Check your crossmembers

[toxo]

That is interesting. My 04 crossmember has seen better days, and I am on very good terms with my local parts manager!

[Wabbitkilla]

Well, let's wait and see what actually happens and what the T&C's are before people start jumping in.
I'm not going to name the dealer yet to avoid crashing the whole deal.

[FireFury]

Is there any further news on the possibility of getting the rear subframe replaced under warranty?  I have been informed that my facelift 03-plate MR2 will fail the next MoT unless it is replaced, so I've been on the phone to the local Toyota dealer who have told me that "under vehicle" components only have a 3 year anti-corrosion warranty, so wouldn't be covered.

As an aside, does anyone have good suggestions for where to get a (used) replacement rear subframe?

Many thanks.

[Wabbitkilla]

Not yet sorry, hopefully soon.

[dobermann]

I need to change the rear crossmember soon on mine, who are CTP

[Treboeth]

Cheap toyota Parts in the affiliate section.

[robsonic]

Hi, it's Dave.

This is pretty much what Graeme (toyota dealership service manager, Knaresborough 01423867456) said after my car failed its mot

"I remember reading something ages ago about an extended warranty issued by Toyota on the subframe, so when yours failed I rang them to check. There is an 11 year warranty on this part, but ive had to take pictures not only of the corroded part but of the condition of the car in general. Its gone back and forth between us over a few days but they have now agreed to supply and fit a new subframe under this warranty. It does not however cover any bolts etc, just the part and labour, so they may be a charge for the bolts. We will always try and reuse the bolts already on your car but after 10 years some of them might be seized."
I must say though I've never taken nicer pictures of a nicer mr2. It looks totally mint especially on the inside."

So after picking up my car after it was fixed (and no charge for bolts) , I asked Graeme whether we could see the terms and conditions of this warranty. I explained I was a member of roc, and that this part being replaced under warranty is not something that has been widely reported. This is what he said.

"Its pretty much on a case by case basis. The car must have decent service history, decent mileage, be in good condition generally. The main condition of the warranty is that it must be a mot fail on the subframe, it will not apply if it doesn't. Your members should be able to get this from any Toyota dealership, but remember its not the service manager that decides but the warranty people at Toyota themselves. I have a good relationship with them, i've been a service manager for over 10 years, and you have looked after your car. I am happy to do the same thing for your roc as i've done for you, if they are worried about their subframes and their cars are less then 11 years old then I will happily MOT them for £30 and take the pics and have the same conversations with the warranty people.
Hopefully we can get a few more subframes out of them "

My views on this, all businesses become more successful by having great relationships with their customers.
Background points that may be relevant..
I've been at that dealership since I bought my blue in 2006, I bought my aygo from them in 2008. I have a 5 year service plan on my sable since 2012.
My 53 reg does not have full Toyota service history, 2 out of the 10 services were done at a local garage before I owned it, but it has only covered 49000 miles.
The car did also need a new water pump and aux belt, a fitted charge of £331. The subframe cost would have been £707. So I did of course say before the warranty claim was authorised that I would wait to see the outcome of that before I paid for the other works to be done.
Graeme did say that if the warranty claim wasn't upheld it could be welded, but they don't offer that service at the dealership. But he could sort somewhere out.

But there definitely is an 11 year warranty on the subframe  s:D s:D

[FireFury]

This is pretty much what Graeme (toyota dealership service manager, Knaresborough 01423867456) said after my car failed its mot

"I remember reading something ages ago about an extended warranty issued by Toyota on the subframe, so when yours failed I rang them to check. There is an 11 year warranty on this part, but ive had to take pictures not only of the corroded part but of the condition of the car in general. Its gone back and forth between us over a few days but they have now agreed to supply and fit a new subframe under this warranty. It does not however cover any bolts etc, just the part and labour, so they may be a charge for the bolts. We will always try and reuse the bolts already on your car but after 10 years some of them might be seized."
I must say though I've never taken nicer pictures of a nicer mr2. It looks totally mint especially on the inside."

Cheers.

I may be getting somewhere with my local dealer.  They are still adamant that it won't be covered, but have agreed to look, take photos and ask Toyota.  Its unfortunate that it seems you _have_ to go through the dealer rather than being able to contact Toyota directly though, so you're pretty much at the mercy of how helpful the dealer feels like being.

I'm a little curious about which bit of the warranty this is covered by.  I've dug out my warranty information and it seems there are 3 sections:

1. Comprehensive (3 years / 60K miles)
2. Surface rust and paintwork (3 years)
3. Corrosion perforation of bodywork (12 years)

The dealer claims that the "corrosion perforation" warranty doesn't cover any parts that aren't painted the car's colour.  The information I have doesn't say that, but does define "bodywork" as "sheet metal body panel including such parts as engine bonnet, doors, boot lid and floor panel, but excluding parts attached to the body, such as mouldings, bumpers and hinges."  I would think that since the crossmember is structural it should be considered "bodywork", but the dealer says no.

Another sticking point is that for the past few years I've carried out my own servicing (having found the dealer to be both expensive and rubbish), so they may complain about that.

[Andys-N20]

Would highly recommend waxoil and additional external paint but personally would not start welding bits on.

[Peter Wright]

3. Corrosion perforation of bodywork (12 years)

Taken from Toyota brochure
three year paint warranty and a 12-year, corrosion or perforation warranty. Full after sales support is available through Toyota's extensive and highly trained European dealer network.
You missed the {or} out

[Anonymous]

Mine came up on the mot as an advisory this time, first time ever. 52 plate preface lift with 137k miles. Thanks to this thread I had inspected it before hand and it is solid, just some surface rust.

However I believe the only reason it was highlighted this time is because previous years all the under trays have been fitted, but are all now removed.

[carolineasb]

I don't think this new Warranty we are discussing is anything to do with the original Manufacturer's Warranties since it is apparently an 11 year Warranty.

It appears to be a little like the 7 year Warranty they suddenly gave on the engines after they found the OCR problem caused the precats to break up and kill engines  s:( s:(

[FireFury]

An update on this:

I called Toyota customer services (0800-1388744) and they confirmed that the subframe has had its warranty extended to 11 years in certain specific conditions (but they wouldn't go into detail regarding what the conditions were).  They gave me a reference number for the warranty extension: 649255.

Local dealer booked it in to have a look - they needed to take photos, see the MoT failure certificate and the service record book.  After about a week I got a call to say the warranty had been approved and that they would replace the subframe at no cost.  So my car's just come back from the dealer, a week before it's 11th birthday - new subframe and rear control arm bushes fitted (only took them 3 hours, which I was amazed at given how rusty everything was!).  Looks like they've used a combination of new and old bolts and haven't charged me for anything so I'm pretty pleased.

Some interesting points:
 - My car doesn't have an engine under tray on it (the screws rusted up and sheered off a few years ago and I never bothered to put it back on).  They noted that it was missing on the "visual safety report", but it didn't seem to affect the warranty claim.
 - The service book doesn't have many Toyota stamps in it since I do my own servicing, although I do note the dates and mileages of the services in it.
 - This is a facelift 03-plate MR2.
 - The new subframe is painted - I'm not sure if the old one was originally (its so rusty that you can't tell).

So definitely worth chasing Toyota if you've got a rotten rear subframe and your car's under 11 years old.

[StuC]

Nice feedback, thanks for posting the results.

More importantly... happy motoring with a new shiny subframe.  s:-D :-D s:-D

[Wabbitkilla]

Just as a reminder Ste and I were prepping Radu's car for a new cross member today and were shocked by the state of the old one.

[bluesmoke]

Christ! I'll be inspecting the two I've got when they come off their respective cars.

Both look fine from what I can see, although one is carrying significantly more surface rust than the other.

[Anonymous]

I swapped mine out a couple of weeks ago. Not a horrendous job but I had the pleasure of leaving the old arms on the cross member as I was fitting all new items

[spit]

Quick heads up. Currently on special offer, so if you're in need now's the time:

Pre-facelift

Facelift

[StuC]

That's a healthy saving you have found there Ste.  s:-D :-D s:-D

[cptspaulding]

Quick heads up. Currently on special offer, so if you're in need now's the time:

Pre-facelift

Facelift

Excellent spot!

Just ordered thank you very much. Just spotted this at the weekend
IMG_20140720_145913 by cptspaulding64, on Flickr

Probably repairable but for the time & cost of the repair (I don't have any welding capability). With a new replacement I have time to fill the sucker with waxoyle etc & give it the paint job required before hopefully doing a straight swap with minimal faff.

Got a rather big job (for me) coming up shortly (gulp)

[bluesmoke]

How can you tell if it needs replacing if there aren't actually any holes like that?

[Anonymous]

have a poke around, it should be solid everywhere. if its weak, replace.

[gaffer1986]

I swapped mine out a couple of weeks ago. Not a horrendous job but I had the pleasure of leaving the old arms on the cross member as I was fitting all new items

Hi, I've got to do mine soon, what arms did you get that made the job easier? Did you use a manual or did you all ready know what to do?

[cptspaulding]

Also planning to use this stuff as protection on the new crossmember

[Anonymous]

I swapped mine out a couple of weeks ago. Not a horrendous job but I had the pleasure of leaving the old arms on the cross member as I was fitting all new items

Hi, I've got to do mine soon, what arms did you get that made the job easier? Did you use a manual or did you all ready know what to do?

Hi, I fitted a set of hard race adjustable arms, but the meaning behind my comment was that because I had new (replacement) arms to fit to the new cross member, I didn't have to fight to get the old ones out; as they were corroded in, like a lot of these cars suffer from.

Just made the job a lot easier. There is a thread some where on here which has the info needed to replace, but it really is very simple.