halloran

Well I've been at replacing my rear main seal on my 01 4runner and got it out and had my buddy come to help me set the new torque converter and re-stuff the transmission. In the process I called the idiots at the dealership and specifically ordered FLEXPLATE bolts the dummy at the dealership even asked me the VIN and whether or not it was an automatic to which I said YES.

He ordered me flywheel bolts part #9010510138 which are 1.25" long while the flexplate bolts are part #9010510048 which are 1" long. I noticed the 1/4" length difference and thought it wouldn't make any difference and might even help with more thread to provide more seal into the crank...oh boy was I wrong.

I put the transmission back in and cooler lines reconnected and most of the wiring harness reconnected and when I went to turn the crank bolt the puppy wouldn't spin at all I mean it wouldn't even budge. I removed a few spark plugs to maybe relieve some pressure on the engine and still no go. I broke the transmission loose enough to free the torque converter as I thought maybe we didn't install it correctly into the pump and it still wouldn't turn. Then I disconnected and dropped the transmission entirely again and the engine still wouldn't turn. Remove flexplate bolts which were only 1/4" longer and the engine I could basically spin it by hand.

So even though the bolts were only 1/4" longer they make a major affect on the functionality of the engine. DO NOT MAKE MY MISTAKE!!

On the left is a FLEXPLATE bolt and on the right is a FLYWHEEL bolt. Dang you Toyota dang you very much.

JasonYota

iTrader: (1)

Why did you need new bolts?
You didn't look at the parts when you bought them?
Yet you noticed the difference in length and installed them anyway.

halloran

Yup I noticed it but figured hey, maybe Toyota gave me a better bolt because what could 1/4" difference make? I trusted the dealership which was mistake #1 on my end. Toyota said it's best to replace them since they are torque to yield and have loctite on them. Are they wrong?

wyoming9

iTrader: (1)

Good to know you never made a mistake in your life!!

Keep up the perfect record.

Feel free to blame me I might have picked those bolts!!!

Did you figure out who got your bolts when you took them back??

How could you not be able to figure out a longer bolt will bottom out on the back of the engine.



It happens it will keep happening

Whitfield

This is what makes the professionals / professionals. They get to learn these same life lessons daily. I'm sure this is one you will never forget.

Hopefully no damage to crank / block.

halloran

I'm not saying that I don't make mistakes all I'm saying is that any shred of trust I have/had in the stealerships has gone out the window completely. I know the name of the guy who took my order and I'm going to talk to a manager at Toyota on Tuesday when I go in there to get the correct bolts. I mean there are many people who trust these companies whole-heartedly and when stuff like this happens it makes me sick to my stomach to think how many other people out there get the short end of the stick or cause permanent damage to their vehicle.

My main concern is that I hope no damage was done to the crank/block/thrust bearing being that the bolts were 1/4" longer than the stock bolts. I didn't notice the bolts bottoming out on the block because 1: the crankshaft tail is embedded in engine and 2. with the crank and flexplate spacers in place they literally pulled up flush with no gap. I could only imagine how much damage would've been done if I got everything back together and decided to start the engine.

I just thought I would post this so for anyone who doesn't know if there's a difference between flywheel and flexplate bolts can take it from me first hand that there is a 1/4" and it's huge.

wyoming9

iTrader: (1)

Ok then according to what you say I should no longer buy parts from anyone .

i have gotten the wrong parts from just about every vendor I know.

It is a fact of life .

By far the worst is ESAB!!

If you feel so bad maybe you should switch over to JEEP I am sure you would never get anything wrong from them.

Yes maybe you can get the parts person fired so they can go collect.

Like I said feel free to blame me I get the wrong parts so often it does not bother me. It gets worse every month.

donomite49

parts man made a mistake for whatever reason thats why we call it human error.

mechanic shouild have caught it, oh wait he did, he just didn't care enough to check, lesson learned.

you did say you saw the bolts were longer before you put it together.

millball

If I can't bring an old part to the store to compare, I'm always scared.

halloran

I'm beginning to think most of the people on this forum work for toyota lol. The issue here is trust. I put faith in the dealership to get me the correct parts even after punching in the VIN of the vehicle. Whether or not I noticed the difference in bolt length size is irrelevant. I trusted toyota to provide me with the correct parts after knowing the vehicle was an automatic and after knowing the VIN. As a customer I have to be able to trust the manufacturer to know the correct parts for my vehicle when it was assembled. That's why we have VIN numbers in the first place.

In the end the whole reason I posted this is for future reference to others who might also get different size bolts and wonder if they should be installed.

wyoming9

iTrader: (1)

No just have gotten more parts that were wrong over the 43 years I have been doing this work.

The fact it is getting worse is every thing is computers so easy to miss type one number.

Parts being picked by people that have no idea what they are picking but by god it is the number the computer spit out.

I had to train my Toyota Dealer when it came to the older vehicles .

Have you ever seen the Mess the Toyota parts dealer computer catalog is it is so very easy to write the wrong number down if it is something you don`t get on a normal basis.

One off the top of my head is the water pump on the 22r series engines the early and late engines use a slightly different water pump bolts on just fine but the impeller bottoms out against the timing cover.

Had it all back together but the fan to discover it would not turn.

With any parts so easy to get the wrong parts.