2008 My Avensis Head Gasket

[Robin the Technician]

Hi,

I've re-posted this from the newbie section - apologies if I posted it in the wrong place...DUH!!!

Hi,

Just had my Toyota in the main dealer as I was losing water. They have reported as I suspected, that the head gasket has failed. Having read in the motoring press that it was a 'known issue' I asked if Toyota would fix it free of charge. I was told that:-

a) Its out of warranty (not dificult to work out)

My car does not fall within the 'known' vin number head gasket parameters

c) the car was not serviced by a Toyota Dealer - although it is fully serviced by a non franchised garage using approved parts.

Therefore no assistance would be given towards the 2K bill.

Shocked, I rang Toyota Customer Service who virtually said get stuffed and don't ring us again, minion!!!

I thought I'd buy a quality Jap car as I've been a Rover man for years (I used to work for them). Seems all that criticism about Brit cars is NO different to Japanese.

Luckily the car is under a seconhand warranty (the car was purchased in the M/Facturers 3 year warranty period) so they will foot 1K of the repair bill and the garage have dropped the cost now so I will pay only circa £230.

Another question that the more modern Technicians out there may be able to answer: They tell me the engine has to be removed to do the head gasket? - apparently a 13.5 hour job?? In all my many years as a Technician I've NEVER heard of a car needing the engine removed for such a repair. I'd like to hear some accurate reasoning behind that.

I was guided by the thought that this is a quality car that would give me many trouble free miles...I now regret not buying a Kia which I was considering also. I may sell this one and change to a Kia...7 year warranty sounds good to me.

Look forward to some feedback

Robin the Technician - I fix, therefore I am

UPDATE:

I have collected the car and paid £226 as my contribution towards the repair as the rest was picked up by the secondhand warranty supplied with the car. I asked the garage how the decision had been made that Toyota would not contribute.... and was shown a scruffy piece of paper with 'out of warranty' perameters on it. I asked if they had spoken to Toyota direct as I'd requested - and admitted they hadn't and continued to blart on about the perameters document. What made me more angry was that they reported that on roadtest after the head gasket had been done it was noticed that the low oil level light was coming on. The oil level was checked and was ok. They said it needed further investigation Which they were going to charge me for!!!! I told them there was NO fault with it prior to me dropping it off and them removing the engine - therefore, they have caused the problem and need to fix it FOC. They refused..... I had to leave, otherwise I may have punched somebody. With this kind of service from a main Toyota dealer no wonder people are turning to Independents!!!

This morning spoke to Toyota CS who said my engine was 'modified'??? It seems it was modified by them prior to it leaving Toyota so it's not covered by any warranty!!! My reply was if it was modified prior to release for sale then it is still manufactured to OE spec and can't see how they can hide behind this statement. A modified engine to me is putting twin turbo's on and running it on methanol. I have the name of the head honcho @ Toyota CS so will write to them for a better explanation.

Disgruntled...you bet your life I am!!!

p.s. can anyone tell me why you need to remove the engine to take the head off?? Why can't it be done in situ???

Robin the Technician - I fix, therefore i am

[t-spiritpete]

Hi,

I've re-posted this from the newbie section - apologies if I posted it in the wrong place...DUH!!!

Hi,

Just had my Toyota in the main dealer as I was losing water. They have reported as I suspected, that the head gasket has failed. Having read in the motoring press that it was a 'known issue' I asked if Toyota would fix it free of charge. I was told that:-

a) Its out of warranty (not dificult to work out)

My car does not fall within the 'known' vin number head gasket parameters

c) the car was not serviced by a Toyota Dealer - although it is fully serviced by a non franchised garage using approved parts.

Therefore no assistance would be given towards the 2K bill.

Shocked, I rang Toyota Customer Service who virtually said get stuffed and don't ring us again, minion!!!

I thought I'd buy a quality Jap car as I've been a Rover man for years (I used to work for them). Seems all that criticism about Brit cars is NO different to Japanese.

Luckily the car is under a seconhand warranty (the car was purchased in the M/Facturers 3 year warranty period) so they will foot 1K of the repair bill and the garage have dropped the cost now so I will pay only circa £230.

Another question that the more modern Technicians out there may be able to answer: They tell me the engine has to be removed to do the head gasket? - apparently a 13.5 hour job?? In all my many years as a Technician I've NEVER heard of a car needing the engine removed for such a repair. I'd like to hear some accurate reasoning behind that.

I was guided by the thought that this is a quality car that would give me many trouble free miles...I now regret not buying a Kia which I was considering also. I may sell this one and change to a Kia...7 year warranty sounds good to me.

Look forward to some feedback

Robin the Technician - I fix, therefore I am

UPDATE:

I have collected the car and paid £226 as my contribution towards the repair as the rest was picked up by the secondhand warranty supplied with the car. I asked the garage how the decision had been made that Toyota would not contribute.... and was shown a scruffy piece of paper with 'out of warranty' perameters on it. I asked if they had spoken to Toyota direct as I'd requested - and admitted they hadn't and continued to blart on about the perameters document. What made me more angry was that they reported that on roadtest after the head gasket had been done it was noticed that the low oil level light was coming on. The oil level was checked and was ok. They said it needed further investigation Which they were going to charge me for!!!! I told them there was NO fault with it prior to me dropping it off and them removing the engine - therefore, they have caused the problem and need to fix it FOC. They refused..... I had to leave, otherwise I may have punched somebody. With this kind of service from a main Toyota dealer no wonder people are turning to Independents!!!

This morning spoke to Toyota CS who said my engine was 'modified'??? It seems it was modified by them prior to it leaving Toyota so it's not covered by any warranty!!! My reply was if it was modified prior to release for sale then it is still manufactured to OE spec and can't see how they can hide behind this statement. A modified engine to me is putting twin turbo's on and running it on methanol. I have the name of the head honcho @ Toyota CS so will write to them for a better explanation.

Disgruntled...you bet your life I am!!!

p.s. can anyone tell me why you need to remove the engine to take the head off?? Why can't it be done in situ???

Robin the Technician - I fix, therefore i am

Hello mate sorry to hear about your troubles, yes 100% the engine needs to come out (I've seen it done) and normally it will be lowered from underneath the car. As far as I'm aware you can't remove the cam chain which you need to do to take the head off so that means engine out!

Regards .... Pete.

[Adam C]

I thought they were just changing the engines? Ormi posted pics on one of the forums - possibly this one or the RAV4 one; this engine is used by four different Toyotas & a Lexus - stating that you can't just change the gasket on these engines as the block & head are often scored from gasket shuffle & cannot be skimmed. In most cases that I've read on these forums, they remove the engines and bolt a new one in, sending the damaged motors back to Toyota

[JerryB]

Hi, had coolant loss prob on my 2008 avensis D-4D, Took it to Toyota Dealer (i'd only had the car a week - bought it privately) Dealer took one look and said Head Gasket gone but Toyota will put a brand new engine in for you free of charge. So week later got the car back with a new engine. Suggest you try another dealer?