Hilux failed clutch at 51000km

Agree totally Olcoolone, well said.
Cheers

Yep as said, dealers don't refuse warranty Toyota do.

Note! Hiluxes are way to high geared in high range 1st gear.

Yes the Hilux is geared to high in first, with big tyres and a camper in tow it can become a real pain in the..... We found in the high country it was hard to get the Hilux moving on some of the climbs, the other problem we had was when travelling long distances in a convoy when in low range first we would have to pull over all the time because we kept on catching the vehicles in front.

Most new 4x4 utes these day suffer from it (helps makes it more drivable for the kiddies school run)...... However the new Ford Ranger/Mazda BT50 has a really low first gear that great when loaded, have big tyres or towing but quickly became annoying when driving normally so we went auto.

The dealers assessment and their information which is relayed to the parent company for warranty and is what the company goes on. ie, their word for it and not the owners explanation.

Often, not always, the person responsible for warranty issues is sometimes not very good at doing so. Hence the problem.

Currently working with a bloke (different vehicle system involved) who has such problems and the service person at his dealers, ( Not Toyota), is so incompetent at detecting and authorizing correct industry standard warranty repairs, he has stuffed up and cost the company at least $37,000 so far that I know of. Recorded in Official Tribunal records as the amount paid by the company because of not dealing squarely with the parent company for a suitable outcome. Minimal repairs = maximum failure later.
The company can only go on what they are told. In all cases it would have been a cost of only a few hundred at the most, if done properly first time. Again part of the recorded official report.
So, not always does the warranty happen as the company intends it to, but it possibly happens as the dealer makes it happen.

Obviously this doesn't occur in all cases bit it does in some.

Ross...... already made mention of it.

"The dealership has very little say in warranty claims but how dealership words something can"

Have had the same problem with a service advisor at a Toyota dealership who we have a good working relationship with, told Toyota warranty stuff they didn't need to know making a claim rejected...... cost them a far bit of money as we pulled all our service vehicle work from them and went to another Toyota dealer....... the service advisor got asked to leave, we bought a new 200 series Landcruiser off them at a rock bottom price and all is good.

But still doesn't warrant kicking a dealer..... as with ours the dealership acted quickly to rectify the issue.

Unfortunately with most people who have a gripe and a winge on a forum you only every here one side of the story and it always seems to be they are the poor victim.... and he did admit on here he had a problem with the clutch but failed to inform them at the last service..... this alone is enough to refuse a warranty claim (using a vehicle with a known problem causing a bigger problem).

How do you know his Hilux hasn't got big wheels, is over weight and he towed a 25 foot caravan for the last 20,000k in the hilly areas of Victoria and New South Wales.

As I have said before some are their own worst enemies.

Not saying Shipo is one of these customers but when you don't know the full story and have very little other facts to go by you have to take it with a pinch of salt and play the devils advocate.

And it's good to see the "Take legal action NOW!" group is alive and well.....LOL

Funny thing is that some of the dealer bashers are probably mechanics, plumbers, builders etc, that have their own questionable work ethics!

Yeh well why not kick a dealer.....plenty of them well and truly deserve it...as do the car companies.

Toyota Australia where known to deny responsibility for the dodgy injectors in the early CRD motors..and charge inflated prices for the injectors...while in NZ the injectors where replaced cheerfully and the price of the injectors was way lower.

Its not just car dealers, but an increasingly normal practice to deny warranty as a first reaction to to any claim.

It is more and more practice to delay, procrastinate and deny responsibility for anything and hope the customer will give up or the claim will come outside the warranty period...AND in most cases they do.

EVEN worse, we are finding that vehicles and other products are designed specifically to shift cost onto the customer and away from the manufacturer.

The manufacturer is only too willing to gear a vehicle higher and persist with the same clutch that was barely adequate in the past.
Result the manufacturer can claim better environmental credentials and lower cost of ownership......untill the owner keep the car a few more years then cops the full freight of the expenses.

yeh...it is soo common.....yeh don't change the oil as often the shedule....resulting in lower service costs and environmental impact.....but resulting in more wear and tear on the car long term


OH and there is the old favoriet......leave changing things like gearbox and diff oils, coolants brake fluids and the like till the fixed price or free service deal runs out.

It is a common thing that toyotas need new clutches at arround 50 000.....the RAV we just sold was arround that vintage and the dealer was pushing for a clutch job in the $3000 mark.
Look at the RAVs advertised on line and many in that 50 000 range have had new clutches.

Hell a new clucth every second set of tyres.....you that is about right isn't it.

Now look bac at a couple of older toyotas...my 2.7 liter pterol hilux had about 160 000 on the clock..has done some work in previous owners ..by the look of the gearbox ( just rebuilt) has pull a lot of weight.....original clutch in reasonable ned of replacement at 160 000.

My 4wd diesel hilux..with over 300 000 KM on the clock still on the original clutch....yeh its about due.

So this 50 000 clutch chnage over....its seems common..is it reasonable..I DON"T think so.

AS for $3000 to change a clutch in a conventional in line transmission.....don't make me laugh.....I have just had an gearbox rebuild WITH a new input shaft and some new gears and it cost me $2500 drive in drive out with a new clutch...from a known reputable gearbox specilaist.



So why not kick a dealer......they have been picking your pocket since the car was new.

OH.. yeh last service on the old RAV, the dealer rang and said the wiper blades needed replacing....they quoted $75 to do it...on top of the "service".

Oh the poor dealer...my heart bleads.

cheers

Know many who have not had a clutch in there Hilux that have done over 200,000 with no problems, we had one done in ours at 75,000 due to a slight spring noise now and again..... clutch was fine.

Bantam..... vehicle manufactures make vehicles for the masses and the masses say they want a light clutch operation as many women and men as well drive these vehicles as their everyday car and going off road is driving on the front law to wash it every week...... their idea of hard work is taking a load of rubbish down the dump every 10 -12 months before the relies come over at xmas time.

If they put a harder clutch in there would be more people complaining the pedal is to hard then what there is with faulty clutches.

love the age of internet were a few people having the same problem can make some believe it affects all that model.

Suppose Bantam if you had millions of dollars outstanding, employed 100+ people and had to compete with a falling new car market/profit.... you to would be trying to capitalise from the customer and make a profit, or do you think they should do it at cost and not make a profit.....doing it for love I don't think so...... maybe the employees can take a pay cut to help offer lower prices to the customer.

I know for one thing if I had 10's of millions invested in a business I would want to make a health profit....... now I don't know if you run a business or your a leach but if you do have your own business do you make a profit or do you do it for love...... and if you do make a profit you should be ashamed of yourself....

It's funny how one likes to rip someone off but they hate it when they are being ripped off.... or they want high pay at work but are prepared to haggle for a better deal when buying of someone else.

It's a funny world.....

no matter which way you try plam the blame off........a clucth that dons not last longer than two sets of tyres is simply not fit for purpose

Remember too the original poster is talking about a load carrying commercial vehicle

There is simply no excuse for a piss poor clutch.

cheers

Shipo
Some of the 4WD stores who do up vehicles for offroad work, immediately remove the OE clutch even though it hasn't done any work because they know before they begin, it isn't going to last.
They don't want to be carefully 4WD'ing and suddenly have the clutch say NO. Many do a reasonable job but some don't. Toyota can't admit to that so deny it is their fault. They have enough recalls to worry about as it is.

If you can always give a reason ie, Abuse is a common one, and various others are also used to immediately divert blame to the owner.

The fact the same owner has used vehicles previously and of possibly the same make and for longer distances without any issue, totally escapes their precious little heads. Logic goes out the window.

Even with a bit of hard work it should last longer than 50,000 and therefore an agreement may be used to cover the "usage V's the expected life aspect", and then a pro rata decision which is fair can be agreed to.

It should be honestly fair and the words "we are looking after you, we are doing our best", shouldn't feature in the replies you get when negotiating. If they appear then you know they aren't dealing with fairness.

Hilux costs more to buy AND maintain. Not a good Advertisement.

Shipo - All of Ross's points are good points. A pro-rata offer is an acceptable one - but a clutch should last at least 150,000kms in ANY commercial vehicle.

The problem we have today is that with the huge swing over to manufacturing in 3rd world countries - the problems associated with corruption, and flaws in quality control, and materials not meeting manufacturers specifications, have only increased - by a large amount.

The Hilux is built in Thailand and uses components that are sourced from probably a dozen different countries. You'd probably be amazed at the percentage of Chinese components in the Hilux.
These are all sourced from independent suppliers. Toyota no longer make all their own components.

Keeping QC to the expected, superior Toyota level, is now a massive problem for Toyota, with factories in so many 3rd world countries - and Thailand is still 3rd world, regardless of what anyone says.

There's a book called "Poorly Made in China" that reveals how material specifications are met initially for parts supplied under contract - then through corruption, poorer-quality substitute materials are supplied - which slip through inadequate QC regimes.
Batches of contract-supplied parts are only randomly tested to meet specs, to save on costs - instead of constant QC checking of EVERY part, as Toyota USED to do.

A mate bought a new Nissan Patrol ute 2 yrs ago, and the rear springs folded up like chewing gum within 30,000 kms.

At least in his case, Nissan admitted they had a QC problem, and that a "bad batch" of springs had "slipped through" - and they gave him a set of replacement springs under warranty.

There was none of this BS, about "abuse" causing the spring failure problem. They just came straight out and admitted to a poor QC problem.

In your case, you have an identical claim for poor quality clutch material, and you need to push your claim for adequate compensation. At the very least you should only pay around 1/3rd of the cost of a new clutch.

Cheers, Ron.

Ron N,
the clutch must be made by Ford or Detroit.

Slow on really is slow
I have 1969 GT Falcon that has covered just over 99000 miles. It still has the original clutch and in the bad old days fried more tyres than you could imagine. Even used on sprint days at Lakeside and Queensland raceway. Was lucky to get 5000 miles from the rear tyres
My last Falcon ute did 450000 km on the original clutch.

Ford bagging seems like a past time on this site at times and I'll tell you one thing.
Nothing is built to last these days and ollcoolone can harp on about dealer bashing all he likes because there's a reason why dealerships have a bad name and it isn't because of the warm fuzzy feeling you get when you get screwed over by them.

My last 3 dual cabs tow a 1.3T trailer every work day. They all get traded between 150 and 200 thousand kms. Not once have I had clutch issues..
This clutch in old mates Hilux is either made from rubbish or had a faulty install.
Either way Toyota should fix it. If it's an SR5 spending 50 grand on it and then having a clutch go just doesn't cut it.

olcoolone is just a dealer troll, I think all his posts should be moved over to the commercial advertising section of this website.

One only has to Google "hilux clutch problems" to see the overwhelming numbers of unhappy Hilux owners who have experienced exceptionally poor clutch life - including olcoolone.

That's soooo funny Ron N, Olcoolone has been around for a loooong time.

Thanks, I refused to leave the dealership without the broken parts. I intend to take this matter as far as I can and prove to them that I don't give up easily. I intend to write them a letter this week and I have the name of the owner of the dealership so I will start at the top then move onto Toyota then the legal system.

The hilux has a solid flywheel not dual mass.

Google anything and you will get hits...... yes the internet makes it sound bigger then it is.

And yes these days you can find someone the other side of the world having the same problem....... 30 years ago you were lucky if you could find someone in the next street...... maybe there was 10 people in the streets around you who had the same problem but you had know way of knowing about it.

I can remember when brakes were replaced at 40k, radiators may of lasted 60k, head gasket at 70k and diff, steering and gearboxes 100k..... now we see 250k plus and people complain.