Rear hatch malfunction. Dealership has no clue.

S

shoeless

New member
Long story short, my rear hatch does not open and the window does not work. Not via dash button, key fob, or hatch lock.
Just had timing belt replaced.

Info on the vehicle:
2005 T4R
V8
102xxx
Purchased from another dealership last July.
Problem free.

Heres the long story:
I bring the T4R in to a local dealership on monday to have the timing belt and fluid change.
They call monday evening and tell me when the tech was putting it back together, he dropped the radiator and cracked a plastic piece. An aftermarket radiator could be installed on tuesday or I can wait till wednesday for a OEM part. I explain my lady NEEDS the truck by thursday morning to go out of town. They say no problem and I wait for wednesday.
Obviously they are paying for the radiator and I have worked in the service industry long enough to understand that things happen. Im very patient and understanding. I don't expect them to offer any discount for the timing belt work, but it would be nice.
So wednesday arrives and I go to pick up the truck after work. They apologize for everything and thank me for being understanding. Don't offer any discount, and thats fine. I pay and get my truck.
On the way out of the parking lot, I try to roll down my back window. Nothing happens. I stop, get out, and try to open the hatch....nothing. Not with the key fob, button, or in the hatch lock. It doesn't work. I am POSITIVE it worked over the weekend, before I brought it to them.
So I pull back around and tell them. They take it back, assuming its a fuse. It wasn't. They can't figure it out. I tell them I NEED my truck or a loaner that can haul 5 people and luggage by 8 am today(thurs). That became a mess this morning and I finally began to lose my cool with the situation. We get my lady a van to take and I wait to hear more on my truck.
Well, they still don't know what the issue is. The manager explains "they have spent hours and hours diagnosing the issue.......but you won't be charged for that." Yea, thanks. He also says the issue was not anything they have done but will keep working to figure it out.

So, at this point, I am on the edge of furious. I am a passive person and get that things happen but this is not going in the right direction. So this was some fluke that just so happen while the truck was in their possession?! It was not their fault? Is this manager gonna say I owe them for replacement parts?! And still not offer me any compensation for my troubles?

Help a brother out. Have any of you had similar experiences? How should I handle this? WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY HATCH?!

Thanks and apologies for the rant.
 
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Thanks. I had seen that before, but thought it only applied to windows not working. My hatch not opening either is what has me confused.
 
I had this happen to my vehicle. basically dead back hatch including the window. My problem was that the previous owner had done something inside that back hatch to the wiring and he did not attach all the wires to the hook that holds the wires away from the window when it rolls down. So when i rolled it down it pulled all the wires and caused one to pull apart and short out. It is a pita tracking the one wire. Once we found it (it was a brown wire btw) I spliced it back together and made sure to re-loom all the wires and attached extra loom-holders to keep the wires away from the window when it rolls down. Good luck and keep us updated on what the stealerhip finds.
 
Just got off work and had a message from them stating they believe it is the Body Control Module. He said they are not charging me for the hours and hours of diagnosis but the module is about $350...and thats what Im expected to pay.

What I don't get is, how I can bring them a perfectly functional vehicle, and now Im asked to shell out $$$ for something that happened while it was in their possession. They screwed up my radiator first, whats to say they didn't cause this?!

Ill be going in tomorrow to speak with them.
 
I had a similar problem when I had to replace the rear window. The battery was disconnected and after everything was put back together, the hatch wouldn't work. We fixed it by, plugging in a scan tool and resetting the hatch. hope this helps.
 
I have run into similar situations happen on these 4runners that im working on at my dealer. They have been the rear door ecu and sometimes the harness connector that plugs into the rear door ecu gets corroded. im assuming this could be whats wrong with yours but who knows. There is also a tsb for multiple rear door functions inop. I hope they know about this tsb. let us know what they find.
 
shoeless said:
Just got off work and had a message from them stating they believe it is the Body Control Module. He said they are not charging me for the hours and hours of diagnosis but the module is about $350...and thats what Im expected to pay.

What I don't get is, how I can bring them a perfectly functional vehicle, and now Im asked to shell out $$$ for something that happened while it was in their possession. They screwed up my radiator first, whats to say they didn't cause this?!

Ill be going in tomorrow to speak with them.
Click to expand...

I guess when someone takes their truck to their dealer,and signs the paper work giving them the go ahead to do something.
Were open to getting charged for anything,no matter it's something they the service Dept. caused or a real problem it had before.
I know many time today we just have to deal with our dealer,but I don't really trust mine and try to stay away from him.
 
UPDATE:
Went and spoke with the service manager on Saturday. We had a calm back and forth about the issue and responsibility. Essentially, they narrowed it down to the fuse block. He claimed there was a wiper fuse that looked arched and attempted to place the blame on me...or previous owner. I explained that I hadn't touched it and regardless of what the cause, this happened while the truck was with them...therefore, they should assume responsibility. Everything has been fine this past year of ownership and the week prior to them working on it. Quite a concidence it gave up in their shop. He offered to split the cost of the part and I politely declined. I then asked to speak to his boss. Being saturday, he said he would talk to him about it and get back to me.
They called yesterday to say they were waiting on the part and will be fixed on their dime.
Now I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the fuse block was indeed the cause and my truck is back to normal, working condition when I get it back.
 
I'll second gza526's comment as the possible problem and fix.

I had this happen to me a while back when I had the back hatch apart and was running wires for a reverse camera. I had unplugged the ECU for the back hatch to be able to unbolt some things to get better access but after putting things back together and plugging everything back in the rear hatch no longer worked at all.

Apparently this can cause a code to be thrown that totally disables everything to do with the rear hatch (open button, window, wiper, ...).

Not sure if unplugging the battery can cause this to happen sometimes too but I'm assuming the dealership unplugged yours while they were working on it. Did they check for this error code?

The solution is simple... Just need to have the dealership use Techstream to clear the code. Or if you have access to Techstream yourself you can do it. I could be wrong about this but I don't think a regular OBDII reader can do it (don't think it picks up the error code - or can clear it), only the Toyota software.
 
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Well, I finally got my truck back on Thursday. Replaced fuse block.

Now my damn tach doesn't work.:ybrick::ybrick::brick:

Anyone have a thread link for a fix? Id really rather not take it back to these incompetent idiots.
 
shoeless said:
Well, I finally got my truck back on Thursday. Replaced fuse block.

Now my damn tach doesn't work.:ybrick::ybrick::brick:

Anyone have a thread link for a fix? Id really rather not take it back to these incompetent idiots.
Click to expand...

I would call Toyota and ***** like hell about this Toyota Dealer,then I would find someone else to repair your 4runner.
 
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