question about warranty

394 Views 15 Replies 3 Participants Last post by alessio87, Oct 13, 2006

alessio87

Discussion Starter · Oct 9, 2006 (Edited)

Awhile ago my car started acting weird and then finally a check engine light came on. I took it to my mechanic and he said I need to replace an o2 sensor but I was also getting a misfire code in my first cylinder and he would check it out. He did a compression test and told me my rod in cyl #1 is probably bent but to take it to toyota since the car is under warranty. Long story short the rod was bent and the service manager told me he would cover it if there was no sign of nitrous. I asked him if the part was covered otherwise and he said yes. He called me later that afternoon and said the warranty people won't cover it because I probably went through a puddle. I asked him if there was any evidence of the engine sucking in water and he said no. Then he told me to call my insurance cuz they will cover it but I have to tell them I went through a puddle. I ended up paying $2300 to my mechanic to replace my #1 cyl rod and #2 because it started to bend now too. My question is has anyone dealt with something like this and is there anyway I can sue to get them to pay for the work cuz they didn't want to honor the warranty. Any help would be greatly appreciated. By the way I have a sri and it sits basically on top as you all know so I don't see how I got water in through there.

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redTRDceli

· #3 · Oct 9, 2006

alessio87 said:
Awhile ago my car started acting weird and then finally a check engine light came on. I took it to my mechanic and he said I need to replace an o2 sensor but I was also getting a misfire code in my first cylinder and he would check it out. He did a compression test and told me my rod in cyl #1 is probably bent but to take it to toyota since the car is under warranty. Long story short the rod was bent and the service manager told me he would cover it if there was no sign of nitrous. I asked him if the part was covered otherwise and he said yes. He called me later that afternoon and said the warranty people won't cover it because I probably went through a puddle. I asked him if there was any evidence of the engine sucking in water and he said no. Then he told me to call my insurance cuz they will cover it but I have to tell them I went through a puddle. I ended up paying $2300 to my mechanic to replace my #1 cyl rod and #2 because it started to bend now too. My question is has anyone dealt with something like this and is there anyway I can sue to get them to pay for the work cuz they didn't want to honor the warranty. Any help would be greatly appreciated. By the way I have a sri and it sits basically on top as you all know so I don't see how I got water in through there.

If you would have left the car at the dealer and argued with the service manager enough, you *might* have been able to get them to cover it under warranty, but now that a non toyota tech has been in the engine, probably not. You could sue, but even if you win, the amount of money you would have to pay to sue them would consume most if not all or more of the settlement anyways. Hydrolocking more then likely isnt the reason your rods bent anyways. If you research hydrolocking on this site, you would have to submerge the filter in water before it sucked up any appreciable amount of water anyways.

Year/GT or GTS/Mileage/AT or MT?

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redTRDceli

· #5 · Oct 9, 2006

alessio87 said:
My car ended up being there for a little over a moth. It took them 1 day to take the engine apart and over a month to put it back together. The whole time I was arguing with them. I called headquarters to try to arbitrate but they didn't care. On top of that when I picked up the car my 12 inch sub and radar detector got stolen. They didn't care about that either so I called the cops. I was using my car for deliveries at the time so I lost a lot of work. I have a 2003 gt AT and at the time I had just went over my 36000 mile mark but the car should have been covered under the engine and powertrain warranty. I've had a couple of friends with hondas and the same thing happened and they ended up having to sue but they ended up getting a settlement. Some lawyers told me to just file the paperwork at the courthouse myself so I won't have to pay too much.

I went through something similar when i spun a rod bearing in my 01 gt. They tore my engine down in two days, but it took 2 months to get it back, and they still wouldnt cover me under warranty. 37,XXX Miles back in 03. I didnt feel like messing with it. As for you stuff getting stolen, i would think that their liability insurance should cover it. Honestly, if they want be *******s about it, technically your over the warranty. If you think you can get them to cover it, and the cost benefit will be worth it, then go for it. But remember, 36,001 Miles is out of warranty unless you bought an extended warranty.

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redTRDceli

· #7 · Oct 9, 2006

alessio87 said:
I understand I was over my 36000 mile warranty, but my 60000 mile engine and powertrain warranty should've covered it

I see, i didnt know you had an extended warranty. In that case, you're right, it probably should have been covered.

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redTRDceli

· #9 · Oct 9, 2006

alessio87 said:
I didn't buy the extended warranty that covers everything. Our cars come with a 36000 mile warranty that covers everything and a 60000 warranty that only covers the engine and powertrain. The extended warranty covers everything til 60000 I believe. What pisses me off is the service manager kept telling me that part would covered only if there was no evidence of me running nitrous which I wasn't. Then he switched up saying that I most likely got water in the engine which they had no evidence of either. I guess they were so certain I was running nitrous.

Wow, i had no clue the engine / tranny were covered to 5 years / 60,000 miles. I always thought it was 3/36 and that was it. I actually had to check toyota.com to verify.

What i do know about warrantys is that the warranty underwriter is who determines coverage with the service managers input. And the dealership has to do the repairs out of pocket and wait for reimbursement from Toyota. Some service managers try to avoid warranty work at all costs because of this.

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redTRDceli

· #11 · Oct 9, 2006

alessio87 said:
Yeah the service manager said the warranty underwriter rejected the claim because the underwriter said the only way a rod would bend is if water got in the engine there's no other way. I told the service manager that was bullsh*t because he saw my intake and my car would have to be almost completely submerged for it to suck in water where the intake is located the service manager said not necessarily. This whole thing is pissing me off. I don't know if I should do it myself and $250 for the courthouse to file the paperwork or if its better to get a lawyer.

Honestly, i would hire a lawyer, and stipulate in the filing papers that you want your attorney fees paid along with the suit amount. So if the lawyer want $1000 and the amount your seeking is $2300, then you want toyota to pay $3300. Also, the point at which your SRI would submerged enough to hydrolock your engine, i would think you would also have electrical problems, not to mention im pretty sure you would remember dunking the whole front end in a "puddle".

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