toyota dealer goes back on promise to fix engine under warranty, please help

[phs1414]

i mis-shifted on christmas eve and check engine and oil light came on. my celica started making knocking noises about ten minutes later and barely creeped to my destination. i tried to start it the next day and it wouldnt. so the day after christmas i called the dealership and they came and towed it in. three days later they called and said that my rod bearing went out and they had to order a new block but it would be covered under the warranty. so about a week later i stopped in to see how everything was coming along and they said it would be a couple more days and the car would be done. about five days later they called and said a regional rep came and looked at the car and said because the oil pump was cracked that it was a definite over-rev due to driver abuse and they would not cover it. so they told me the news and told me to return the rental. ive called called everyone i can, met with the owner of the dealership, toyota usa or whatever it is, and still nothing. i guess the next step is arbitration but ive been told if i go to arbitration dont get the car fixed and seek my costs, wait until afterwards to get it fixed if they rule against me and try court. i know there are a thousand posts on this subject and ive probably read them all but im looking for any copies of service records of anyone who has had this same problem but had it covered under the warranty and any advice possible. and when i call the dealership the get my tach reading they say the readings are unclear as to what my rpm's were at the time of the incident. please help. my e-mail is phs1414@hotmail.com if anyone has copies of their service records or arbitration rulings in their favor. thanks for any help

[pnoygts]

Sorry to hear about toyota backing out on you!Some dealeres really suck takem to court!Gluck

[xNiNjAx]

What's the point? They don't have to cover it under warranty cause it was his own fault.

[JohnnyG101]

I don't think its the dealers fault....its the rep who came in and checked the car. If the dealer isnt goign to be compensated why should they fix your car for free?

[Sirk_2]

That really sucks, but what do you want? A free motor with free labor? You blew up your motor. Whether or not you did it while you were racing or not makes no difference. You fuked up. I understand that there have been many people that have gotten away with this, but you shouldn't be so surprised that you didn't...

[buckeye23]

Hehe...one of the advantages of driving an automatic...I don't have to worry about stuff like this. :chuckles:

[pnoygts]

yeh i have an auto too!

[Fiero]

You have two options:


1. Argue that Toyota has been fixing other cars for similar incidents under warranty since the car came out and question why you were specifically denied.

2. Go to your insurance and be prepaired for a rate hike.

[2kcelicaGT]

i would say try another dealer...

[alphasubzero949]

Originally posted by buckeye23
Hehe...one of the advantages of driving an automatic...I don't have to worry about stuff like this. :chuckles:

[2002GT_Celica]

You screwed up and the Toyota dealer probably hasn't seen something like this before and didn't think that it would cost that much. But when you take a look at an engine that has been over-revved, you quickly see that repairing it is a major financial affair.

They didn't want to eat the costs of having to fix your engine and transmission so they decided not to since legally they have no obligation to you. You screwed up and therefore you should incur the costs.

[xspwolf]

Few points:
- If toyota does not want to cover the costs, then there is no way dealer will pay the cost. Toyota backs warranties, not dealer
- It is YOUR FAULT. I dont care wtf you or anyone else were doing, but damn it guys how fast in Celica going in 3rd gear 8,000 rpm? 85mph? And then you try to speed shift into 4th... it is not as if you were cruising along and casually shifted into 4th... you were trying to do it real fast while breaking the speed limit and forced your shifter into the wrong gear... and voila, no warranty!

[v0idGT]

Go find a 2zz from a junkyard... and a good shop to put it in.

[oneflyasianguy]

what year celica is it? it makes a difference because they changed the shift gates to make them wider in 03s, if yours is a 02 or lower you can take them to court and blame it on the shift gates because by toyota changing them and making them wider they admitted that there was a problem with the original ones (which i have in my celica and love) either way i say fight it and deny everything, toyota and the courts dont know, you could have had a defective oil pump.

[Sirk_2]

Wrong
They changed the shift gates in 02

[gnes100]

my freind misshifted from 5th - 2nd casually .. now is that still abuse ?

[Brett]

Originally posted by gnes100
my freind misshifted from 5th - 2nd casually .. now is that still abuse ?

No but it could be considered neglect.

[xspwolf]

Originally posted by Brett
No but it could be considered neglect.

and very hard thing to do since you would have to actually push gear lever to the left to slowly force it into the 2nd gate.. i would think he doesnt know how to drive...

[gdog1982]

I say if they said that they would fix it under warranty then that should be the ruling. An oral agreement is just as good as a written one. If the dealer said they would cover it under warranty, then they say they wont do it anymore, then they are going back on their word. Regardless if your fault or not, if the dealer wasnt sure about whether they were going to cover it or not, they should of never said they would until they did a inspection first.

[phs1414]

thanks for the replies. it is a 2000 gts. sorry i forgot to include that. for those of you reminding me that i messed up, i know i messed up. im not saying that i didnt. i wasnt racing the car. and i do know how to drive a stick. ive never mis****fted in any other car ive ever had. but then again ive never had a six speed before. what im looking for and why i posted this was to see if anyone had ever won an arbitration case or a court case or if any one has ever had a defective oil pump that toyota covered. and i keep seeing over and over again about misshifts before the shiftgate was changed in the '02. the dealership even told me that the shift gate in my car was poorly designed and thats why they changed it. they said they would put in a used engine at cost but wouldnt warranty it without putting in the new shiftgate. wtf, thats basically telling me that the 00 shifgate sucks. i cant go without a car any longer so i have to get it fixed i just want to know if i could try and defend having a defective oil pump that wasnt due to an overrev. please help. thanks

[chameleon]

There are actually a few members on here who have had their engines replaced under warranty due to failure of the stock pump. A few of the people who had the stock pump fail on them put a bug in pro drives ear to try and get them to make a better aftermarket one that wouldn't break, and they succeeded.

http://www.newcelica.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=109145&highlight=stock+pump+fail

[oneflyasianguy]

Originally posted by Sirk_2
Wrong
They changed the shift gates in 02 well thank you Mr 4king know it all, :p:

[ringthree]

Originally posted by xspwolf
Few points:
- If toyota does not want to cover the costs, then there is no way dealer will pay the cost. Toyota backs warranties, not dealer
- It is YOUR FAULT. I dont care wtf you or anyone else were doing, but damn it guys how fast in Celica going in 3rd gear 8,000 rpm? 85mph? And then you try to speed shift into 4th... it is not as if you were cruising along and casually shifted into 4th... you were trying to do it real fast while breaking the speed limit and forced your shifter into the wrong gear... and voila, no warranty!

First, you can't overrev your engine (misshift) on an upshift. Second, I dont think he was asking for your moralizing, I think he was asking for help from other people that had this issue covered. Third, please think before you speak.

[TRDGTS026spd]

Originally posted by ringthree
First, you can't overrev your engine (misshift) on an upshift. Second, I dont think he was asking for your moralizing, I think he was asking for help from other people that had this issue covered. Third, please think before you speak.

dude.. if you read what he said carefully at the end he says "FORCE your shifter into the wrong gear" tryin to go to 4th and you go to 2nd pretty much.. however yeah he did **** up he doesnt need to hear it again.. listen dude with the misshift problem... you have some things on your side.. 1. its an 00 and they know the shift gate is crap. 2. they dont know the revs of the engine when this happened.. so there you could blame it on a faulty oil pump. you could take it to court and if there is low mileage on the vehicle there is a good chance that they will make toyota cover it... now i dont know whats been done to the car but another thing you could do is reset your ECU and take the car to another dealer and leave a jazz cd playing in the car.. trust me.. take off anything that would give them the "STREET RACER" impression if you can.. and you can always say "ACURA OWNERS DONT HAVE THIS PROBLEM".. threaten them .. say youll go acura/honda next time

[TRDGTS026spd]

my friend jay did that by the way.. he was told no at Stone mtn toyota and in atlanta toyota he took out everything in the car left a jazz cd or something like that in the cd player and it was lookin like atlanta toyota was going to say yes but they whined a bit and then i said to one of their guys.."pal.. just tell us that this will be covered.. or we'll go to honda/acura next time" and hell it worked.. gave him a detail and new car mats and all