Drive Shaft/ Prop joint recall coming soon!

[BlackWorksInc]

my bimmer got great customer service from the dealership. I have not, however, been given the same from the Toyota dealership. They wanted $120 to run a 5 min diagnostic computer check on the runner a few weeks ago. Do they have a plastic surgeon doing the work, or???
the runner is most likely above average for reliability, but it's not as good as I expected/heard/media gave toyota is all.

Actually they kinda do have a plastic surgeon doing the diagnostic. They don't give those diagnostics to the Lube Techs, they give them to the Master or Master Diagnostic Techs, so while its only a few minutes, the job may pay .5 hours at their rate rather than say a Lube Tech's rate, plus the cut for the dealership and service writer. Stupid I know, but its how it works...

Also ran into a Factory Rep today and spoke to him a little, he hadn't heard anything about a TSB/Recall for the 4Runners. Its starting to look more like hearsay... I still have hope but it seems unlikely... :moping:

 

[pullagnm]

This would be great. I've never been able to get rid of it, and I was told it was the way I drive. Official name "Spring Rap"

 

[JB.]

I see you are in Nevada. I am in Lake Havasu City, Arizona and off road a lot in the desert. As you know it gets extremely dusty off roading. I grease mine usually every 4k or so and have around 63k miles on the 4runner. Maybe I am just lucky to have never had the thump. I use Valvoline multipurpose grease which says for Toyota use. I just looked in the factory shop manual. For the u-joints it says to use lithium base chassis grease NLGI no. 2. For the slip joint it says to use Molybdenum disulphide lithium base chassis grease NLGI no. 2. I do not know what this means but apparently we should be using 2 different greases. I have always used this Valvoline for both. This is what I use Valvoline 615 - Grease Cartridge | O'Reilly Auto Parts It looks like it does not have the molybdenum in it but it has worked for me.

Yeah, to go by the book you can use non-moly for both but if using moly then you'd need two greases.

I've always used Valvoline Durablend which has moly, whichs means maybe not the best grease for the spiders but they don't show any wear. Maybe I'll try the stuff you linked to.

 

[truckmike26]

perhaps we have different philosophies when it comes to car ownership. I don't mean maintenance, that is a moot point.
If i spend 18k on a new econobox, i don't act surprised when parts are cheap and flimsy. I don't act surprised when the design teams made it to last 4-5 yrs before it rusts right out.
I expect more from a 35k TOYOTA, since TOYOTA is so damn reliable and fail safe. Our points were that no, the 4th gen has lots of problems (and this is coming from a service manager at Toyota). There is no reason this thing should have a clunk in th drivetrain, nor should it tick like a diesel. There are people on here with low mileage 4th gen that have this tick, and Toyota tells us it is 'nothing' to worry about, just some piston slap?
I wonder if those people who tell us to forget about it would have the same reaction if it was their hard earned cash paying for this vehicle?

It's got more to do with reasoning. If, for argument's sake, this was a Corolla forum and Toyota charged $35,000 for new Corollas then you'd be justified -- you paid a premium for something worth twice as much for what is essentially the same thing -- a Civic -- yet with zero benefit and more headaches. It's as if I joined an RV forum and lamented in my posts that my $70,000 motorhome should be more reliable than my $35,000 4Runner because it costs more.

Honda doesn't make a body-on-frame SUV with a two-speed transfer case so the Pilot and Ridgeline are the vehicles it builds nearest in price, weight, performance and capacity -- two excellent vehicles I'd be happy to own.

 

[truckmike26]

Actually they kinda do have a plastic surgeon doing the diagnostic. They don't give those diagnostics to the Lube Techs, they give them to the Master or Master Diagnostic Techs, so while its only a few minutes, the job may pay .5 hours at their rate rather than say a Lube Tech's rate, plus the cut for the dealership and service writer. Stupid I know, but its how it works...

Also ran into a Factory Rep today and spoke to him a little, he hadn't heard anything about a TSB/Recall for the 4Runners. Its starting to look more like hearsay... I still have hope but it seems unlikely... :moping:

(Getting off-topic -- sorry.) I was a service advisor at a Madza dealer 10 years ago. My "cut" was five percent of any labour revenue $20,000-up per month. That is, at the end of the month, if I "sold" $20,100 worth of labour (at $74/hour), I'd get $5. My hourly rate was $9/hour. The point? Except for a few key positions, working at a dealer is barely half a rung higher than working at a big box electronics store. Car dealers are typically family-owned and the family enjoys a lop-sided proportion of the profit.

 

[03_4x4Runner]

(Getting off-topic -- sorry.) I was a service advisor at a Madza dealer 10 years ago. My "cut" was five percent of any labour revenue $20,000-up per month. That is, at the end of the month, if I "sold" $20,100 worth of labour (at $74/hour), I'd get $5. My hourly rate was $9/hour. The point? Except for a few key positions, working at a dealer is barely half a rung higher than working at a big box electronics store. Car dealers are typically family-owned and the family enjoys a lop-sided proportion of the profit.

In the small town I live in the workers at the dealer drive beaters and the owners are out on their boats or adding on to their million dollar homes.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

Our dealership is not family owned, we are owned by AutoNation/AutoWest. And honestly I don't know what cut the service writers get. But one of the guys totaled his old C6 Vette and replaced it with an '10 ZR1.

I'm not saying that they take all the money, it just gets split up and the workers (Writers, Techs, Parts Clerk, ect) don't get nearly as much as the actual dealership does.

 

[MICA4R]

Can we petition :gun6: Toyota to give us new driveshafts?

Someone, anyone... a lawyer? help me out.

I'll do the legwork if you point me in the right direction!


Wait a minute... Maybe I should post this on the BMW 7series forums, I'll have better luck finding a lawyer!

 

[3TonMike]

Until drive shafts thumps cause conditions that lead to accidents and deaths. Toyota, will never "recall" them. They may issue a "tsb" that extends the warranty or resolves a known failure. To save repair costs on the remaining runners still under warranty. In reality about 70% of the 4th gens are out of warranty. Toyota is not going to volunteer millions of dollars, replacing drive shafts on the non current gen of vehicle. I don't get my hopes up on things like this. I grease mine every oil change, it is, what it is.

 

[Gatafly]

Is there a Zerks fitting for greasing this joint? If not, how is it done and does anyone have pics? Just wondering for when my new to me 4Runner arrives in about a week.

 

[glock56534]

Can we petition :gun6: Toyota to give us new driveshafts?

Someone, anyone... a lawyer? help me out.

We can send all the letters/petitions we want, but it won't do much. Unless the current driveshaft has a design defect that causes the vehicle to have dangerous propensities, there isn't really any cause of action. First of all, as far as I am aware, the "clunk" is just a matter of inconvenience, annoyance, and personal preference (or lack thereof). I don't think it poses any unreasonable risk of harm to users of the vehicle or others on the road or hinders the normal use of the vehicle in any way. Furthermore, even if the current driveshaft poses some unreasonable risk of harm, we would have to prove that Toyota could have made the vehicle safer, without serous impact on the vehicle's price or utility.

This would involve proving that the cost of the replacement would be extremely small in comparison to the risk of harm with the current driveshaft. The cost of such a recall would be extremely expensive for Toyota, and, as far as I know, there is no real risk of harm with the current driveshaft.

Thus, it would make absolutely zero sense for Toyota to fork over the several million dollars for something that they are under no legal obligation to do (aside from goodwill). They do not face any apparent liabilities from the "clunk" because it does not pose any risk of harm that I am currently aware of.

However, if there is something about the "clunk" that makes the vehicle unreasonably dangerous, Toyota may consider replacing the driveshafts in an attempt to eliminate any potential future liability, and it would cost them some serious coin.

 

[03_4x4Runner]

Is there a Zerks fitting for greasing this joint? If not, how is it done and does anyone have pics? Just wondering for when my new to me 4Runner arrives in about a week.

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/maintenance/28414-07-v8-4x4-zerk-fitting-pics.html