Truck broke down today...

perfectsoldier23

I've followed this thread from the beginning; and read everyone of your posts twice.

I am retired and have been a auto/ heavy equipment/motorcycle technician all my life; plus other job side adventures such as being a repair shop owner, car/truck/motorcycle dealer all the while with the auto technician job intact; and Military experience from a Direct Support perspective. Plus a lifetime of racing eaxperience; and many, many, engines torn apart.

They are not telling you something; and giving you some bull-shit. First off; technicians always call the crankshaft assembly the bottom end. The entire block, BELOW the cylinder heads is considered the short block. Somehow, Lower terminology got into this conversation. I have no I have no idea what that is.

1. OK: In this 5k mile check that you originally had done at the dealership, Did they Change The Oil + Filter??? Big question here. If so, there could have been a mistake at this point, since you never had a problem before. I have seen it personally. A Lube rack person driving a vehicle out of the shop, after he was supposed to change oil and filter; but forgot to put the new filter on. Did I fire him? No He will never do that again.

2. From looking at the plugs there is a definite problem; maybe from piston ring damage due to being run dry, without oil. See I am fixated with this.

Why did they have to re-do the oil top-off, when they just completed that minuets before????

Your truck was fine, until the 5k check; get in there and put the boots to someone. Talking nice has ended.

 

Did they give you documentation about it being within spec on the oil level and then the light coming on? They didn't do an oil change on the 5k service did they? I know it's not supposed to get one until the 10k service

 

And yet, your brand new truck broke down on highway, and after being towed spend almost a month in a shop.

Look, i wrote this before but I am going to repeat it. My sincere advice is to trade that POS the day you get it back.
The same people who could not figured out your oil problem at 5k stop are putting that engine together.
Truck broke down because you were towing 5000 lb.
Really you are better of trading that for something like F150.

 

The terminology being used is coming from a service writer. Most SW personnel have no mechanical experience and don't know the proper terms.
OP, was an oil change done at the 5k service, because the manual says no oil change until 10k.
OP, do not go in there and "put the boots to someone". As I said earlier, you are doing the right thing by being calm and understanding.
If you get your truck back and its still not right or you are not happy with it, then further action will be required. As of now, keep doing what you are doing.
Oldracer, you should know better if you have all this experience as a tech, the people that come in raising hell will get treated like crap.
I can't believe you are giving that advice with your background in the mechanics industry.

 

O hell no! I would never take that truck back. 40k and your engine being fully stripped like that. And they have the audacity to make you pay for a rental, absurd. If they don't take it as a lemon, tell them you will spend every sunny day out front with big signs saying do not purchase a vehicle from this dealership. That threat worked for me with VW Santa Cruz over a bad speed sensor that VW said needed a $3500 transmission replacement 1 week out of warranty. Because of them performing the service I purchased another VW a few years later.

Toyota pisses me off, just because they sell their shit to capacity doesn't mean they can screw over their customers. Santa Cruz Toyota has pissed me off to many times. My family has bought 5 or 6 vehicles from them, and they never even cut us a break as returning customers. I think my mom got $500 off her 16' 32k Rav 4.

 

I guess I missed the part about having to pay for a rental. Kinda find that hard to believe.

 

That sounds like something what some old prick politicians say to women being raped "stay calm while raped, and dress appropriate to not invite it" (I forgot the name of the jackass that said that)

@perfectsoldier23 - Girl wake the hell up, these people are screwing you . They owe you new truck or at last new engine....

 

My first thought after looking at these plugs was ring and or ringland failure.

 

.
This tread and the way Toyota Corporate and dealer has/is handling on a new flagship truck with a new platform is VERY wrong IMO.

Time for Toyota to get serious and put a completely new engine, give you a Toyota OEM Platinum 100k or buy back the damn truck.

There are many of us reading this should realize this : ... TOYOTA COULD MAKE THIS COULD HAPPEN TO YOU & ME TOO ... I would NEVER let it go this far without more pressure on Toyota to solve this fast ... and/or have MAJOR PUBLIC EXPOSURE or LEGAL ACTION.

One week to put in a new engine and keep the customer happy on a new flagship 2017 Tacoma.

If we are getting the facts correct form the OP ... Toyota has FUBAR'ed this problem ... big time and needs to solve this ASAP.
.

 

Toyota can't give a completely new engine. They can only supply short blocks. They don't have complete engines sitting on a shelf.

They would have to send a new short block to an independent engine builder and supply that builder with all the parts to complete the motor. It the same thing the dealer tech will be doing. The tech has to build it to Toyota specs...so would an independent engine builder. The only real difference is when the Toyota tech rebuilds it, it will be warranted. Not likely with an indy engine builder.

 

I really hate giving advice, but I'll offer my own, since it means so little.

Get the truck rebuilt and drive it exactly like you have. If it breaks again, trade it in on a Tundra. You will be getting a screaming deal just for the dealership to save face. Plus, once you tow with the Tundra, you won't be wanting to tow with a Tacoma. I know, I own both.

The MPG is not that big of a difference, at least what I've been seeing being reported.

17 mpg at best vs. my 14 mpg around town. Small change.

 

These arguments are cyclical. You guys are great. She cannot call lemon law until 30 nights in the shop. It has not been 30 nights yet. OP if the motor goes out the same way it did and you're on the freeway it's not going to explode and you're not going to die, stop being dramatic.

Enjoy the paid for rental and wait patiently.

 

Dramatic? I think she has been more than patient on all fronts. I thought I read she was paying for the rental, but according to the warranty, rentals are supposed to be paid for by Toyota if the vehicles spends the night.

 

She has a rental. Toyota is supplying that.

 

They could get a complete engine with no problem if they wanted to. The engines are assembled and shipped complete from the engine assembly plant in Huntsville, AL. From there they are sent to Texas for installation on the vehicle assembly line. I would think that it wouldn't be that difficult to divert a complete engine from the Huntsville plant to Lindsay's dealership in CA. It would cost Toyota a fee to have a single engine shipped separately as opposed to the bulk shipments that leave the plant and go to Texas collectively I admit but it seems a small price to pay for what this woman has gone through already. If they are able to ship pistons, rings and crankshafts, they can ship a complete motor. Frankly I would think Toyota would want to keep the motor that is in her truck so they could evaluate it, figure out what happened, and possibly come up with a method to prevent it from happening again. Or it may have just been a fluke. You get a certain number of engine failures in any given number of engines built. I admit it is rare for Toyota but it does happen.

 

OP believe me I know what you are going threw !! My F-250 is getting a new short block put in right now, they told me it would be a week and a half and yesterday was the beging of week 3. I called yesterday to find out about it and they told me the tech working on it got injured and not sure when he will be back to work !!!!! I have other trucks so it's not a huge deal but I don't want them throwing someone else on it that didn't take it apart and know where things go. I will have no faith in this truck at this point and am thinking about dumping it as soon as I get it back. Hope you make out better then I am.

 

Why are so many people not trusting the truck once its rebuilt?
Race cars get torn down and rebuilt all the time and they continue to go screaming down the track.
I used to competition mud ride ATVs and I rebuilt that engine every 6 months.
There is nothing wrong with a rebuilt engine.
Also, I think you guys are thinking the tech at the dealership is tearing this thing down and rebuilding from scratch. I know some terminology is not right here, but I believe she is getting a short block, so the internals are built to Toyota specs, all the tech is doing is putting some gaskets on and the heads, and other external parts.
It will be O.k.

 

I really think that when they did your 5k oil change at the dealer, they completely forgot to put oil back in your truck. When u drove off the lot and the oil light came on and u went right back and then they put oil in your truck. Bye that time the damage was already done, and just took a little bit to grenade. This is just my opinion from what u have posted about the situation. I really hope everything works out for u and u get a new truck.

 

Interesting conspiracy theory.

 

Well you have to take into account who is tearing down and rebuilding race cars as compared to who is tearing down and rebuilding a customers truck motor at the local Toyota dealership. I've dealt with my fair share of dealership techs and for the most part what I found is that you have a handful of guys back there that are on their game and great techs but for the most part what you find is guys that really couldn't give a rats ass if your stuff is right or not, or they're hung over from last night, or still high from the pot they smoked before coming to work this morning. Whatever the cause the end result all to often is the same, little attention to detail and low quality work. It's not his motor he's working so he really isn't all that interested in doing it right. Just my two cents.