2013 Scion FRS Denied J02 Recall

[Mr.ac]

So let me get this right, you had to tow the car to the dealer that was fucked up expecting them to fix for free and have it nice and running when you pick it up?

Sorry dude that's asking too much.

[RZNT4R]

Shit sucks hard.

Track car comments are unwarranted, being for the track wouldn't have kept the spring from failing, the only thing it would change is the would-be pilot would probably have counted on blowing the motor eventually, though later rather than sooner.

From what you seem to be saying, they're denying the recall because it's in the process of having cosmetic damage repaired and has mismatching vins on donor sheet metal, NOT because the engine number does not match the car right? Now that an asshat has already said no it crushes a lot of hope, all that's left to do is to try and escalate the issue, but the downside to that is the car will sit undriveable for months(?) while the situation is wrangled. THAT's the thing that would crush me and I'd reach for my tools to sort it out myself.

Truth be told, you could probably get out of this for the cost of one valve, one spring, a shim, one headgasket and a tube of threebond, that is, if you assume lightning won't strike twice. Not terrible out of pocket costs, it's just the situation that's hard to swallow.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by aemravan

just spoke with the customer care hotline again about this, they didn't have any of the information that was relayed to me by the dealer.

She had to call the dealer to find out exact details of why it is being denied. Only thing she told me was that "we stand by our regional representatives decision when they come out to assist the dealers in making the determination"

I told her when she hears back from the manager to give me a call.

Just for shits and giggles I asked, so if this does get denied, can I repair the recall items themselves and get reimbursed? She said "only a toyota dealer is able to do so, you cant do it yourself or have a 3rd party perform the recall"

I also informed her that if this does get denied that I want a written letter of denial with all the details and a signature from the toyota rep which I will be passing along to the NHTSA.

I am beyond fucking pissed at this point ... Don't really know what I'm going to do with it if it does get denied. Don't get me wrong, I am more than mechanically able and I am pretty certain that with some time I would probably do a better job replacing everything needed myself... but the point was to have the responsible company do the damn work. FML. I'll wait and see what they come back with..

Well, aemravan, I'm thinking that circumstances have you hemmed in.

I suggest that you go with your plan B, as bolded up above. Look at it as a "joint project" with you and your fiancé. The recall springs don't cost that much and you would have to have had to take your car's engine apart anyway. This way, you know that the repairs will be done right -


humfrz

[aemravan]

First of all, the car runs and drives. Just has a misfire on #3.
Second of all, I have never asked for anything to be done free. I would be more than willing to cover cost of non recall items. I have made that clear to them.

The car was taken on a trailer bc it's not registered and doesnt have a plate. Plus it would be silly to drive it considering it was showing symptoms of a failed spring (recall item)

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[aemravan]

Originally Posted by humfrz

Well, aemravan, I'm thinking that circumstances have you hemmed in.



I suggest that you go with your plan B, as bolded up above. Look at it as a "joint project" with you and your fiancé. The recall springs don't cost that much and you would have to have had to take your car's engine apart anyway. This way, you know that the repairs will be done right -





humfrz

Yea I think that's what I'm gonna do. I'm not afraid of the rebuild just figured it's something they should have done but oh well. Could have had it up and running by now

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[aemravan]

And just to clarify for future purposes of the thread,

The denial of recall work was NOT due to them finding that the engine was not original.

It also was NOT due to the fact that it has an existing valve issue on cylinder #3.



what the guy tole me was "being a salvage car with obvious front end damage, as well has having a bunch of stuff unplugged (again, only things unplugged are related to headlight/turnsignal assemblies) its obvious that someone has been in it already"

So per their claim, if you have performed ANY sort of work that isn't documented on their end it is grounds for a disqualified recall.

I am far from trying to get some free shit out this. And as mentioned previously I don't mind doing the work myself. And if I tear into it, it wont be to replace 1 valve, 1 spring and 1 rocker just to drive it back over to them to do the recall, if I do it it will be do do all the springs at the same time (though a part of me really wants to get the car back together, get everything "clipped in" and drive it back to have them pull the damn motor and do the recall anyway. lol

I'll see what they say monday next week but I am very little on hopes of it getting reversed.

I will still be requiring an official denial letter from Toyota Headquarters as to the reason the recall wasn't performed so that it is clearly documented. I will file a claim with NHTSA as well just to make sure that is also on record. And I will be pushing toyota to cover my $100 trailer fee to and from the dealer as I clearly described my situation before committing to get the car over to them. If they even remotely mentioned anything about "we will need to take a look at the overall condition" I would never have take my car there before I fully repaired it to begin with.



Lesson learned.

[EAGLE5]

To be clear, I'm not saying you're an asshole. If I thought you were, I'd say so no problem. No, I just think you look like a nightmare to the dealer. I don't think the Toyota peon on the phone would know that. That's just how it is. If you can fix this yourself, go for it. I bet Toyota could even claim that the valve spring broke because of the crash.

[ermax]

With all the bearing failures post recall I’m sure the dealers will look for any excuse they can to avoid performing the recall. Even if it’s something as stupid as a series 10 front clip that isn’t plugnplay. I suspect they took a brief glance at the car and saw some connectors hanging and just write it off without even identifying what the connectors were actually for.

I was following your other thread about the #3 valve not closing all the way. I don’t blame you for not driving it in that state. The recall is intended to prevent a broken spring but it also clearly says that the recall covers people that have already had a spring failure and from what I understand, salvage titles aren’t excluded from safety recalls.

I’ve not priced the valves and springs but I can tell you a gasket kit which includes the head gaskets is $240. You would also need 3 tubes of TB1217H which are about $20 each. The engine is incredibly easy to pull but rebuilding is a pain in the ass with all the sealant you have to scrape off and clean up. If you can’t get the dealer to do their job then at least your not going to be out of pocket a ton of money. Consider yourself lucky you can do the job yourself.

Oh also, if you do the work yourself I wouldn’t bother doing just #3 and then making another attempt to get the dealer to do the recall. The odds are high they would still say know but even if they said yes it’s not worth the risk of them not rebuilding it correctly resulting in spun bearings. If you do end up rebuilding on your own, use the recall instructions for all the packing related stuff. It’s way more detailed than the original service manual.

[Grady]

Originally Posted by aemravan

So per their claim, if you have performed ANY sort of work that isn't documented on their end it is grounds for a disqualified recall.

Lesson learned.

It is not any work. What that technician saw was shitty work. There is to much liability to the shop to work on your car. Take your car and get all the systems back functioning titled and registered. I bet there will be a different outcome.

[soundman98]

And don't forget, all dealers are franchises, NOT corporate run stores. It makes for varying policies and workplace ethics at every dealer.

I highly recommend putting the car back together and trying a different dealer.

I had a mitsubishi eclipse that i was doing some stereo work on, had the entire interior gutted to pull wire and install gear. I accidently blew the radio fuse, that on the eclipse is in a little yellow accessory block in the underhood fuse block. That yellow block allowed them to disconnect all the vehicle accessories while shipping the car, so shorting the radio killed everything from power mirrors, to interior lights, to the windows that i had rolled down.

Not knowing what this block was, i spent close to 4 hours looking for a fuse everywhere and not finding it. I finally gave up and brought it to a mitsu dealer in that state so they could fix it. They almost didn't due to the majority of the interior missing. But agreed to take a look at it begrudgingly. Important to note it was a 12year old car by this time, so there was no warranty involvement.

They found the bad fuse, and i learned an important lesson on fuses for $380(after all the required diagnosis time).

As an electrician, I've had a couple of jobs that are also like this, where the customer knows 'something about electrical' because their distant relative was an electrician(apparently it's genetic in some races), they butcher something up and then give up and call is in to look at it as a last ditch effort.

My boss always makes it clear in those situations that it's an hourly rate plus materials for whatever we find, and that while there's a guarantee on what we fix, and that expires if they start tinkering with the same devices--had a few customers where we would fix their crap work, they would tinker with it, screw it up, and expect us to fix it again for free.

Point here is that no one wants to walk into someone elses half-finished job being expected to warranty it. And no one wants to try warrantying a half-finished job because the liability for getting blamed for something else going wrong is huge. While you say you asked toyota corporate about the salvage title issue, you don't say if you asked them if the car needs to be complete. Which is really the issue at hand here.

So my suggestion is to give them a completely functional car if you want the warranty work.

[86TOYO2k17]

Sounds like you should have put the car back together 100% before going in, towed it across the street, drove it the rest of the way and never mentioned a salvaged title. And just say “my car is on the recall list for valve spring fix it please.”

Your car being partially put together with things unplugged and being towed in. Going in with so many “red flags” Is just asking for them to deny you. You could also try a different Toyota dealer with the aforementioned tactics and see what happens. They often times don’t document things very well or communicate up the chain or to different dealers, although with all your phone calls they probably have it all documented now.

[RZNT4R]

Originally Posted by Grady

It is not any work. What that technician saw was shitty work. There is to much liability to the shop to work on your car. Take your car and get all the systems back functioning titled and registered. I bet there will be a different outcome.

He can't do that because it has to pass inspection before being registered, and it won't pass inspection running on 3 cylinders.


It's the perfect shitty situation.

[Octane]

The only reason you will be getting denied is because of mismatched VINs. If this engine was not the original engine in the car its not covered by the recall. I've had one where the guy wanted to bring in just the engine and have us preform the recall on just the stock engine he yanked from the junk yard... We denied that too... Not my call, but it comes from above.

[aemravan]

soundman98

thanks for taking the time for that input. I certainly understand the point of not wanting to walk into someone else's job, especially since the risk is with the dealer as only 12-13 hours of labor are covered by headquarters.
I should have been more specific about the status of the car, though I am fairly certain they would still say "bring it in, shouldn't be an issue, we'll take a look"

Also, just to reiterate, anything pertaining to what they are working on/removing is fully functional, put together, intact. They are only using "salvage title/accident/unplugged harness" in combination to have grounds for denial. But its all gravy, im not sweating it too much, I do understand it to an extent.





As far as putting the car back together to get it over to them, that would be doing too much, and honestly... I have a feeling I would end up with a blown motor at the end of the day anyway which then they would DEFINITELY not cover by stating that it wasn't 100% when they started so they can't warranty their work. That is a battle I am far from wiling to fight in the future lol.



I am pretty confident I can have the motor out and apart in an easy weekend, and possibly replaced and ready to drop in the next weekend. Will just take some time printing out all the manuals and reading over them carefully just to make sure I know what I'm getting myself into with regards to the small details. At the end of the day its a motor. I've been in and out of my supra a bunch, replacing the valve stem seals last go around. So I already have all the necessary valve job tools.



My only concern is the extent of damage to the valve and if it did any damage to the guide or not.

I'm also not sure exactly what I would be replacing other than all spring, the rocker (which I am pretty sure also failed), the valve. I don't know if I should do the valve stem seals or anything else like that so it's off to more research.