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Toyota Tundra - Engine Problems

Toyota Tundra • Engine problems • Brake problems • Misc. problems --- News • Toyota Recalls Some 2007 Tundra Pickups • Camshaft Flaw in New Tundra Pickup • New Tundra Pickup Stumbles in NHTSA Safety Test • Toyota Recalls 533,000 Trucks for Failed Ball Joints • NHTSA Probes 600,000 Toyota Trucks and Vans • Toyota Tundra Recalled to Disable Front Passenger Airbag Switch --- • Toyota Trucks

Herb of Littleton NH writes (4/13/02):
I changed the oil in my Toyota Tundra after driving 4000 miles since a garage had changed it. The filter gasket from the old filter stuck to the engine block, causing an insufficient seal, allowing the oil to drain out. Twenty miles down the road, the engine skipped and I noticed zero oil pressure on the guage. I immediately stopped, but the motor was already toast.

My question is, how can Toyota make an aluminum engine without warning lights and buzzers for loss of oil? This is supposed to be Motor Trend's truck of the year and it doesn't warn you of low oil. Even my friend's old Ford Ranger does that.

George of Kaufman TX (8/13/03):
We have bought two different Toyota Tundras, a 2001 and a 2002, both top of the line with all extras. The first Tundra started having an engine knock and blue smoke coming from the engine. We took this truck in for service many times and were always told that there was nothing wrong with our truck.

We finally got worried enough about the truck and traded it in on a new 2002 Toyota Tundra with the salesman telling us that there must have just been a problem with the first truck that would certainly not be there in the new one. We had the new truck for a couple of weeks and then the very same thing started to happen with the new one. We have now taken the new truck in for service many times where it has been verified by Toyota and Toyota is stating that this problem is simply inherent in those models and that there is nothing to worry about with the motors.

Their Toyota "specialist," Carl Smith, stated that the "engine slap" was no problem and that he did not see any of the other problems that we reported to him. Our truck is knocking on cool and hot starting conditions, blowing blue smoke out of the tailpipe, failing to start three times now, 02 sensors failing (2 now in 2 months) and the gas gauge is not telling us when the tank is empty causing us to run out of gas twice in the last two weeks.

I wrote a letter to Toyota Japan to the President of Toyota, to Toyota Japan to the head office in Tokyo, to Mr. Brian Krinock, General Manager, North American Headquarters in Erlanger, Ky and also to Gulf States Toyota, Inc. in Houston where Mr. Carl Smith is employed. The letter to Gulf States Toyota was refused and returned, the letter to Mr. Brian Krinock was answered with a message to contact the Head Office of Toyota in California, the letter to Toyota in Tokyo was never answered and the letter to Mr. Fujio Cho, President of Toyota was answered with a note telling us that we would be contacted by the North American Toyota office in California.

We were contacted by a lady identifying herself as Jessica Ketchum, working for a Mr. Juki Funo, President of Toyota North America. She stated that Toyota was holding firm with the conclusion that Mr. Carl Smith had come up with and that the problem with our truck was not a problem at all and we had no problem with our truck that could be fixed by Toyota unless we wanted to take our problems to Arbitration. I assumed that we would be getting a letter to tell us this same thing and told this Jessica Ketchum that I would just wait to get the letter from her office and my husband and myself would then make a decision as to how to proceed with this problem with our vehicle.

Jessica Ketchum then informed me that she would not be sending a letter to us for any reason and that even if we sent another letter to Japan that her office and the President of Toyota North America would just ignore any other response from us. She did state that their office would be sending a letter to their office in Japan, but that we would not be getting a letter of any kind. I then told her that this was a very big mistake on her bosses behalf and that unless Toyota could make a living selling vehicles to their employees, that they might want to reconsider their business practices of just kissing off customers. Her response was that that was the proceedure in her office and she had nothing more to tell me.

When we were at the Toyota Dealership each time having our truck looked at, there were many other folks there also standing in line waiting for someone to fix problems that Toyota said was simply not there in the first place. I believe that there is a BIG problem with these truck and Toyota is just trying to keep it quiet until their 2004 Toyota Tundra's come out. Thier "specialist" Mr. Carl Smith and other Service Department personnel have stated that this is simply an inherent problem with this motor and it has now been fixed! This means that they knew about this problem when they sold us our current truck, but decided it was not in our best interest to tell us or anyone else!!

This has caused our family much mental anguish, along with now being faced with having to trade this 2nd truck off for another vehicle making it three in three years, which will cause us to lose all equity that we have paid on this and the last truck that also gave us the same problem. We paid over $18,000.00 down on the first Toyota Tundra and we will never get that back. My husband is a heart patient and it has caused him to suffer heart pain from worrying about this and what would happen if the truck broke down with us and it has also caused him to have to walk for several miles in 106 degree heat when the truck ran out of gas with the guage showing it still had a quarter of a tank of gas. We have probably lost several thousand dollars in these trucks and will never be able to get it back.

RB of Signal Mtn., TN (9/24/02):
Bought a spanking new 2002 Toyota Tundra June 15, 2002, in SC. Moved to TN two weeks later. With 800 miles on the truck, I took it to the nearest dealer for a knocking sound in the engine. The engine was defective. The engine was replaced. Thirty-one days after taking the truck into the dealer, sixty something days after purchasing it I got it back with the new engine. A couple of weeks later I had to take it back because the mechanic bent the brake rotor dust covers when he was replacing the engine. Consequently they were rubbing and making a racket.

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