Fly Wheels Problems ?

[big rich1]

Now theres a surprise !!!

Having bought this car only 3 weeks ago i now find that the flywheel has gone.It was perfect when i bought it as i checked it thoroughly after reading this forum.

Funny engine noise and really stiff gearchange. Toyota garage have said they can do nothing as its out of warranty.

I have read all sorts of conflicting reports on this on lots of diff posts and the consensus to me is.

1. if its 2002 or before your covered up to 5 yrs and 80k

2. if its 2003 tuff luck

3. if its 2004 you may get a good will payment but not much.

Have i got this right , please tell me i haven't as i have a 2003 on 03

Cheers

Rich

[Parts-King]

The best advice is to ask your dealer to put in an out of warranty goodwill request, Toyota are well aware of the problem and have asked that anything out of warranty is refered to them. Bad luck on getting a duff DMF

Kingo

[anchorman]

Hi Rich

Welcome to the club. You need to read the DMF post;

http://toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=74099

It spells out the situation regarding warranty but I can summarise by saying that technically you don't qualify whether you have a 2002 or 2003 (the 2002 warranty effectively expired).

As kingo says it would be a good idea to talk to your Toyota Centre but take care because if they are only going to offer you a service as they did with one owner you would be better to buy the DMF of Kingo and get your local garage to fit it. If they make a decent gesture then let them get on with it as they will use genuine parts etc. I'm afraid it isn't going to be cheap.

Good luck mate.

[daviddb]

Hi Anchorman,

I'm in the same boat with my lovely DMF.

Had the car, Diesel, 02. for 3 years. When I bought it I had heard about these probs on this model. This one had had a new flywheel at 30k done under warranty---so silly me, thought all should be ok.

Took it to have a brake check last week and was shocked to be told the machanic thought the car had a flywheel 'rumble'. I hadn't noticed anything. Diesel engines do 'rattle' a bit. Clutch seems fine.

They want £2500 to replace the flywheel, and clutch('while its all out-silly not to'), and put in a computer (£565) (this will reduce torque on drive off and stop it happening again?)

Apparently when the job was done under warrantybefore I bought it, it was just before Toyota decided the computer was needed to regulate the Torque!

They have contacted Toyota when they saw the warranty work copy invoice for this same job at 30k , and Toyota have just said they will make a gesture of £500 if I get the job done at Toyota within 14 days.

They say it is out of warranty, 6 years old ,...of course.... and all that jazz.

So I don't know what to do.????

Should I grab the offer--Still costs me £2000.?

Get someone else to do it, after all it is a 6yr old car. worth £6k-ish?

Leave it till it fails? (Will it fail?)

Sell it pronto to anyone who doesn't ask about the fly wheel?

Smile and pay up to fix it..after all I like the car.

ANY IDEAS ANYONE

I wonder why 'big rich1' is having the same problem? Reading everything I can find, indicates that it should have been sorted by 2003? Doesn't it?

daviddb

[anchorman]

Hi Dave.

The problem I have is that I can't hear the noise nor have I been driving it to develop an opinion. I presume this is a Toyota workshop as they have suggested the new ECU and the cost of the DMF and the ECU do add up.

The problem is I can tell you what I would do but now the garage has told you this info it is going to torment you to death. I don't know what mileage you have at the moment nor if the last DMF was a Toyota one but if the mileage is low and it was a Toyota kit then I might be inclined to talk to Toyota Customer Service and try to negotiate substantially more.

If they wash their hands and stick to the £500 I personally would run it. Before it went in you didn't know anything about it and it seems to drive OK. If you have recovery insurance (RAC/AA) better still.

If you are considering a change now would be a good time because you could do it at any Toyota garage and the liability becomes theirs.

I wouldn't be intimidated by the £500 offer. It sounds like they are after loading their workshop to me.

Let me know if I can be of any help.

Regards

[daviddb]

Hi Dave.

The problem I have is that I can't hear the noise nor have I been driving it to develop an opinion. I presume this is a Toyota workshop as they have suggested the new ECU and the cost of the DMF and the ECU do add up.

The problem is I can tell you what I would do but now the garage has told you this info it is going to torment you to death. I don't know what mileage you have at the moment nor if the last DMF was a Toyota one but if the mileage is low and it was a Toyota kit then I might be inclined to talk to Toyota Customer Service and try to negotiate substantially more.

If they wash their hands and stick to the £500 I personally would run it. Before it went in you didn't know anything about it and it seems to drive OK. If you have recovery insurance (RAC/AA) better still.

If you are considering a change now would be a good time because you could do it at any Toyota garage and the liability becomes theirs.

I wouldn't be intimidated by the £500 offer. It sounds like they are after loading their workshop to me.

Let me know if I can be of any help.

Regards

Hi,

thanks for that , at the moment every suggestion helps. By the way the mileage is 79K

As you say its hard not to keep thinking of it now they have told me.

I'm off to an ex-toyota garage today to get their opinion. A person where I live has just had her car (Exactly like mine-even the same colour and year) done by them for the same reason. Hers got really rattly last autumn. She says they charged £1500. but she is not sure if they put an ECU on it or not.

If I do go to change the car, won't any Toyota dealer find my problem on the data base? After all there must have been letters too and fro about the warranty offer? what do you think? Do they use it?

I wonder how it will pan out in the end. Probably me paying through the nose I suppose!

Trouble is I like the car, its good in our muddy Devon lanes, and not too big to block everyone else like the awfull VW toe-rags(sic) that come down here in the summer!

If I trade it in for a later one its only going to be a few years younger, and then is there the danger of the trouble all over again?

mmmmm

anyway

regards and thanks again

daviddb

[chatman]

Davisdb

I had the same issues with mine...rattling metallic sound in 1st and 2nd gear, and very stiff the select them in the morning. Finally gave up the will to change gear on dual carriageway (luckily I was in slow moving traffic) once gone it was a dog to get into gear... (this is my DMF in Anchormans post Click Here) My millage was about 83K when it went but also just outside the Warranty 5 year period...So had to pay for fix :crybaby: Just before Christmas as well...But the finished result is amazingly smooth and gear selection is now trouble free. Seems a bit steep for the DMF replacement...Did not have the ECU change on mine, but did replace Clutch and friction plate.....

This is the hole put in my DMF by the bolts going...

The worst part of all this is actually getting the DMF out...It's embedded way down deep inside the engine...and most of the cost is getting to it and removing most of the bottom of the RAV engine and gear box.

You could take your chances and sell the RAV...and then let whoever purchases it, has the problem...or Get it fixed...The choice is down to you...

[anchorman]

You can buy a genuine DMF kit and ECU off kingo and get a local garage to fit it at half the labour rate. Valeo also do a kit for about £695. You are not tied to the Toyota garage and so far you don't know for sure there is anything wrong with it. You need to check the labour rate of this new garage before letting them at it.

Does anybody know a good independent in the Kinsbridge area?

[02skn]

Not sure if this is any help but there is a modified flywheel for sale on fleabay for a starting price of only £60. The item number is 130194279066. Must be worth a phone call to the seller.

[bakerman]

hi to all

i have had my avensis d4d 2001 got it from my local toyota dealer in rotherham on the 29/08/2006 had trouble with the gearbox the steering rack but pentagon have been great with the steering rack the gearbox i had a knocking in 5 gear they could not find nothing wrong this went on untill just about august last year and they sent it up to to doncaster and toyoya had a look they could not find nothing so they just put in a new 5 gear about two week's ago my dmf went and iam looking at well over a grand or more so i call toyota but no go the car is to old so you spend all this money and toyota know this can happen but wash there hand's s :ffs: o much for toyota and beening honourable are is that just the :censor and the car had 80k on the clock well so much for get a toyota the one you can rely on

[daviddb]

You can buy a genuine DMF kit and ECU off kingo and get a local garage to fit it at half the labour rate. Valeo also do a kit for about £695. You are not tied to the Toyota garage and so far you don't know for sure there is anything wrong with it. You need to check the labour rate of this new garage before letting them at it.

Does anybody know a good independent in the Kinsbridge area?

hi

thanks again everyone for your advice and --er --sympathy?

The garage I found for a second opinion is near Newton Abbot. They had done my friend's car with the same problem.

They used to be Toyota until about 6 years ago.

Their workshop manager (very helpful chap, spent at least half an hour with me). He came out for a test drive and having stopped and hill started several times, even in reverse concluded that if he had serviced the car he probably wouldn't have noticed the so called 'Rumble'.

His advice is to leave well alone. He doesn't think it will suddenly go, 'more likely it will give plenty of warning with lots of rattling noise in low gears, long before it goes completely, if it is going to'.

So- maybe Toyota were over sensetive to the problem? Maybe they need to keep their workshop busy? Maybe they are right and it will go bang soon .

Whatever, I will leave the Toyota offer and keep my £2k for now.

By the way he told me that a company that makes parts for Jap cars, (called er ?? I forgot-three letters?) told him that they are working on a solid fly wheel for these cars and he expects them to be available soon. He recons they will be good and drivers won't feel the diference. Just no DMF problems. The Dmf, said our man, was a good idea, but has proved to be a load of trouble!

So now I will just get back to trying to work out simple things like why my remote locking takes 45secs every morning to unlock the car but then clicks on and off just fine the rest ot the day.

thanks again I will keep watching this forum hope my experience helps someone else.

david

[chatman]

Why do I always find these deals after the inevitable has happened and I've paid the bill :( :( :( :(

Any how a good find on eBay for any one else.....Click Here

:) :) :) :)