Me And My T3

April 4, 2013

Bought a 2007 model D4D T3X 20 months ago with 82,000 miles on the clock. I live in Ireland and the car was imported from the UK. Bought this car because it was a Toyota and they have a great reputation for reliability. I have to say its the worst car I ever have had.

- Had the car one month and the heat stopped working and the engine starts overheating. Mechanic says water pump, but after new one fitted it didn't fix the problem.

- Second look, it was the head gasket. Dropped mechanic as he was a dud, but Toyota Ireland didn't want to know, the garage I bought the car from didn't want to know either till I threatened to suit them. Managed to get car fixed under warranty by Toyota garage in Nortern Ireland. Head gasket done, along with rings, pistons and timing chain, but sent back to me with huge dent in rear as they damaged it under tow. Got compensated after using words suit and police.

- One year later same problem again. Head gasket and cylinder head this time. Got work done after some amount of worry and great expense.

- Three month ago same problem. Needed new water pump.

- One month ago same problem, plus water leaking into foor of passenger side of car. Needed new heating core, wasn't prepared to spend 700 euros including labour for what Toyota wanted so had second hand unit fitted.

- Now same problem. No heat, water evaporating not leaking and needle on temperature guage heading north. After filling coolant tank I get heat and the temperature guage falls back below half for 4-5 hours then I have to do it again.

After all the time, effort and money I have put into this car I or my mechanic are no wiser about how to fix this problem. Also In addition to regular car maintenance such as oil changes, filters, tyres and brake pads I have also had to replace two wheel ball bearings, a brake calliper, a very expensive indicator light on the wing mirror, and the display screen on my radio and the control buttons for the rear electric windows are not working.

How does Toyota make cars this bad and still have a loyal following and reputation for reliability.

April 5, 2013

Sounds like you have a lemon.

Stick some steel seal in the rad as you could have an internal engine crack.

April 6, 2013

I did put some Steel Seal in two days ago on the advice of a mechanic who also though I had a crack somewhere in the engine block.

Amazingly it seems to have worked.

Before I put Steel Seal in the car I had to constantly fill the radiator with water to get heat, I had a a bit of trouble starting the car, there was always pressure in radiator even when cold, there was a repetative whistling noice from the radiator rubber overflow tube, there was a fare bit of white smoke coming the exhaust, the heat switched off when the water evaporated and then needle on temp gauge rapidly headed north. Two hours later it was like driving a different car.

I'm a taxi driver and I have put two six-eight hour shifts in the past two nights with the car constantly running and have put a bit of water in the rad to be on the safe side but have had no problems so far. If the Steel Seal holds its going to make me very happy for a change and save me an absolute fortune in car repairs.