Crazy story about how my v6 failed at 78,000

I had similar experiences - a 91 4Runner that blew a head gasket on a family vacation. Was out of warranty but Toyota covered the repair and a long tow to a dealer. Different times, I guess.

 

The probability of getting some assistance, customer loyalty dollars, out of warranty assistance, etc.....
Would have only been a possibility if you had the dealer touch it to begin with, started the teardown & discovered it...
They could have gotten their FST / FSE involved & potentially helped...

Its all hear-say at this point regardless that its documented as such...

I have no idea if it would have helped or not.
Thats what scares me about buying a toyota, ive got all sorts of magic tricks up my sleeve & resources with ford...

 

My then brand new 1992 Toyota 4x4 3.0L truck suffered head gasket failure twice. Once under warranty and then again out of warranty. Covered both times no problem. Went on to own that truck for 14 happy years.

 

they'll cover it once a responsible party at toyota sees the dealer report. just may take some letter (with return receipt) writing.
they have already incurred more than $5000 imputed damage not resolving it and having it posted in an enthusiast forum.

 

Do you have an account on toyota.com, @JP707? It’s free, easy, and generally useful to have one’s vehicles logged there.

And it’s helped me to show looong history as a Toyota owner, with multiple vehicles. I got Toyota to cover a TSB about five years ago on my 2015 Tacoma — after the remedy’s expiration, and the person I was communicating with via email mentioned it was at least partially because they could see I’ve had Toyota trucks since 1980 (and in fact since around 1974, but I can’t find the VIN on that one to register it too).

It can’t hurt to register and it does give you a different way to contact the company.

Toyota watch their FB page too, and a “positive tone” through an informative post about your amazing story, with a fingers crossed wish that Toyota would decide to help you out, might motivate them to come through.

 

I'd fight this one, as this isn't just a failure. This is a documented failure as a result of assembly.

Was this a Toyota shop or an independent who found the spare?

 

Just tell Toyota a rocker arm left in the engine should be considered bigger machining debris.

https://pressroom.toyota.com/toyota...022-2023-toyota-tundra-and-lexus-lx-vehicles/

 

Furthermore the shop that you used sucks at documentation.....
"car runs bad"
"cyllinder"
"extra rocker in the intake holding #3 open"
this could be a total clueless documentation if the service writer did the documentation instead of the tech, who knows....
but either way poorly documented "bad"
Holding what open needs to be spelled out...
there shouldn't be ANY rockers in the intake....
was it really in the intake port?
or was it under the valve cover where the cam is & all the other rockers are??

Regardless the documentation is elementary....

He didnt R&R your heads....
He R&I'd your heads, sent them to a machine shop & had them rebuilt....

But, what do I know....

 

I don't disagree with you. Good mechanic, not great at writing.

 

Dealer determined the lack of compression and quoted nearly 9k to fix. Also said no warranty. So the extra rocker was found by an independent shop. I know that doesn't help the case.

 

If this was a dealer, you could enlist them to see if they can get a district service manager (whatever their term for that is) to look at the paperwork. If it's not a Toyota dealer, you may be out of luck. Somone mentioned the Toyota USA FB page. Not a bad idea.

 

that could be a problem. i read it as dealer did the work.

 

As I stated they may have gone the extra mile after teardown & found toyota f'd up on this one....
Youre just a liar now, trying to get something for free...
Or even if they did the repair, the pound sand outcome may have been the same.
Its a gamble.
Go talk to your local service manager, start there...
Request a corporate claims representative to call you so you can explain the scenario.

 

Man you really love using ellipses lol

 

it's better than etc...

 

Yeah, the little hidden Easter egg was completely unexpected, of course. So the decision to have an independent shop (Toyota /Lexus specialists, owner is a certified Master Tech) was a no-brainer. No reason to have the dealer do the work once the warranty is over

Still don't regret it. I'd hate to be fighting this battle with 9k on the line and still a pretty low probability of reimbursement

 

Or exclamation points!!!!!!!!!

 

it is still winnable. just not a slam dunk, as in the dealer found the spare rocker. certified master tech / responsible shop willing to stand behind your claim helps.

 

since this has nothing to do with warranty and you took a reasonable course of action (using a responsible shop...your prerogative) because you acknowledged it was out of warranty, any arbiter would not hold that against you. you could not have know of the negligence until you did the work and hopefully your shop will attest to that.
a letter to corporate, possibly with dealer help, could result in big payoff.
keep us posted.