The Saga Continues... - POLL

When I found it, I was pretty much thinking "that's supposed to be in between, not blurbed out the side"! I had the case manager add it to the file this morning. Making me wonder if oil is getting to the sparkys and causing some stumble/misfiring. At this point I'm in an observe and document phase while Toyota Corp. reviews for replacement. Figure I'll give the dealer a break for now as I am aiming to replace, no sense in wasting everybody's time.

 

Here’s another good shot of the valve cover seal, enough is coming out to run/spray on that braided hose on the left:

 

Toyotas are junk so why did you buy one?

 

Yeah buddy, I fell for the Kool Aid. I didn't go around googling "TOYOTA'S SUCK" before I purchased, but I sure wish I had. All cars have problems, but the way Toyota treats its customers after the sale is the real issue. You have a 2014, they worked out most of the gremlins in the 2nd gen by then. You have no idea what the 3rd gen's are like. A service adviser personally admitted to me that the 3rd gens have been a nightmare for the dealer.

 

https://youtu.be/rGIY5Vyj4YM

 

ROFL $1.50.

Theres gotta be what, 100+ or so "lemons" from the volume that Toyota sells. Probably 1/4 or 1/10 the amount of bad vehicles from other manufacturers. Sometimes tolerances just stack, nothing you can do (except spend twice as much on QC, and raise the price of the vehicle to cover it...). It's how you treat the customer afterwards. Wake up Toyota, take care of one customer in a situation like this and I guarantee you'll sell 30 more trucks because of it. Don't, and Ford will probably sell 200 more... Or Honda, they need some help.

For me, I flat out told my Ford agent that if they wanna be nice and wipe away my $1k usage fee, I might have another Ford in a decade or two. If they keep fighting for every cent, never again. Also gave them a 3rd choice, really help me out and my next vehicle will be a F-150. It's looking like option 2 though

What are those threaded holes for? Some sensor or snorkel attachment point or something?
Unused screw holes throw a red flag whenever I see them lol.

 

Instead of editing, I'll just continue my rant lol.
Sorry for hijacking.

An example of great customer service: I bought a used Surefire light and was missing a tiny little mounting piece. I emailed them asking where I could buy it. They just shipped me one for free.....on a used product that they don't even sell anymore.
Now my next 3+ lights will be $200+ Surefires instead of $100ish competitors.

On the other side, the previous owner of my Desert Eagle decided to have fun porting the barrel. I contact the manufacturer to buy a replacement barrel, and while I wasn't told to pound sand, I got no help besides buy our brand new model (or buy a whole one used..) .... Yeah, no thanks.

 

No worries! There’s unused threaded holes all over the engine bay, my girlfriend already went from considering buying a brand new RAV4 to never wanting to buy a Toyota vehicle because of all this, and trust me, she won’t. Her used AutoNation 2006 Honda Civic has never even had to go in for anything, other than oil changes, I swapped sparkys and did an alternator and SERP belt at 140k or so miles.

I agree with products, handle it correctly and I’ll remain loyal, but jerk me around then see ya. I had a Cajun Injector smoker blow the door off across the driveway once and the first customer service rep rejected it so I wrote an email, got a call from the VP, sent a sweet new smoker to me and I sent the old one back so their engineers could study it.

I didn’t give up on a $200 out-of-warranty smoker, imagine the $38k warrantied Taco. It’s always worth a try, you can bitch or you can try.

Like a good buddy told me “I think Toyota makes great trucks, you just didn’t get one!”

(I’ve owned a ‘89 Corolla 5spd mt, ‘89 Corolla Altrak 5spd mt, and grandpa had an ‘02 Tacoma TRD OR at that my dad has now, only went in for a battery, so I haven’t given up hope yet, but it is heavily hinging on what they decide in this situation at this point, and I do have other avenues I can persue on this if I have to, which is dependent on if they confirm in their review process it should be replaced and handle the situation properly).

 

Keeps me warm!

 

https://youtu.be/1WZZu3qgVOk

 

Still think it’s earned an unacceptable vote? Lol the KoolAid is in any brand but from a realistic standpoint?

 

I would check into your states lemon law. Maybe this was mentioned earlier. I did not read all 13 pages.

 

Zoop,

when/what mileage did your problems start?

 

Test drove at like 5, recorded taking home that day at 15. Got it home and noticed a machined and painted hole in the bed that was chewed up, bare metal and showing rust, drove back that day and showed them. https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/warranty-work-advice-opinions.468423/

So unfortunately 15 miles. I stand by saying that it’s a nasty mix of many problems, they’ve came on slow enough but true. Now that I’m at this point it’s just become “oh and I found this, and this, and this” in the worst way.

I had a 1996 Nissan Maxima I got from my uncle, drove it from 2006-2016, I personally replaced control arms, bushings, tie rods, shocks, struts, calipers, radiator frame, radiator, alternator, starter, exhaust, motor mounts, rotors, you name it, pulling solenoids in -23 degrees praying they don’t break off. I can tell you the amount of work done on this truck is too much for a new vehicle, even at 3 years. I never had a seal fail or replaced a seal for any problem on the 3 vehicles I’ve owned or the 6 total that I’ve driven as an only vehicle in the household. The newest being a 2006 Honda Civic before I bought my truck.

I did read your two part post, a lot I don’t agree with only due to your emotions about it. Believe me, I fully understand all your points, and experiences aren’t wrong, maybe I hit enough of a combination of people who can relate and keep pushing this up the chain and maybe make it work. But I can tell you come hell or high water, something will happen. I’ll keep you posted. This vehicle has enough failures behind it to warrant that, and if I can’t make it, then surely ya’ll are gonna have a hell of a time. Keep in mind the dealer is separate from Toyota Corp, when the vehicle is bad, they can’t do any more that a trade in offer. I’m working with Toyota now, not that there is clout in that, but a dealer can’t make those decisions.

I can tell you I know enough to almost DIY the 3 degree shim for the brake shudder, ran through grounds for the electrical issue short of removing tail lights and testing each and every connection. Upgrade to a 27 battery, swap the alternator, upgrade the suspension, add a leaf, Eggs clamshell, glue the hood myself but crash course in materials and use the wrong glue and have the hood pucker in on a hot/cold day, pull the headlights, bake them, sand the inside, black out and re-assemble, remove the passenger a pillar and fix the rattle, since I’m doing that one I may as well do the driver side and add a genuine shit handle they left out (that would be worth it). etc. I'm glad now that I didn't dig into those items at all.

And don’t think on top of that I haven’t been back and forth on the dealer level, hell at this point, I’m sick of me at the dealership. Have they pulled some questionable scenarios, yes they have, and that may come out some day, and if so, then you’ll hear about it here I can tell you that. Now that the situation has escalated, they're working well with me on the problem.

If I knew I had to keep it today I’d dig into the valve cover, replace the seal, figure out what solenoid that is leaking from the top, not a lot on the internet now but my best guess is a VVT solenoid deal failed on the top and the rest is the Valve cover seal seeping from the seal up onto the cover, meeting in the middle. I’d also replace the idler pully bolt the dealership rounded to the smoothness of a baby’s bottom when it was in two weeks ago for the timing chain cover seal. But those are small potatoes at this point.

I don’t look forward to possibly having TSS and more sensors.

When 3 times it need to go to a body shop because I don’t have that equipment to DIY, Let alone a lift, money for parts, bearing presses, engine hoists let alone time to fix all of the areas this truck is failing in, well.

I will also say that all the insight and knowledge I've gained from the TacomaWorld community is worth far more than its weight in gold, if you get shit from people and can’t defend it, you probably deserve it and should learn something from it, even if you don't deserve it, learn something from it and pass that knowledge along. Let’s navigate these waters together. If you disagree with someone, have a conversation about it.

Thank you guys!
TW=

 

Zoop,

if your truck was documented with all this at basically driving off the lot mileage, they need to repay the entire cost of the truck back to you, plus tax! Apparently, most states say the offset is ONLY for the problem free miles you drove until issues started occurring. However, your state may have a time limit for filing a lemon claim. I just found out how it works in WA and I have only a week to file on my POS. There is no cost to you for filing a lemon law claim as the manufacturer needs to pay the attorney for the work.

 

You may also want to inquire about loan interest as well, I think some cases/states will reimburse that as well. I'm no lawyer, but it may be helpful for you to create a document of all of your costs, plus any equipment/undercoatings/etc you'll lose $ on. (Though they may only reimburse for factory add-ons, your lawyer should know, I feel it's better for me to document all my stuff so I don't miss out on something).

 

In WA state, I'll be covered for sales tax and interest, I believe. My use offset would be $4500 or so, and I will lose all the money in third party upgrades. Doesn't really matter to me since I have over 10k equity in the truck and just want to move on. My initial plan was to just sell the truck, but no one really wants to take my concerns seriously and fix it, so I can't in good conscience pass it on to another guy at top dollar in its current shape.