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Toyota Tundra: Problems & Solutions
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Comments
Flyingfish2
how was this ever resolved. i just had this exact thing happen this past week with my 2001 tundra. dealer said it was torgue convertor and that they would also have to replace transmission. the truck ran great until this past week and had no problem after i finally got it started. dealer said it would cost about $2,900 to fix. i just don't trust them....
do they blame the truck bed liner and it rubing on the bed??
what was their reason exactly.
My problem is I can't grease the front u-joint. The joint doesn't open up far enough to put the grease gun on the fitting. Haven't had it to the dealer yet. I just bought it last week. please help!
2/ Do not let the dealer talk you into just replacing pads and turning rotors to solve the warping problem. Comes right back, Cha Ching!
They sell towing packages with the intention that they will be used. If I buy a truck with AC, but don't use it for 4 years, I would expect it to not work as advertised too. Don't expect a letter in the mail from the dealer or a Toyota service bulletin to tell me that.
I have pulled the front panel off the dash around the radio hoping to find the light but no luck. Does anyone know where the bulb is located and how to get to it? Thanks much.
Thanks Papalou56
I changed the spark plugs myself, using recommended Autolight plugs. While doing the job, I found the original plugs to be dual electrode. I used the new plugs and the light activated. I then installed Bosch Platinum dual electrode plugs but need to reset the indicator.
I know GM codes can be read and reset using a paper clip. I have done it successfully, but am afraid to try on the Toyota.
Brake rotor warpage is common, and seemingly chronic in at least '03 and earlier tundras. Amazing, with 4 pistons per caliper, that the system would contain this flaw.
Some people wonder about ceramic pads, but I think this traps more heat at the rotor face because they're really insulative.
Some people are considering slotted rotors, which would be great for dissipating dust and some heat, but then you could actually create more heat on the metal under heavy braking because you have less metal contact with the pads. Also, I may be wrong, but it used to be that you could not have slotted or drilled rotors turned - they're not serviceable.
I'd look good semimetallic or metallic pads that have the cleaning grooves in the pads themselves. Either that, or get fibrous (like Kevlar) pads. Me, I just quit riding the brakes and it seems okay these days.
The O2 sensors were bulletined for earlier Tundras. I had both mine replaced free, and they replaced my intake manifolds too - also free. Before that, the engine ran really lean, feeling "dry" and lacking smoothness, and triggering the Check Engine light chronically.
There is a lurch in the A340-series transmission, usually in 3rd gear upshift under heavy acceleration, and this can sometimes take the rear differential out. This is not a broken tranny but seems to be an inherent quirk of these transmissions in the V8 Tundras.
My torque converter went out at 93k miles. Seems like the lockup pistons got trashed. Found a rebuilt torque converter at drivetrain.com for $100 plus core. They have tranny rebuild kits for about $250 that includes juswt about everything (excludes the torque converter).
Lots of people report stalling when coming to a stop or going out of Park. In my Tundra, this was due to the fuel pump starting to fail. This also happened in my GMC van, and it was also the fuel pump. Both were repaired and the problem went away in both vehicles. The GMC was done at a garage for about $280; the Tundra went to the dealer and cost over $700. Both of my pumps went out a few months after the big hurricanes in '05, and I suspect contaminated (water, or something) fuel at the stations. Either that, or that darned MTBE they used to use - that stuff is engine-killer because you'd lose so much octane so quickly. Short shelflife.
You park the truck with the headlights on, they go off automatically. You open the passenger door before the lights go off, then close the door, and, guess what; they stay on until the battery dies. I think it's a logic flaw in the circuitry relating to an open loop (failure to anticipate in logorythm) in the seat pessure sensor feedback handling. My Tundra has no audible or visible warning that the lights have been left on, so it's a real pain.
From my own experience, and from other postings I've read here, choosing the right dealer is critical. There are excellent Toyota dealers out there, and there are crooks too. A tip to Toyota dealers: If you're looking for a service manager, don't hire anyone with the following on their resumes: Brake Check, AAMCO, Midas, Cottman, or any of those other high-pressure folks. You want to improve service revenues? Is it worth eliminating your car-purchase customer base? I'm assuming that dealers make their money from unit sales, and having a cutthroat service manager is the best way in the world to lose unit sales customer base. Heck, what's worse is, if you do shoddy work or don't acknowledge problems as covered under warranty, and if you don't lose the customer vis-a-vis sales, you'll probably reinherit your own poor workmanship when they trade the car back in for their next one.
Also, and last tip, is if you buy a used Toyota from a Toyota dealer, make certain it's a Certified Used Vehicle. If they don't Certify it, they've looked at it and decided not to take the chance. If they do Certify it, you get a 7-year, 100,000 mile extended warranty on drivetrain, plus other continued warranty support. Not all used Toyotas are Certified. My Tundra is sitting 1,400 miles away, after the torque converter went out in the middle of nowhere (somewhere between Knoxville and Chattanooga, and I live in Houston, TX). I thought I had extended coverage because I bought it from a Toyota dealer when it was 2 years old. Apparently, mine is not a Certified Used Vehicle. I borrowed someone's car to get back home, so the roundtrip will run about $600 in gas and at least three days' downtime for traveling. What a drag. That doesn't even include the (relatively cheap) repair.
If you're thinking about going from, say, GM to a Tundra, do some research. I'm originally from Hawaii, and Toyota's reputation was bulletproof when it came to reliability. My GM (Chevy 1500) needed two a/c compressors, five or six window motors, a water pump and two alternators and a fuel pump in six years. My Tundra has needed only a fuel pump and now a torque converter in four years. However, my GM never broke down to where I couldn't get to help. My Tundra has left me on the side of the road twice, and both times with major repairs required. I'm starting to think I'd rather just buy the foo-foo stuff on GM vehicles rather than deal with the major breakdowns that my Tundra goes through. I love my Tundra when it's behaving, but I've started to lose confidence in its major systems so I'll not take it on the road again and I probably won't buy another one for now (mine is getting traded in as soon as it is back in Houston). And the brake vibration really is annoying.....
kcram - Pickups Host
Regarding the tow hitch receiver; I checked my 2004 DC hitch which I don't use either, but Toyota has addressed that problem: my cap has two slots either side to the end of cap to drain any moisture collected inside. Hey love this message board!! Keep up the good work passing on info.
Mark/Cape Cod
My husband and I own a 2002 Toyota Tundra and have noticed lately that there is a "thumping" sound that sounds like it is coming from the back of the truck. He mostly notices it while accelerating after the truck has been sitting for a while.
Anyone ever experience this?
Thanks in Advance
That thump is your transmissoin shifting back into first gear. I would just check and see if it is time for a transmission flush..but becareful, sometimes that can do more damage than good..so do your research and ask alot of questions.
WASHINGTON — Toyota Motor Corp. will spend millions to deactivate front-seat passenger air bag cut-off switches in nearly 160,000 Tundra pickups to avoid having to install a costlier child safety seat anchoring system.
The Japanese automaker is taking the action after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration last week on June 28 rejected Toyota's petition to waive a federal safety regulation that requires most vehicles built after September 2002 and equipped with the cut-off switch to also have a child seat anchor system known as LATCH — for lower anchorages and tethers for children.
The regulation was meant to ensure that child seats stay in place in a crash, especially in vehicles with smaller rear-seating, such as pickups.
At the time the regulation was adopted, 600 children under the age of 5 were killed every year in auto crashes and another 70,000 were injured.
Children are at high risk of death or injury from airbags that deploy. That's why child seats aren't allowed in front seats that don't have an airbag cut-off switch, which activates the airbag only if it senses an adult is in the passenger seat.
Deactivating the switch means the air bag will always deploy, making it unsafe to ever put a child in the front seat.
Toyota will voluntarily recall the pickups, beginning in mid-September, after completing engineering of the parts to deactivate the air bag cut-off switch, spokesman Bill Kwong said Friday.
"We always recommend that child seats are used in the rear as children are safest there," Kwong said. Owners will get notice of the recall in September, he said.
Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety said Toyota shouldn't be allowed to simply deactivate the switches. Toyota's failure to provide the latches "is not merely an incidental statistical artifact but a clear and present danger to the children who ride in child restraints in the front passenger seats of those vehicles," said Henry Jasny, general counsel for the Washington-based group.
Kwong said there may have been some engineering issues that make it impractical to add the latches rather than deactivate the airbag cut-off switch.
He said the exact cost of the recall isn't known — only that the fix is expected to require two hours of labor.
At more than $100 for labor, it could cost more than $16 million if all vehicles are serviced, he said. It isn't known what the parts will cost since they are still being designed, he said.
In its ruling, NHTSA took no position on whether Toyota could comply by simply deactivating the switches.
Kwong said beginning in the 2006 model year, Toyota deactivated its front passenger air bag cut-off switch to satisfy the regulations.
In June 2005, Toyota acknowledged that 156,555 Toyota Tundras from the 2003-05 model years didn't comply with the child seat anchor safety regulation.
The automaker asked NHTSA to waive the regulation and spent more than a year trying to convince the agency it wasn't required to install child-seat anchoring systems.
Toyota lost the debate last week, when NHTSA rejected the company's final appeal.
Toyota noted that it hadn't received any customer complaints and that there were no injuries reported as a result of the lack of the anchoring system in the front seats of the trucks. Tundras have compliant child safety latches in rear seats.
"However, the fact does not render the absence of the anchorages in the front seats inconsequential," NHTSA chief Nicole Nason said in a June 28 notice published June 28.
Small children's safety "depends on proper installation of the child-restraint systems in which they ride."
NHTSA also noted that parents with vehicles built before 2002 who mistakenly believed their vehicles complied with the regulation have "used seatbelt latch plates, drilled holes through the nylon webbing of the seatbelt" in an effort to use the front seat.
Frightening that they could get away with that just to save some coin. :mad: No wonder they make more money than the other automakers (who complied in 2003!)
I'll keep you informed.
Mark/Cape Cod
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=anY3lVr30M4I&refer=japan
on an article detailing continuing problems with the Toyota Tundra
P.S. It is our weekend vehicle that only has 37K miles on it. We love it because when we go camping, we can sleep in the 8 ft bed comfortably and we're off the damp ground. Plus, it is really easy to carry all the toys (quads, bikes, etc.) when we go to the desert as well.
Run by me again the oil filter upgrade you did with AN fittings. Did you do this by yourself? Where do I purchase this fitting? HOw much? Thanks.MAC
I need to know what's the best price (before tax & lic) for a regular cab v6 automatic, & aircon Tundra 06 along the Gulf States. I know Toyota just upped the rebate from $2000 to $3000 ( if you're a Toyota consumer).
I hope I don't have to drive that far to get a few bucks savings. Thanks for the information. MAC
Man, that was awesome. Thanks. BTW, do you think Toyota will void my warranty if I go this route? Thanks