I keep my car in a garage. When I started my car, my dashboard light up like a Christmas Tree. The Check Engine light came on, as well as the tire warning light, the AWD warning, and it said Check with your Dealership. My car did not hesitate and started as normal, so all of these warnings were a surprise. I immediately turned the car off for a few seconds and then turned it back on only to have the same thing happen again.
I called the Dealership and they said DO NOT DRIVE the car unless someone could follow me to the dealership. Since I live 84 miles away from the Dealership (I live in Texas), I then had to pay for a wrecker to pickup my car and take it to the Dealership. (It was very expensive and the dealership said that they were not responsible for that expense.) Their first response when I called them was that I needed to check for rodent nests under the hood of my car. There were a couple of small nests, but no damage to wiring was found.
They had never experienced this set of warnings before, but finally discovered that the AWD breaker had tripped. They replaced the breaker. There was no charge, since the Vehicle was still under warranty. I want to note here that this event happened less than 3 weeks after I had taken the car to the Dealership for the Safety Recall to replace the fuel pump in the fuel tank.
The car drove fine for 2 weeks and 3 days until the very same thing happened. I will note that in each instance I had not driven the car for a couple of days. When I called the Dealership and expressed my concern about this happening again, the response was well, sometimes you get a faulty part. That did give me a warm fuzzy feeling. Again, I had to have my car towed to the Dealership and had another large expense. I have had a Toyota before and never had any problems (I drove a Camry for 11 years). I am waiting to see what is going to happen now. I drive long distances by myself and now I am very concerned about the reliability of my car. Has anyone else experienced this issue?
Update from Jun 7, 2021: Finally after the third time within a couple of days, the Dealership picked up my car and left me a loaner car to drive until they could figure it out. I drove the loaner car (4Runner) for about a week. They called me and said that they had figured it out and it was ready for me to pickup. The problem turned out to be what I told them the first time I had to have my car towed in. It was all related to the Safety Recall that required them to replace the gas pump in the gas tank. I told them the first time that there had been no issue until the Safety Recall task was performed. They dismissed my comment and said that they knew this was not related. The Safety Recall task was not performed correctly and gas fumes were leaking from the gas tank which finally built up enough for the sensors to cause the warning to come on. Had they actually checked the work that was done when the first event happened, they would have discovered that they had not installed the new pump correctly. The Dealership paid for one of my towing charges which was $312, but would not pay for the second one. I have had no issues with my car since. I appreciated it when the Maintenance Manager told me that I was correct with my diagnosis the first time and they should have listened to me and checked out the work performed for Safety Recall . There is a happy end to my problem.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
I keep my car in a garage. When I started my car, my dashboard light up like a Christmas Tree. The Check Engine light came on, as well as the tire warning light, the AWD warning, and it said Check with your Dealership. My car did not hesitate and started as normal, so all of these warnings were a surprise. I immediately turned the car off for a few seconds and then turned it back on only to have the same thing happen again.
I called the Dealership and they said DO NOT DRIVE the car unless someone could follow me to the dealership. Since I live 84 miles away from the Dealership (I live in Texas), I then had to pay for a wrecker to pickup my car and take it to the Dealership. (It was very expensive and the dealership said that they were not responsible for that expense.) Their first response when I called them was that I needed to check for rodent nests under the hood of my car. There were a couple of small nests, but no damage to wiring was found.
They had never experienced this set of warnings before, but finally discovered that the AWD breaker had tripped. They replaced the breaker. There was no charge, since the Vehicle was still under warranty. I want to note here that this event happened less than 3 weeks after I had taken the car to the Dealership for the Safety Recall to replace the fuel pump in the fuel tank.
The car drove fine for 2 weeks and 3 days until the very same thing happened. I will note that in each instance I had not driven the car for a couple of days. When I called the Dealership and expressed my concern about this happening again, the response was well, sometimes you get a faulty part. That did give me a warm fuzzy feeling. Again, I had to have my car towed to the Dealership and had another large expense. I have had a Toyota before and never had any problems (I drove a Camry for 11 years). I am waiting to see what is going to happen now. I drive long distances by myself and now I am very concerned about the reliability of my car. Has anyone else experienced this issue?
Update from Jun 7, 2021: Finally after the third time within a couple of days, the Dealership picked up my car and left me a loaner car to drive until they could figure it out. I drove the loaner car (4Runner) for about a week. They called me and said that they had figured it out and it was ready for me to pickup. The problem turned out to be what I told them the first time I had to have my car towed in. It was all related to the Safety Recall that required them to replace the gas pump in the gas tank. I told them the first time that there had been no issue until the Safety Recall task was performed. They dismissed my comment and said that they knew this was not related. The Safety Recall task was not performed correctly and gas fumes were leaking from the gas tank which finally built up enough for the sensors to cause the warning to come on. Had they actually checked the work that was done when the first event happened, they would have discovered that they had not installed the new pump correctly. The Dealership paid for one of my towing charges which was $312, but would not pay for the second one. I have had no issues with my car since. I appreciated it when the Maintenance Manager told me that I was correct with my diagnosis the first time and they should have listened to me and checked out the work performed for Safety Recall . There is a happy end to my problem.
- jcrocker, Breckenridge, TX, US