[TX_Dj]

Guys & Gals,

I need a bit of help here... I am taking the truck to the dealer tonight and will leave it with them, but I wanted to see if anyone here has any suggestions or has had the same issue.

First, a little background. I am 34 years old, and have been driving manual transmissions since I was 8 (grew up rural). I have never had transmission trouble in any vehicle. I got 300,000 miles out of my last toyota without any major transmission or engine work.

Last May/June time-frame, I bought a new 2007 Taco, 2.7L 5M. It has been flawless over these last 17,000 miles.

Last night, as I'm reversing out of my driveway, there is a loud *PANG!* from the transmission, and now when I reverse it goes "rrr-clunkclunk-rrrr-clunkclunk" etc...

I used to be a mechanic, and have worked on enough transmissions to figure this must be the reverse idler, because all forward gears operate normally without noise or vibration... problem is only with reverse.

I have some fear, having only twice before making any warranty claim on any vehicle, and those claims were extremely minor (i.e. $20 sensor that's easy to get to, and a cooling fan also easy to get to) and have never had to have my vehicle's drivetrain disassembled to even look at a problem. What I fear is that toyota will come back and tell me they never seen this problem before, I must have been abusing the vehicle and/or wear and tear (over 17k miles?!)... I'm an optimist in all things except when I might be in a position to get screwed, so that's why I'm posting here.

1) Have any of you had similar trouble with this transmission?
2) Have any of you had to undergo warranty work for major issues within the first year or 17k miles? If so, how did Toyota and the dealer network treat you?
3) Do you think I have any need to worry? I really hate having other people work on my vehicles, but I'm not going to tear the transmission down and replace the parts under my own dollar or time...

Thanks.

 

[bobad]

Guys & Gals,

I really hate having other people work on my vehicles, but I'm not going to tear the transmission down and replace the parts under my own dollar or time...

Thanks.

Leave it to us X mechanics to fear "collateral damage".

X mechanics also don't have a lot of confidence in today's "service technicians", do we?

Your dealer may botch it, but probably not. In any event, they will eventually get it right. I'm betting they will just swap out the entire tranny. It could be worse. It could be an automatic.

 

[TX_Dj]

yeah, tell me about it. thank god I hate 'em. can't abide a vehicle that tries to think for me... "The only automatic transmission I need is installed between my ears." LOL

Yeah, well, i think ex-mechs fear modern service techs cuz we were there once, we thought we knew everything, and we botched a few jobs a year... everyone's human after all... I'd just prefer do all my own work so I only have one body to point the finger at if something goes wrong... but then again, I'm not used to owning vehicles with warranties!!!

 

[Sony]

They will most likely just swap the tranny and send the old tranny back to Toyota. They do this a lot because it takes less time then pulling the tranny apart and they are less likely to screw it up. Also Toyota takes the old trannies and investigates why they failed so that they can make better transmission in the future or fix problems.

 

[TX_Dj]

well it certainly makes sense from a corporate and customer service perspective...

I guess more than anything, I'm just worried about them coming back (even months after, if they do an autopsy and don't like what they see) and tell me "oh by the way, that wasn't covered under warranty) or some crap, sticking me with a bill, y'know.

I have an appointment w/ the service writer at 3pm, we'll see what he says.

 

[TX_Dj]

Just got back from the dealer (Pat Lobb of McKinney) I've never had any bad experiences there, and I hope this doesn't turn into one... but it has all the makings for one... especially since I was given a service estimate marked $0.00 and asked to sign it, then AFTER I signed it they wrote in $95.00. I'm sure it'll be a warranty repair with absolutely zero money out of my pocket, but I just tend to be pessimistic when it comes to dealer service... hope I'm proven wrong.

Furthermore, they asked if I could bring it in today at 3pm, I showed up about 15 minutes early, and then I was told they wouldn't even look at it until tomorrow... to which I asked "then why the hell did you have me leave work early to bring it to you today?!"

Just trying to stay level headed about it and not be "the irate/mean customer" because that guy never gets good service...

 

[TX_Dj]

this almost took a turn for the worse this morning...

i call up to talk to the service writer, and after about 30 seconds he says 'oh yeah, they just handed that to me, let me bring it up on the computer'

then he said 'ok sir, that will be $3450.00 for parts and labor.'

I said 'excuse me, this is a brand new truck, under warranty, all i did was put the dang thing into reverse and damage occurred... i'm not paying a flippin dime for this work.'

then he said 'wait, you're not the guy who serviced your own transmission and then drove it without fluids?'

i said '<expletive deleted> no, i'm and ex-mech, and i find that statement offensive... that transmission isn't even old enough to have required service yet!'

then he said 'yeah, ok sorry about that, had you confused with someone else, that truck was just out of warranty'

i said 'man, if my truck were out of warranty, i'd have spent this weekend tearing the transmission down myself to replace the busted parts... but it's not, and that's why it's in your shop instead of mine.'

then he said 'ok, they have to order a new transmission for it, it will be about thursday before it's ready.'

he didn't offer a loaner car until i demanded one, said he could get me one monday.

i'm still hoping things go well here... gonna be right mad if this changes my opinion of the dealership, which has been very high until this experience, and these sorts of experiences are what make or break a customer relationship for life...

still hangin' in there, trying to give them the benefit of the doubt...

 

[TX_Dj]

Picked up the truck last night, a day sooner than the service adviser had estimated. Paperwork showed over $2200 worth of parts and labor to be billed to Toyota, and zero expense on my part.

That's what I expected.

This morning, the service adviser called me to make sure everything is up to my expectation on the truck. We had a little chat, and I said "and I'm sorry we had that miscommunication early on."

He had to think about it for a few seconds before he let out an embarrassed laugh... and I took that to mean he really made an honest mistake when he told me it was going to cost almost 3500. :clap:

We had a couple good laughs, and I told him "thems fightin' words" and he said he couldn't blame me for my reaction, apologized again, and I told him I could tell they were slammed and he was incredibly busy- so I figured I'd give him the benefit of the doubt and see how everything turned out.

It all turned out well, all things considered.... but if they're really so busy that their salespeople can't attend to customer issues, and their service advisers are so overworked they can't take 10 seconds extra to explain things better, or to actually look up your info when you call in (instead of confusing you with someone else) well... they probably need to hire more people. Overall, it was a grating experience, once which left me feeling that the customer was not #1... but after it all, I realize getting the job done is #1 there... and that's really what counts, so long as the customer doesn't get mad or insulted. :naughty:

 

[DietoRemain]

wow glad to hear you had a good experience with a dealer.. one of the rare ones. haha.

 

[81shark]

did they say what was wrong? do you have a 4x2 or 4x4?

glad everything worked out.

and for the record, i've had good service in chicagoland and excellent service at Rouen in Maumee OH

 

[TX_Dj]

did they say what was wrong? do you have a 4x2 or 4x4?

Pre-runner (4x2). They don't know what's wrong, they did exactly what one of the other posters suggested, which was they ordered a whole replacement transmission from Toyota and sent the dead one back to Toyota. Undoubtedly Toyota will use it in QA analysis and hopefully design a stronger trans before my replacement blows out.

It was an issue isolated to the the reverse idler assembly, however... did not manifest in any of the forward gears. I still suspect a cracked bearing or the casing which holds the bearing...

 

[81shark]

glad they replaced it. hope its not a wide spread issue.

i'm at 28K and so far so good.

 

[TX_Dj]

as an interesting aside, i noticed something this morning... or rather, noticed the lack of something...

since day one, this truck always 'chattered' in neutral at a stop, and it was worse if the AC compressor was running. Rev up and it would go away, but at idle it would make a weird chatter.

that is GONE now, best as i can tell.


makes ya go hmm, eh?

 

[viper-2]

Keep us updated on this if you hear anything else. I have the same exact truck and trim as you. I am only at 11,000 miles and everything is ok...I'm hoping yours was a fluke. No chatter from mine at idle ever.

 

[TX_Dj]

put about 800 miles on it since getting it back last wednesday...

that chatter i mentioned came back in short order... just like it was before. i know it's nothing to be concerned about, it is due to the way the clutch is designed, i think. it's loud at idle w/ clutch out in neutral, and gets louder if i turn on the AC.

i won't worry about it unless the transmission dies again.