First step for the dealer is to satisfy the customer. The next step is for Toyota to figure out why a rear engine seal is leaking at such a low mileage.
I would add to satisfy the customer within reason. As for why the rear engine seal or upper oil pan is leaking, that's easy it's more than likely an assembly issue, not much else can cause that.
I think all manufacturers are cracking down on warranty work. However, I’ve come to learn that we as an industry have brought that upon ourselves. But that’s better left for another time.
When it comes to determining what’s warranty and what’s not. Our warranty clerk stated “If you absolutely without a doubt cannot prove that the damage was caused by the aftermarket part or gross negligence just warranty the part, it’ll cost us more in legal fees.” Maybe is a CA thing :spy:
My buddy works for a Toyota dealer and he said Toyota will kick back recalls and campaigns performed by techs that aren’t certified to do so. Thus, most techs don’t wanna certify, so all they are given is CP work.
Certification is a valid issue, the other half of it is that Toyota constantly is screwing over technicians and dealers with warranty parts & labor. For example we do an H0C recall to replace the rear bumpers on a couple years of Tundras. They give us a whole giant kit, but no new push clips (which get loaded with dirt and often break), if you try to warranty the clips (probably $20 for all new clips) Warranty kicks back the claim. Labor on some jobs is barely straight time, so people find shortcuts galore and so when they get audited they get slammed for not doing it the way Toyota wants. With most mid to higher certification level technician's days being 60~80% recalls most days that means they're probably not breaking even on flat rate because of labor rates. Then there's Toyota getting more and more picky about shit, leaking shock due to "failed seal"? Toyota kicks back the claim and goes "how did the seal fail?" **** if I know, there's a metal ****ing cap on the shock, you pay me to replace it not cut it open and do an engineering analysis. How else does a shock leak if not for a failed seal!? So now I have to rewrite my story to be some bullshit to make them happy for barely any pay on that job. This is a constant issue, not to mention the codes they give us are like 30yrs old and haven't been updated so you have to convolute your story to fit their very janky T1 & T2 codes sometimes.
There is a LOT of reasons why warranty work is getting worse in the automotive industry and dealers are getting pickier about it, not just Toyota.
Was there ever an acceptable explanation of how this happened? I mean whats to prevent it from happening again if you were only driving under normal dirt road conditions.
Probably not, because there's very little chance it'd cause it to fail. If the vehicle was submerged enough to get mud/dirt into the bellhousing up to the rear main seal, you'd have other issues in the vehicle probably.
Question for Toyota/Dealer employees - Are dealers required by Toyota to save failed parts for warranty claim for X amount of days for potential investigation?
*I realize this repair was done outside of warranty, just wondering
Parts for all warranty work and most recalls are held until they're not wanted basically. i.e. if we've done X Recall for a month or two usually Toyota has had enough failed parts sent back to have a sample size and tells us to toss stuff. If we replace something under warranty, the part is held until it is either called back and sent to Toyota or they tell us they don't want it.
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[MENTION=139152]4runner_RN[/MENTION]
You did say the vehicle has never been submerged up to this point correct?
Did they ever provide pictures and/or evidence of this "proof of submerged condition" to you? I'm still calling BS on that and I would strongly push on the corporate side of things to get reimbursed if you've spent any money and/or push they cover the entire repair.
