At the start of 2016, whilst traveling from Brisbane to Adelaide, my 2008 Diesel Hilux, which had done 237,000km, suffered a complete failure of the Auto Transmission main bottom seal, 60kms North of Hay, NSW.
Fortunately the day was only 27c with a cool breeze blowing, because the oil blew out over the exhaust, causing heaps of smoke, but the vehicle did not catch on fire.
I had noticed that after numerous services at two Toyota dealers, there was no mention of servicing the transmission, so I asked the service departments why not and received the answer that it was “inspect” only, they did not even know how much oil the transmission used, one service manager even stating that if they serviced the transmission it would void my warranty.
It took over two weeks to get the transmission repaired, the cost was almost a week of holidays lost, $5,300 to get the transmission repaired, $1,000 for a hire car and a week of extra living costs in Hay, NSW.
I spoke to the Auto Transmission repairer, who confirmed what I believed, that if the transmission had been serviced at regular intervals and the oil changed, it would most likely have not failed.
My attempts to contact Toyota via email were all unsuccessful, it seems that Toyota do not want any written contact, only via telephone to a very unhelpful operator.
If anyone can advise me how I can contact Toyota via email, I would be grateful, thanks.
I've recently had a similar issue. My 2012 SR5 diesel, at around 135k, recently had a torque converter failure. Driving from Chinchilla to Gold Coast, disaster struck in Toowoomba halfway home.
The torque converter failed, and was completely replaced at a cost of $6500 by an automatics specialist in Toowoomba (at the recommendation of the bloke at Toyota in Toowoomba who first diagnosed the problem). Toyota were going to charge $9000. Two weeks without a vehicle, hire car costs, etc etc.
The vehicle was purchased brand new from my local dealer, and has had every single service at the same dealer since. The vehicle has done zero towing, hardly done any work whatsoever, 95% highway miles with no load. A couple of Cape York/NT trips with a bit of weight in the back. I should mention that the alternator died for no apparent about 10 months earlier (1 month out of warranty) - while I was up the Cape of all places......
At the time the torque converter failed, the vehicle was less than 12 months out of warranty. The Auto specialist said he'd only seen a couple of new Hiluxes do this. Toyota of course said they'd never heard of this issue before....
I bought a Hilux, and spent the extra money, because I didn't want these sorts of inexcusable failures. The vehicle has not been worked hard at all, has been serviced perfectly, I've supported the dealership where I bought it, done everything exactly by the book.
What I'd like to know is - is there any point whatsoever in me writing a letter to Toyota? Or would that be a complete waste of my time?
Hilux SR5 trans problems
in Hilux Club
Posted
I've recently had a similar issue. My 2012 SR5 diesel, at around 135k, recently had a torque converter failure. Driving from Chinchilla to Gold Coast, disaster struck in Toowoomba halfway home.
The torque converter failed, and was completely replaced at a cost of $6500 by an automatics specialist in Toowoomba (at the recommendation of the bloke at Toyota in Toowoomba who first diagnosed the problem). Toyota were going to charge $9000. Two weeks without a vehicle, hire car costs, etc etc.
The vehicle was purchased brand new from my local dealer, and has had every single service at the same dealer since. The vehicle has done zero towing, hardly done any work whatsoever, 95% highway miles with no load. A couple of Cape York/NT trips with a bit of weight in the back. I should mention that the alternator died for no apparent about 10 months earlier (1 month out of warranty) - while I was up the Cape of all places......
At the time the torque converter failed, the vehicle was less than 12 months out of warranty. The Auto specialist said he'd only seen a couple of new Hiluxes do this. Toyota of course said they'd never heard of this issue before....
I bought a Hilux, and spent the extra money, because I didn't want these sorts of inexcusable failures. The vehicle has not been worked hard at all, has been serviced perfectly, I've supported the dealership where I bought it, done everything exactly by the book.
What I'd like to know is - is there any point whatsoever in me writing a letter to Toyota? Or would that be a complete waste of my time?