Died and Limped Home - 2023 TRD OR 4x4 w 15k ODO

Called and Spoke with Todd the Service Manager - updated my notes in the Toyota Portal...

GT GALLOP
January 17, 2025 at 01:00 PM
Just called and talked to Todd, Service Manager.

He sounded a little surprised that no one had gotten back with me. Said he wasn't sure what was going on but he would get with my Service Rep Billy and get me an answer. Todd also apologized because he has been very busy lately. Yesterday was their big corporate meeting and he was tied up getting ready and doing that or something. He thinks they have had a solid half a day looking at the vehicle today so he'll go get Billy to get me an update.

I am hopeful he has reassessed his initial diagnosis and looked deeper and that is the reason for the delay and that the last 4 days have been spent really trying to find a legitimate issue and not blame storming the customer. I'm also a bit of a realist and the apple air tag in my truck has been sitting out in the lot for four days. We'll see what they come back with.​

 

Can you date and timestamp screenshots of the trucks location.

If they tell you they looked at it ( on some date/time ) and you can prove the truck never moved it would catch
them cold in another lie. Could help your 'case'. Might wanna get images of the mileage as well if possible.

 

Have I missed something here what happen to the pictures of the cut fuel line?

 

Did I miss them providing you the pics that show you were the culprit??? I’m invested now and appreciate the updates!

 

If you missed it, I missed it. And Toyota corporate missed it.

Latest update in my portal:

GT GALLOP
January 17, 2025 at 03:21 PM
Billy called. He doesn't know whats up but said that the pictures should be coming soon. He thinks maybe I can get the truck. It's just sitting there and they are done with it. He's not sure. He'll have Todd the service manager follow up with me.

Seriously - The back and forth and lack of action at this place. I'm starting to wonder if the pictures they send (if they send) will even be of my truck.

Where do I get these pics at?
Text Message?
E-Mail?
Toyota Portal?

I'm going down there later today to see if I can get the truck back since it has been sitting since Monday afternoon.​

 

Who did the ham install op? If it wasn’t yourself maybe your installer fucked it up.

also Toyota warranty is pointless and garbage I needed some warranty done for major rattling on my 2022 4Runner they flew in an engineer who’s “fix” was to put felt tape and they scratched the shit out of my dash pulling it apart then my sunroof area started to rattle luckily it was during the car shortage so I was able to dump it and break even but if you ever need any warranty work you’re pretty screwed. I can only imagine the fuck ups of the new tundra engine replacements and the Tacoma transmission replacements at the stealerships by incompetent underpaid disgruntled techs who give zero fucks about your rig
In Toyotas “defense” everyone is like that nowadays Toyota is now just shit garbage like the rest of them

 

I don’t know how you deal with this my patience is not as good as yours. I would stop the emails, phone calls etc. and be looking at someone face to face finding out what’s going on with the truck. All this back and forth with no answers is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard of.

 

Op needs a paper trail and record face to face would just stonewall him or trespass him from the stealership with the police called

 

How is face to face going to stop a paper trail? This thread has been going on since November with the OP posting updates from the portal or phone calls and nothing gets resolved.

 

what’s he going to accomplish by wasting his time going to the dealer once he gets there he will be like why the fuck are you taking so long and where the fuck are my pictures

the advisor will be like sir we are diligently working as fast as we can and have our best techs on it

and then what? Op can’t escalate it they will basically tell him to suck a fat one and fuck off

the stealership already proved to op they don’t give a fuck about him or his car so the last thing they are going to do is drop everything for him to kiss his ass

dealers don’t make any money on warranty work so they avoid it as much as possible the public doesn’t know this for the most part so they last thing they want to do is diagnose shit which will cost them money and blame the customer so they don’t have to do anything but they will charge him a diagnosis fee since there was no fault of Toyota found and it was ops “faulty installation error”

 

Thinking like this is why his truck is still sitting at the dealership! He sure hasn’t accomplished anything to date.

 

nope incorrect I know a few service advisors at major Toyota stealerships in my state and a few techs that worked for them showing up to be a Karen will get absolutely nothing accomplished except to give you your car back without them having fixed or done shit

 

You got your opinion and I got mine!

 

Todd's a real BS'r

 

I have the truck at home and in my possession now.
My latest entry into the Toyota Portal outlining the interaction with Todd today - Face to Face.

I still don't have the pictures but I did see it so I know it exists.

GT GALLOP
January 17, 2025 at 05:40 PM
I went to Bell Road Toyota at around 4:14 PM today. Found my Service Advisor, Billy. He had just clocked out but took us over to Todd's office. Todd was with someone but while we waited Billy explained that Todd had just taken the truck back to have pictures made. I told him well if it's in the shop then I'd like to see the damage. Apparently there is a nicked fuel line and a spliced wire under the hood.

Billy explained that the pictures weren't taken in the shop and that I couldn't go back to where they were. So we waited for Todd.

Todd came and got us (my Father In Law was with me as a witness). Todd was nice and had a guy in the office with him. I don't recall the name.

He showed me the picture. It is the INTERIOR fuse block at the driver side kick panel under the dashboard. He pointed at my fuse tap and said that was the "spliced wire" that was causing the issue.

I explained that it was a fuse tap, not a wire splice and that no Toyota wires were harmed in the making of this radio install. That Fuse Tap is in the Wiper Motor spot because of the higher amperage.

Todd contends that it is in an engine control module spot and that it is keeping the fuel pump from working right and keeping the engine from managing itself. He's got a guy in tomorrow that is going to E-Mail me a more appropriate fuse to tap but that this is the cause of:

• Poor Fuel Economy
• Rough Idle Error
• Misfire in two cylinders Error
• Truck dying in traffic
• Truck going into limp mode

I'm still not buying it. But if what he says is true, then unplugging it will magically give me 20MPG.

I'll unplug it this weekend and then go gas up. We'll see if he's right.

Attachments are diagrams I added for context and not provided by Todd or Toyota. They may make more sense when you see his picture.​

3 files attached
​

For others , here's the link to the fuse panel site that I got the pics from. HUGELY helpful page.
https://www.startmycar.com/us/toyota/tacoma/info/fusebox/2023

 

Highway, you should get 20ish, but don’t expect more than 17-18 around town…especially on winter grade gas. Hopefully this
was the issue!

 

I'll add that the second guy in the office didn't seem to know or contribute much.

He was about 5'5", stocky and muscular. Forehead scar. He watched me like a hawk the whole time. Arms folded in the bouncer position. I've been around the block enough to recognize "the muscle" when I see it. He had a Toyota shirt on but it wasn't like anyone else. His appearance, demeanor and behavior screamed security.

Violence gets you no where but further behind in a situation like this. I had no intention of beating anyone's ass over this but, his decision to bring this guy in speaks volumes about what has been going on. It tells me that he has likely dealt with upset customers in the past and that it is enough of a common theme he has hire the gun show to hang out near his office. I'm sure he didn't create all of those issues but even if it's an even 50/50 split between customers with unrealistic expectations and the fuckery that I experienced then it is still too much.

 

I'm not sure where you are or what your winter blend is like but we are just now getting to days that are 68°/72° for the high and 40°/45° at night. If we even get winter blend it's likely not as bat as Minnesota / Michigan / Illinois gets and we maybe only get it for a few weeks in late Jan and Feb. Come March we're headed back to the summer blend pretty quick. It'll be 100° here by May.

 

Didn’t do a deep dive on that topic, but it sounds like Arizona gets the same grade of it as the Midwest. Either way, my point was to hopefully help you have a realistic expectation of what you’ll likely get when the truck is running “normal” again. Give us an update on what you end up getting!

 

Story time, my 2018 Tacoma I bought new had the center dash screen glitch and go haywire, dealer I brought it into blamed it on the karr alarm that the retards from the stealership installed and of course they wouldn’t touch it. Long story short went to the stealership I bought it from and made them take it out yet it was still glitching. Turns out my 12volt phone charger was introducing ingress into the cars electronics I figured it out when they gave me a Camry loaner and I went to my truck to get my charger and plugged it into the Camry loaner and immediately the screen on the Camry went haywire

not saying it’s your case here but these computers and electronics are pretty sensitive. My buddy had a reputable shop install an remote alarm to his taco and they fucked something up because it caused a major parasitic draw and drained his batteries completely so he had them take it out