'16 TRDOR Multiple Warranty Issues

Greetings,

Fellow Taco owners and forum trolls. I haven't been active lately but I wanted to make a quick post regarding my experience for anyone out there (quite a few) going through something similar. First of all, I started this entire process as a Toyota fan. I bought my Tacoma last Feb. and started noticing things weren't right about 3 months into ownership. My truck had some delayed shifting issues from reverse to first. Took it to the dealership for it's 5000 mile service and they "fixed" the shifting. 7 months later, 10000 mile service (no issues to report OR reported). 2 months later I start to notice the delayed shifting again, along with seepage from the rear differential, so I take it back to the dealership. They keep it for a day and tell me the diff bolts just needed to be re-torqued, and oh, by the way the shifting issues were due to the transmission fluid being low. Both were fixed, life went on. 2 months later, the rear differential started leaking again, along with some weird cluster behavior where the needles jump around a bit AND the hood had been vibrating so back to the dealership I go. This time, the service advisor tries to stonewall me by saying everything he and his service tech are seeing are within Toyota specifications and there's nothing to fix, please come pick up your truck..... I wasn't having any of that, and called Toyota corp. to open a customer experience case. They sent a Toyota tech out to look at my truck and he said "yup theres a problem, We'll fix it". They kept the truck for over a month this time. The VIN did NOT fall under the recall but they ended up doing the recall work on it anyway. Bolt and gasket replacement but they had to wait for parts(?) while replacing the gauge cluster and it was sent to the body shop for the hood repair. I get it back and week later, I notice more seepage from the rear diff. This time from the drain plug. So back to the dealership I go. They keep it for the day and gave it back. I get up the next day and I shit you not, the truck won't crank or start. It's towed to the dealership where they tell me the battery had a bad cell and was replaced at no cost. At this point, I'm completely over it. I gave Toyota a fair shake but with the number and type of issues I've had with this truck with less than 15,000 miles on it there is no way I'm going to wait and watch it fall apart in 10 years. I've hired an attorney and started the Lemon Law process with Toyota. My advice to anyone going through it is keep good records, call corporate, and get a lawyer. Good Luck. I'll update this thread once the dust settles.

 

That completely sucks. I have some of the same issues and I'm not going to lie they can be fixed DIY fairly easily.

That being said it is a new truck under warranty and you shouldn't have to do the work yourself. At this point I trust myself more than a warranty tech unless it has to do with techstream and updates which I cannot obtain myself without major hoops.

I'll dissect your problems.
- Transmission has a TSB and I did find mine was low from the factory by over 1 full quart of fluid. I did a drain and fill and went with AMSOIL ATF. Problem fixed in that regard.
- Rear diff seepage I have as well. I torqued the bolts to spec because they were under torqued for an off road and it has stemmed the tide and eventually I will just do the gasket myself. $30 part and some diff gasket sealer and job is done.
- Hood vibrating just happened to me recently. Royally pissed me off. But for $65 worth of 3M NVH material and a couple hours I fixed that as well.
- Battery can happen to anyone and you got a free one.

Also if your truck mirrors mine
- Check your rear diff as it may be 1 quart low
- Check your front diff as it may be .6 quarts low.

 

That sucks. Good luck.

For me, as long as they fix it and give me platinum warranty, I'd keep it.

The 3rd gen forum contains subliminal messages

 

That's the key. It's so new and It's already required all this work. I don't want to imagine 10 years down the road. And yes, I agree, I probably could have saved myself some time and heartache by just doing the work myself but I didn't want to give Toyota or the dealership any ammunition to turn me away. I just wanted the reliable truck we all thought we were getting. Now I just want out.

 

They offered, but I'd already paid for it -.-

 

Normal for the turd gen unfortunately as my 2017 has had all of these issues and more. I will not buy another Tacoma I guess they went cheap on this generation. I should have kept my old chevy.

 

Maybe they could refund you the cost of the extended warranty. Batteries are an issue with many people here, but it was covered. The leaky Diff issue you are having is just incompetence at your dealers repair shop as they should have been able to fix it the first time. Hood issue is a common but easy fix, just a bad batch of adhesive it seems, and once it's fixed it doesn't seem to be an issue again. Trans fluid low was also a common issue that's fixed by filling it, also done. You seem to have gotten a lot of issues but they are all the common ones. Now that they are fixed you should be good for a long while. Your diff isn't whining so you're good there it seems. I'm swapping to a sport hood, but my OR hood has been fine. I think the first year of a redesign is good to steer away from usually as there are often bugs. My 17' has been great so far. No issues at all. See if the dealer will do a fair trade up with you for a 17 or an 18 once they come out. I think your about out of the woods at this point, but it's your call.

 

Yeah of course we're on the same page completely. I knew this would be a project for me for years to come and I'm modding things so parts of my warranty are being voided anyways. Sadly the competition isn't much better these days.

Ford, GM, Dodge and Nissan are truly no better. I know mechanics that work on all of them and tell me horrors stories. That's why I went with the Tacoma. The 3rd gen is basically a refresh and exhibits a lot of issues that the second gen also did. Pretty easy to fix overall and a great knowledge base available. I have a firm dislike of dealerships and a lack of trust. I can do 95% of this truck myself and will continue to.

There have been a ton of Ecoboost issues (although I like the power), GM has a ton of quality issues, Dodge... yeah goes without saying as my in law works for them and sold his Ram 3500 rather than fighting with it and Nissan with their list of issues as well.

 

One word of advice. If you are going to do anything legal, EVER, do not post about it on the internet or anywhere else. Words find a way of coming back to bite you in the butt.

 

Thanks for your feedback. Waiting to hear back from Toyota. They requested a month to review. I've been told it's common to get a trade up offer ahead of a full buy back and I've honestly been undecided. This was supposed to be my "forever truck" then this..... I've heard it can go either way with the 17's BUT we're creeping closer to 18 and that's completely uncharted. I'd like to think they have all the kinks worked out at this point but who knows. I guess I'll see what happens when they answer.

 

Sounds like a Ford...you sure you have a taco?

 

May want to get a 4Runner. That's going to be my next purchase.

 

Man, did you keep the stock parts just to part out and recoup some money?

 

Damn what happened to Toyota. Sounds like they hired a bunch of ex Ford and Dodge engineers. I had 0 issues with my 2013 Tundra the 4 years I owned it. Wanted to downsize, so I stuck with them and bought the Tacoma. 2 weeks and 1500 miles in, so far so good. Really hope I don't have any of these issues as my bullshit tolerance level is non-existant. Heres hoping I don't get let down.

 

OP - I'd be pissed too and personally would get a different vehicle from a manufacturer if I had all those issues. I hope you get a buy back or lemon law so you are not out a lot of money. On my end, I truck has been perfect and enjoy it everyday ~146XX miles.

DCSB Sport MT. The truck who seems to have the most issues are 2016 AT Off-Roads for some reason?

 

The grass isn't greener on the other side. Look up hood flutter on the 4Runners those hoods are glued as well. The Colorado and a lot of others also exhibit a lot of the issues that the Tacoma does. Seems more like the industry is cutting costs as a whole rather than just Toyota cheaping out ahead of the curve.

When I first found out about some of the issues on my Tacoma one of my friends said it best (he's 52) "just think of the savings and the amount of money that is" referring to my differentials being low. Roughly 10000 Tacomas are sold in Canada per year and 150000 in the States. 1.5 quarts of diff fluid x 160000 even at $5 a quart is $800000. And being that Toyotas are built pretty damn well they'll probably last until the powertrain warranty is done.

 

I TOTALLY 500% agree with what you just said............
I do my own mtce. and you are "spot on" my man..!!
"It's MY truck" and I will maintain it....

PS.. Mine has been fantastic after "I" did the tranny/rear end/front diff fills....grease in zerks.... torqueing the U bolts.. etc etc...!!

 

Haha you did the exact maintenance that I did on mine. A Canadian too!
I tinker a little more than you do but being that your name is @over60 I can probably guess that you're a little older and just don't want the hassle and aggravation that almost every service department leads to.

 

If you'd done the mtce yerself at the start, I think you'd have a great truck like mine... sorry to hear that you allowed those A-holes to let YOUR truck fall apart and wear away because of neglect..!!

 

I have a 17 OR and no issues yet 2 1/2 months