It's been a nightmare so far owning my 05

[darkgun82]

I've had it right at a month today. First the alternator went out after a few days, now my wife calls to say she smells anti freeze inside and outside but can't find any leaks anywhere. She couldn't feel the carpet since she was working at the time but is supposed to call back. The real nightmare is more the dealership than anything. They have lied and avoided calling us back for the past three weeks, told us so much bs about the extended warranty price it's unreal. I feel they are avoiding us because they know the vehicle is trouble and are trying to get away with it. The vehicle is an 05 V8 Sport with 101k miles. Rust is nothing out of the ordinary, no noises from engine, transmission shifts great, everything looks great...but I'm sick of this thing and don't feel I can trust it since my wife drives it and hauls our 3 year old in it.

I'm thinking heater core but won't know anything until I get home. Any way to determine the problem for sure? Never messed with one other than helping friends on other vehicles

 

[having fun]

If you just got this ride and picked up a extended warranty, i would make/force them to deal with it, sounds like from you, that they talked you into the extended warranty and sould deal with it.
If they refuse, tell them you will be back, need to go see my laywer.

 

[NuclearN8]

you win the random venting post of the day :first: place

not to turn the knife when you already feel like you're being stabbed by the dealer, buuuuuuut the vehicle is 10 years old and has over 100K miles on it, it's gonna have some issues you're gonna have to work through. Overall it's a highly reliable model so the the bottom line is that if you're not happy with it, put it up for sale, lots of people love these vehicles so it will sell.

 

[S p a r k y]

I've had it right at a month today. First the alternator went out after a few days, now my wife calls to say she smells anti freeze inside and outside but can't find any leaks anywhere. She couldn't feel the carpet since she was working at the time but is supposed to call back. The real nightmare is more the dealership than anything. They have lied and avoided calling us back for the past three weeks, told us so much bs about the extended warranty price it's unreal. I feel they are avoiding us because they know the vehicle is trouble and are trying to get away with it. The vehicle is an 05 V8 Sport with 101k miles. Rust is nothing out of the ordinary, no noises from engine, transmission shifts great, everything looks great...but I'm sick of this thing and don't feel I can trust it since my wife drives it and hauls our 3 year old in it.

I'm thinking heater core but won't know anything until I get home. Any way to determine the problem for sure? Never messed with one other than helping friends on other vehicles

Stop calling the Dealer and show up. Only way to get what you want. I know that can be a hassle. But they aren't going to deal with you if the don't have to. Face to face is a lot stronger approach.

 

[radlynx]

i agree, extended warranty is a waste. read what you signed for the extended warranty. that kind of problem may not be covered so complaining will not really help.

if it's not on paper, you are out of luck. also, check if you are loosing coolant. if not, it could be that the smell is just mildew somewhere in the heating system/ac system.

 

[M1911]

That's a nightmare? My new 2000 GTI GLX was at the dealer 11 times in the first 12 months I owned it. That was a nightmare.

Near as I can tell, you have had two problems, correct? On car with 100k miles? This surprises you why, exactly?

 

[fdbyrne]

I think the number of problems you can expect depends on how much you paid for it. Little things will go wrong on any car that old.

For comparison... I bought my 04 SR5 4x4 one month ago with 120k miles. The interior and exterior are both pristine. So far I've changed out shocks on all 4 corners, the driver side CV shaft, 2 idler pulleys, the tensioner pulley, the power steering pump, and the fluids in the differentials and transfer case. I knew those things were needed when I bought it and got them to come down on the price enough to make it worth my while.

Older cars will have some small issues that you inherit. With that said, I don't know if anybody could have predicted a heater core rupture. I hope there is an easy fix for you.

 

[darkgun82]

I know it has 100k, and it's 10 years old. The extended warranty should cover the issues but they have lied about us getting the warranty like we should and being covered which is why I said the dealership is more of a nightmare than anything. I get stuff wears out and things go wrong, especially on a vehicle with 100k miles, but two things that put me out of driving in less than a month of ownership doesn't sit well with me especially the way the dealership has acted towards us. I've done body/collision repair for around 15 years so I'm not complete stupid which it comes to vehicles. Probably end up selling it and going back to the dealership I've done business with for almost 20 years, because they would at least try to help in some form since the vehicle just rolled off the lot.

The past 3 vehicles I've had one was totaled at 100k miles which is why I got the 4Runner, the other went over 250k miles without anything more than battery, tires, belts, hoses, brakes. I'm definitely missing my Ranger right now.

NuclearN8...did I win some bourbon, because I could use it right now

 

[darkgun82]

The coolant levels haven't changed one bit either. Going to park it until Saturday and I can dig deeper.

 

[fdbyrne]

Hang in there man. One thing you'll find about many of us is that we love our trucks but don't like the dealerships at all. . Most of us can relate.

 

[t-man]

The coolant levels haven't changed one bit either. Going to park it until Saturday and I can dig deeper.

maybe the core has already been replaced but some coolant was spilled and you are smelling it after the truck heats up. If it's not losing any coolant, no leak, period.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

If you just got this ride and picked up a extended warranty, i would make/force them to deal with it, sounds like from you, that they talked you into the extended warranty and sould deal with it.
If they refuse, tell them you will be back, need to go see my laywer.

That unfortunately is an extremely common practice (even at my dealership since Sales is completely separate from service), it's a very slimy practice too.

Sometimes they'll blatantly sell a borderline lemon by including a "discount" on the extended warranty. Its rather sickening... It honestly sounds like this dealership knew that this car had issues and now they don't want to deal with it after they've sold it. I wouldn't be surprised if they are ducking the OP's calls to make sure the vehicle is out of the grace period.

 

[zonianbrat]

I am sorry buddy but it sounds like you got stuck with a vehicle with issues that the dealership doesnt want to touch. I can relate with you on the fact that you miss your old vehicle that just ran forever with normal maintenance. Some people get lucky with these 4th gens. Personally, I love my 4th gen but they were not designed very well as far as "low maintenance costs". The wife and I bought a 3rd gen almost new and it ran fantastic with only routine maintenance for 248,000 miles until it was totalled. That says a lot considering my wife knows how to do nothing but push the skinny pedal. She is not easy on vehicles. She also had a Honda Accord she bought new when we dated that never needed anything other than routine inexpensive things to close to 270,000 miles. It did break a timing belt but that was more my fault for not knowing it needed to be changed at a normal interval. Anyway, I have had my 04 for 2 years and already had to put more money into repairs than both the other 2 cars I talked about combined....would have been a lot more but I did have a extended warranty and it covered quite a bit. It is not like it was a lot of problems it is just that you can not just replace a master cylinder with one from the store for 100 bucks. Instead you have to buy an over-engineered POS for 1700 before labor. Maybe I am old school but that is just retarded. You also cant just pull off bearings and put new ones in. You either buy the whole assembly or have to press them off with some special tool that not everybody has in their garage sitting next to their 20ton press (ask me how I know that). Then there is the known head gasket issues. Fixing that will cost 2K+. I was sour about it for a long time and I *****ed on here quite a bit!! BTW thank you all for listening. Yet I still love that 4 runner and will continue to drive it and put money into it! I hope your problems are minor and you can get them fixed for a reasonable price so you can enjoy it.

 

[darkgun82]

A manager at another lot this dealer owns said its BS the way I've been given the run around and should talk to the manager. I laughed and told him that is who I'm talking about. My wife has been calling because she knows how I'll react and be on the phone and she doesn't want me to go to the dealership.
She said she finally called him back and he "promised" he would call her back. I told her if she hadn't heard anything in the next 15 minutes I'm calling. Hopefully I'll be done talking to our attorney by then.