WOW!!

I read the title of this thread and thought something bad had happened to me!

 

On the good side ..... I get this little neato 2004 Corolla to drive. So far they have taken 4 hours to get the spark plugs out and broke many tools in the process. I was supposed to pick it up today, but turns out they tore the camshaft seal ... so another day without Mr. Yoda. I am having some serious withdrawals ... GUH.

 

So long as you make sure that they fix anything they break on your truck before you get it back. And make sure they fix their mistakes for free. I hope your spark plug threads don't get fudged if they are that stuck in there (not the plugs themselves, but the threaded part on the head of the engine).

I have already spent more on this truck than I bought it for, and if I were to sell it now, I still wouldn't get anything close to what it should be worth. If I had known the previous owner who said "appearance doesn't matter to me, I just made sure it ran good" didn't take care of the exterior or the interior for that matter, I think I woulda stayed with the family ford that woulda put me out only $1K instead of the $2k for the truck and nearly $3K in repairs and maintenance. Done rambling...

 

Tell me about it, I got about 2 times as much as I paid for my truck into mods/repairs.

I need to get into the construction biz.

 

With all the repairing of dis and dat .... I plan on making sure this truck lasts a longggggggggggggg time in order to get the money spent on it back out. Let me ask all you Yota freaks a question. I got this truck out of an accident settlement. Originally I had bought a 95 Acura Integra with 115,000 miles on it after my accident, but traded that straight across for this money sucking truck. Come to find out a week after I traded, the timing belt on the Acura blew and caused some serious damage (I didn't like that car too much) So was it worth it? Thanks for sharing your thoughts and stuff.

-Lisa

 

Well Lisa, no matter how you look at it, you had a B-series engine in your Teg. That means that even if the motor grenaded, you could pick up another and have someone drop it in for $1K - $2K. If it was a GS, you had the B18B which is a decent motor, kind of hard to find these days, but not really. If you had a GSR, you had the B18C, which is even harder to find these days because everyone steals them and drops them in their Civic's and stuff.

Dont think about the past. If I could go back in time, I would NOT have sold my 98 Tacoma Limited. I kick my own butt every day for doing that. But, worrying about it wont change anything.

Best of luck after all this $$ you have given to the stealer. I hope that rig last a looong time for you.

 

Got the truck back today, don't know whether to throw in the towel or blow it up. It runs like absolute crap. Died on me twice ... idle is loping. I will check the EGR valve, the injectors should be fine. For $3000 I expected a whole hell of a lot more.

very ticked off Lisa

 

Are you sure you can trust this dealer? Why do they keep returning your rig to you with problems? I would be back in that service department so fast. Go in there with your paperwork in hand and one of your biggest guy friends and tell them that this is unacceptable. Its time to get pissed. You have dropped enough money in that place already.

 

This is my first visit to the actual "Toyota" dealership. The place I went to before was a lil radiator/all around shop, not going there again. Yes, I will be back on Monday to raise hell at Toyota, no doubt about that. Just a frustrating thing, very frustrating.

 

So I got a letter from Toyota asking me how my service was .... I dunno how to keep my mouth shut. I wrote them a letter back explaining how I took my truck in for a specific problem and got it back with the same problem. Then I took it back again and got a lecture on how old my motor was, so many miles ... blah blah blah so I just cancelled my 2nd appointment.

Toyota writes me back and of course appologizes and makes excuses for their service person and wants to set me up with an appointment to pay "special attention" to my problem. (LAUGHS HARD)

So what do ya think? Do I dare go back?

 

Only if the Toyota rep is going to be there should you consider. Otherwise why would they treat you different than the first time?

 

i would make them fix it free

 

My experiences down here in Texas is that the regional management takes issues like yours seriously. We had a dealership down here that was really bad...eventually they sold out to new management. The new owners are awesome. I complained to the regional management and they always seemed to address the issue with the dealer.

Luckily I have had some pretty bulletproof vehicles from Toyota. The most expensive thing I have had done is the clutch replacement on my last 4Runner. She had her first clutch at 152,000. I was amazed.
I just replaced the clutch in my 1991 Toyota 4x4 Xtra cab...it had 126,000.
I did have to have the timing chain replaced once, but that was my own fault for not changing the oil enough and the chain guides wore through.

But other than that I don't usually spend more than $300-500 per year per vehicle for maintenance. You may scoff, but I promise you that I don't spend alot of time on them. I usually keep my Toyota's for 200k or more. I love them.

Weezy...I hope you have better luck. I think that once you get it running right you will not look back. I have owned Toyota's for the last 17 years and don't even really consider anything else.

 

I got you beat, for the 1995 Honda Accord, not something I'm proud of since I may consider selling the car in a year:

1) Timing belts, including new water pump (paid dealership) ($600)
2) Power Steering flush ($29, and what a mess it made)
3) Brake Service, including ABS (paid dealership, they didn't do a good job, and I figured out the trick to the modulator so I am going to do that soon myself) ($100)
4) New Motor Mount (paid dealership) ($300)
5) New T-stat ($16)
6) New Spark plugs, wires, and distributor cap, manual tranny fluid, (paid dealership) (part of tuneup package $299)
7) New PCV ($12)
8) New CV boots (paid dealership, after hearing about how someone had a breaker bar snap and hit him in the "danger zone" when that hub nut finally busted loose, mind you it's torque spec is something like 258 lbs) ($250)
9) Some other meanial stuff I can't think of right now like air filter, gas gauge, sending unit, a/c evac/vaccuum/recharge (something over $200)

A bunch of interior body panels that where broken or missing, i.e., ashtray, endcaps to the overhead handle bars, seat bolt covers, pillar garnishes, switches to sunroof and cruise control...something in the excess of $200.

My Mods:
1) New CD player + Alarm ($ 1K)
2) Blankpunt 6x9 ($29, sale at local Fry's Electronics)
3) Leather shift know ($45)
4) New lights: front bumper, rear corner bumper, and taillights ($100)
5) Moonroof visor (not yet installed until wax is on body) ($50)

Body Job
1) New complete paint job ($4.2K)
2) New front and rear bumper covers ($400)
3) New front lower lip ($30)
4) New passenger rocker panel ($45 ?)
5) New rear window seal ($30 ?)

Of course some of the items mentioned above I got hookups and so they where free or at a lesser of a charge.

Realizing that all you have done is worth almost three fold times the price of the car........PRICELESS

 

Oh and Lisa, if you're rig idles like crap, did the dealer put it on a scope and get specs as to what isn't performing right? EGR valve (like you said), intake buildup somewhere, improper ignition setting, heck even a motor mount (although not a cause for dying on you), are all possibilities to the symptoms you said.

You said your idle is looping as it is jumping all around? Could it be a TPS sensor that is bad? That's why I mention a scope, that way it helps narrow down what is going on with the rig.

 

I feel your pain, and so does my wallet!

 

Here's a copy of the e-mail they sent me .... not including the looooong message on my answering machine:

I want to thank you for the letter. I apologize for the
misunderstanding you experienced. This is not the process that we want nor train our
people. Eric is new and still learning, and please don't take that as an
excuse. This is not they way we do business.We would like to repair
shaking in your 4 Runner. I will have Gene Meyle, my Service Manager
contact you and make an appointment and give special attention to your
vehicle. Please except my apology and expect a call form Gene to make the
arrangments.
Thank you,
Rick

So yeah, I dunno if the rep is gonna be there or not. Like you said, why would they do anything different this time?

 

Yes .. I realize I could do that, but the Yota Service dude just didn't want to deal with me at the time and decided to give me a lecture instead, so yeah ... I would like to hook it up and pin point the problem, most likely a simple one.

 

Keep pressing on. Sometimes the "message" from upper management makes all the difference. Anyway, you have all this money in it now. Why stop there? As I have realized, any car is a loseing game. Yea, you could sell it at a loss, but then you still need another vehicle in your price range. That vehicle then may need repairs also. The real question is if you really like the 4 runner? If you do, then it feels like money well spent. If youd rather have a newer model, or a different vehicle all together, then it does not feel good to throw money away, So why do it? If you really want that model of 4 runner to keep, then do it.

On a side note, if the fan/clutch assembly with bracket and bearing is still the origional, you may need to be aware that the bearing can seize with no warning. this will lock the fan and the belt pulleys in place and you will be stranded. This happened to me. 1100.00 from the dealer to replace.

Have fun.

 

Definitely! You can't take 3 of your best friends including camping gear and coolers in an Acura. Oh yeah, and the BEER!! As a bonus you don't have to worry about the timing belt breaking on Mr. Yoda. It won't hurt anything on its way out.