2003 toyota highlander 4 cyl. service bulliton from them #310436. head bolts coming undone inside motor causing catastrophic failure of motor. bolts not holding down mfgr knows about this. was a manufacturing process that did not work. on carcomplaints.com this is a rampant problem reported. reads almost like a play book on how the motor overheats and fails, told headgasket, after opening up the motor it is found that the head bolts backed out. toyota is normally a great car. i still owe money on this car and toyota is basically not taking care of their customers and leaving us out to dry. please issue a recall on this. vehicle was driving and quickly overheated. this happened twice in a short distance. easily can leave one stranded. no steam out the tailpipe and water gushed out side of motor. dealer left motor apart when i went to pick it up after being dragged about. they promised to fix it at first as they dug into the motor they backed out of their word.
Head bolts stripped in engine , 66k miles - coolant loss - all mechanics prefer to swap engine - toyota service shop by me quoted me 5,000 for an engine and 1 year warranty. the car is worth 8,000 tops. heartbroken by this - will have to find a way to make repairs on my own and hope to drive again.
I have been the owner of my 2003 toyota highlander, for almost 8 years. i got it in nov.2008 at around the 69,000 mark. since then, i have made sure that my car/baby has had the works in care, to keep the quality and value of the vehicle up. this would include:oil changes, new brakes, new tires, repairs of belts/filters etc, hoses, tune ups, great gas and car washes/body care. most of this has been done by the dealership here in culver city ca. i've depended on them to tell me what was good/bad about my car and trusted them in doing so. i also made sure to do the repairs they suggested. sometimes however they said it was fine, but would come to find out, i did have issues. this made me wonder if toyota was trustworthy/doing their jobs right and now i feel the same lack of trust in my cars performance /current state. i can say i have only put 50,000 miles or so on my car in the last 8 years, and i know toyotas can/should last until 250,000 or so, without major issues. however since 2015 i have dealt, with one thing after ...
The engine overheated suddenly, blowing hot air from the ac and the temperature gauge went up. we managed to get home and get to the toyota dealership the next day. the dealership mechanic told us the engine bolts stripped due to the block being soft, and that he had seen this problem before. the issue of the soft block was confirmed in a subsequent search of the internet. apparently toyota is aware of this flaw, but there is no warranty remedy. the 2003 inline 4-cylinder engine is the model with the bolt stripping problem. neither the dealership nor another japanese auto repair place would consider trying to replace the bolts. they said that because of the soft metal in the block, a new set of larger bored bolts would be unlikely to hold. the cost to put in another engine is approximately the value of the car, if there were used engines available. a new engine would be in the $15k range, much more than the car is worth. we will likely sell the car for scrap. when we bought the car, we felt we could reasonably expect a 250k mileage life. ...
Check engine light went on the morning of february 23, 2015. white smoke emerged from vehicle as i was driving. then, the vehicle started overheating. mechanic indicates head gaskets were blown and short block screws stripped and bent, leaking coolant on my 4 cylinder 2003 highlander. he repaired the same make, model and year the prior year with the same issue. $69,000 for a new engine. $44,00 for a rebuilt one. i have never had any mechanical issues with this car since i purchased it two years old in 2005. although, i have kept up with the servicing, this type of sudden malfunction is a shocker. *tr
Needed to have a total engine rebuild due to faulty head bolts that stripped and allowed coolant to enter the engine and burn. lucky-i guess-that i acted quickly so as to avert catalytic converter issues or sensors getting damaged by burning coolant. i also avoided the total loss of antifreeze and the resulting damage &/or inconvenience that thousands of others had. still, a huge inconvenience and huge $5425.82 cost due to manufacturer's defect: weak metal that couldn't withstand the torque/pull on them... perhaps the threading played a part. i only know that 1000s upon 1000s of people suffered the same issue from toyota on this engine in several years/models. there should be a recall. there should be compensation. *tr
Noticed white smoke coming out of the tailpipe in june. then i noticed reddish/pink fluid accumulating on garage floor in july. took it in assuming either a coolant or transmission fluid leak. toyota told me i needed a new engine because the back headbolts were stripped and the head gasket was blown. all this was determined without removing valve cover and cams, but instead because it's a known issue. many owners report the same thing on message boards. *tr
I've had my toyota highlander for about 11 years now. i got it as brand new car and i am the single owner and well maintained car. at about 138,000 miles the temperature gauge started going up , almost to red. it would go up and then down to normal and repeat. turned out i blew a head gasket. while it was at the shop being repaired they found that the head bolts were stripped which is a known problem with this year ,make and type of engine my highlander has. now they can it will cost me $4500 to rebuild the engine. real toyota design problem, need action and support from toyota *js
Head gasket bolts stripped out causing coolant to leak and loss of cylinder compression. this occurred on a toyota 2.4 liter engine. this is a common failure mode on these engines due to a design defect. the thread fatigues at the intake side of the engine because the manifold is plastic and there is a rubber insulator between the manifold and block which traps the heat in that part of the block and fatigues the aluminum threads on the head bolts. this happens on many models from 2001-2006 that utilize the toyota 2.4 liter aluminum engine. this is a $2,500-$5,000 repair. toyota has issued a service bulletin on this. i believe they should have some responsibility in fixing this design problem. engines shouldn't fail at 100,000 miles without cause such as overloading or abuse. i don't have a tow package and have garaged this vehicle. there was no cause and effect. this failure i've come to learn is common for this engine. *tr
My 4 cylinder engine overheated very quick, very high, causing a gasket to blow. upon repairing the catalytic converter and gasket, the mechanic ran into another issue that i've been reading about happening to others, the threads are stripped where they hold the engine block. something needs to be done. there are too many people writing about having this issue for it be a rare occurrence for this type of vehicle. the costs are high to fix and toyota needs to help rectify the problem. *tr
Head gasket failed, head bolts stripped, coolant leak, a/c blows hot. *tr
The engine was pouring anti freeze on the road from the engine. the engine's head bolts were striped causing the head gasket to leak. this was a manufacturers defect and even sent out a service bulletin but should have been a recall due to the safety of other cars on the roadway. the epa should also be involved due to the hazardous material being placed in the ground. *tr
I was backing my car from across the street. after shifting to drive, my car jumped back in reversed full speed crash in to my garage. i had my foot on the brake but wouldn't stop till it hit my garage wall. *tr
On 7-11-13, going at highway speed on route 52 in north carolina, the throttle became stuck wide open causing my car to accelerate beyond my control. i slowed down to get off on the side of the highway, but i could not stop the car, only slow it down, to approximately 10-15 mph. got back on the road and took the next exit. again i could not stop the car, and though i slowed again to about 10-15 mph, i drifted through the intersection at the stop sign, with traffic approaching from both left and right! i turned sharply left, got off to the side of the road, and turned the key off to stop the car. god was watching, because no collision occurred. when i started the engine again, it roared like i've never heard it before. somehow, i don't remember how, i got the car about 100 yards down the road to a marathon gas station, to get completely off the road and out of the way. a man stopped and walked over to me, telling me that my throttle was stuck because of a faulty tps (throttle position sensor). ...
Cylinder head bolts separated from lower engine block causing a major coolant leak (eng:2az-fe) had to replace engine with a remanufactured engine only to have same problem again forcing me to once again replace engine with a remanufactured engine and theirs 22 complaints on car complaints website for same issue, toyota is refusing responsibility. *tr