'03 Fan clutch failure, and subsequent overheating in the middle of nowhere

My dad has an '03 V8 Sport Edition 4Runner with less than 16,000 miles on it (he uses it mostly for play).

Yesterday, on his VERY last day of factory warranty, the fan clutch stopped working, and the radiator overheated and popped off. :awais: Normally, not a big deal. Take it to the dealer and get it fixed, right?

Well, the problem is that unfortunately, he's out on vacation camping/fishing (and has his trailer with him) right now in a little town in Utah. He's been there since last Sunday, and had no problems towing his trailer the 425 miles there from Denver. This happened first thing in the day, so he lost all of his day yesterday figuring out the problem and trying to get it fixed. The nearest dealer in Rock Springs, WY refuses to do any work on it because he didn't buy it there, and they wouldn't send him the part because they refuse to ship it Fedex (apparently, UPS doesn't deliver overnight to the town he's in). Salt Lake City is the next closest dealer, but they're almost 300 miles away, and they also won't ship Fedex.

Well, to make a very long story short, he is taking another day (today) out of what was supposed to be his 5-day vacation to get a ride to the Rock Springs dealership and pick up a new fan clutch. Once he gets a ride back, he'll fix the truck.

I searched around in here, and couldn't find any other accounts of this problem (and I don't recall reading about any either), except maybe 1 (BlairB's) here, but it was unclear what exactly the problem was in that thread.

Anyway, just wanted to post this incident, and see if anyone else has heard of a similar problem. His truck is practically brand new, even though it is 5 years old. He takes very good care of his vehicles, so all maintenance is current. No idea why the fan clutch would just go bad like this, especially in such a short (mileage) life. Nothing special about the driving conditions (except it's pretty hot there; ~95), he was just tooling around on a slightly inclined paved road when it overheated.

As far as how Toyota has handled the situation so far - Total suckage on Toyota's part, IMHO. :bash: :upset:

I believe toyota corporate would be displeased to hear that a dealer refused to service a vehicle because it wasn't bought there. Thats not a valid reason.

Methodical said:

I believe toyota corporate would be displeased to hear that a dealer refused to service a vehicle because it wasn't bought there. Thats not a valid reason.

Click to expand...

:iagree: :wtf: were they thinking. Your Dad is going to run out and buy another, perhaps an '09 Trail Team based on his fine dealer experiences with Toyota. :FOS:

He's already opened a claim with Toyota corporate for reimbursement, and was trying to get a complaint filed against that dealer at the end of the day yesterday. I haven't heard from him today, so I'm not sure what has happened since.

What really sucks is that I was supposed to go up there with him, so we would have had a second 4runner (my '99) to help him out. I feel pretty bad that I didn't go now (I really wanted to, but other parts of my life precluded it).

I don't think this is a Toyota issue more so than the dealership. I would make damn sure heads would roll at that dealer.

Sorry to hear about his bad experience.

sounds like southern utah


where exactly? i have a place down there (get away house)

when i had mine fixed, they checked everything and couldn't find anything wrong but after my failure to accept the answer "nothing is wrong" they replaced the fan clutch, radiator and a few other small things and it fixed the problem

my radiator had some mud in it, but they were almost positive that was not the problem so we actually still never really figured out what exactly went wrong, but it only occurred while off roading and having the engine under heavy load (i.e. not just cruising around)

I have a 2003 SR5 with 112K, and I haven't had any overheating problems. I live in Mississippi, and we have had several days of 100F + in the past few weeks. On those days, over 95F the fan roars extra loud before shifting. However it only does this on very hot days. The fan clutch has fluid in it, and works like a thermostat. The hotter it is the faster it goes while using more engine power to turn it. A good way to test is to turn it by hand after it has cooled off. The fan blades should have resistance. If it spins freely, something is wrong with the clutch.

It was spinning very freely by hand after the failure. With all the radiator fluid that had blown out, my dad couldn't tell if the fluid had leaked out of the fan clutch or not.

Since he returned last weekend (no problems getting home with new part installed), I looked at the failed part very carefully, and found the problem.

In between a couple of the cooling fins, there is a small port (maybe 1/8" diameter) where it appears they fill the clutch with fluid after assembly. They then put a plug into this port (looks like an Al plug) to seal it, and then punch crimp it to keep it in place. Well, the plug is missing on the failed clutch (verified with the new, working part), so I assume all the fluid came out and caused the fan to stop working.

I'll try to get pics this weekend and post them up. Odd failure, to say the least!

PS - He was in Dutch John, UT. North-East part of the state.

Sorry to hear what happened. Any Toyota dealer has to service your truck regardless of where it was purchased. The only thing is they do not have to give you a loaner car. I would definitely go up the Toyota corporate ladder and see what happens.

My dad is running this up the corporate ladder; be 100% sure of that one. He is definitely not one to roll over and take it. He's already started a case at the regional level. Should be interesting to see how it pans out.