I would call Toyota back again and ask to talk to a supervisor. Don't call the dealership. If yo have documentation of what they told you about the parts being good then use that as weight to justify that the dealer needs to make it right. At this point I would say that you have lost all faith in that dealership to do the right thing the first time. Tell them that you are going to let them fix your Runner the way that it needs to be fixed to make it correct. And if that means that you need to take it to another dealership than have them arrange it. You expect them to make it right and they should feel the same. If Toyota is willing to allow a dealership to compromise the safety of your vehicle then they need to really look very closely at the operations of that dealership. Just because they are a franchised dealer does not mean that they are always honest. You want it safe as it was before and you will accept nothing less. Being it came out of the dealership in worse shape than it went in then Toyota should pay to make it correct and SAFE. That is what this recall is all about, SAFETY.

 

I did just what you said earlier today and they say they will go by what the dealer says and that they can not force the dealer to fix the runner and that they will not pay for anoither dealer to fix it. its not that I had a bad part and want it fixed all I'm asking them to do is put it back to the way it drove before i took it in. I have not been able to get any satifaction from the 800 # they just want to say sorry but you will have to do what the dealer wants you to do to fix it and pay if the dealer will not fix it free of charge that corprate can not make independant dealer do the work. I tryed the fact that its unsafe now and was not before did not matter to them they said its unsafe now because i refuse to let them work on it again and pay for it when they told me that nothing was wrong with it at the time of recall. that they could not have messed up the idler arm replacing the rod.
I can kick the tire and watch the hole arm move funny how it never did that before even with 116,000 miles on it it was jsut as tight as could be. After this i will never own a toyota again and i was looking to buy one of there trucks will probly never use a dealer ever again. if i knew the arm was bad before they replaced the rod I would have changed it at my cost its now not really about the money its the princiable of the thing I would think corprate would want happy people and want to make things right and so would the dealer but not the case with them.
will be contacting the BBB and a lawyer tomarrow it looks like that will be my only recorse unless the rod comes apart and the runner wreaks i could not be so lucky I could change it myself if I wanted to take the time to do it and then have it aligned its they screwed it up they need to do it. thanks for advice

 

It really sounds like Toyota is doing the same to you as they did to me. It took me more than 10 times calling the 800 # before I finally got some results. I know it gets old calling and getting told the same thing, but it may pay off to be persistant. Don't give up. Did they even give you a case number when you called the 800 # ?
Good Luck !

 

yes i got a case # I've talked to them 3 times already I'll just keep calling every day for awhile and see what happens i really think it would be better if the car just wrecked and it was due to there work

 

I do think that it will be worth it. Just be very concrete about the fact that you and the problem that the dealer created are not going to go away until they make things right. You also should not have to pay to fix a problem that the dealer created. PERIOD !

 

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i had my mechanic look at my runner today and he found the idler arm and pitman arm and both lower ball joints needed replaced you would think i would have had trouble before they did the recall work toyota are being %^&&% about the runner now i'm going to be out almost 1000.$ just to fix it all and toyota did not find that all those parts were bad just gives me more confidance in them not knowing what they are doing. I can say this will be the last toyota i will own and the last time i deal with a dealer even if any of my cars are recalled I will no doubt ignor the notice.

 

Maybe your mechanic is feeding you bull about all of those parts. if toyota thought they were ok, why does your mechanic think they are bad?

 

i was there with my mechanic and i saw tht they were bad I was a army and civilian mechanic before i injured my back and yes they were all bad I did see the play in them but with what i saw why did I not have ant signs before the rod was changed. this runner has gone back and forth to south florida several times and never have I felt anything wrong with the steering or the way it road also when i was going back to florida i was pulling a trailer

 

I had mine replaced at Toyota of Seattle and they did a great job. I took it in right after I installed my bj spacers and they aligned it no problems. No calls about extra parts just one 5 hours after I dropped if off saying it was done.

 

well i droped off my 4runner at toyota of garden grove, everything seems cool, its been 3 hours and no phone call. after they took the truck i was shuttled home and drove the nissan to work...i hope everything goes well

 

We will keep our fingers crossed for ya !

 

thanks man, my truck has major aligment issues and they did not say a word.....i'm never comfortable at the dealership till today....it felt expensive just being there, but i know i am not paying for a thing, i hope

 

sweet, just got the call from toyota......i nearly $h!t my pants, untill the dude said your truck is done.....there was about 20 seconds of silence untill i said ummm ok great i'll pick it up after work.....i cant believe there were no issues, my heart is still ponding, this feels like i just landed after a sky dive

 

Well i made an appointment for wednesday and thanks to this thread i was able to ask them all the necessary questions beforehand such as full-allignment, replacing tie-rods if necessary, all of which they said are covered under the recall...the only only problem they said they've been running into were loose wheelbearings in which they cant guarentee the allignment in that case...ill have to keep my fingers crossed everything goes a-ok

 

Well it sounds like Toyota is FINALLY delivering clear instructions to their dealers! (I wouldn't expect wheel bearings to be covered - you can search on here how to check them and be prepared)

 

i got my truck back last night and wow.....it was so clean and drove surprisingly stright....i've had me e brake light on for MONTHS before going there....and now nothing......sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet thank you toyota gods

 

Good deal ! One of the lucky few ! Glad to hear it !

 

Well picked up my truck today....replaced tie rods and all, had allignment report ready, didnt try to sell me anything, just reminded me my one cv boot was torn...Great service from superior toyota of Erie, PA

 

just had my girlfriend's 95 pickup in for the relay rod and thought they were trying to give us a nice screw job...but before I did read all these pages of the thread. we were told by the rep guy before they even laid an eye on it that the idler arm might be loose and thus unalignable-but we'll have to see afterwards.

so we got a call later (only 4 hours instead of the friggin 8 on my Runner)..."your idler arm's loose and we can't align it, but we can replace it for $267 and then align it, would you like to?" hell no! gimme my truck back! felt like my hypothetical kid was being babysat by the neighnorhood pedophile. HAHAHAHA: lemme just hand you guys over almost 300 bones!

got back to the crib (pun intended) and looked up these threads. jeez, some of you guys really got bent over! and summa you (silver truck, not to name a few) really got the royal turtle wax job. I thought we got the screwbie cuz they wouldn't align it, but the dude was hella motivated to explain it to me, even mention that I could get an aftermarket idler arm, but it'd still be expensive.

so, as it sits, I haven't been able to take a gander at the truck (read: jack it up, shake it round, see if I can sense any looseness w/o shaking off the jack), cuz my better half gots it at work. so looks like I can't complain given summa y'all's plight.

what makes it kinda ok, though, is that when we took it in this morning I got to drive the new FJ Cruiser...only a cool 31 g's, sign me up! I can pay it off w/my student loans that I just reapplied for! but really, that thing's sweet. turned bumpy roads in my Runner into the yellow brick road.