Pissed at the dealership, more pissed at myself...

sharp4runr

sharp4runr

New member
I took my 4Runner in last week to get the 10k service, lube the sunroof since it was squealing and also have them do the sulfur tsb.

Well they got the first 2 done, but they ordered the wrong cat (v8 instead of v6). They told me they'll order it and to bring my truck back. Well I took it in today to get the cats replaced. I went to pick it up and everything is good to go. I drive out after letting it warm up and I gun it to check their work. Well it's great no more sulfur smell so far. I look down at the dash and both the VSC OFF and VSC TRAC lights are glowing amber. Pissed. Well I toss it into 4WD. Both lights on. Put it back on 2WD, still on. Throw it back into 4WD, then lock the center differential. Still on. Pissed, I say... Well I drive back into the dealership and while parking, I scratch the truck next to me. My front passenger bumper scrapes his rear driver bumper. The kicker is it's a Pac Blue SR5 2004 I think. I blow my top. I'm pissed at the dealership and I'm more pissed at myself for messing up both of our cars. Well no one was in the truck at the time so I go to the service booth to see who's truck it is. No one knows since all the service people are gone, only one left is the cashier and and some lot attendant. Well I give them my card, and I leave another card on the 4Runner's windshield wiper. I called my insuarance to let them know what happened.

Well, I'l be calling back my INS tomorrow. Dropping by the dealership to have them look at my truck again and to see if I can find the dude's contact information.

:sadwave:

July
 
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Sorry to hear about your truck getting scratched.

It sounds like they didn't calibrate the ECM correctly. That's probably why your VSC OFF and VSC TRAC lights are on.

This is exactly why I am skeptical about taking my truck in for the sulphur TSB. At least the smell is gone though. Let us know how things turn out.
 
That's funny. I dropped mine back off at Lustine the other night after having the sulfur smell fixed. 2 days later my check engine light, VSC TRAC and VSC OFF lights came on. They say it was a loose wire, but I find that hard to believe now that I hear the same thing happened to you.

When I was dropping it off, I noticed a nice 4runner parked next to me with a T4R.org sticker. Man I need to get one.

Now for the funny part. It was my truck that was hit.

I was so relieved that you had left your business card on my windshield. I guess if I had gotten my T4R.org sticker then you could have just contacted me here and we could have left the insurance people out of it.

Thanks again.
 
Patrick?

I talked to the service manager and they'll be looking at in Monday. I think when they flashed the ECM, they might have done it wrong. Maybe they put a 2WD program instead. Well I'll let them know that there is another 4Runner that they did that is having the same problem. If you could let me know how they fix yours I'd appreciate and I'll do the same if they fix mine sooner. I'm sure other people would like to know as well in case it happens to them.

Sorry we couldn't have met under better circumstances :( I called my INS today and gave them your phone number. They should be contacting you soon.

July
 
Lustine told me it was the #2 wire that was loose. So you let me know if they tell you the same thing or something else.

Your Insurance company did call me. However, like I said on the phone. I have been in your place before. When I hit someone else's bumper pulling into a parking space the total to fix his bumper was like $250. My insurance company at the time wanted to raise my rates by like $260 every 6 months. I quickly switched after that.

I have a friend who's wife works for State Farm so I am trying to get in touch with him to ask a question. I want to know if I do not have them fix my truck will you still be penalized by the insurance company. If I find out that you will not, and the estimate to get it fixed fits your budget. Is this something you would like to do? If so then I will get it looked at and then send you a PM letting you know the cost.
 
Do you know who you spoke to about it? The service writer I've been going to is Brian Foster. I called him on Friday inquiring about the VSC lights and the first thing he said was that it's probably because one of the tires is low on pressure. This can cause the VSC to malfunction. This is what I thought of that... :FOS: I told him, I'd check the tire pressure but didn't think it'd be that, but I'd take in the truck next week since he was off on Saturday and I'd hate to waste a Saturday. Later after talking with the Service Manager Chris (Tall slim guy with glasses and gray hair), he mentioned maybe a loose wire. Then I mentioned that part of the Sulfur TSB was to reflash the ECU. He thought that may be a prolem too but as with most managers wasn't very technical so take that with a grain of salt. Anyways, I'll have them look at it on Monday.

Go ahead and check with your contact and get back to me. I have liablility on my INS so I don't have to pay anything right now, but if they try to pull that crap with me I'll cancel them in a heartbeat. I've got my home coverage with them too, so I'm sure they'd hate to lose my business. Also I've been with the same INS Agent since I started driving and my parents have been using him as well since I can remember.

July
 
My friend asked his wife and she says that for State Farm if the claim is less than $750 then it should not affect your policy. I will still let you know what the estimate is and we can take care of this without them if you want.
 
What's a coincident ! Two T4R.ORG members. Sharprunr, sorry to hear that you had some bad days. Hope your Truck will be fixed soon. However, it is good that you & Tribe both handled it well.
 
Hopefully your VSC problem got fixed. My lights came back on again today on my way home. I guess I will have to take it back again. Can you let me know what was "supposedly" wrong with yours?
 
dcampen said:
sharp4runner,

Your animated sig, any animated sig, makes it very difficult to read your posts.
Click to expand...
Sorry, in advance, for continuing the off-topic discussion. Yeah, I think it is pretty distracting too. It makes the forum less work safe and it takes my mind off our runners.
 
Last edited:
Patrick, let me know what the estimate is and I'll think it over. If it's not too much I'll just pay out of pocket, otherwise I'll let Statefarm take the hit. I've been paying for years without ever making a claim. If they try to bump up my premium, I'll drop them like a bad habit. I dropped off the truck this evening and hopefully it'll be fixed by tomorrow. I'll keep you posted on the happenings. Sorry to hear about your continued problems with yours. I was really hoping you got yours fixed so I'd know what it was before I took it in.

Linh, hope to see your rig back on the road. Any ETA when it'll be back from the bodyshop? My "fender bender" pales in comparison to what you and your truck went through.

Ok guys. I took the hint. Freaky deaky pony rider has been removed. :arrow: I work for the federal gov't and they didn't say anything. Maybe because I'm part of the IT Department or they're waiting until Friday ala Office Space :D ;):

July
 
Ok, they said it was a loose electrical connection. They cleaned up the plug and put it back in and then cleared the codes. For all I know they just cleared the codes and sent it on its way. I'll be picking it in up in a few hours and I'll update if it comes back. Fingers crossed.

This is the first time I've regretted buy the 4Runner. It's been so reliable. Then the sunroof starts making grinding noises. Fixed that. Had the TSB done for the Sulfur Smell. Took 3 times going to the dealership for it so far and hopefully that will be it. They also relubed the tracts on the sunroof since the grinding noise returned. I know that other than the sulfur tsb, everything was pretty small stuff but still I have to take time out of my day to get them fixed.

July
 
Ok, here is an update on what they did to the truck. On the work order it says that they repaired shorted terminals of DLC Sensor. It took them .2 hours to do, though they had the truck all day :mad:

The tech was Zachary Cole and Tim Shanahan was the service manager who did the write up for me.

I drove it home last night and the lights never came home. Drove it to work through stupid stop and go traffice on I95 and still working like a charm. Keeping my fingers crossed. Hope that hleps Patrick.

July
 
Hopefully everything is fine now. It sounds like it was a pain. That's why I'm a bit skeptical to get the sulphur TSB done....but that smell drives me crazy.

So the smell is gone? Do you notice any power loss?
 
I still occasionally smell it, but it's no where near revulting as it was before. Just like the dealership said, it's helps but it's still there. After all the pain, I'd still get it done because I couldn't stand the smell before. No power loss was noticed.
 
Sharprunr, Glad that everything is going alright now.

My SUV should be done in 2 weeks or so. They just asked me where did I purchase my dashkit so they can order it. Although they only need 2 pieces of the dashkit, they will have to order the whole set. I wish I can keep the left-over pieces for backup.

Will join you in two weeks and we can have the group meeting again on October.
 
Well I had mine in there this morning and they are telling me that it is the O2 sensor. I don't see how that would cause all of these lights. But I will let them try that. They needed to order the part so it will be a couple of days. I know what you mean about kinda regretting the 4runner now. I like my 4runner but I hate where the dealership is located. It is out of my way. Tim Shanahan is my service manager as well. In the mean time I have to drive around with all of the lights on. I am going to try to take it tomorrow for the estimate. I will let you know.
 
Does anybody know if the 05s have this issue? It almost sounds like the TSB is some kind of workaround and not really a fix.
 
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