decifer the engine ser # for when it was built? I might just see if he can get that off the (new) engine to check...

 

[EdsCruisin]

Latest word from dealer is that one of the cam gears was defective from the factory; .

Sounds like they want to shift the liability away from their shop to the manufacturer for any other damages. If the cam gear was defective before, wouldn't somebody have noticed? IMHO it's all a charade.

 

[SWUtah]

Sounds like they want to shift the liability away from their shop to the manufacturer for any other damages. If the cam gear was defective before, wouldn't somebody have noticed? IMHO it's all a charade.

Ed I think your logic is perfect.

 

[jp213a]

Latest word from dealer is that one of the cam gears was defective from the factory; my ? is I assume they just replaced this also, even though it is not part of the short block since they re-used his heads.

Big question, can someone tell me how to decifer the engine ser # for when it was built? I might just see if he can get that off the (new) engine to check...

If I understand correctly, there's a concern that a new short block wasn't actually installed. The dealership should provide a letter stating the original engine serial number and the new engine serial number just in case there is ever a question of "chop shop" involvement with the vehicle. This question could come up if the vehicle is sold or used as a trade-in because the VIN won't match the original engine serial number. The letter will also give some assurance that a new short block was actually installed.