WTF - Throttle body bolt????

So there's ways of keeping track of who installed what on your truck at the assembly plant?? WHOA..

 

Oh absolutely. They know who did everything.

 

It sounds like, not only are they tracking who did it, they can see exactly what the tool reported (x number of revolutions) AND the manual intervention that took place to say "nah this is okay".

Someone was feeling lazy.

 

This isn't too hard to imagine with the level of automation, bar codes, time-stamping etc. on everything these days. Someone had the station assignment to assemble that part, and did it on a certain day.

The real question is will Toyota do as they did in the days before they moved operations abroad, and insist that the responsible individuals(s) and at least one layer of management above them, do the right thing.

 

Yes, generally at each individual station there is a computer/work station that you would use to identify defects, like for any reason that you weren't able to do your job you give the operator a chance to identify it. This goes into a system that tracks each vehicle by VIN through the system and collects all the relevant information (Mandatory Buy-offs, key fastener torque and revolutions, etc...). When an EE reports to that station, they have to log-in using a unique username and pw and then all the operations that are completed in that station while someone is logged in are attributed to that username.

 

Not much to report guys. The lead tech took one look at it and said, yeah that's cross-threaded, it's obviously going in at an angle. So... they have to order some parts (TB gasket, bolt) and they are then going to try to drill and re-tap. If that doesn't work out, then the upper manifold will be replaced. It will be a few days before they get the parts so until then no additional update.

I'd prefer a new upper but that's obviously not my call and I don't care as long as the TB seals correctly and it doesn't fall off. His quote regarding the 3rd gen Taco.... "Yeah, we haven't been having much luck with these". Haha - awesome!

 

Thank you for the update!

 

Turd Gen strikes again...

 

Is engine made at the same plant? Many engines at our plants come in fully dressed.

 

I can just imagine and hear the sound of that bolt creaking then snapping, if it were my truck and I was trying to fix it myself.
I've got a bad string of luck with Toyota engine fasteners going back to the 22RE engine.

 

I think the 4 cylinder engine comes from Japan and no idea where the 6 comes from for our trucks.

 

Looks like Alabama...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Motor_Manufacturing_Alabama

 

Well that explains it! I'm a Quality Manager and stuff like this makes me cringe!

 

The southern states quality record is absolutely terrible. Poor pay(and thus, poor employees), lack of manpower in support groups, makes the whole industry suffers.

 

Speaking from experience... I've worked in automotive assembly plants in Canada, the Northeast US, Southern US, Mexico, India, China, Thailand and Taiwan.

My job is to go to the plants that struggle during launch, or meeting customer requirements during regular production. I spend 3/4 of the year in the southern states. I've been in some really cutting edge facilities in Alabama, and South Carolina, but also the ones that need to the most help are in KY and TN. I don't like it anymore then anyone else does - but its not up to interpretation - they are currently the lowest performers. It's more than the cost of the hourly wage driving those jobs elsewhere. It's overall performance too.

EDIT: India is nuts too. Nuts.

 

That actually sounds pretty damn cool as a job. What's your professional background, exactly? Process engineer?

 

"Dealer Inspection"

 

He means the "that's normal" checklist.