Hilux 3.0 Invincible Vibration. Vehicle Recalled And Replaced.

October 17, 2014

We bought a new '13 plate Invincibe and we have had so many problems with it that Toyota themselves suggested that they should replace it.

The main issue was intermittant vibration that caused quite severe steering wheel wobble between speeds of 60 to 75 mph. It would go days without doing it and then it would be really bad. You could feel the whole vehicle vibrate.

Then the next day you would go down the same stretch of road, at the same speed with the same road conditions and nothing would happen.

The Hilux was returned to Toyota at least 3 times to resolve this issue with no success. The last time they took all the wheels to an HGV tyre facility so that they could balance them on their more accurate equipment. This did not fix the problem so that was when Toyota suggested that the Hilux should be replaced.

Has anyone else had this experience with their Hilux?

We now have a brand new '64 plate 3.0 Invincible and guess what?

Yup, steering wheel vibration again. This time it's consistant between 65 to 70 mph and it's at a high frequency so I'm pretty sure it's got a wheel that needs balancing. The truck has less than 200 miles on the clock.

If your interested, the other problems we had were the door sill threshold plates fell off, the leather on the front passenger's seat delaminated and wore through, water leaks and the car was not delivered with the additional optional equipment that was ordered in the form of a tow bar and the threshold plates. All in all the truck went back fourteen times to Toyota for warranty work.

The car is used as a business vehicle for a veterinary surgeon and so sees plenty of use on all types of off and on road surfaces for which it is brilliant. However, it has to be very reliable which is why we chose the Hilux in the first place.

October 17, 2014

Not heard of that problem on a new Hilux before, funny both of yours have done it and sorry to hear about so many returns to the dealer, that doesn`t sound good but is very unusual as well :dontgetit:

Just a thought....your not running in 4wd ?

October 17, 2014

No, the only time it was in 4WD was when it was out on the farms and the occasional few miles every month as recommended in the owner's manual.

Must have been a Friday afternoon Hilux or else the shipping container was dropped or something. I even checked that the body trim lines still lined up which they did.

It was the inconsistancy of the vibration that had everyone scratching their heads. I thought for a while that mud was collecting on the inner edge of the alloys between the hub and the wheel. But after one particularly bad episode I checked and they were clean.

I'm certain that if the problem was mechanial we could have consistantly reproduced the steering wheel wobble and the vibration but we couldn't.

It just seemed totally random.

October 17, 2014

No, the only time it was in 4WD was when it was out on the farms and the occasional few miles every month as recommended in the owner's manual.
Must have been a Friday afternoon Hilux or else the shipping container was dropped or something. I even checked that the body trim lines still lined up which they did.
It was the inconsistancy of the vibration that had everyone scratching their heads. I thought for a while that mud was collecting on the inner edge of the alloys between the hub and the wheel. But after one particularly bad episode I checked and they were clean.
I'm certain that if the problem was mechanial we could have consistantly reproduced the steering wheel wobble and the vibration but we couldn't.
It just seemed totally random.

Puzzling to say the least, the dealership could easy discount the wheels and tyres by swapping them with others but my feeling is that its mechanical, auto box ?

Its nothing to do with the road surface your on at the time ?

I got to say I`ve never had a problem with them but it is a definate possibilty.

October 17, 2014

Yup, a total brain puzzler. Very random. Same road, same speed, same conditions and it wouldn't vibrate. Then a few days later the steering wheel would be wobbling and the whole vehicle vibrating. Then try and recreate it and it wouldn't happen.

Very wierd and inconsistant.

Toyota couldn't figure it out.

I'm intrigued that some are blaming the Bridgestones though because after the first time the wheels were balanced it was fine. When it started vibrating again someone suggested that it was the wheels themselves going quickly out of balance. I have never heard of that before but you never know,