Honour (or not)

[Anonymous]

First off, hope you all had a great day yesterday.

Not sure if this has been covered, have done a search and not found anything. If its already been covered just post the link and forget the rest of this post.

If an awful lot of engines have blown/ been replaced for whatever reason, failures etc, at 25k and above what are my options.

I have a 2001 model which has now done 3,500k. By the time I reach the destruction zone/milage I will be out of warranty.

Seeing as Toyota realise they have a problem with their engines do they intend to honour the engine side of the warranty if engine fails out of warranty period  s:?: :?: s:?:  

I am due to have 2 serviced in Jan/Feb. Are they any specific questions I need to ask Mr.T to ensure, all options to prevent failure has been adhered too. Would an extended warranty cover known engine failures of this type, additionally how much should I expect to pay for extended warranty   s:?: :?: s:?:

[markiii]

firstly, most of the failures seem to have happened it the US, not so many in the UK.

2ndly, wil they honour out of warranty, maybe? you won't know until it happens.

Now this isn't conclusive but whateer kicks the engine melt down off it's the collapse of teh precats that ultimately causes the engine ogo by by. I'd replace the manifold with a catless one or just gut the cats to prevent this.

finally a new engine can be yours for £500 so it could be worse.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for reply markiii.
Surely Mr. T & co. know it's the precats that are at fault, why does'nt Mr. T remove them or, replace the manifold before the fault occurs    s:!: :!: s:!:    s:? :? s:?
Must be cheaper than a new engine.

[markiii]

Unfortunately the precats are there to make the car an ultra low emissions vehicle.

So they can't remove them.

Fortunately for you you can still pass an MOT without them.

The issue is 2 fold, firstly Toyota (on reasonably good authority) don't use the highest quality cats in the world and secondly the average owner doesn't check his oil levels sufficienty. This engine uses quite a lot of oil naturally due to it's design, so it needs regular checks, see teh oil thread in performance for a debate on this.

[Anonymous]

Let me get this right .

If I go for a catless manifold, or remove the precats and say, the engine still blows will Mr. T replace the engine under warranty or will he say, the warranty is invalid because I have removed or modified these parts.

[Slacey]

I reckon they will kick off because you removed the precats... certain things they will turn a blind eye to, but not 'major' engine modifications like that. I would leave it and replace the header once the car is no longer covered by Toyota.

[Anonymous]

If I do as you say, leave it until it's no longer covered by Toyota, there's a good chance the damage will of already been done, right.

Are you saying Mr. T will not remove precats or replace the manifold to save engine blowing  s:?: :?: s:?:

[Slacey]

Are you saying Mr. T will not remove precats or replace the manifold to save engine blowing  s:?: :?: s:?:

Nope, they will not remove anything, until it blows up they won't act  s:? :? s:?  

TBH, with such a low mileage as yours, I wouldn't worry too much about it - remember, for one car that has self-destructed, there are probably 30 that are fine. If you really want the dealer to look into it, get them to pull the O2 sensors and check the condition of the pre-cats, that will give you some idea of what's happening, if anything.

[Tem]

firstly, most of the failures seem to have happened it the US, not so many in the UK.

When mine blew, I counted the reported cases from Spyderchat...and there were about 40 of them. Considering they have "only" about 2000 members on the board since the crash/hack, it's only about 2% of users...

2% from this board would be 7...don't really remember how many here have had the problem though...

[Anonymous]

Tem, out of the 2% do you know how many were out of warranty  s:?: :?: s:?:

[Tem]

Tem, out of the 2% do you know how many were out of warranty  s:?: :?: s:?:

Don't know, but here's the thread if you wanna have a look:
 m http://www.spyderchat.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=46 m

Mine was barely out of warranty when it blew...well, it didn't even literally blew before I took it to the dealer...and they fixed it under warranty:
 m http://www.mr2roc.org/viewtopic.php?t=1250 m

[Anonymous]

If I read everything right, there were 45 replacement engines/short blocks/long blocks & two reported out of warranty including yours, other one had 65,000 on clock.

[Tem]

If I read everything right, there were 45 replacement engines/short blocks/long blocks & two reported out of warranty including yours, other one had 65,000 on clock.

Yeah, sounds about right.

But like mark already said, if yours blow and warranty doesn't cover it, you can get a new engine for "pocket change"  s;) s;)  I wouldn't worry about it...actually it would be a perfect excuse to get a 2ZZ.

[Anonymous]

The pre-cats are there only for when the car starts up, once it is warm they don't really do a thing.

Removing the pre-cats doesn't fix the problem (it does help) they are still exploding for a reason and we think this is down to oil.  Removing them just stops them from being there to fall apart.

I can promise you now 100% Toyota know about the problem but are being very hush hush about it, I have friends (yes I know everyone says that, but as a mod of this place I wouldn't post it if it wasn't from a good source)

[Anonymous]

So, there's a slight possibility they might correct the fault or do a recall.  s:?: :?: s:?:  

I'm sure you'll keep us posted.

[Tem]

So, there's a slight possibility they might correct the fault or do a recall.

I don't think they will do a recall. Not as long as 98% of the cars seem to be ok.

They might cover the work under warranty, even after the warranty period is out. But I'd guess only if you let them know that you know that it is a common problem. Otherwise you'll just get some story about how you have abused the engine and it's the first case they've ever heard about and you have to pay for it...just guessing of course.

[Anonymous]

I am certain Toyota would not recall cars or replace manifolds as a precaution. The warranty is an insurance policy for failure only, so the dealers cannot claim for a part which has not yet failed.

Vauxhall had an issue a few years ago when they switched to plastic pulleys on the cambelt and the pulleys would melt causing the engine to lunch itself. There were hundreds if not thousands of engine failures due to this, and other than the high profile complainers (who got half or all the bill paid 'as goodwill'), the owners had to pay for everything - this undoubtedly generated a bumper profit for both the dealers and vauxhall who supplied the parts.

Sad as it may seem, the way car manufacturers make profits these days is to design cars which have fragile or pointless but expensive parts which are designed to fail outside warranty, and can only be obtained from the manufacturer/dealers.