[rich_d]

I know that the fluids discussions are extensive and interminable, and everyone wants us to do it their way.

What I didn't know (until you just told me) were the details of the conversation you had. I hate being dealt with in a patronizing manner. Perhaps you encountered the unicorn of dealer service departments. 🦄

I totally hear you about being dealt with in such manner. dealers are frustrating, i've been treated like a complete moron in the past and one time i was telling the service tech the specs and who built the part they were replacing under warranty and he wanted to argue with me. i suppose that is why you and i prefer to just do the work ourselves so we know it is done right and don't have to have idiot conversations with ourselves to get it done right. we do however have swearing conversations with parts while working on them.. LOL

Ted just so you know i hope that i wasn't the "patronizing" manner you are referring too, believe me it isn't my intention. but it is often how dealerships treat people, which i don't like either.

 

[rich_d]

They really want to do that 490$ diagnosis lmao.


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yes they do. if it were up to me, i'd have a conversation with corp and also have my friend who is a lawyer and a fellow engineer see if it is worth his time to draft up a legal letter to "kick things into gear". often such a letter is all it takes to get things moving. this conversation would be for Toyota to pay for diagnostics and repair/replacement. and for what its worth, i wouldn't have the same dealership do the work again.
iggzee, you have grounds to do this. your stuff shouldn't be failing like this

 

[iggzee]

1. I'm trying to get them to give me the names of the techs who did the jobs because after reading the official documents and this forum I learned that they have to drive the car THREE TIMES to conduct their tests on the solenoid voltage fluctuations. They drove my car once - I am assuming - for 10 miles. Maybe that was enough, maybe not. But if they received an official requirement from Toyota to test drive 3 times (again I dont know how many sessions that takes, one or 3 separate ones) and they only did 1 - I have a case for one.

2. Another thing due to the official document I came across this portion...

3. My last argument is also from the official document - and this absolutely now pertains to me as I am out of warranty.

----

At this point - whether I get that information out of them or not. Next step is Corporate. How should I proceed with that? rich_d you are saying draft up a legal letter to Toyota Corp immediately as a form of initiating a case or once I file a case with them?

Thank you for all your help everyone. This is frustrating beyond belief.

 

[rich_d]

1. I'm trying to get them to give me the names of the techs who did the jobs because after reading the official documents and this forum I learned that they have to drive the car THREE TIMES to conduct their tests on the solenoid voltage fluctuations. They drove my car once - I am assuming - for 10 miles. Maybe that was enough, maybe not. But if they received an official requirement from Toyota to test drive 3 times (again I dont know how many sessions that takes, one or 3 separate ones) and they only did 1 - I have a case for one.

2. Another thing due to the official document I came across this portion...
View attachment 323484

3. My last argument is also from the official document - and this absolutely now pertains to me as I am out of warranty.

View attachment 323486

----

At this point - whether I get that information out of them or not. Next step is Corporate. How should I proceed with that? rich_d you are saying draft up a legal letter to Toyota Corp immediately as a form of initiating a case or once I file a case with them?

Thank you for all your help everyone. This is frustrating beyond belief.

Well, if you haven't talked to Corporate offices, i'd call them and pleasantly let them know what you are dealing with. you hopefully will be surprised and they will work with you. if they don't work with you, then start looking at lemon laws and possibly working with a legal letter or such.

if you outline what's happened to you first to find out what they will or won't do, then you can take it the next step. i just find when i go in ready to fight, often it doesn't go well. so i'm just throwing out suggestions and hope that it helps.

if they won't work with you, then you can talk to legal and see what your options are, many lawyers do some probono work and can give you advise. hopefully it doesn't have to go that way, but if you have a strong case, sometimes a letter that looks like you are taking them to court may move things. but i'd try talking to them first before throwing punches.

 

[jolly]

They drove my car once - I am assuming - for 10 miles. Maybe that was enough, maybe not. But if they received an official requirement from Toyota to test drive 3 times (again I dont know how many sessions that takes, one or 3 separate ones) and they only did 1 - I have a case for one.

Distance is not important. It's in a single drive but repeating the same test three times to confirm correct and consistent data : accelerate from 0 to 40 then coast. I don't know if Toyota keep the data. Your other 2 points are also relevant.

 

[iggzee]

Thank you for the advice rich. I wasn't even aware of "lemon laws" that looks to be one of the options if there's no help whatsoever.

They still haven't answered my questions from Wednesday. Went silent all day yesterday. Does it make sense to keep pressing them for answers or just start calling Corporate even if I don't get what I want out of them in terms of information? Maybe even explain that to Corporate as well?

Here was my next step: "Good morning, X. You have until end of today to provide me with the answers to my questions from Wednesday that went unanswered yesterday (Thursday, 2/18). Further action will be taken with Toyota Corporate against your dealership and repairs done to the transmission on my car in 2018 after that. Thank you"

Obviously at this point they don't care, as they were pushing for that expensive diagnostic multiple times throughout the exchange.

 

[TedL]

Read your state's lemon law carefully before getting too aggressive. In my nanNY state, it applies during the warranty period, usually where they can't get the car working right after 4 attempts to fix. Any coverage ends at warranty end. And doing a repair that "only lasts" ~50k miles ...would be a stretch to claim on second attempt.

But your state may do more to guarantee happiness. Good luck.

 

[iggzee]

I looked at VA's lemon law and sadly I'm not going to be qualified for it. Convenient for Toyota however and their CVTs + the nuances that go with those "repairs" - So at this point Corporate is the next thing. Should my contacting the offices be approached in terms of "filing a claim" ? or a "friendly call" ?

 

[TedL]

Always start with a friendly request for their help. Get the CSR on your side, not wanting to "screw that ahole". "If you can't help me, then who can?"

Plenty of time for sabre rattling after that.

Also, in my experience, the winners in class actions are the attorneys (surprise, surprise!!). You get three vouchers worth $10 each off a $250 service, times a million customers. On paper, valued at $30 million Lawyers gets $10 million cash, as 1/3 contingency fee. Yes, I exaggerate for emphasis. But only a little.

 

[iggzee]

I'm not intending to go the legal way honestly as it's a losing fight in this country and a costly one at that. Going higher to Corporate I guess would be the last hope for justice. If none of this works seems like it's heading into an out of pocket transmission purchase and labor and a complete distrust for Toyota products thereafter. What a bummer.

 

[TedL]

You are not interested in rebuilding, or no one local will rebuild it?

 

[iggzee]

You are not interested in rebuilding, or no one local will rebuild it?

TedL - there is a mechanic I know who already quoted me for $1938 of repairs on this. However, this is a last resort if I cannot get Toyota Corporate to cover the repairs after speaking to them next week.

Mind you the below quote is based off him running a VIN number and looking up the repairs - there was no physical inspection. I know that Joseph mentioned on the first page he thinks it's just the Valve Body while this quote is essentially putting in a used transmission. It's hard to even tell what the problem is as I am definitely not paying that $490 fee just to find out what the problem is.

 

[TedL]

I get that in a general sense, replacing the transmission is a repair to the car.

I was asking if there's no one who will repair in place, or completely disassemble and rebuild your tranny.

 

[Joseph Juguilon]

I get that in a general sense, replacing the transmission is a repair to the car.

I was asking if there's no one who will repair in place, or completely disassemble and rebuild your tranny.

CVT rebuild? You better off buying a new cvt. Or better yet a car


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[Joseph Juguilon]

TedL - there is a mechanic I know who already quoted me for $1938 of repairs on this. However, this is a last resort if I cannot get Toyota Corporate to cover the repairs after speaking to them next week.

Mind you the below quote is based off him running a VIN number and looking up the repairs - there was no physical inspection. I know that Joseph mentioned on the first page he thinks it's just the Valve Body while this quote is essentially putting in a used transmission. It's hard to even tell what the problem is as I am definitely not paying that $490 fee just to find out what the problem is.
View attachment 323566

What I would personally do is, before buying a valve body and installing myself, I would first buy a diagnostic test device from Amazon. It’s around 1k. Perform memory reset, calibrate, and test drive. Change your CVT fluid. If it don’t work, return the device from Amazon ,you only lost was the CVT fluid. That’s if you wanna diy. I have personally done a valvebody reset on my car when I first did the CVT fluid. It was very easy and there’s a manual instructions for it.
TLDR:
Buy CVT fluid, buy device from Amazon change CVT fluid(return after), perform memory reset, calibrate CVT pressures, and pray for the best. If your solenoids are plugged with gunk then you might be SOL.

Go the least invasive to most invasive if necessary


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[Joseph Juguilon]

Launch x431 V+ is the device, it’s the expensive one. Return it after use


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[rich_d]

www.car-part.com is another option to find a used transmission, i've gone thris route often for engines and transmissions and other parts for repairs.

TedL just wondering, but have you opened up one of these CVT transmissions? i'd be interested in seeing how challenging it really is to rebuild one... i've rebuilt transfer cases and manual transmission before. just curious

 

[iggzee]

I'll keep you guys updated next week on my dealings with Corporate. Until then my car is sitting at the dealership. Legally they can't do anything with it like tow it out - if I refuse the repairs or am in the process of talking to Corporate?

 

[TedL]

Legally they can't do anything with it like tow it out - if I refuse the repairs or am in the process of talking to Corporate?

Are you asking us (see the question mark) or telling us (sentence structure other than Q mark)?

 

[75aces]

Have you considered getting another opinion from a different dealer? IME, some dealers quote higher than average because they don't want to deal with this or they have inexperienced techs.

Toyota could pull their franchise if they want to at anytime. But again, it's going to be difficult to prove it was negligence on their part. Or they didn't do their due diligence to document their findings.

@TedL many shops prefer not to build in place these days. Many dealers and independent shops find it more lucrative to just R&R. Less down time and ability to take on new work. This is why it's a gamble all the time.

Buying a used cvt will not guarantee the repair all. It could be damaged internally and just not worth it IMHO. Op prefers to be made whole in this situation. As would I in this instance. They just rather take the easy way out and throw parts at it rather than actually diagnose it.

Op, if you live in the PA area, try reaching out to Pine Hallow Diagnostics to speak to Ivan. This is of course after to hear back from corporate. Ivan posted a video and even opened a Nissan cvt for his murano. He's seen it before.