Bent Piston Rod and bad gasket, Dealership won’t warranty with 30k on 2019 Tacoma OR 4x4

So if you have a documented complaint of a slight vibration since the day after you purchased the truck brand new and that vibration was just diagnosed as a bent rod and failed head gasket? I would say that the engine has had a bent rod since day one. Considering it still starts and has the same vibration noted since day one of ownership. This is 100% a warranty claim and I would let the service manager know about that documented complaint.

 

Thanks. I LOVE my truck. I love my toyota. I still recommend it to the planet. I used to sell cars, even worked with this automotive group that owns the dealership which is why I'm not freaking out or putting them on blast. But I still just wanted help from this community. If all it took was a sketchy dealer to make me not like a car or brand then I would be screwed.

 

@CaptainKohler
I had a similar situation in 2000 with a Jeep Cherokee Sport. Had a rattle at startup and shutdown and brought it in to a local dealer (because the dealer I bought it from tried to pull some bullshit too).

Anyway, I got a call at work that I needed a new engine. Shocked, I said how happy I was that it was still under warranty. Nope, they said the same shit, that I had deep watered it, hydrolocked, bent a rod, wore down the bearing and that was the noise. I of course explained that wasn’t the case.

They further threw in my face that because the oil was fresh I had tried to cover up the water in the oil. All nonsense. They also added “our tech has been working on jeeps for 20 years, he knows what a bent rod sounds like.” Argued with the regional district service manager for days; got me nowhere.

They never pulled the oil pan to look or anything and I tried going to another dealer, but they essentially black list you and stand by the other dealer’s call.

I explained the issue to a friend, they pulled the trans away from the engine, retorqued the 4 flywheel bolds, slapped it back together and I was driving it 2 days later. The dealer was going to hit me up for $5000 for loose flywheel bolts and I guarantee they would have gone on with the job even if they found those loose bolts. Drove that thing for 12 years.

Because of this I will never buy a chrystler product again.

I did talk to a lawyer, but no offer of pro bono, so I continued on with life. I wonder how often they get that off though. No shame.

 

OP, have you ever mentioned the OBD code in this thread? I am curious to know what it is.

 

I will get the code/codes and post them tomorrow.

 

The MFG may pay the same $ per hour but they only pay about 75% of hours that is charged for customer pay for a given job and recall work is even less. The other aspect I have experienced is a dealer will charge more for a given part if it is sold thru the service dept. than if a customer walked in and purchased the same part over the front counter.

 

I think the thing that should save you is the fact that you had it in there the day after you bought it . Their logic is you bought it took it through deep water within 24 hours and then took it in and said hey I have a vibration . That's a stretch .

 

When going into dealer for warranty work for anything! Clean your vehicle inside and out thoroughly especially engine compartment and under carriage! Get the mud and dirt removed completely! This is the first thing they look for to deny warranty work, it is an easy way out for them! Customer abuse! Take photos before you go to dealer and take photos at the dealer and get photos with service advisor in the pic! Then lawyer up or start a corporate complaint or both and then wait for the out come! Been there done that! I won that battle! But lost a recent battle because i didn't clean my engine bay after a camping trip. I had the front diff actuator get flooded with water because the the breather hose to the actuator was cracked and became removed completely allowing water to burn out the motor for the actuator! They opened the hood first thing out of the service rep was vehicle abuse! Then the lift kit and bigger tires and finally i had added to many lights to the OEM system. What a shit show this turned into wanted to charge me $2330 to make the repair for a $180 part! When i started to fight them they somehow lost the cracked hose nowhere to be found and then they said they never said it was a cracked hose! In the end i lost due to mud and dirt in engine bay and under carriage customer abuse water damage! Clean your trucks completely!!!!

 

I can see a dealership doing something like this to deny warranty. It really depends on the shop. I have seen dealerships that hire only straight and narrow kind of people and others where the whole shop has felonys, warrants and substance abuse issues. The kind of people who make illogical decisions and are willing to lie, no matter the implications, to not have to do something. Hell we had one guy forget to put the drain plug in after an oil change and he doubled down claiming the customer took it out just to get a new engine. Hell, our used car lot sold a known defective car, when the customer brought it back they blamed him for warping the rotors, cracking the pads cause causing a major oil leak in a day. So yeah some of them are slum pits. As an FYI, I do not work there anymore. It also taught me not to trust "certified" mechanic. I was one. Never took a class. Never had formal training. (At the time) just an 18 year old youtubing my way through repairs.

Specific to the engine warranty work, idk what the flag hours are for it according to Toyota are, but sometimes they could suck. I once had to replace the carpeting in a car. Expected pay of 10 hours, customer pay. The customer complained to corporate and got it under warranty. Warranty pay on this was 2 hours. I lost my ass that day. Took me 7 hours to complete (completely remove all seats, lower trims, console, etc etc and reinstall after having to "verify " the customer complaint.) On bigger jobs it can be even worse.

 

Engine tear down and new shortblock without replacing the heads was about 16 hrs if I remember right, if replacing heads 22. (If you do your own valve leaping, if it gets sent out no labor to the tech)

It’s been 2 years since I’ve done on me in a truck. So I might be off.

 

Thats warranty?

 

Around that yes

 

Could be worse. Not too bad.

 

I don’t mind doing them. But some techs hate it

 

Uh huh, the service guy also said he ain't losing his markup on parts by "giving them away under warranty"

 

Back in the late 90's we would get 9.8hrs for a 3.8L short block (push rod motor) in a Ford Taurus under warranty.

 

yea warranty time can be bad. some of the 4 pots like the camry are around 10-12 hrs. and theyre not fun to remove in the new new ones

 

They told me 48

 

48 hours? what?

 

48 hours. These guys are lovely. At this point I have buried myself in studying as much as I can and not too worried about it.