Verso Tr 1.8 Engine Failure (51,000Mls)

[Filip De Bens]

Hello - my Toyota Corolla Verso TR 1.8 VVT (manual) which is 5yrs 8 mnts old and has done just over 51,000 mls broke down last Saturday with an engine failure. There had been no warning signs of anything being wrong with the vehicle so this came as a complete surprise. The AA turned up to tell us that the con rod had gone and so had created a hole in the engine!! Our car was taken to our local Toyota dealership in Salisbury where it was checked out on Tuesday (delayed due to the bank holiday) and we were advised very quickly that a new engine would be needed. We were also advised that there was a high possibility, even though Toyota engines are only under warranty for 5 years, that Toyota would cover the cost for a replacement engine. On Wednesday this was reconfirmed by the Manager of Services & Parts at our dealership who stated that he was 99.9% certain the costs would be covered by Toyota. They had stripped down the engine and apparently it was a piston that went that then caused the problem.( we are off down to the garage to get an exact description as to what went wrong as we know nothing about cars) He said we would have had no warning that this was about to happen so we couldn't have prevented it. He kept referring to a 'bulletin board' saying that according to that the cost of the engine would be covered. Unfortunately on Thursday we received a call from the same Manager that Toyota would now not cover any costs and we would have to pay for a new engine ourselves. They have quoted £5300 for this!

I want to know whether there have been any other instances like this with Toyota and whether there is any action I can take for Toyota to potentially change their mind in this matter? I'm mostly concerned that there was a change of heart within a 24hr period and that our Toyota dealer is now trying to back track on something they seemed so sure of.

Please help..being carless with 3 kids to get to school is just not an option for my wife!

[dervdave]

Sad to hear and hope you get a satisfactory outcome but I don`t think its a very common fault.

Your Toyota only came with a 3yr warranty, its only recently changed to 5yrs.

But in saying that Toyota have paid for engines to be renewed on quite a few 2.2d engines up to 7yrs old.

A bit more research is needed into how often this fault has occurred before tackling the dealer and Toyota.

Best of luck. :)

[cabcurtains]

Does this car have a Full Toyota Service History or at least a Full Service History? If it does you want to contact Toyota Customer Services and raise a case for a goodwil contrubution.

The early 1.8 VVTI's did have oil issues and engines were replaced FOC up to 7trs old, its a very similiar story to the diesel Dave mentions. I cant remember what year the revised engines were introduced, i am assuming your car is a UK supplied 56 Plate.

If it doesnt have a good service history you are unlikely to get any support.

[Filip De Bens]

Thanks to both of you for taking the time to read and respond

We went back to the garage today and spoke with the service manager again and he said that he too was hoping it was one of the engines that had had oil issues, but unfortunately we were a couple of digits out on the engine numbers and our car is slightly too new. So as far as toyota are concerned the problem was rectified.. but clearly not as our car would prove to be the case!!

The car does have full service history, it was bought from our local dealer and has always been serviced there. So how would we go about raising a case for a goodwill contribution?

The service manager is going to email us a technical description of what went wrong on Monday so we can get our letter going to someone at Head office.

[cabcurtains]

As the vehicle is out of warranty i would treat it like a normal customer services claim, i.e dig out the phone number and start from that. The may act on your behalf but i would try and speak to a human at Mr T as they authorise goodwill to the dealer.

[Filip De Bens]

Toyota Customer Relations who are handling our case are not being very helpful as expected, would either of you know of anyone within Toyota management who a letter or email can be addressed to? Thanks.

[duncerduncs]

Steve Settle is the Director of Customer Services for Toyota (GB) PLC.

Although there is no email address listed for him, it would seem that Toyota GB email address' seem to follow the same format:

(first name).(last name)@tgb.toyota.co.uk

You could start at the top and work your way down!

[Filip De Bens]

Thanks, Bryan.