Caz

I have a '99 4Runner that we purchased new and it only has 45k very easy miles on it, never been offroading with it at all. The Oil has been changed every 3-5000 miles. While accelerating past another car, I blew a rod through the engine block and destroyed the engine. This happened only 4 months after the 5 year drivetrain warranty expired.

Has anyone else experienced a problem like this? Also, the service writer at the dealership is working to get some help from Toyota to cover some of the cost due to the the warranty just expiring. Anybody have any guidelines on what Toyota has done in the past in a situation like this? Or, how to get Toyota to step up and cover the cost of the motor?

We love our 4Runner, but certainly didn't expect this from a Toyota. We actually were just about to buy a '05 Sequoia to replace another car, but now may rethink our next vehicle. Any comments or suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks,

Caz

AgRunner06

Dude that's just weird. My guess is that it was just a freak accident or something else happened that you didn't notice. I'm not sure if I've ever heard of a 3.4 blowing up without doing something to contribute to it and I've been on this board for over a year and a half.

Welcome and Good Luck

SLC Punk

I have never heard of a 3.4l throwing a rod (with the exception of drowning it in water).

I would call Toyota's 1-800 number and get an Incident Report going. There is no reason a 99 with 45k should throw a rod!!

4RUNR

Just curious what RPMs when it happened?

MTL_4runner

That is the first 3.4L that I have heard of throwing a rod without being hydrolocked. If you need a new motor then just get a good used one imported from japan, they are low miles (usually around 30k) and should be much cheaper than a rebuild.

I would talk to Toyota corporate about paying for it because that is way too low miles to throw a rod!
......I am at 120k on the exact same motor!

Caz

Thanks for all the input. The RPM's were probably at about 4000 as I was accelerating to pass a minivan when all #%@& broke loose.

The dealership said it would cost $6500 to replace with a short block. They did get Toyota to cover all but $2700 of the bill, but that is still way too much in my opinion. I did call Toyota directly and am pursuing this directly with them.

As for a japanese recycled motor, I have done some searching on Google but cannot find a source for the 3.4L motor, anyone have a good source?


Thanks.

AgRunner06

Check out this place:

http://www.nippon-motors.com/index.htm

Here is where BruceTS got his motor from. $1600 plus tax with free delivery. All the details are here: https://www.yotatech.com/forums/show...t=motor+engine

He didn't have to pay any labor though so that will hurt some.

MTL_4runner

Toyota should be willing to eat the cost of a use motor from them and labor to install.
I would push for that rather than forking out $3000 for a new short block.

rimpainter.com

This is a perfect example of why you should keep all your receipts, mainly oil changes.

Just curious, do you have the oil change receipts? That will greatly help your case with Toyota corporate. And yes, I think you are doing the right thing by pushing them more.


Has the vehicle ever been out of your sight? Loaned to a friend, held overnight by the dealer...anything? Even then I would be hard pressed to believe someone else could have caused this - but I thought I would ask.

CynicX

I know thats alot of money but I would take the offer, they in no way can be held responsible for your engine considering its out of warrenty. But they are doing something about it just to keep happy customers. Thats why they make these warrenties, if they replace your motor for free at 4 months then they will have to do it for a guy that it happens to at 4 1/2 months, then 5, then 1 year. When you bought the car they offered you an extended warrenty did they not?, I know they did because they are annoying with that crap. Now the engine blows up, you didnt purchase the extended warrenty but feel Toyota is responsible for the motor they specifically told you and you signed was only warrentied for 5 years, or whatever it is. THEN even though you signed on the dotted line and fully understood THEN denied the extended warrenty THEN they offer to pay 4300 dollars of the bill, and thats still not good enough for you? What do you want them to do? Give you and install a brand new motor for free? If they do let us know because I'll blow mine passing someone out of warrenty so I can get my brand new free motor. I dunno I understand you upset and I understand that this motor should have lasted ALOT longer then it did but it didnt, such is life. I had a transmission go out in my old WRX which had 10k miles on it at the time. When they tore it apart they said it was abused and werent going to warrenty it, I was upset until I thought to myself "Well I shouldnt have been launching the car from 7k rpms" and when Subaru offered to pay a portion of the bill I was more then happy to take it. Sorry I sound so cynicial hopefully you wont get upset, and even more hopefully everything will work out for you.

Caz

Thanks for all the posts, even you CynicX. I'm not saying that I want Toyota to do the work for free, I'm willing to accept my part in this by not buying the extended warranty, etc. All's I'm trying to do is get Toyota to cover some more of the cost. If I had been abusing the motor, I wouldn't even be posting on here, I would be replacing the motor with no complaints. I'll keep everyone posted.

AgRunner06 - Thanks for the links, I'll check it out.

More to come...

PistonSlap

Cynic, you are a little harsh. I agree that it is out of warranty, but it is way under the expected use time. I don't think anyone would buy a toyota if they knew that there was a good chance of the motor blowing a few months past the warranty periould. Obviously they are not legally bound to repairing Caz's motor, but there is a responsibility from a customer satisfaction stand point. Had he been abusing it and not maintaining it, I would agree, the his warranty is up and he get's nothing, but if what he is saying is true, Toyota should go out of thier way to make it right.

rimpainter.com

CynicX

oh i totally agree with you, I mean if he can provide proof of oil changes/maintanance Toyota should definately look into the matter. I'm just saying take what you can get and be happy because they COULD say your up a river without a paddle and we arent going to do anything. I wish him all the luck in the world to get this matter taken care of, Toyota can afford it.

I just get a little urked, being a small business owner this kind of thing can really hurt someone. I build houses and offer a one year warrenty with them, if someone calls me in 1 1/2 years because they had a nail pop or something it's really costly to me to have it fix. I cant afford to go out and fix everyones houses after the warrenty expires but I also cant afford someone to not recommend me to someone else. So if I told someone ok well your out of warrenty and I'll split the cost and they say thats not good enough, what am I suppose to do? Well I guess I'll dip into my personal account and fix your house and I'll just wait longer to send myself to school, get that new washer and dryer I wanted etc etc etc....

I really shouldnt have compared Toyota's endless finances to my finances but when I see something like this I make it personal even though I shouldn't....

rimpainter.com

Yes - your out of pocket at that time won't be fun. But just think of all the word of mouth business you would get if you were consistent about taking care of people? The long-term benefits would far outweigh the short-term costs.

I also see your point(s), don't get me wrong. Tough call really.

Caz

Okay, here is the "Final Offer" from Toyota's Customer Experience program (800-331-4331). The service dept. at the dealership came up with $3800 to offset the work to bring the $6500 bill down to $2700 + tax. Toyota's Customer Experience offered an additional $1000 which means that I'm out of pocket $2700 + tax, then submitting paperwork to get a check for the $1000 from the Customer Experience group. End result, I'm out $2000.

This is certainly better than paying $6500 but my pain point started at $1000 out of my pocket. As I have said from the beginning, I am willing to take some responsibility and I"m comfortable with $1000. This motor should not have failed at only 45k miles. After double checking the actual purchase date, the motor failed exactly 3 months and 1 day after the 5 year/60k drivetrain warranty expired. :pat: Moral of the story, if the wife wants ice cream, stay home.

I was about 98% set on purchasing an '05 Sequoia in the next 30 days but now I have some soul searching to do. My perception of Toyota was that their motors would go 200k miles if maintained. Now I may buy a Tahoe, it will run 100-150k miles without a hiccup. My faith in Toyota has certainly been shaken.

On Tuesday, the dealership is supposed to work with me on pricing on a new Sequoia, so we'll see how much help they can provide to offset some of the above pain.

Thanks to everyone for all the feedback!!!

Caz

MTL_4runner

I still think breaking a rod after doing good maintenance on the motor is totally inexcuseable warranty or not and I would still be pushing them for no out of pocket to you. Breaking a rod means that either you beat the crap out of that motor or the part had a flaw in it and took some time to show itself. I agree CynicX has a point that the warranty has ended but I think you need to look at what happened and how often this happens. Seeing that there is a good cross section of 4 runner owners that have posted and that this is the first non hydrolocked engine I have heard of (at least on a 3.4L) that has thrown a rod.....I would call that a pretty rare, boarderline freak occurence. It is because of this that I think Toyota would be willing to pay for the entire thing if the case were presented as such (or at least a KILLER deal on a new Sequoia). Good luck with it!

BruceTS

one of these days I'll get around to tearing down that short block to see the damages.

BTW, one rod went through the side of the block and 2 others broke, this is by far the worse that I have ever blown and engine in my life.

As for your situation, I think Toyota's deal is fair considering the circumstances and I bet is still cheaper than purchasing that extended warranty.....

CynicX

for what its worth when I bought my truck toyota was offering a new warrenty (thats what the guy told me, it coulda been 10 years old)...this was just like an extended warrenty except, if you didnt use it you could have the money refunded.....so if something little broke you could fix it yourself and get your money back but if the engine blew they would fix it.....something to consider for you guys that will be keeping the vehicle fairly stock and plan on holding on to it.....

Caz

Hmmm, if I can get an extended warranty, then get my money back if I never use it, where do I sign. By providing Toyota a no interest loan for the time that I own the vehicle or having them fix something major if it goes wrong, sounds like a pretty good deal to me. This certainly was not offered by the dealer that I purchased the vehicle from.

There are a few letters that I will be writing to various people within Toyota and auto magazines to express my dissatisfaction with how Toyota handled this situation.

I'm heading over to the dealership on Tuesday to check out what they will do on a new Sequoia, so I'll keep everyone posted. If the deal is good enough, I will certainly be asking about the warranty that CynicX mentioned!