Dealer has ruined my truck

I've only had my truck for about 1 week since the middle of January. I still have about 1k miles left on my extended warranty on my 2012 with 134,000mi. So I brought it to Heritage Toyota of Catonsville, MD to get the electrical system looked at while it was still under warranty. The voltage was bouncing all over the place just like it was last year, before they replaced my alternator. It was steady for about 6 months before it started bouncing again.

They told me this time the alternator and battery were fine. But the found a cam tower leak they would fix under warranty. Both sides.

Fast forward one month later, I go to pickup my truck for the FOURTH time because all previous times something was wrong. They managed to:
-Bend the power steering pulley (they initially "bent it back into shape", but I demanded they replace it)
-pop a tire
-curb rash one wheel
-nick the side of my serpentine belt
-dent my door
-leave the skid plate bolts loose
-overfill my oil by 1qt
-somehow my power steering fluid is also overfilled
-cut a radiator hose
-lifter tick is louder
-another strange "hoo" noise keeps coming and going

They told me they couldn't replicate my electrical problem, but before I even left their parking lot, it was bouncing again.

I took it to Brown's Toyota in Glen Burnie, MD and they fixed many of those issues at the cost of the former dealer and also replaced my alternator and battery because they were indeed bad. This dealer also found an a/c leak in my condensor so replaced it, but in the meantime punched a whole in my radiator, so they replaced that too. But now that I have my truck back, the belt SCREAMS on every startup for anywhere from 3-20 seconds. So I replaced my tensioner and belt yesterday, still screams. Just coated it with belt dressing, still screams.
Also, now my two low beam bulbs have died after replacing them in December (Sylvania h11) and a blinker bulb has also died at the same time. I cannot for the life of me figure out why my luck is so bad.

Just now I looked under the hood and I see this wiring harness with zipties around it. The light grey clip is loose. Can any of y'all identify this for me? Sorry for the longwindedness but I have been through hell the past couple months with these dealerships!

 

If your belt is routed wrong (which is possible) it will scream on startup. and under load. But everything on the belt system will still operate correctly. I'd check that first.

there isn't a sticker on the hood to show the correct orientation.

I did this wrong once, and yes it screamed.

 

I think you have a ground issue and that's what's killing your electrical system.
Sorry i'm not sure what the plug does exactly, but if its loose it could be causing things to short out.

 

YOU ARE THE MAN!!!! I just found a diagram showing the proper routing and the dealer wrapped mine around the alternator and tensioner incorrectly, so when I changed it after I got it home, I followed the same route as I had drawn it onto a piece of cardboard. Going to change this now and address the electrical stuff after. Thanks so much!!

 

Water pumps can also squeal in startup. Mine got bad before it leaked.

 

Just wish i could help with the electrical problems.

 

If you keep blowing bulbs I would check the charging voltage. If it is too high you will blow headlights faster than normal.

 

If the gray lever is loose, then the connector is not plugged correctly or they may have broken the locking/unlocking mechanism. You can have them look at it again and have them remove the zip ties. Nothing should be really loose. Those connectors are a pain in the butt to replace. But from the pic, the connector looks it's all locked up. Don't touch it. Let them deal with it. Cause if you happen to take the truck to another dealer or same dealer to be worked on, they can charge you to get that connector replaced or they won't even touch your truck.

 

You don't have bad luck. The problem is that you're going to the dealership to get work done. They pay bottom dollar and charge you top dollar. If you can find a well reviewed independent shop, that would be worth looking into, otherwise you may need to do your own maintenance/repairs in the future.

 

Thanks for all the replies. I rerouted the belt and it took care of the initial squeal on start-up, however, there's now a squeak with every rotation and it sounds like its coming from the power steering pulley. The pulley also looks like its a little wobbly as it rotates. I'll be dropping the truck off at the dealer first thing on Monday morning to get the other items taken care of.

I agree with you about the issue of poor labor at the dealer. I have found a great independent shop in my area that I would have loved to have taken it to, but unfortunately they can't work under my warranty. The only reason I've been using the dealer is to utilize my warranty, otherwise I would have been turning wrenches myself!

 

Yep, find yourself a good ol Toyota master mech who's gone into business. I've used 2 different ones and they did light years better work than my closest dealer.

I also had a hell of a time with my dealer. My truck literally almost burned up while in their care. I don't have ATRAC and a 3rd brake light thanks to them (cut my harness somewhere). Dealers really are the worst things on this planet

 

RE; ticking getting louder; 4.7 or 5.7? I think on either one, if they were messing with the cams it is very easy to f up the timing from cam-to-cam (not to belt/chain). If ticking got louder that could very well be the case.

The grey clip is the engine harness to ECM. If they broke that they likely owe you a new engine harness.

There are good dealers here in Denver. Dunno where you all live but sounds like the south or east coast or something.

 

We have crap dealers here in MD. Took my 07 to Darcars in Frederick for an alignment and they had to re do it twice. Each time the steering wheel was about 15° off center.
Finally took it to my friends private shop down in Severn and he said one of the nuts was seized on the passenger side and that Toyota never even touched it. Had to torch it loose to fix the alignment. And then it took me 2 months to get my money back from Toyota. (Actually just spoke to them Friday asking where my refund was.)

hope you get your electrical issues fixed!

 

Is the private shop in Severn Extra Mile Performance? I've been there before and they're great. If the dealer can't/won't fix the problems they've created I'll be going there. I just want to get as much covered under warranty as possible.

 

Actually guess it’s Millersville. Auto Sense.

Only place I’ve trusted to work on my parents cars the past few years and they have good prices. Toyota quoted me $1300 for a rear wheel bearing, they did it for around 900. They’ve done wheel bearings, fluids, maintenance, fixing odd ball issues, timing belts, etc for me.

https://www.kensautosense.com/

 

This. And over voltage will also harm your battery. I don't know of the voltage regulator is built into the alternator, but most of them are.

To test this simply connect a volt meter to the two battery terminals. Don't trust the meter on the dash board to be accurate. Charging voltage should be around 14 volts.

 

Here's an update since it's been a few days.
The technician is trying to blame all my electrical problems on my SDHQ billet battery terminals. He told me the fluctuations in voltage are because when the aluminum terminals heat up, they are restricting the voltage somehow. He claims I'm getting proper voltage at the alternator, and wires before the terminals, and then on the actual terminals only getting around 12.2 volts. I told him that's impossible because the voltage issue existed prior to the SDHQ terminals being installed. That's why I replaced the OEM ones because I thought they may have been the issue in the first place. Lemme know y'all's thoughts!

I also had a no-start issue for the second time in a week. ZERO power to the truck. No click, no beep, no nothing. Popped the hood and tugged on some wires and then it started up.

As for the wiring harness, they don't have to replace the entire harness thankfully. The clip used to connect it to the firewall can be replaced.

 

I was not aware that someone made aluminum battery terminals. There is a possibility of oxidation forming between aluminum and the terminals and between the aluminum and the copper wire. This is common in house wiring. There is a paste that is used when connecting aluminum wires to copper terminals to prevent oxidation. The stuff I have is called "OX GARD" and is costs a few bucks for a small tube.

 

When I get ahold of my truck again I'll double check for oxidation, but I'm pretty confident there isn't any. I should have mentioned I just installed the new terminals in October, so it hasn't been long.

 

Did you end up getting your truck fixed? I ran into a similar no start/no power situation this morning.

 

I did, actually. As embarrassing as it is to admit, it was dirty/oxidized battery terminals. They put on OEM terminals and it hasnt had any issue since. I felt like a moron! But lesson learned.

 

Screw it, as long as it’s fixed! We all eat crow from time to time. Glad eating it meant victory for you.

 

Second this... I replaced my alternator and had the same issue, found the belt was routed the incorrect way.