Oh dear - not the rear seal!

Would your suggestion 'to see Mr Shifty' imply that some owners and authorised checking centres are actually fabricating the Inspection Certificates to enable vehicles to be re-registered? If so, how can such a thing happen, I thought the Vehicle Inspection process was meant to be beyond reproach - to ensure that only roadworthy and mechanically sound vehicles be allowed to be registered for road use. Do you think the authorites realise that the system may be open to abuse?

DIO the authorities are only human. There have been several reports in the local press about court cases involving such things. In one such case, hundreds of such certificates were involved.
Same old thing. Give a person the authority, then wave big dollars in his face and the dollars will win every time.

DIO, have you ever associated with people in the used car industry?

If not, I don't recommend starting, and if yes, you should realise that there are plenty of dodgy RWCs issued.

You were taking the pi$$ , right ?

Sounds like they weren't surprised that the job is sub-standard.

Perhaps they tried the clutch that came out of someone else's car that was complaining of the same thing, hoping you would put up with it, or hoping it wouldn't show up in your car.

Does that mean they expect you to pay another $1200 or so in a year? I'd not be pleased if a new clutch and seal only lasted a year or 20,000 km!! Warranty is a rip-off.

No, in fairness I think they've done the right thing (I've been a customer on and off for about 20 years and in fact bought my land 25 years ago from the bloke who came for the test drive). I have no reason to suspect skullduggery of any sort.

They say the early problem could be a small oil leak while the new main seal beds in. If that's the case the slight judder should go away as the new seal seals properly. If it doesn't go away they'll pull it down and find why. Surely that's fair enough. As far as warranty is concerned, I'd rather have 20000 warranty than none at all!

Hi Fizz, I'm definately guilty of being a sceptic. There are many many posts on the forum about the absolute reliability of Toyota parts and service - that often being quoted as the reason to buy Toyata over anything else and pay the higher price for lesser specification.

Who better to try and offload a possibly faulty item onto than a long term, loyal customer? If it goes pearshaped, the customer will get re-inforcement that his loyalty is well placed.

I don't buy the "oil seal bed in" bit - I've replaced many an oil seal and they don't require bedding in. Perhaps they damaged the seal during installation and were always afraid it might cause trouble.

I know that when I was much younger and had no money to do a job properly, I have taken a shortcut and it has backfired - I'm sure I'm not the only one who has had the foreboding of this approach going wrong.

Hopefully they won't have to do it a third time :)

Thanks Gerhard.

I understand where you are coming from. I guess one's outlook depends on past experiences. As I said, I have no reason to suspect anything underhand.

As it happens, Toyota at the moment would like to get me back as a regular customer, because although I have been a customer for a long time, I have been anything but a loyal one, due to the higher prices charged by Toyota dealers.

The "bedding in" bit arises from the possibility that the shaft may have a small amount of wear on it from the old seal.

I will let you know how the thing turns out.

definitly Willem. My previos camper had a rubuilt TC case which leaked and was fixed with a genuine Tojo Seal.
I figure if the leak proves bad enough (it has only just developed) once the box is out at 230k the clutch will either have been done or could do with it (I have also heard the gen clutch is the way to go). The Price 1200 above sounds reasnable Probably more in Perth Tho.
With the Aircon also needing attention It looks like money that could have gone to a lift and extractors will be going elsewhere

about 230k

Just replaced my rear seal at 391k and it was non-genuine (the one I took out). I put in a genuine one, and replaced the clutch at the same time. All up about $650 but I did the work myself.

Hmm the pressure things got me thinking. I just grabbed penrite last time and didnt notice till i got home it was 20-40 rather than 15-40, could just be a co incedence.
Also i had a service malfanction (limit the amount of cans during a service) and lost a bit of oil so it was down a bit on the dipstick but recently added another litre - could be a bit full

Yeah I think that's how I did mine. I overfilled it with 15w-60 instead of the normal 15w-40 penrite. (limit the amount of cans during service) LOL I think the cobination of the thicker oil plus the slight overfill was what did mine. Now it leaks all the bloody time, but hardly at all if I leave the oil a little lower and keep to the Jack Truck Semi Synthetic 15w 40 penrite. I was also getting a heap of blow by with the 15w60 which has stopped since I changed back...

definitly engine oil