Loss Of Heating - Head Gasket Problem

[wakeboardbabe]

Just to put my 5pence worth in. Our 2008 rav4 xtr has been lising coolant like a goid un so l trawled this forum and got the answers l needed regarding extended warranty etc. Hubby called our local dealer yesterday,we were told to take it after work last night and that they would "do a few checks" on it today and if it is the head they will need the car for a week and drop a new engine in.

They called at 9.30am today and confirmed it is the head and the engine was being stripped as we spoke.

Apparently Rav4s between 2006 and 2008 had their engines built in a different place and the pistons were faulty ( sorry about my lack of technical lingo) causing the head fault hence the extended warranty.

I cannot praise them highly enough for how weve been treat so far.

Hope this is of some help to someone.

[Yarek]

Update on mine... Car ended up in the garage for about 4 weeks (courtesy car provided, so no real issue there). First response was that all indications were that it was due to the known issue, but the engineer responsible was in the middle of dealing with another issue, so would be at least a week until he could look at it (dealer very apologetic).

After a week, the engineer stated that all the initial tests indicated that it was indeed due to the extended warranty issue, but he'd need some time to strip the engine to confirm. After another week, the engine had been stripped and they confirmed that the issue was due to the extended warranty and the dealer confirmed it would be rectified at no cost to me. They would take a week to order a new head and then a few more days to fix it.

After four weeks, the car was returned to me with a new head and all problems resolved.

While I was disappointed that there wasn't a recall to identify whether the engine may be susceptible to this problem, I am satisfied that there was no arguing or nonsense involved and they rectified the problem despite the car being out of its original warranty period. The dealer was great with communication, letting me know exactly where they were every step of the way and apologetic that they couldn't return the car to me sooner. Providing the courtesy car for as long as I needed it helped enormously.

On hearing of this problem at the start, I'd have been inclined to stay away from Toyota, but the dealer response and the extended warranty has left me with no bad feelings towards them and I'd be comfortable buying a Toyota again.

[gjnorthall]

Hopefully the engine isn't being stripped but merely removed from the car in order to fit a replacement. In the early days - faulty engines were stripped and repaired by the dealer - this wasn't a resounding success and there was a change to fitting new / reconditioned engines. Had the engine been drinking oil prior to the coolant loss problem?

[voyager t180]

The 'goodwill' engine warranty period is 7 yrs Niel, so if yours is a 2008 model and the dealer says your engine is faulty you should get a replacement engine,as Gj said, not a repair.

[wakeboardbabe]

We were told they dont replace the head because its a pointless excersize as the fault lies with the pistons,if the same pistons remain they will simply cause the same problem with the new head in time.

[Yarek]

Sorry - may be my lack of technical knowledge/understanding - they said they replaced 3/4 engine with new...

[wakeboardbabe]

We had no other faults other than the coolant loss,not oil thirsty or anything.