Dealer TSB issue

Hey guys I am looking for some input as to what I should do in my situation. Hopefully you can help. It is a 2010 4x4 DCSB.

I bought my Tacoma last May with about 16k miles on it. Its a 2010, so my 3/36 was nearly over. When I bought it, I was told this warranty was over. About a month later I went in to try and get the rear leaf TSB, as well as the blower motor one and the leaf bushings. The service rep was very helpful and was able to get Toyota to approve all of the work even though I was a month out of warranty but had the truck while the warranty was still valid (because my salesman confirmed he told ms the warranty was over when I bought it). At any rate, I am happy with the leaf packs and blower. However, the new bushings they installed continued to squeek. I had the truck there 4 more times (6 total now) in order to get the squeek from the bushings to go away. Colder weather sat in and then the noise went away. Now that it is getting warmer outside, I am beginning to hear the noise again. I called the dealership to see when they could look at it and was basically told that I will have to pay diagnostics and for the repair out of pocket because my truck is no longer in warranty. My question is, should I have to? I understand I no longer have warranty, but I see this as an issue that I brought the truck there for during warranty that was never fixed. It has been 8 months and about 5k miles since the work was done. Naturally, the service rep that dealt with me does not work there any longer. The other service rep that still works there initially told mW the noise was coming from my drivers window deflector....

So, tacomaworld, what am I to do?

 

Its very likely that its not your rear spring bushings squeaking, but the leafs themselves. I'd recomend torquing the rear u-bolts to 75-80 ft-lbs (its almost guaranteed they'll move, a lot), then pressure wash the leaf springs and spray dry lube between the leafs when dry. There is another method with a DIY here on the site too, which involves gluing strips of rubber innner tube between the leafs to silience them, which might be a bit more permanent than the dry lube idea, but not so easy.

 

Did it make the noise prior to the leaf TSB being done. Im not familiar with the squeaky bushings. I have heard of the plastic round cushions between the leafs making noise. They are suppose to be greased before installation to prevent noise.

 

it's a truck... they're supposed to squeak

 

Yes, it did make noise before they installed the new leaf packs. It also made noise with the new leaf packs without the new bushings (they installed them on two different days, I have no idea why). I am 99% positive it is the bushings squeaking. I have put a stethoscope on them and noticed. I have not done that yet this spring, but I am almost positive that I am hearing the same noise. I typically notice it when getting in and out of the pickup right when my weight moves, but notice more so when getting out. I will try retorquing the U-bolts when I am at work tomorrow and see if that makes a difference.


A side note, and this makes no sense at all whatsoever to me, but it seems that this noise is actually worse when things are wet? After rain/melting snow getting everywhere I seem to notice it more. One would think that this would actually help the issue, no? I am just so frustrated with taking my truck back to the dealership for this issue. I work full time and am a full time student so being able to leave my truck at the dealership all day is not the most simple thing to figure out.

 

Regardless of OEM warranty or TSB, shouldn't you have 12 months or 12k miles coverage on any work they do? Seems to me you should be covered there, at least.

 

That is what I assumed as well but the dealership is saying that I will not only have to pay for them to diagnose the problem even though it is documented as to what it is. And then I will have to pay for the repairs that they already did that didn't fix it.

 

There is no added warranty on warranty work. If he paid out of pocket for the work, then he should be covered now. Since warranty covered the previous work, and that warranty has now expired, its no longer covered.