84,000 miles on my 5.7 and the dealer wants to rebuild my motor.

Any opinions greatly appreciated. My name is Jeff and this my second Toyota.

I have a 2021 Tundra limited 4x4. No mods.

After a severe storm, I went to start my truck and it dragged to start. It started and ran rough with the check engine light on saying crash avoidance malfunction and trailer brake malfunction (not those exact words). So I cleaned the terminals and reconnected the battery. Started right up and purred like a kitten. That lasted 2 days. Then again the same symptoms, ran rough and check engine light is on saying the radar is malfunctioning.
I took it to the dealer, first day, your plugs are bad. Second day, you have 3 coil packs that need replacing. Third day, your injectors need cleaning and we need to replace 1, injector will arrive in the morning, we will get you on the road.

At 3 pm, still no word. The tech called in sick and the 2nd tech says I have rebuild the whole top end. They wrote off all the parts and labor for misdiagnosis and now want 8 to 10 thousand.

Full synthetic oil changes every 5k . I trully expected over a 150k . Truck has never towed anything. All highway miles.

Thanks, jeff

 

“After a severe storm…”

How did this affect your truck? Did you drive through some deep water?

 

Ooof. That sounds suspicious to me. But ask them specifically what has failed and evidence for such.

 

At a min. go get another opinion from a different dealer or an independent shop. Something doesn't sound right and it kind of seems like either lazy or inexperienced techs just wanting to throw parts at it. When I changed my plugs I forgot to connect one of the coils and had the same CEL. I plugged in the coil and disconnected the battery and it was fine afterwards. Run a bottle of Techron or Seafoam through it to clean the injectors. Ask them what the whole top end means and again wht evidence they have that it needs to be replaced.

To me it sounds like something is disconnected or a wire is broken or chewed.

 

This.

The dealer is proving to be incompetent at diagnosing misfire faults (at least tech no. 1 is), but low compression due to water ingestion is certainly a possibility. Was a compression test done?

If it got a gulp of water, it might be time for a discussion with an insurance adjuster.

 

Exactly.

That small mention of a severe storm jumped out at me. I want to know exactly how the storm interacted with the truck, lol. What did he do with the truck during the storm? Seems there’s a lot more to that part of the story…

 

Maybe lightning? You're getting some totally unrelated systems malfunction.

 

So much odd here. The vague storm reference, for one.

Setting that aside, I don't trust dealerships and the escalation could be that they fucked up the plug or coil install and they are responsible for top end damage. Would be the first shop to break stuff and expect the customer to pay for it. I'd be careful about accusations though.

 

My first response is take your truck elsewhere. It sounds like the techs guessing at the vehicle’s issue are pretty incompetent. Happy to challenge that. In regards to the severe storm, did you drive in/through it? Did water get into the air intake system or coincidentally did you get a batch of bad gas?

As a previous GM tech, I had the opportunity to diagnose a vehicle which was struck by lighting. The tell tale was the damaged radio antenna and “weld like” splatter on the hood/roof of the car. Ended up replacing a damaged ECM. Highly unlikely. Start with the basics and you’ll track it down. Keep us posted.

 

How exactly did you drive through the severe storm?

 

The storm, no lightning fizzled out before it made it inland, I parked the truck because I know how people drive in the rain. So she was never drivin in water. I had it towed from the dealership, they could not tell me an exact reason until the tore it down. The first tech said he ran a full compression and it was fine, the second tech just checked 2 and 4, then said it was 4 that was dead. She runs a little rough, never overheated, no smoke, no moisture in the tailpipe. Only started to load on the tow truck to bring her home after diagnosis. When the check engine light came on, drove 5 miles to the dealership.

 

Is the battery and/or connectors in good condition? Those can also make some wacky problems.

Also,

We drive cars in the rain all the time, it shouldn't cause any issues.. why worry about the rain?

 

Why even mention the storm? You call it severe and then say it never came? So confused.

 

I’m with ya.

 

Perhaps suspicion of static discharge, water ingestion, or some other oddity? Like those folks who's sun roofs exploded randomly, then realized the storm coming through blew them out..?

 

Sounds like electrical/sensors problem to me, especially since it ran great for a few days after you cleared everything by disconnecting the battery.

 

this post is odd

 

What is the real reason for the whole top engine rebuild??? I’m still confused on this. What is the issue they told you?? Injector? Coil? Did rats eat ur harness?

 

Really f’ing close to impossible would be a cylinder issue!!

 

Have you hooked a computer to it to see the codes??

 

Are you even a real person or are you AI?

 

My money is on the truck was struck by lightening and it now has some electrical gremlins. Take it somewhere else to get diagnosed.

 

Is the engine making odd noises?

Maybe a broken valve spring?

Did it run rough before the "severe storm"

I have so many questions but like @ToyoMafia said wre you real?

 

Valve spring would be a unicorn of an issue on that motor. Of course idk how robots drive.

 

How much money?? I think we could start a pool.

 

Its very rare but you never know.....

 

Five Doll Hairs

 

That sounds a little creepy. I’m in.