Scotty,
I have a 2021 Toyota Corolla SE 2.0L Auto CVT. It has about 14k miles. I did the oil change and noticed oil residue on the seal of the CVT. There was also residue old oil slung on the underside of the car. I took it to my local Toyota Dealership and they added an oil dye to see where the leak was coming from exactly. They pulled the CVT off and noticed the oil was leaking from an area of the short block that is not repairable and told me the vehicle needs a whole new short block. They said it will all be covered under warranty. Should I be concerned with the reliability of the car? Should I ask Toyota to give me a different Corolla since it is such a big issue. Thanks.
You can ask, but I doubt you're entitled to a new car. Anyway it should all be explained in the fine print terms of your warranty contract.
Should I be concerned with the reliability of the car? Should I ask Toyota to give me a different Corolla since it is such a big issue. Thanks.
Sadly they don't build them like they used to - pretty much all new cars have issues as they roll off the assembly line.
My new car needed the ABS module replaced at 46 miles (I know the technician personally and he told me he never saw an ABS issue on my model of car, ever), today an owner said his brand new Highlander having transmission issues ( https://carkiller.com/scottykilmer/postid/213120/), and I'm seeing countless other instances of new cars just not being built right at the factory (in Japan / Korea / other places where they usually build them right).
It's probably due to disrupted supply chains - a single warranty repair like this turns makes the car a net loss for the company, so it's not purposeful like on so many other brands.
Talk with Toyota and see what they can offer, if they'd just swap in a new engine - I wouldn't be concerned. But replacing just the cylinder block does require a lot of work at the dealership and I'm unsure if that's something they can perform correctly without affecting the long-term reliability of the car.
