Taco Down:(

Update 8/5:
Asked a lawyer buddy for advice on it and he said best to do everything I can to work it out with MPP and or Toyota before taking it to arbitration, so I’m still working that angle at the moment..
- called Toyota to give them 1 last chance to get off my shit list by paying the difference between what MPP has committed to pay and new motor build/ install (sounds like a difference of $1700 in parts..) Toyota customer service maintained that they will not cover or do anything since I had more than 60k miles which is their powertrain warranty commitment… BS..
- spoke with MPP and they’re still saying I’ll have to pay the difference if I want new components / new motor, but reached out to the shop to get exact quote to understand the difference between new vs. the used salvage motor. Calling them back later today to see where we land..

after all this shenanigans thinking of putting a sign on the back of my truck that says something like “motor blew at 65k miles due to defect & Toyota said sorry for your bad luck but we only stand behind our product to the end of the stated warranty..” gotta find a shorter way to say all that haha..

 

Maybe "65K blown engine, no help from Toyota" and draw a bunch of lemons on the sign. For added effect, park in front of the dealership and squeeze lemons into a pitcher.

 

Nice!

 

Do it. I dare you.

 

Truthfully, this may help. Sure it sounds foolish but a good bit of deserved shaming is not out of the line, and again, might actually help if the right people get wind of it. Do it dude! Bring some young ones and setup a proper GD lemonade stand. Worst case you have more $$$ after from selling lemonade for parts if you keep it.

 

This covers all the bases, including teaching young entreprenuers.

 

Good that MPP is paying out, I don't know if a new short block is better than the salvaged motor. Someone on here was saying that a factory assembled motor may be better than a motor assembled at the dealer anyway. 55k really isn't a lot, and may be more reliable than one assembled at the dealer, by techs who assemble a short block once in a blue moon. The techs that assemble motors at the factory do it all day every day. Don't know if thats better or not, just something to think about.

 

exactly. That plus it makes me feel better and move on! Here’s another idea from a friend at my local bar..

*I gave them more chances than I would’ve given any other company on the planet. Not to fix necessarily but to give a shit and support customers to what I would consider the minimal level a company requires for long term survival (to give a shit that their shit broke on me and tell me why, then tell me what they can do to make me whole)

I have the magnetic signs on order and gonna sell lemonade at the valero by the assembly plant till I cover my part.

 

100% gonna do this just till I cover the $1700 to fix my shit haha

 

Man!! I’ve been going back and forth between the two and got a lot of great feedback for both options from this forum!!!!At the end of the day I’m a mechanic at heart and want to leave it the hands of one of my own vs. the fate of folks on a assembly line pulling triggers and a gaggle of engineers that don’t actually know shit.

 

Draw lemons on the engine

 

Update 8/8/22

I decided to go with the mystery salvage motor and here’s why…

My Dad gave me some great advice (as he normally does) he said “you know son, if you pay the difference for the new motor you’re just reducing the risk or the extended warranty company at 0 cost to them. Take the money you were going to pay for the difference and hold on to it and build it up, you never know if their idea will shit the bed before 100k then whenever your motor shits the bed again go for the hilux diesel conversion like you want anyway, you’ll already have the $1700 you were gonna blow on that potentially shit engine on the second round”

maybe it’ll last a while, maybe it won’t I’ll let y’all know. Still gonna troll the shit out of Toyota for personal pleasure and to heal myself from their bullshit.

all advice and comments on this thread have been very helpful and it’s much appreciated! I really enjoy the taco community.

also planning to ask the extended warranty folks if they would consider this a “modification” lol

 

I guess I don’t understand what the complaint with Toyota is. They offer warranty coverage for a set period, after which whatever happens is not their problem. It’s pretty cut and dried. If you wanted Toyota to provide coverage for longer you had the option to buy a Toyota factory extended warranty when purchasing the vehicle.

Sometimes shit happens and it sucks but it doesn’t mean anyone owes you anything for it.

 

My motor grenaded at 65k miles due to a defect. It’s as if they only design it to last till 60k miles and clearly don’t care about design, engineering & manufacturing a product that exceeds that. When I bought a my taco I assumed they weren’t shitty engineers and manufacturers and for that I was wrong. Fuck em..

if I’m one of the 4 out of 1 million consumers that got the short end of the stick they made 1 million sales @ whatever their profit per unit is and that’s a significant amount of $.. plenty to cover the 4 bad luck folks like me and keep the party going, but they didn’t because it’s way more than 4 out of a million and others don’t speak out, or it hasn’t come crashing down on them yet.

 

I understand being a little butthurt about it but they have no obligation to offer any help nor should you feel that they do. At what point do you expect them to stop providing coverage when outside of the clearly defined warranty period? You got unlucky and it sucks but you paid for an extended warranty specifically to protect you in case of such occurrences of bad luck.

 

Has anyone at Toyota seemed interested in looking at the motor and figure out why it failed? Or are they just trying to pretend it didn’t happen? You would think the engineers would be interested in seeing the failed parts.

 

My concern isn’t with “coverage”, but is their lack of care for engineering, design and manufacturing (what they’re famous for). Till the day I die is how long i will hold them accountable for their shit product and customer service by way of trolling and informing other consumers of what I’ve learned about Toyota as a company

 

No. They were not at all interested and said there’s a process for that and I have no part in that process.

 

Unless there's proof of a lack of engineering, design or manufacturing then it's just back to you having drawn the short stick and being one of the unlucky few. So far the 3.5l line of Toyota engines has been reliable and long lived for most drivers so the argument of a shit product is invalid. As for shit customer service, they don't owe you anything and you have no basis to claim anything. As long as they responded in a polite and professional manner to your inquiries then the shit customer service argument is invalid as well.

 

I think the truly disappointing thing here is that this kind of failure should never happen at any mileage. Especially on a vehicle with the reputation of Toyota.

Word spreads that there’s a solid chance you’ll get soaked for thousands of dollars in major mechanical repairs on a Toyota before it even reaches 100k and that reputation won’t be around long.