I am going thought a crazy situation with Toyota dealer in North Charleston, SC:
In 2015, I purchased a brand new Toyota Camry. At that time the dealer provided me a power train lifetime warranty with unlimited time and milage as long as I am the first owner.
since I purchased the vehicle, I serviced it every 6 months at the same dealer to be sure that I will not lose the warranty. I paid thousands of dollars for service since I bought it.
Few days ago I posted here that I hear a rattle noise when I turned on the A/C. I have been advised at this website that it could be any of the pulleys including the water pump because the AC compressor puts a heavy load on the fan belt drive system so it could potentially be any pulley. Also you guys recommended me to Take the belt off and spin every pully by hand to feel for roughness and/or noise in bearings.
I asked the question on this website because I do not trust Toyota dealer. Also I was worry if I will touch the car and it will void the warranty, therefore I decided to take the car to the dealer today.
anyway today Toyota dealer charged me $177 for the inspection and they informed me that ; “upon inspection noise is heard from the bottom half of the engine assembly while engine is under a load. will require a partial engine disassemble to inspect connecting rod
bearings for free-play. Estimate to teardown $2436.00“.
Also the dealer asked me to sign a document that I need to authorize them to teardown the engine to confirm the issue and identify the damaged parts so they can claim the warranty from a 3rd party. And in the event they will not find the problem or the warranty company will decline the warranty, I need to pay the $2436 teardown fees plus tax fees.
I told them, why I will commit this fees, if you are sure the noise coming from the engine and it has a warranty. They did not lesson to me and asked me to pay the $177 inspection fees and take my car out the dealership because I declined the potential teardown fees.
They will not repair the car under warranty until I will sign the legal documents that I will be responsible for tearing down the engine if they not find the damaged components and/or the warranty declined to pay.
Please let me know your thought about this technical issue and the dealer request?
Sounds like typical stealership tricks. They just want to mulct you for that $2436 which they can pocket as pure profit when they say "nope, that wasn't it!" If the bottom end of the engine was in such bad shape that it was making noise due to the load of the AC compressor it would throw a rod the first time you seriously loaded it by taking off quickly a stop light or accelerating to merge onto an expressway. (Not to mention that Toyota engines are not prone to bottom-end problems.)
You can bet your sweet bippy that the "lifetime" warranty they provided is worthless. As others have suggested have the car evaluated by a good independent mechanic. (Definitely not another dealer and not a chain shop.)
So the dealer agreed to replace the engine, they want to put a Jarco Engine, any information about it?
Never heard of Jarco. Maybe some of the others here have. Have you tried an internet search to find information about them?
I found a limited information about Jarco!
Are you sure they don't mean Jasper?
Thank you @chucktobias!
Typical dealership. The warranty isn't worth squat. Like @fjcruiser2014 said, take it to an independent mechanic for a complete, written diagnosis and evaluation. Pay for it, it'll work well for you in your upcoming small claims court case.
So first of all they're called stealerships for a reason which you are seeing an example of. But if you want someone to inspect the car in person take it to a trusted independent mechanic and have them check it out and identify the issue. Then with the diagnosis take it to the dealership and have them fix it.
Also as for the extra warranty well you have to read all the fine prints to see what is covered and what isn't and the conditions for it.
