Failing rear end at 12k miles on the cartel truck, thinking of use my factory warranty.

WARNING LONG POST BUT WILL UPDATE!

Ok so this is going to be a long post but I thought this is kind of interesting especially with all the crazy stories of bad diffs from 3d gens, bad transmissions, and similarly supposedly poorly engineered parts. So here's what I done did to myself, a few months back I bought a 3d gen from a local dealer who's owner snagged it from a DEA auction for a really good price. The thing is fire truck red, has the Westin bull bar on it, had a 3 INCH LEVELING KIT, and clearly had a few miles in the desert on her; however, we checked all the driveline fluids and went through the whole nine yards and it looked like it just came from the factory. Fast forward a little bit Bought it, ripped out the leveling kit, and put some Bilstein 5100's in there. Ripped her off-road pretty hard but I never bashed anything or broke anything on the trail that I could tell. A about a month ago I was falling some tree's at my parent's house they needed taken out, one got hung up super good so I grabbed my bull line and threw it on the trailer hitch, I was on gravel so I slapped her in 4L. Pulled once, Nothing happened so I set the parking brake to get out and go take a look (I didn't want the timber to fall back so I wanted to keep the tension in the line), decided I just needed to giver a little more, put her in drive, and stepped on it. Welp..... I never took off the e brake, the sound that came outta that rear-end man, I though she would never move again, but sure enough, I reset the e break and pulled her right over. I went and took her for a test drive and there was no weird noises at all. Fast forward about 3 weeks I start gettin this wirrin coming from my rear end but only at 40-60 MPH and while I'm coasting. Now before you say "tire noise" I just replaced the tires and it didn't help one bit. I don't know if this is related to my tree pulling cluster f*k or what... Now, I am sure no engineer or rear end/driveline wizard but it sure seems to me that is going to end up being something with the pinion, especially from all the recordings I've heard online.

So odity #2 about a week after I bought the truck it ended up throwing a cat code, so I took a chance and called the dealer, and turns out its factory warranty is still active and good to go somehow, THIS INCLUDES IT REAR END! So before I spend a dime trying to figure this mess out myself I will at least take her to the dealer and see what they say. My only question to anyone who might have delt with something like this before is what are Toyota's diagnostic fees/warranty work like? What I mean is, I have a buddy with a shop I can figure out how to get a new pinion or whatever it is I'm gonna end up needing but I don't want to take it to the dealer, have the rip apart me diff and then try and fuck me n go "Ohh well this isn't under warranty somehow". The truck only has 12k miles on it, I don't care what I did to it unless I took it off a cliff at 40mph the rear end shouldn't have any problems.... and if the warranty is still active they should have to fix it, correct? I have never really taken any of my cars to dealers before.... or really had anyone else work on them so I am really unsure of how they might handle a situation like this?

Anyway, I will update anyone who is interested in the slow but steady decline of Toyota reliability... (JK I have no idea what happened to this thing but still interesting non the less).

 

I wouldn't be so quick to blame it on Toyota's "... steady decline of .. reliability ..." as I would be blaming it on the truck's previous history. You have no idea how it was treated during its "... few miles in the desert ...". If it was sold with the factory warranty transferred to you, then go for it with the dealer. Assuming that it's a Toyota dealer ...

 

You have the standard diff whine. Nothing is wrong. Not failing, just some NVH. Good luck.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...oise-howling-when-feathering-throttle.442341/

 

Absolutely its Toyota's poor design, assembly and reliability that allowed you to jack the drive train pulling a tree with the E-brake engaged.

The hard truth is the Warranty does not cover abuse.

Grow a pair and accept responsibility for what you did for the potential damage to the drive train.

The CAT could be a warranty claim. Or it could be due to abuse from the previous owner. CATs don't just suddenly fail. They fail on accumulative issues.

Perhaps you would consider selling or trading your unreliable truck for something more robust. Consider a surplus Deuce and a Half.

 

Your writing style shows your knowledge or lack thereof. Good luck.

 

The other guy was hard on it and you're not helping either. Pulling in 4 low and put it in 2nd gear for helping fall a tree.

 

Damnit. I wanted to post that for once!

What you did to that poor driveline cannot be good. BUT are there hunks of steel in your diff fluid?

 

OP sounds like fun. It was a fun story with a reasonable request at the end (what do you guys think a dealer will do?). Sorry OP, I think if you want to try the warranty route there is a good chance you have to risk the diagnostic and shop time if they deny. Every dealership can be different, so I suspect you truly are rolling the dice(possibly with long odds due to some of the wear conditions that might be apparent).

Some of these responses are so negative. Y'all need to lighten up a bit. Damn.

 

I gotta ask, if I take my truck to the test range and have them set off an AT mine under it, can I get the dealer to repair it under warranty?

 

Newer gens of the TRD models are designed to tow extra weight while in 4 low. IF I recall, there is a specific example in the owners manual that says something to this effect, and describes using the higher gear ratio to pull walls down in your yard, specifically.

I would call the dealership and reference this section of the owner's manual. Absolutely BS!

 

OP you ever consider that you're actually a fucking idiot? JFC

 

Too long.

 

If it’s a cartel truck I would take apart the carrier housing and check and see if it’s filled with drugs.

 

What it boils down to is this: If you want to play you gotta pay.

 

Nope, not gonna lighten up.
The OP abused the truck, caused some damage.
Now, OP wants someone else to foot the bill for the repairs caused by the OP's stupidity and driven by the OP's entitlement.

 

Its like every day is Friday these past couple weeks.