Gen 7 Oil Problem

[iceland_potter]

hi all,

I bought a gen 7 Celica 4 weeks ago from a Vauxhall dealership, and its used a full load of oil in less than a thousand miles, so I think it's got the oil consuption problem. :(

I got a 3 month warranty with the car, do you think it may be possible to claim on the warranty for the full remedial work on the engine?

thanks.

[Parts-King]

It depends on mileage and age, best taking it up with the people you bought it off, it is their problem at this stage. Nothing wrong with contacting a Toyota dealer with all the relevant facts they need, but give the people you bought it off the chance to sort out the repairs for you. You have only had it a month, it's the Vauxhall dealers problem at this stage, not Toyota. You wont get this work done on the 3 month warranty (want a bet?) :D: Put it in writing to the dealer principle and state what you want, either put it right or reject the car, better done after a month than after three months

Kingo

[edwardio]

If you've got a full service history, Toyota should do it going buy other VVTI drivers on here. However as you're under a 3 month warrenty, try and get the Vauxhall garage to sort it out providing that they don't charge you for anything.

[iceland_potter]

thanks for fast replies guys.

It doesnt have full Toyota SH, but it does have full service history from other garages.

Agree it's the dealers problem atm, I'll do as you say Kingo and write to them telling them that i want full remedial work under the Sale of Goods Act 1st thing tomorrow.

:(

[citizen__erased]

Sorry to hear about your problem iceland, hope you get it sorted out with minimal fuss.

Just out of interest, what year is your Celica and what is the mileage? I've only just bought one myself and i'm a little worried by the amount of people who seem to have this issue.

[edwardio]

I owned a 2000 Celica for 3 months before my current one. After 3 weeks of having it the engine light came on. Sent it back to the garage I bought it from (non-Toyota), they sent it back to the Toyota garage they bought it from. After over 2 months they discovered a new valve had been put in that was the wrong size & bodged to fit. Toyota told my garage it would neeed a new engine as 2 cylinders were leaking (that I'm guess is the problem you've got). The garage were prepared to refund my money, source me a new car or source me an engine.

I put everything in writing about not being happy with it all and it being under warrenty (plus was unhappy with how good the garage was). They tried finding me a new car (celica), but their options weren't to the same condition. So got my money back. Then bought a 2002 privately and it's great, no problems.

So if the Vauxhall garage don't repair it for you, ask for your money back I'd say.

[iceland_potter]

Sorry to hear about your problem iceland, hope you get it sorted out with minimal fuss.

Just out of interest, what year is your Celica and what is the mileage? I've only just bought one myself and i'm a little worried by the amount of people who seem to have this issue.

citizen - Its a W reg 2000 with 60k on the clock . edit - just noticed yours is 03 which i believe is post-facelift and this problem is fixed on those.

edwardio - thanks for the advice, I plan to do this but I really need to know first of all that this is the problem. I wonder if I should ask the vendor (dealer) if they would pay to have this checked out at Toyota.

Update : I went to Tesco this morning in my other motor and bought 2 x 2l of Castrol Magnatec 5w40. Went back to my house, fashioned a funnel and put almost all of one 2l bottle in, then drove to as flat a surface as I could find, checked my oil and it seemed to be about half the way between the levels on the dipstick. I razzed it to work this morning, checked it again and it seems to be the same.

[edwardio]

I hope that when you checked your ouil levels, that you waited for the engine to cool down properly (at least a couple of hours), as if you didn't you'd get a false reading. This is because the oil is still all around your engine, once it's cooled it will be in the sump and therefore gives an accurate reading.

It's a bit like tyres, never check the pressure whilst you've just been driving around it. If you do the pressure whill be a few lbs over the actual reading.

If your Celica does have the fault using 5W40 is best, but once it's sorted use 5W30.

Recheck your oil (if you did it whilst warm), then if you discover that you yet again need to put more oil in after this short period, I'd say there's a 99% chance it's got the problem.

[iceland_potter]

My mistake then this morning, I checked the oil when the engine had only just stopped, and I did this twice.

Its been 1 hr 50 mins so i'll go and check it in half an hour or so.

[edwardio]

How did you get on Iceland?

[iceland_potter]

OK checked it from cold, on the flat, and the oil was full. I mean right up to the measure on the dipstick.

This says to me that I might have something wrong as I put near enough a full 2 litre bottle of oil in this morning....

[edwardio]

Did Vauxhall service the car before you bought it? If they did then you must have a problem to go through 2L of oil in 4 weeks. Even if they didn't I'd find it hard to believe that the previous owner, never checked the oil and therefore had it that low in the first place.

Celica's take about 4L - 4.5L of oil if my memory is right, so for you to have to put half that in! Then you must have a problem.

Contact Vauxhall, find out if they did a service on it before they handed it over to you. In addition to that, get a letter to them ASAP (send it recorded delivery), outlining the problem and that you want it repaired under the warrenty. If they are not prepared to repair it, then demand a replacement car (same model, spec & condition) at no extra cost or get your money back.

Plus call the garage the afternoon they are meant to receive the letter and confirm they have got your letter. That way you can prove from the signature & phone call that they know about your problem.

Best of luck mate.

[iceland_potter]

OK I just contacted Vauxhall dealer, they say it definately had an oil/oil filter service. I suppose that doesn't necessarily mean that they filled it right to the brim though....

I think i'll write to them today anyway and make daily tests of the car's fuel level when cold and level.

[edwardio]

The garage I bought my had it Celica from said they'd done a service, even had it on the paper work. That was until I pointed out that the oil was below the correct level & the oil filter hadn't been changed! So I'd take their service with a pinch of salt!

Do what you've said. Write to them and keep a written record of the oil amounts that you have to put in. That way you can show them how much it's drinking.

Let us know how this all goes.

[iceland_potter]

Does anyone know of any documentation from Toyota on the oil consumption problem at all please? i've asked my local Toyota and they refuse to send me any, and Toyota head office directed me to the below URL...

I have this list of engine documents from Toyota's site but don't know if its on there, and it appears you have to pay to get this information : http://www.techdoc.toyota-europe.com/TsbRe...81-3674AE9B76FB

[edwardio]

This is the link my mate sent me when he heard about this problem.

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/autoexpr...ngine_woes.html

[iceland_potter]

^^ above post no biggie. I shouldnt have to do the chasing for this.

what do you think of this :

Dear Evans Halshaw HQ,

Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended)

On 2nd February 2008, I bought a Toyota Celica registration W*** *** from your ** Vauxhall branch for £4600.00 which is faulty.

The problems are:

1. The car consumes oil at a rate higher than it should. This is perhaps indicative of a fault with the engine whereby the pistons become malformed.

2. There is a hole in the carpet on the drivers side, which was not pointed out to me during the sale of the car, and was covered up by one of your salesman with a car mat. Said salesman informed me that he had personally purchased these mats to put in the car.

I wish to reject the goods and claim one of the following: full remedial work to be undertaken by Toyota paid for by Evans Halshaw, a suitable replacement (same colour, specification, milage and age) or a refund.

Please respond to my complaint within seven days.

Yours sincerely/faithfully

Mr***

[edwardio]

That sounds pretty good for the purpose. Though I'd change "same colour, specification, milage and age" to "same colour, specification, condition(or better), milage(or better) and age".

Send it recorded and phone that day for further confirmation (only!) that they received it. Let them think about it and act before calling them again (that's if they don't call you first) to discuss it. Hold your ground though and if they're not being very helpfull, demand your money back and let them deal with it.

If they are prepared to get the car repaired, you want to be issued with a temporary car(not some old crap heep either) whilst the work is carried out.

[Parts-King]

Does anyone know of any documentation from Toyota on the oil consumption problem at all please? i've asked my local Toyota and they refuse to send me any, and Toyota head office directed me to the below URL...

I have this list of engine documents from Toyota's site but don't know if its on there, and it appears you have to pay to get this information : http://www.techdoc.toyota-europe.com/TsbRe...81-3674AE9B76FB

The documents are either chargable or private and confidential, what is it you actually require?

Kingo

[iceland_potter]

Dear **

Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended)

On 2nd February 2008, I bought a Toyota Celica registration W*** *** from your Vauxhall branch for £4600.00 which is faulty.

The problem is

1. The car consumes oil at a rate higher than it should. This is perhaps indicative of a fault with the engine whereby the pistons become malformed. This problem has been reported in automotive publications for example on this internet web page : http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/autoexpr...ngine_woes.html

I wish full remedial work to be undertaken as soon as possible at no cost to myself.

Please respond to my complaint within seven days.

Yours sincerely,

Mr**

Cc: Evans Halshaw Vauxhall

Amended - cheers for your help on this

[iceland_potter]

Kingo - I was just after something to send to the dealer so they know what they're dealing with (and they dont try to fix it themselves really), I was going to have a browse and send them one but never mind, I've just included a link to the news article in my letter instead (see above)

[edwardio]

Yeah sounds good. See how it goes, but hold your ground.

Keep us all up to date. Good luck.

[Parts-King]

^^ above post no biggie. I shouldnt have to do the chasing for this.

what do you think of this :

Dear Evans Halshaw HQ,

Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended)

On 2nd February 2008, I bought a Toyota Celica registration W*** *** from your ** Vauxhall branch for £4600.00 which is faulty.

The problems are:

1. The car consumes oil at a rate higher than it should. This is perhaps indicative of a fault with the engine whereby the pistons become malformed.

2. There is a hole in the carpet on the drivers side, which was not pointed out to me during the sale of the car, and was covered up by one of your salesman with a car mat. Said salesman informed me that he had personally purchased these mats to put in the car.

I wish to reject the goods and claim one of the following: full remedial work to be undertaken by Toyota paid for by Evans Halshaw, a suitable replacement (same colour, specification, milage and age) or a refund.

Please respond to my complaint within seven days.

Yours sincerely/faithfully

Mr***

You need to decide what you want, do you A: Reject the goods as being inherrantly faulty or B: give them the opportunity to put it right, you cant have A + B If you decide on B and something then goes wrong at a later date, you wont be able to then reject the car as easily because you already had it repaired once and didnt reject it. Take your time, think about it, talk it over with your dealer to see where they stand, they could be perfectly reasonable and take it back.

Kingo

EDIT

You cant't specify who repairs it, it is the dealers responsibility to get it fixed at his expense and you cant say you want a Toyota dealer to do it

[iceland_potter]

Kingo, in my 2nd edit of the letter I've changed my mind and I want them to perform remedial work, I love this car!

Edit to re your Edit - i've changed that bit too now, cheers!

[edwardio]

Give them chance to look at it and attempt to fix it properly. Under the warrenty it will probably state that you must give them an 'acceptable' amount of time to repair the fault. If it's taking too long and they haven't done the work, request a replacement or money back.

Make sure though that when you give them your car in for repair, that they give you a temp car for the duration of the repair.