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

I've only had ONE positive experience buying a car. Bought a 2000 Nissan Xterra from my best friends dad at Jack of Diamonds Nissan in Longview Texas. At the time the Xterra was HOT and they stayed on the lot for only a few hours so no deal to be had there but I faxed him my dream Xterra and he held it for me and got the dealership to do right on my trade in - no low ball. My strategy was that if I'm going to get screwed on a car deal I'd rather get screwed by a family friend. He did right. Straight up purchase and fair all the way around.

The other 12 or 13 cars and trucks I've bought have been some kind of a squirrely ass deal.

 

My last three car purchases have all gone like this… do some research and find out the lowest amount people have been paying in my area for the same car, offer the dealership $500-$1000 over that amount. All done by email. Each purchase has taken less than an hour of time this way. I pay a bit of money more than I know I should but with very little aggravation.

 

Just caught this thread. Sorry I have no mechanical insight to OP's issue but will jump on the anti Bell Road Toyota bandwagon here. I will thank Bell Rd Toyota though for turning me into my own mechanic since 2011. Not to beat a dead horse with details, suffice it to say it is the worse dealership I have ever dealt with. All my trucks purchased since, I just throw the free oil changes in the trash as they cannot even be trusted with basic maintenance and a carwash. Avondale Toyota has good customer service which is where I purchased my off road. At nearly 100,000 miles on my 17 I've had no issues and have completed my own maintenance. I am currently researching private Toyota garages for the inevitable mechanical issue I cannot fix. Most corporate Dealerships do not deserve our business. Not sure about the regulations regarding warranty work at a private Toyo specialist garage, but at some point, warranty or not, you may have to ditch the dealership and take it somewhere else and follow up with Toyota Corp and the associated documentation of your dealership's incompetence.

 

New Update from Toyota:

Brand Engagement Advocate
December 23, 2024 at 09:42 AM
Hi Bo Milberger,

We appreciate you taking the time to contact the Toyota Brand Engagement Center. I am the Case Manager assigned to your case for handling and follow up. I apologize my recent attempt to reach you by telephone was unsuccessful.
Due to the Brand Engagement Center being closed for the holidays 12/24 and 12/2, I will be giving you a call on Thursday 12/26/2024.
Please contact our office at 800-331-XXXX to speak with myself or another Case Manager who may be able to further assist you.
Thanks!

-Jennifer

Toyota Brand Engagement Center​

New Response from me.....

GTGALLOP
December 26, 2024 at 08:57 AM
Who the hell is Bo Millberger?

I'm GTGallop.
​

Sigh.... Now we wait. Maybe I'll call them today.

 

Bo? Bo Milberger? OMG is that you? Don't you remember me? We went to different high schools together!

 

LOL - This is the only Bo Milberger I could find.
https://knottlab.com/team/bo-milberger/

Honestly he looks like a Tacoma Driver. Wonder if he's a member here?

 

Just had a call with Jennifer at Toyota (Corp) she's the rep that is bird dogging this issue for me. Super nice and patient lady.
Obviously this is the holidays and getting all of the people contacted and lined up is not easy so progress as been slow but that doesn't bother me.

She's still waiting on a call back from the Svc Manager at Bell Road Toyota and mentioned that she has a few e-mails and calls in there waiting for him to return them with other customers (do I detect a trend?). After he calls her back and she can get any additional info / details from him she's opening a technical case with the Toyota field office in Arizona. They will have a Toyota Corporate Tech met me at Bell Road Toyota and do a complete analysis of the service performed and diagnostic of the truck - not just clear codes and roll me back out on the street.

Since I work from home I'm good to keep test driving it on short drives around the neighborhood to run weekend errands and waiting for the people and dates to line up at Toyota for me to come in with it.

I'm pretty excited to hear that Toyota (again Corporate) is taking this seriously. I wonder with a sincere and engaged corporate office like this, why $tealerrships aren't more serious about quality? Seems easy for a jilted customer to get someone above them involved pretty quick.

 

Forgot to come back and update...

Got a call from Jennifer at Toyota Corp. We were out at a happy hour with friends so I stepped out of the restaurant into the parking lot to take the call.
Her Tech that was going to meet me at Bell Road has had an issue and will be out for the month of January and part of February (sounded like 6 weeks).

The Service Manager wants to talk to me and she gave me his phone number. I told her I was in the parking lot w/o a pen and asked if she could put it in the portal. She agreed.

Brand Engagement Advocate
January 03, 2025 at 04:46 PM
Hi G.T.Gallop,

Per our conversation and with the authorization of the Service Manager at Bell Road Toyota, here is his phone number.

Todd: 408-890-XXXX

If you require further assistance, please send us a message by adding a comment here, or give us a call at 800-331-4331. Case Managers are available Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. ET.

Thanks!

-Jennifer
Toyota Brand Engagement Center​

Life kicked up at that point and I haven't had a chance to call him. That's happening this morning.

What is supposed to happen at this point s he has me come in and drop the truck off. They will have a conference call with Toyota HQ and a tech from a remote location will instruct them on what to do / check. Kind of like a tutorial to ensure that Corp agrees with the work and diagnostics performed. We'll see if that is still the case when I talk with him.

So that's where we are as of this day, the 9th of January at 0550.
More to come.

 

New Comment Responded back to Toyota in the portal
Todd's number was bad.

G.T. GALLOP
January 09, 2025 at 08:52 AM
Called Todd the Service Manager. Got a bad number. Double checked with the number you gave me.

"Your call could not be completed as dialed. Please check the number and try again."

Please provide a working number for Todd.​

Called the dealership and had to leave a message with their "AI Auto Attendant."
Told them to have Todd call me. Confidence is waning fast.

 

Apologies for not reading the whole thread, but is the truck at your house or at the dealer?

I'm assuming you've looked up Arizona lemon laws already? In case it comes to that. Although it sounds like they haven't really been trying to fix the truck during this time, right?

Good luck, hopefully this was just some unfortunate timing with the holidays, and they pull their heads out of their asses soon.

In the meantime, any XTerra pics?

 

LOL - No worries. I'm the same way. Saga plays out over 14 pages? Nah, skip to the end and figure out where we are.
Yes - the truck is currently at my house.

Oh it falls way short of AZ Lemon Laws. And probably won't ever reach that level.
So they ignored all of my concerns about poor MPG. Even deleted it out of the system until I went to a different dealer for the 15K service.
That dealer "found no codes" so nothing wrong with your gas mileage.
Then the current dealer just cleared the codes and put me back on the street so no real attempt there. Hence why I involved Toyota Corporate.

Right? We will see.

Oh she was a sweet ride but no I don't think I have any pics handy. That was before digital pics so they would all be in a box somewhere.
My favorite is one where we evac'd for a hurricane and I had a Hitch Rack on the Xterra. My dog (Catahoula / ACD Mix) hopped up there and I got her looking pretty on it.
It was Alpine Green with a Sun Roof. I did the Poor Man's Lift from CalMini and threw on some Ranchero Adjustable Shocks and larger tires. I think I tossed the sway bar too. Setting the shocks to stout for the street and soft for the trails helped it a lot. One of the heat shields on the exhaust kept breaking loose so I had the muffler shop delete the mufflers that came right after the Cats. Surprisingly a great sound.

 

I'm guessing the area code should be 480 instead of 408?
Pretty sad that it takes a dealership more than a month to even look at and diagnose the problem with your vehicle.

 

Probably.

Either way, Todd got the message and called back.
I'm scheduled to take it in and have them look at it.

 

Put a fuel pump in it. They’ve had enough recalls on them and your symptoms match.

 

Yikes. Anyone does what that sales guy did to your truck with mine, that's an ass chewing if not ass beating..

 

Comment added today...

GTGALLOP
January 12, 2025 at 02:33 PM
Todd's number is 408-890-XXXX, not 408-890-XXXX. You transposed two digits in the area code. But don't worry, got in touch with him. Brought the truck in this morning at 10:15 AM MST for their early bird drop off so it will be there when they get in in the morning.

The lock box isn't very secure. I questioned it and was challenged to go ahead and try to fish my keys out - and did easily & successfully on the first attempt. Took me all of 10 seconds to pull them out like a magician pulling a rabbit out of his hat. Not very confidence inspiring. With 20+ employees there this morning you'd think someone could lock those keys inside the building, but OK. It's on your lot now so it's your insurance claim if anything happens. Truck has an Air Tag in it so if it goes anywhere, I'll know.

Hoping Todd is able to get it thoroughly diagnosed and all is well. If not, I hope it is easily repairable under warranty.​

 

OH THIS IS ABOUT TO GET GOOD!
I just got a call from Todd the Service Manager. He informed me that:
Someone has added some aftermarket parts on the truck that cut a fuel line and spliced into a wire.

I told him absolutely not. The only aftermarket parts on that truck is a glove box organizer and a ham radio.

He asked if I bought the truck new and I said yes from YOU. He says well the ham radio install cut the fuel line.

I told him I don't believe it because NONE of those wires go past the firewall. I specifically limited that install to the cab of the truck and all wires route through the channel between the drivers seat and the door.

He says well some how that caused the interference with the fuel line. They are going to get me pictures of this. I can't mutherflipping wait!



Time to whip out the Handy Dandy Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act 15 U.S.C. § 2301!

 

There's about 30,000 Ham's in Phoenix. If we were cutting fuel lines, you'd know about it.

 

Bo Milberger is now a verb.

Todd's trying to Mo Bilmerger you. And your gas-powered radio.

 

When did you install the radio?
No fuel leak?

KC1MFG