Howdy - my 4Runner experience has not gone according to plan (so far)

Howdy! First time 4Runner owner, bought not quite a month ago with 24k thousand miles from a Chevrolet dealer, the original owner had traded it in. LOVE the vehicle, hands down.

And then the drama started, LOL.

About a week and a half after we bought it, on a Sunday afternoon I ran it through an car wash, and discovered it had a massive leak in the upper left part of the windshield. While I was trying to figure out what was happening/where the flood of water was coming from, the vehicle shuts off with check engine light, all kinds of error messages, the works. Get to the end of car wash, and a few helpful people helped me push it out of the way so there wasn’t a pileup coming out of the car wash. Vehicle would not crank at all, but after about 20 minutes, I was able to get it started but it was in safe mode, so I limped it to the local Toyota dealership so they could deal with it first thing Monday morning. I go back up there early Monday morning, explain what happened, should be under warranty, and they say they’ll figure it out.

Later that morning I get a call from them, asking me to come in to discuss (never a good sign). I go up there, where I am informed that the windshield is not OEM, and therefore Toyota will not perform warranty work on anything related to damage from the leak, which apparently has been ongoing, and water had run down the A-pillar into the deep dark recesses of the vehicle, and caused shorts and corrosion in a lot of very expensive wiring harnesses, and repair estimate is $11,500. I immediately call the Chevy house we bought the vehicle from, and tell them they have a problem. Their initial response is that Toyota should fix under warranty. The dealership’s owner gets involved, calls the Toyota dealership trying to get them to agree to repair, but they won’t budge. The dealership’s owner gets owner personally knows the people who traded it in (relatively small town) and they say they’ve never had windshield replaced, that is is OEM (they bought it brand new at the Toyota dealership I brought it to.) Chevy dealership (that we bought from) says they will not buy it back, but they will fix… so they’ve had it 14 days and counting, waiting on on I think 2 more wiring harnesses to come in. The other day they did give us a loaner, so we're not short a vehicle anymore.

Honestly I think I have limited options here - I 100% love the truck, not sure I will keep this exact one long term since I've always heard electrical and water problems are never fixed, they only get worse, but if I don't keep it, it will be another 5th gen that I replace it with. If they can't get parts in, at some point we will need to have that conversation with them about buying it back again (IMO that's the best solution for me).

Anyways - happy to be here, already have a stack of parts and fun stuff sitting here, just waiting, Pablo-Ecobar meme style, to get my truck back.

 

Welcome.
Yeah that's a lot. Every manufacturer has a lemon now and then. Why I loathe Ford and Chevy. Your experience is why i left samsung and switched to Apple with a warranty refusal on my fold 3. Different scale but the premise is the same.

You have to do you. Give it another stab on a different 4runner but I would say let this one go. Just my opinion. Sounds like stuff was hidden by the used Chevy stealership and just expected Toyota to warranty it.

 

Welcome from Arizona!
I'm feeling your pain.

 

The windshields of all 5 Toyota models I have owned have "Toyota" on the glass. If it has anything else it would not be OEM. Someone didn't put the windshield in properly would be my guess. If the car came from your small town I'd think it would be easy to track down the installer. There can't be that many glass installers there.

 

It’s a matter of finding out who is lying. Because someone is.

1) The dealership is lying to you, so you have to pay for the repairs and not them. (This is kind of unlikely because they’d get re-imbursed by Toyota directly and made whole again.

2) The original owner is lying and was lying when he traded it in. Maybe he thought it would show up on the CarFax report (But windshield replacements never do) and he thought that he would get less money trading it in. This is probably the most likely scenario.

Like it was mentioned, the glass should show an “OEM” logo on it somewhere. If it does not, then it was replaced at some point during its lifetime.

 

I actually think the Chevy dealership didn't know about the glass or corrosion in the wiring harnesses; they're all stealerships, but this one actually has a very good reputation locally and if they knew about it they likely would have made an effort to at least reseal the windshield. My money is on the original owner replacing the glass. When I get it back I'll check to see if it says Toyota or not.

Any recommendations on how long is too long, to get it back? I know they don't want to buy it back and I'd likely have to get a lawyer involved, but if it's 2 months and still not fixed, that's not acceptable, there has to be a end of the line somewhere, especially since I'm about to start making payments on it, LOL.

 

Previous owner traded it in for a Chevy and thought it was an upgrade, so that would've been the first red flag

 

Note to self: While on test drive, run thru a carwash. Seriously, sorry you are going through this ordeal. Hope it gets fixed right.

 

Man, reading your post was tough. Although it does sound like the Chevy dealership wants to make it right. I do believe that thorough documentation is in order. I’ll be watching for your follow up posts regarding this issue. Best of luck and welcome to the forum.

 

I am so sorry, I spent months some years back trying to track down a leak in my previous car.

The original installer came back and blamed the roof rails. Hunted for a pinhole leak, hit it with flex seal, RTV, etc.

Insurance (other party as the windshield was replaced due to some box tipping over in a pickup bed) paid for a reseal and ultimately a new windshield so I was made whole that way but not before hours of labor dehumidifying, sealing (unnecessarily), poking around, trying to get shops to look at it, wasting money at a dealer, making it rain with a hose, replacing a fuse when it blew the overhead lighting fuse, yuck.

When it came out, turns out the windshield was installed improperly.

 

Sorry for your situation! Welcome!

 

Welcome from Wisconsin! Borracho Loco is right! Someone is lying, or should I say "not disclosing the truth and history" behind this vehicle. The original owner never had the vehicle in a car wash? Betcha he knew about the leak, since it was corroded already, you know like it happened before you got it. Just a crappy situation to be in, good luck with this.

 

That is honestly not a horrible idea.

 

No, it's a not a bad idea, it'll cost you $10, but will prevent some unanswered questions, and the dealership will like you for it... maybe?

 

I would demand a buy back from the Chevy dealer.
Study on line your options for you State. Get knowledable and know the law. Your time limits to file notices may be expiring soon . If not all ready expired.
Learn what a demand letter is about. See the limits of your States " Small Claims Court".
You should be able to " be made whole financially". You were naive as a buyer. Get educated now.

 

As long as it’s touchless and not a swirl-o-matic.

 

Very rapidly getting to that point. I emailed the sales rep again today asking for an update and mentioning that if we don't get resolution soon, we will have to escalate... he called back and spoke with my wife, and essentially said that they are literally just waiting on the 2 harnesses from Toyota, and Toyota will not tell them when they will be available. Could be tomorrow, could be three months. (Wondering if it might be a tariff issue? No idea.) And then he told her that the owner is "getting pretty miffed at me" for continuing to harp about escalating.

My dude, you and yours can get bent. I'm absolutely not going to give up complaining and bitching on this. Thurs will be three weeks they have had the vehicle to work on it - wife wants to wait one month before escalating (by escalating , I mean sending a Texas Deceptive Trade Act notification, which basically is an intent to sue letter), since they're trying to fix it. But, as people here (and everywhere else) have pointed out, this is likely not going to be the end of the electrical issues, plus there's the fact that I paid for a vehicle with the expectation that it had a valid remaining factory warranty, plus diminished value, inconvenience, etc. 'This 4Runner's remaining factory warranty is invalid due to a non-OEM windshield that was installed incorrectly' was absolutely not part of the conversation prior to purchasing.

Hope to see a lawyer friend this evening who can point me in the right direction as to a local law firm that might be able to help (she has a small practice, only does wills and estates, etc.) No idea what kind of lawyer would be best, personal injury maybe? No idea. Hope to know more soon.

 

Good luck! Sounds like a nightmare.

 

You can call the local bar association for a referral. A little advice. Gentle pressure applied relentlessly. Don't threaten, don't show them you're angry. Honest dealerships will respond better without name calling and irresponsible dealerships don't care what you call them. I think it's better to talk to them on the phone or in person rather than using emails. If they don't call you back you call them and ask to speak to the supervisor or anyone in authority. Get names and dates you called and your side of what transpired. Keep a journal/log. Find out the name of the regional manager for Chevrolet/GM. Give them a call and let them know how you're being treated; just the facts, no anger.

Keep your cool and don't give up... gentle pressure, relentlessly.

 

Has anyone tried to figure which company replaced the windshield. It sounds like they are the ones that caused the problem. If it was a larger company like Safe Lite they probably have an insurance policy to cover issues like this.