I've noticed on many of the foreign car forums especially Japanese, owners complain about the smallest things like temp gauges reading 4 degrees off from the actual outside temperature, vehicles are masses produced so their will be problem prone ones but Japanese are far and wide better than anything.

My father is 65 and drives Lexus, he laughs when people are like theirs a rattle, he could go on and on for days about the Chevys he owned, sure they rattled but only if that was the problem, he's had engine cease on him that he pulled out took apart and proved to Chevy that if their where oil holes drilled where they where never drilled the engine would still be running, then Chevy replaced his engine, lucky for him he rebuilt crankshafts so he was able to do what he did and knew what was wrong way before Chevy did.

The internet is a great source of information and I applaud Mish for what he did, takes a lot of energy to pursue something like that.

Whatever someone buys all they need is luck, plus it being built well and taking care of it does not hurt.

The FX35 has to many owners complaining about small things, I've yet to hear a major concern with the sport truck, but all the minor things have been cover no questions asked by Infiniti, and the G35 loaners are a nice to.

The FX35 with a tech package is a hard find but their out their, good luck on getting 1 Mish

 

Mish and Edge are both correct!

Not to speak for Mish but I have been following this thread since the beginning. Here are a few facts about the V6 according to Mish and this thread (which, btw, I believe to be true):

1. The V6 "rattles" under acceleration. This is because the exhaust manifold is thinner and sound can be heard. Same issue popped up on the RX Lexus. It does nothing to affect reliability, performance or anything.
Mish said he knew that characteristic and it was ok. Didn't bother him.

***In fact I have heard the same "rattle" under acceleration on my friend's Tacoma double cab, Nissan Xterra, Frontier, V8 Tundra. Maybe "rattle" isn't the best description but I felt it was normal and, to me, just sounds like a truck.***

2. Very early on in this thread, I asked Mish and others about the noise. I had just bought my truck and wanted to see if I had it. I heard some faint"rattling" when I listened very closely with the hood up. This was, as Mish and other said, normal. It is just the injectors going off.

***This is whisper quiet inside my truck and not noticable from the outside- unless you open the hood and listen very carefully w/o noise in the background***

3. Mish's problem (as best as it is known) is due to misaligned or misadjusted valves or something that Mish says is rather easy to fix.
He downloaded a video of his truck at idle. From inside the drivers seat to outside, the engine at idle was a LOUD, constant rattling. RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!

***This is something you would not need to ask about if you had it!! If you have it, you would know!***

4. I agree people are so anal when it comes to imports. They build up such an unrealistic image of Toyota that they expect absolute perfection. If there is a minor problem (nearly EVERY "problem" I have read on the net about the new 4R has been so minor, I would consider it a waste of time to go to the dealer. Mish's issue, of course, is the exception.)
A rattle or squeak and people are saying the 4R is a lemon and want to go into arbitration!

This reminds me of the recent problems carmakers are having in China. With the recent permission to sell imports, people are now able to buy Mercedes, BMW and other imports. The problem? They have been reading about these cars in magazines for years. They have built up such high expectations, they expect perfection. One owner (that I saw on the news) publicly BURNED/SET ON FIRE his new Mercedes sedan because he was so upset at it's quality! Why? The engine was knocking! The dealer could have done a simple fuel sensor fix or something very simple!
This is a very big problem in China for auto companies right now.

The internet is skewed too. Only a small percentage actively post on the internet. Enthusiasts and people looking to solve problems. So you will see more of both and not the vast majority.

I AM NOT SAYING DON'T TRY TO FIX THINGS OR BE UNHAPPY, I AM SAYING BE REALISTIC ABOUT IT!

 

Here is one page of the arbitration documents, the rest will follow later. Thank you all for understanding and support!

 

Mish,
It sounds like a good thing you got that independent auto garage evaluation. Seems like they put alot of weight in it when considering the validity of your claim.

I like how they put your comment in "sounds like a diesel Toyota"

 

Believe it or not, when everything else failed Toyota rep tried to use this independent estimate against me. He said that buying this car back because of such minor issue like $300 repair is hardly justified, therefore he is ready to cut me check for this amount so I could take my truck to this garage and get it fixed. It ticked me off so much that I kept punching his face in my mind all the rest of our meeting While back I actually offered Toyota to get this noise fixed at Automotive Experts and simply present their bill to Toyota for reimbursement, however they shut this idea down immediately and even threatened me with voiding the warranty if I did that. So imagine how I felt when this f@cktard offered me this $300 at the arbitration to fix my truck elsewhere

BTW, I still have to pay my attorney fees, so if anybody thinks I got out nice and easy, make no mistake, I am out few bucks. If I went there just with that engine noise and no attorney they would have snapped me like a twig and make me drive this rattle basket for the rest of the lease term. So let there be no misuderstanding, Toyota cars and trucks are nice, but company behind those is no better than any other evil corporate empire.

 

I wish to god that meeting was videotaped. I would have loved to see it!

 

Well, FX35 was nice and sweet, but not worth leaving such great club, so I went ahead and bought another Toyota.
2001 LX470 will be picked up later on today, just paid for it.

On the other hand, tomorrow at 12.30pm I am dropping off my 3Runner at Germain Toyota where I bought it. I ams ure orchestra and red carpet are alredy ordered for my appearence

 

CONGRATS on the FJ Mish!! That is a kick butt suv! Lots of internet support for it too!
PICS!!!!!!!

As for the dropoff, man I wish I could see their a-hole faces!
Glad it all turned out and is working out! It's been a long road for you but I'm glad you're staying Toyota!

 

Forget the 4Runner and Land Cruiser! Today I checked out 2002 Sequoia V8 and instead of seeing step up from 4Runner and step down from FJ I saw one ugly interior from cheap Tundra. I thought those were nice and luxury, I did not think those were just a covered pickup truck with shifter on the steering column.

Anyways, pictures of my new hooptie coming soon.

 

Congrats on the LX Mish, so whats the mileage on that bad ass truck, the LX has to be 1 ultimate vehicle if I was to replace my 4Runner it would be a GX or an LX with an SC but I do love the LX above a LandCrusier, the future of the FJ is unknown so you having 1 just makes it even more valuable.

Can't wait to see pics, truly bad azz man bad azz

Oh Yeah, now that you have an 01 LX, everything is gonna look cheap, Lexus's interior refinement is top notch, I've compared my 03 ES to Infiniti and even Infiniti is lacking.

So how are you gonna bring the truck back, you gonna have someone in your LX

When you exit, remember FU, FU, FU, your cool, FU, FU, F this whole place

 

2001 LX470, 55K miles, like new, came from St. Louis, MO.
It drives, feels and definitely sounds better than my 4Runner.
I do not know who that Mark Levinson guy is, but now he has good friend in Ohio I never thought stereo could sound so good in a truck.

Tomorrow my co worker is driving this truck with me to the dealer to drop 4Runner off.

Some night pics:

 

Looks like a nice ride! Hope you enjoy it more than the 4Runner fiasco.

 

Well, it is now officially good buy 4Runner and hello check with my money back.
They took it back nicely and painlessly, however cleared up service bay from customers while I was there I was my usual sarcastic self, thanking them for such excellent service

 

Mish,

I think you should drive by the dealership for the next few days and see if the "creampuff" ends up on their used car lot. It will probably go to an auction but I assume it must be branded as a lemon law buyback on the title someway (?). It would be interesting in a few weeks to run your vin number on carfax and see if anything comes back.

 

Truck will either go to auction or will be sent to Toyota Corporate Head Quarters somewhere and they will ripe the engine apart to see the exact cause of the noise, unless they do know the problem and just figured it's less money to buy a few back then fix the problem, you know like Ford figures if so many Crown Vics blow up, it's easier to pay off the families then issue recalls that would cost twice as much but fix the problem.

As bad as it sounds who would buy it, I would keep an eye on carfax though.

 

Don't you guys think those H1s are little too heavy?
I thought so.

 

Mish,
Is that the Toyota lawyer trying to run you over?

No pictures of that pos, more pics of the FJ! Interior and daylight please

 

Since you insist, the most detailed pictures:










Also, I ahve some questions about this truck, where do I ask?
Do we have FJ100 owners here?

 

Mish,
Go to realcruiser.com and there are links to other Land Cruiser sites.
also,
ih8mud.com and there are several private email lists.

nice truck!

 

Mish, nice ride. IMHO, I think you have a better set-up than b4. Most of the first time depreciation of that Lexus is gone, so you have a good investment. Nice, clean engine and interior. Put some Meguiars or Lexsol on those leather love marks. MB uses those two products in their vehicles.

I had a similar experience as you with Chevrolet, b4 the Lemon Law. Chevy replaced two tranny's and ripped apart the engine, while I still owned it! I was accused of being a liar, cheat and that I didn't know what I was talking about. I finally went in one day, gave them the keys and told them that I did not want the vehicle back until it was fixed. They called me later that day and informed me a sensor that is usually installed at the factory was dangling down by the exhaust muffler. I went through all of this, actual down time(no vehicle) and it boiled down to some drunk boof on a Chevy assembly line fogot to install a sensor in the engine!

Disgusted by my treatment and my 'rebuilt' vehicle, I sold it at loss and moved on. That is why I said you and Toyota came out even. Even though you had time involved, rude treatment and product disappointment, you got your money back in full.

Nice color on that FJ.

seeing you under that Hummer made me think of another post by ToddE...http://www.fuh2.com/