DPF issues and warranty query

[Sas401]

Bought an 11 plate diesel yaris in july this year, as having had a previous yaris was expecting the same excellent driving experience. Sadly not this time. 

Made sure that dealer supplied a years extended warranty so we were not facing costly repairs. 50 miles driving home from dealership and yellow spanner came on. Rang them and was told the service reminder hadnt been reset so told me to take to any dealership to clear it.

Within 10 miles it was back again, so visit to our local dealership again told us that the oil level was too high so they did oil change. We were not charged at this point as i had told them to deal with weston super mare where we bought it from. It again didnt do more than 30 miles and back on again. Have read plenty about these dpf problems so armed with some knowledge rang dealer only to be told to take back again for detailed diagnostic. They could only book us in for about a month later during which time we have clocked 4k miles. Also informed us that the car had already had a new dpf filter, a new short engine, plus various other small bits all originally covered by warranty.

Now been told today they have had to do an ecu upgrade to extreme driving and a thorough cleaning of the dpf and costing nearly £300. I had expected it all to be covered by the warranty but was told no hope, it was a "wearing" part. I pointed out it had been like it since bought it from weston.s.mare but they told me dealer washed hands of it. Now work done (collecting tommorow), they informed me i should use premium diesel and continue driving for 40 miles when light comes on so now the car will be running my life not the other way round.

My main query is based on the number of issues, would you expect the dealership we bought it from to be responsible for cost of repairs? Or even due to this being a common toyota dpf fault shouldnt toyota be responsible as surely original work would be warranted?

[FROSTYBALLS]

You don't say whether the dealer you bought the Yaris from was a Toyota dealer or otherwise.

Presumably the new dpf, short engine, etc were done under the car's new car warranty (ie. the 5 year/100,000 mile warranty). Warranty repairs don't themselves carry an additional warranty or extend the original warranty. This is the same regardless of manufacturer.

As you bought the car in July 2016, you have increased rights under the 2015 Consumer Rights Act. Your contract of sale is with the supplying dealer, not Toyota. You need to look at the following guidance and decide for yourself how to apporoach the issue with the selling dealer - http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-rights-act

However, the issue may have been complicated by the fact you've had the repair done by a third party, albeit your local Toyota dealer.

[Sas401]

It was howards toyota weston super mare that we bought it from. At the time of purchase we agreed with them that any servicing etc would be done at our local dealership as we were about 120 miles away from weston but our local dealer didnt have the car we required hence the purchase from weston. 

I was of the same opninon that the dealer we bought from was the responsible party but wondered being as i read a comment that in bulletin eg-0017t-0411, that there had been a warranty extension. Also remember on a previous yaris when we had mmt issues, that as the same fault occured two years later it was claimed for again on the warranty so just thought it should be same here. Guessing toyota have tightened up due to number of complaints.

[FROSTYBALLS]

As I said a warranty repair doesn't extend the warranty or come with an additional warranty on the work done.

Toyota has in the past, where there have been numbers of the same fault occurring, covered repairs under on a goodwill, case by case basis and usually for a specified period/mileage. For example, oil consumption and head gasket issues with the AD series engine.

Not a case of Toyota tightening up.

Have you asked your dealer to approach Toyota, either as regards the service bulletin mentioned or as regards a goodwill contribution towards the cost of repairs??

Otherwise, the 2015 Consumer Rights Act and action against the supplying dealer is what you need to consider.

[FROSTYBALLS]

Also it isn't just Toyota who have similar problems with dpf equipped diesels.

[SmegsterXV]

Hi Sas401

I hope it wasn't my old car but it would have had to travel from Manchester for you to end up with it!  Was sold to a dealer network though.

I had a 11 plate Diesel Yaris (2nd hand), that had a similar start to your story.  Within the 2 days the light was on and it was back at the dealer for a fix, then again within a couple of weeks, it was all in warranty though.  The same/ similar story as you the DPF needs regening and the oil level was to high.  I wish I had binned off the car then.

Within the first month the whole engine was replaced (still under warranty).  I carried on using the car, it use to go on the motorway everyday and cruise at 60-70 miles an hour for a good 15-20 minutes and that was after it took me 30 minutes to get to the motorway and warm the engines up.

The car was fine again for about 6-8 months, then on my way home from home from Hull, the spanner came on.  I thought what now, and booked the car in again.  They told me the DPF was full again and it needed to be driven on motorways more, I clearly wasn't driving it appropiately, to which I said, I had just driven 200+ miles on a motorway in the 2 days before hand, so don't claim that I never let it regen!

Not long after the car broke down while doesn't 60 on a bypass, with so much white smoke all 4 lanes of traffic had to stop!  I was told the oil level had risen again and the car had started to burn the oil off.  It was fixed again (turbo cleaned, DPF regen), some recall work done.  I said I wasn't convinced and explained what had happened fully again to the actual technician not just the aftersales bloke.  They took the car away again and Toyota made them make some changes and I was given it back and told to drive it properly...

The car lasted another 6 months or so and the spanner was on again, same problem as before, I went through all the usual rubbish about you need to rev it more drive it on a motorway more etc etc...  We went through that atleast once a month it does two 100 mile motorway trips, as well as daily commutes on the motorway etc.  They told me it required another new engine (still under warranty).  At this point I refused to have the car back and after a long fight managed to get the finance on the car written off (we owed more then it was worth, with the help of the financial ombudsman).  I was lucky and had access to a secodn vehicle so could refuse to accept the car being returned to me.

This car caused three of the technical bulletins for Toyota D4D engines of a certain age.

The long and short of it is rather simple, the engine does the active DPF filter clean, it doesn't complete properly (for whatever reason), then any excess/ unburned fuel drips into the oil through the sump pump, hence you get a raised oil level, which is actually what causes the spanner light to come on before the DPF (coils) light illuminates.

I don't know if they eventually fixed the issue, if the issue is very widespread or there is just a set of poor engines, in the 12-18 months I had the car I found approximately 5-6 people online complaining of similar issues.   No idea if that will help you though, but Toyota know about the issue, whether they admit it or not.  As Frosty said though, they aren;t the only manufactuer with these types of issues, I beleive Mazda do as well with some cars.