Head Gasket Rav4 T 180

[Niki B]

HELP needed.

I have a 71/2 year old T180 Rav 4 which has been diagnosed with Head Gasket failure via RRG in Macclesfield whilst in for diesel injectors in October (a repair carried out via my extended warranty!)

I have an extended warranty on my car, which has had several unrelated repairs carried out over the past 4 years.

The Warranty initially declined the repair as my car has been serviced outside of the dealer network but have after weeks of dispute and legal advice, have said they will honour the claim subject to the fault being approved by the Warranty that it is in fact a Head Gasket failure.

I had such bad customer relations with the Macclesfield Garage, I took my car to RRG in Stockport instead.

I am aware that Toyota extended their warranty and were replacing engines on vehicle up to 7 years old or 110k miles. Mine is 6 months out of this warranty although it has only done 85k.

The dealer have had my car now for over a week to start the claim from scratch, and they are now saying we would have to pay for the stripping down and rebuilding of the engine if the claim was rejected as it needed to completely stripped down in order to give their opinion as to what was wrong with it. It has taken them 8 days after blagging me that the stripping down of the engine had started on Tuesday, they have now admitted that they haven't had time and they are planning on starting it on Monday morning.

I agreed, and then they called me after I had agreed to ask me to think about it over the weekend as the repair they now think is a Piston problem, which would not be covered. I would be running the gauntlet on this as I could be hit with a bill for £3500 which I haven't got.

Alarm bells are ringing as they are in communications with the Macclesfield Garage, where, lets say I am not their number 1 fan!

Very frustrating as my car has now been off the road since 28th October. I have had to cancel my Christmas holiday and rely on public transport and friends to get to work and back. I am a self employed fitness instructor and rely on my car for getting me and my equipment to and from my venues. This is having a detrimental effect on my livelihood, and the subject of compensation was mentioned to me by the warranty group if the claim was approved. I feel very hard done by when the warranty was purchased to avoid me ever having be in this situation! I am at my wits end!! Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

[FROSTYBALLS]

There is quite an extensive thread on the head gasket issues of the AD series engine - http://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/topic/132178-charliefarlies-guide-to-the-toyota-2ad-diesel-engine-and-its-issues/

The help that Toyota provided for those affected by head gasket problems with this engine was provided as goodwill, rather than a legally binding warranty, and provided cover for vehicles up to 7 years of age or 111,746 miles, whichever occurs first.

As regards servicing, extended warranties aren't covered by the same legislation as new car warranties. When a car is within it's new car warranty, which in your case would have been 3 years/60,000 miles, legislation called Block Exemption allows owners to have their vehicles serviced outside of the manufacturer's dealer network and retain the new car warranty provided certain conditions are met. As soon as the new car warranty ends, Block Exemption no longer applies, and companies who offer extended warranties can legally state where and by whom vehicles covered by the extended warranty are serviced.

So in your case -

1) the Toyota goodwill for head gasket failure no longer applies as the vehicle is over 7 years old,

2) assuming the extended warranty you have is a Toyota extended warranty and not a third party extended warranty, the Warranty Group manage the Toyota extended warranties on behalf of Toyota. As Block Exemption doesn't apply to extended warranties, the warranty company were within the terms and conditions of the extended warranty in rejecting your claim if the car has been serviced outside of the Toyota dealer network during any of the extended warranty period.

3) If you have a non-Toyota extended warranty, you need to check that you have complied with the terms and conditions of the extended warranty as regards servicing (see point 2)).

4) I would suggest it would be normal for a Toyota dealer to check parts of the car's history with another Toyota dealer, including if they are part of the same dealer group, who had been responsible for all or part of that vehicles servicing and repairs.

5) The majority of extended warranties have exceptions, although if it is a Toyota extended warranty, coverage is amongst the best. However, it is possible that if the damage is not included within the extended warranty's coverage or is due to wear and tear, the claim may be unsuccessful.

[Heidfirst]

If it's a genuine Toyota extended warranty when was it serviced by a non-dealer? If for example you bought the car s/h, bought the car with an extended warranty & during your ownership have only ever had it serviced by Toyota then imo the warranty should cover it.

If you have read the threads regarding this issue then it's often the pistons coking up that causes it.

You may also want to start talking direct to Toyota UK's Customer Service Department regarding the way that you feel their dealer(s) is handling (or not!) your issue. Getting them onside may also help you re. the car's issue with goodwill.