"WOW" Toyota Prado 5VZ engine "BLOWN at 58,000km's"

[maba]

Having just gone through the posts, the dealership will from my experience say its your fault in more than the languages spoken on earth.

They have apprentice-s servicing your car which from an experience of a friend of mine on this forum, has not change the sparks at the 80,000 service like they were meant to even though he was charged for it and has not replaced a "faulty" rear brake light even though stated on the invoice. Now should his engine give way and for whatever reason and is found that the sparks "were the cause" and hasn't been replaced even though it says on their very own invoice, bye bye warranty and also compensation!!!!

Just my 2 cents. :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

That is one of the reason why i get my service done by a mechanic whom I trust to use genuine parts toyota parts if need be. Warranty shouldn't be voided even if you visit your local mechanic who get it service by the book, according to the book and using genuine toyota parts.

Happy to be corrected if I'm wrong.

Hi Guni,

Your opinion is valid and i'm sure your experience with the dealership has steared your thoughts in this direction. I agree that a local mechanic will infact complete the service with a higher degree of accuracy. I had a Toyota mechanic admit to myself the day after my 54k service issue (leaking oil) that they are under constant presure to turn over the vehicles as quick as possible. This is where errors occur and cutomers pay the price. I think Toyota Australia should be contacted by the customer every time they have an issue with a dealership to build up a solid history against the dealership and perhaps will be followed up with an audit.

Regards,

Maba

[xoom]

Having just gone through the posts, the dealership will from my experience say its your fault in more than the languages spoken on earth.

They have apprentice-s servicing your car which from an experience of a friend of mine on this forum, has not change the sparks at the 80,000 service like they were meant to even though he was charged for it and has not replaced a "faulty" rear brake light even though stated on the invoice. Now should his engine give way and for whatever reason and is found that the sparks "were the cause" and hasn't been replaced even though it says on their very own invoice, bye bye warranty and also compensation!!!!

Just my 2 cents. :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

That is one of the reason why i get my service done by a mechanic whom I trust to use genuine parts toyota parts if need be. Warranty shouldn't be voided even if you visit your local mechanic who get it service by the book, according to the book and using genuine toyota parts.

Happy to be corrected if I'm wrong.

Hi Guni,

Your opinion is valid and i'm sure your experience with the dealership has steared your thoughts in this direction. I agree that a local mechanic will infact complete the service with a higher degree of accuracy. I had a Toyota mechanic admit to myself the day after my 54k service issue (leaking oil) that they are under constant presure to turn over the vehicles as quick as possible. This is where errors occur and cutomers pay the price. I think Toyota Australia should be contacted by the customer every time they have an issue with a dealership to build up a solid history against the dealership and perhaps will be followed up with an audit.

Regards,

Maba

Hi Maba,

mate hopefully all works out for you ...... mate 5yrs ago when i picked up my sportivo brand spanking new i had a MASSIVE run in with toyota australia ..... nothing mechanically as major as requiring a new engine but all in all it lasted 2 yrs of going backwards and forth and in the end i totally lost it @ the head of warranty claims for east coast australia and swore 2 him i'd rebuild the car from the ground up since toyota has no QA capability and is unable to fix simple faults with their cars ...... his threat at the time is if i attempted such a thing is he would void my warranty on the spot ..... to which i responded ..... well its worthless 2 me anyway since u cant even fix ur own cars ....... and so i did and now i knw exactly wat the G O is with my car because it was done by people i trust with my involvement not like how these dodgy dealers like for u not 2 c how they work on ur car and expect u 2 have total faith in them when they treat u like u r being treated now ....... dealerships ..... absolutely loath them ...... nothing against the $5 mechanics they have but basically as the dude admitted 2 u they r pushed to get cars in n out .......

Regarding your last comment about complaints to TMCA .... well yes they do keep track of all complaints however i caught them out on 2 separate occasions where they were claiming "I was the only customer" complaining with such issues. Funny thing was i had organized a group of ppl on this forum to complain so when i got this line from TMCA i pretty much rattled off a few names which should be in their system for the same issue ..... and oh wat do u knw they "magically" turned up .... so dont be surprised that they arent exactly "proactive" about it .......

What worries me the most before you go looking @ other brands of cars is toyota from this perspective happens to be one of the better manufacturers to deal with & they still put u through this crap ..... i have heard some absolute shockers regarding the other manufacturers ....... so as a customer ur damned if u do and ur damned if u dont ...... i think in the end u just have to fight ur way through all the crap they r gonna put in front of u bcuz @ the end of the day warranty is an insurance policy and as we know an insurance policy is most profitable to the insurance company when they never have to pay a claim and in this case when they never have to fix anything under warranty.

Let us know how u go ..... oh n dont b phased by the "service managers" at the dealerships ...... if anything what i learnt is these guys/gals are middle management pencil pushers who seem to be employed simply to let the customer think that someone is listening to them and to put on the table all the options which are of least benefit to the customer ..... over time i pretty much just by-passed these guys and went straight TMCA for everything ..... in ur case given its out of warranty this might not be an option.

Cheers

Bill

[Guni]

Any updates mate?

[maba]

Any updates mate?

At this stage I have been told on the 5th January TMCA will be conducting their investigation. Your comment re: "The Service Managers", I know exactly what you mean!!! I did by pass him/her and spoke to the director of the dealership direct, also Pinzvidz who has recommended some key stakeholders who I should contact has been extreemely beneficial to this point. I will post my update as soon as its available.

Regards,

Maba

Edited January 5, 2009 by maba

[outeredge]

Ok, a quick read on a few threads researching my next purchase and so far I read (a wheel falling of ?) and this thread, a blown engine at 58000km ? The Early Prodo's I am looking at have well over 120000km and some MUCH more. Is this common on the 96-2002 models to blow an engine ?

Feel sorry for ya dude

[maba]

Ok, a quick read on a few threads researching my next purchase and so far I read (a wheel falling of ?) and this thread, a blown engine at 58000km ? The Early Prodo's I am looking at have well over 120000km and some MUCH more. Is this common on the 96-2002 models to blow an engine ?

Feel sorry for ya dude

.

Edited February 25, 2009 by maba

[ontrak]

Hey,

I was thinking of buying a new Toyota Kluger and thought I'd go and have a look at some forums on Toyota's and see how they fare.

I must say, It doesn't look good from here. What the hell..... a blown engine at 58000 km's.

I have always owned fords in the past as I got a discount being a ford employee. I know everyone calls them taxi's and what not but you have a look at the km's on all taxi's. They don't blow at 58000km.

I might just stick to the good old trusted fords. I might have to get a territory instead of a kluger. In fact you have convinced me to get a FORD!!!

You have to also consider, that Toyota still have not won a GP race.

Oh what a feeling .................Good luck man.

[outeredge]

Hey,

I was thinking of buying a new Toyota Kluger and thought I'd go and have a look at some forums on Toyota's and see how they fare.

I must say, It doesn't look good from here. What the hell..... a blown engine at 58000 km's.

I have always owned fords in the past as I got a discount being a ford employee. I know everyone calls them taxi's and what not but you have a look at the km's on all taxi's. They don't blow at 58000km.

I might just stick to the good old trusted fords. I might have to get a territory instead of a kluger. In fact you have convinced me to get a FORD!!!

You have to also consider, that Toyota still have not won a GP race.

Oh what a feeling .................Good luck man.

I'm with ya "ontrak", I am also thinking of buying a toyota (used not new) and have been put off by this thread, I am looking at the Prado being smaller than the 100 series. Thinking of traveling north up the east coast with a reliable 4wheel drive. Even though most reviews on the Prado are pretty good THIS thread is putting me off !

[outeredge]

Ok, a quick read on a few threads researching my next purchase and so far I read (a wheel falling of ?) and this thread, a blown engine at 58000km ? The Early Prodo's I am looking at have well over 120000km and some MUCH more. Is this common on the 96-2002 models to blow an engine ?

Feel sorry for ya dude

Hi,

I must admit I "WAS" so happy with the Prado, which is a reflection of Toyota Motor Company producing well built vehicles. Unfortunately after spreading the word about my situation its amasing how many people are unhappy with the servicing of their vehicles at Toyota dealers. If I were Toyota Australia I would be concerned....I will give you an example.....I mentioned in my thread earlier that the Service Manager quoted My service history does't look so flash even though my servicing was scheduled every 10,000k give or take a couple of thousand k's and then quoted why was your service book not stamped? I replied "THATS FUNNY "WHY DIDN'T YOU" ????? "YOU SERVICED IT"!!!!! HE WAS LOST FOR WORDS. Toyota Servicing? not so sure any more I guess the result of my vehicle will influence my decision.

Regards,

Maba.

maba........care to tell us who the dealership is ? they sound like tools, I'm sure you are waiting for an answer from them first BUT stuff them, JUST tell us who they are............

Hope it works out for ya without getting reamed, eventually you will tell us who the dealership is and If I get a Prado or another model I will keep away from dealerships. I also suggest you find a proper independent mechanic and stuff those dealerships no matter what Make of Car you drive. I found over the years dealerships usually rip you off.

Keep us posted..........

[maba]

Well,

I have been advised that Friday 9th Of January I will be getting an answer from Toyota Australia. I will be calling TMCA first thing in the morning to discuss the issue, I dont think the dealership would have admitted to Toyota what happened at 54k service therefore they need to know. I will post my results tommorow night.

Outeredge, you and many others are keen to know the dealership but at this stage I think it would be unfair to expose who they are!!

Regards,

Maba

[chicaboo]

I hope you are prepared for the big fat let down of all time...

Good luck, Gav.

[maba]

Hey,

I was thinking of buying a new Toyota Kluger and thought I'd go and have a look at some forums on Toyota's and see how they fare.

I must say, It doesn't look good from here. What the hell..... a blown engine at 58000 km's.

I have always owned fords in the past as I got a discount being a ford employee. I know everyone calls them taxi's and what not but you have a look at the km's on all taxi's. They don't blow at 58000km.

I might just stick to the good old trusted fords. I might have to get a territory instead of a kluger. In fact you have convinced me to get a FORD!!!

You have to also consider, that Toyota still have not won a GP race.

Oh what a feeling .................Good luck man.

I'm with ya "ontrak", I am also thinking of buying a toyota (used not new) and have been put off by this thread, I am looking at the Prado being smaller than the 100 series. Thinking of traveling north up the east coast with a reliable 4wheel drive. Even though most reviews on the Prado are pretty good THIS thread is putting me off !

On Trak,

I friend of mine owns a Ford Fairmont Ghia 08 model and his issue was this....His electric seat was not functioning so he took it to his dealer for repair and guess what? The electrical cmponent was missing from under the seat!!!! They are fixing it though.....

Regards,

Maba

[ontrak]

Hey,

I was thinking of buying a new Toyota Kluger and thought I'd go and have a look at some forums on Toyota's and see how they fare.

I must say, It doesn't look good from here. What the hell..... a blown engine at 58000 km's.

I have always owned fords in the past as I got a discount being a ford employee. I know everyone calls them taxi's and what not but you have a look at the km's on all taxi's. They don't blow at 58000km.

I might just stick to the good old trusted fords. I might have to get a territory instead of a kluger. In fact you have convinced me to get a FORD!!!

You have to also consider, that Toyota still have not won a GP race.

Oh what a feeling .................Good luck man.

I'm with ya "ontrak", I am also thinking of buying a toyota (used not new) and have been put off by this thread, I am looking at the Prado being smaller than the 100 series. Thinking of traveling north up the east coast with a reliable 4wheel drive. Even though most reviews on the Prado are pretty good THIS thread is putting me off !

On Trak,

I friend of mine owns a Ford Fairmont Ghia 08 model and his issue was this....His electric seat was not functioning so he took it to his dealer for repair and guess what? The electrical cmponent was missing from under the seat!!!! They are fixing it though.....

Regards,

Maba

Maba,

Whats the latest...........Any word from Toyota??

Your mate with the missing electrical component? Are they for real? They place an electric seat with all the buttons etc but onto a standard base with no motor. What morons.

That is pathetic......I don't even know what I want to get now. Ford are ****** me off. I went to testdrive a territory today and the dealership was worst one I have experienced in a long time. They could not care one little bit about me and my needs and my thoughts, they just wanted to sell a car.

Soon as I said to them to give me a last price, they said are you here to buy a car or wasting our time. Do beleive this crap!!!!!

I just you ****** and left. The dealership is BAYFORD epping. Don't go their whatever you do.

I think I might just look for a private sale car thats in really good nik.

[maba]

.

Edited February 25, 2009 by maba

[chicaboo]

Hi,

I think its time everyone knew who the Dealership is who serviced my car at 40k and 54k Anthony Smith Toyota in Coburg Melbourne. If anyone has experienced any issues with the dealership let everyone know, Post your issue and expose who they are and what they got away with......

Regards,

Maba

Does this mean that the news they gave you on Friday was not supportive?

Gav.

[ontrak]

Hi,

I think its time everyone knew who the Dealership is who serviced my car at 40k and 54k Anthony Smith Toyota in Coburg Melbourne. If anyone has experienced any issues with the dealership let everyone know, Post your issue and expose who they are and what they got away with......

Regards,

Maba

What happened? What di Toyata say? What will you do now?

[maba]

.

Edited February 25, 2009 by maba

[pinzvidz]

Hey Maba, sorry I've been on holidays. That's not good... have you spoken to TMCA's customer assistance centre again? The CAC may not be fully aware of what the dealership has told you. If you don't get anywhere, try writing a letter to TMCA's president, Max Yasuda.

[maba]

Hey Maba, sorry I've been on holidays. That's not good... have you spoken to TMCA's customer assistance centre again? The CAC may not be fully aware of what the dealership has told you. If you don't get anywhere, try writing a letter to TMCA's president, Max Yasuda.

.

Edited February 25, 2009 by maba

[maba]

Hi,

I have been advised that the Hilux at one stage adopted the Prado 3.4lt petrol engine and it would be suitable to fit into the Prado with one modification the sump. All thats required is to remove the sump cover of the Hilux engine and replace it with Prado sump cover. I have been advised that it is very easy to find an engine with 60,000k's with service history which would replace the original engine with same k's. If anyone has experienced this scenario please advise.

Regards,

Maba

[maba]

I hope you are prepared for the big fat let down of all time...

Good luck, Gav.

Hi Gav,

It sounds to me that you have been let down big time!!!! I am reading between the lines. Do you care to share the details.

Regards,

Maba

[chicaboo]

Hi Maba,

I had constant clutch problems with my Mazda 323 Astina 1.8L, as they came from the factory with an unbalanced flywheel which caused premature clutch wear and also wore the spigot and throw-out bearings even faster. Now, knowing this I went to Mazda with a new clutch and flywheel in hand, and gave them specific instructions (none of which they followed). Long story short, they installed the clutch but not the flywheel (waste of $620), and didn't rebalance the stock flywheel when fitting the clutch either. I complained straight away, and they told me it was my fault for supplying them the clutch. I promptly reminded them it is the same clutch they would have supplied themselves. And they kept firm on their stance against dismissing my concerns, even though they know they didn't follow any of my instructions, and just went ahead and did their own thing against my advisement...

Long story short, the car went through 3 clutches in 80,000km. The last one that Mazda did themselves, was the worst of all of them, and only lasted 10,000km before it started grinding and whistling on my way to work. I know none of this is entirely Mazda motor company's fault, but it is the dealers fault AND RESPONSIBILITY. Mazda dealers are told by Mazda Australia to hold off warrantys on serviceable items until they are outside of the warranty period by using the good old line "it is within specification sir" (it is a very very poor benchmark they must use). Once the car is outside of warranty the customer is getting desperate to have the faults fixed, and consequently just cough up the dough themselves, and then Mazda's dealers still do the wrong thing by us and leave us with even bigger bill to pick up at the end of the day...

Maba, for these reasons I have taken a great interest in your particular case. I have to admit I knew what the outcome would be right after your very first post. And I truly believe that your dealer and TMCA had this intention in mind from the very beginning too. I am disgusted that they made you go without a car for so many weeks, just to string you along giving you false hope. When right from the very beginning they already knew your service history and that taking the engine apart wouldn't tell them anything they didn't already know from just looking at it from under a hoist...

All this is very unfortunate, as I'm sure it leaves a great distaste in your mouth against Toyota dealers and perhaps Toyotas in general, it does for me with regard to Mazda. Even if these events don't taint our perceptions of the vehicles sold by these ruthless companies, the product is still only as good as the backing it gets from the dealer that sells it to you and services it. Which, therein lays the problem.

I wish you good luck in finding a replacement engine, and even more so, a good mechanic that can do you future servicing.

Cheers, Gav.

[maba]

Hi Maba,

I had constant clutch problems with my Mazda 323 Astina 1.8L, as they came from the factory with an unbalanced flywheel which caused premature clutch wear and also wore the spigot and throw-out bearings even faster. Now, knowing this I went to Mazda with a new clutch and flywheel in hand, and gave them specific instructions (none of which they followed). Long story short, they installed the clutch but not the flywheel (waste of $620), and didn't rebalance the stock flywheel when fitting the clutch either. I complained straight away, and they told me it was my fault for supplying them the clutch. I promptly reminded them it is the same clutch they would have supplied themselves. And they kept firm on their stance against dismissing my concerns, even though they know they didn't follow any of my instructions, and just went ahead and did their own thing against my advisement...

Long story short, the car went through 3 clutches in 80,000km. The last one that Mazda did themselves, was the worst of all of them, and only lasted 10,000km before it started grinding and whistling on my way to work. I know none of this is entirely Mazda motor company's fault, but it is the dealers fault AND RESPONSIBILITY. Mazda dealers are told by Mazda Australia to hold off warrantys on serviceable items until they are outside of the warranty period by using the good old line "it is within specification sir" (it is a very very poor benchmark they must use). Once the car is outside of warranty the customer is getting desperate to have the faults fixed, and consequently just cough up the dough themselves, and then Mazda's dealers still do the wrong thing by us and leave us with even bigger bill to pick up at the end of the day...

Maba, for these reasons I have taken a great interest in your particular case. I have to admit I knew what the outcome would be right after your very first post. And I truly believe that your dealer and TMCA had this intention in mind from the very beginning too. I am disgusted that they made you go without a car for so many weeks, just to string you along giving you false hope. When right from the very beginning they already knew your service history and that taking the engine apart wouldn't tell them anything they didn't already know from just looking at it from under a hoist...

All this is very unfortunate, as I'm sure it leaves a great distaste in your mouth against Toyota dealers and perhaps Toyotas in general, it does for me with regard to Mazda. Even if these events don't taint our perceptions of the vehicles sold by these ruthless companies, the product is still only as good as the backing it gets from the dealer that sells it to you and services it. Which, therein lays the problem.

I wish you good luck in finding a replacement engine, and even more so, a good mechanic that can do you future servicing.

Cheers, Gav.

Thanks Gav,

I had an issue with Mazda myself, I purchased a Mazda MX5 new with hardtop which I reported the hardtop with a hairline crack aprox 2 inches long in the paint in the front corner. The service manager said "virbally" that we will look into it further at the first service. Guess What happened at the first service???? They replied "How do we know that you didn't drop the hardtop yourself" Well how do you compete with that!!!!!!

Regards,

Maba

Edited January 19, 2009 by maba

[chicaboo]

If a service representative ever says to you "we will look at it for you", you know that's all they will do... As customers we need to jump up and down and be noisy the moment we see something is wrong, otherwise we're just paying for them to do nothing.

Gav.

[eviltwin]

i came accross classic dealership bull**** the other day when my mum came to me after her 140,000k service on her 2000 astina. The dealership were excelent until a change of owners a few years back. I read the run down after seing the 300 dollar bill and noted quite a few intersting things:

**Car requires four new tyres**

**Wheel rotation completed**

**general check over** 100$$$ ???

etc etc and so on so forth

my mum freaked over the tyres as she was travelling today to sydney and was concerned about the saftey of her and passengers, upon inspection the tyres were absolutly mint , i dare say 95% tread , that noted why rotate ****** tyres? what was checked to cost 100 bucks?

the car was only at the dealer a few hours for it's service.

my opinion - bull**** is smelt from miles away