I purchased a 2002 Toyota Camry v4 2.4 liter from Clearwater Toyota in August with 38,000 and some miles on it, as of 06 it has roughly 57,000 miles on it. I have taken this car into the dealership multiple time for problems, the main one is my car shakes while in idol and has been since I bought the car, and they have told me every time that there is nothing wrong with the car.
A few weeks back I noticed black smoke coming out of the tail pipe and my car started shaking more... My husband and I took it in to get look at but of course it was a Saturday and no one could look at it so we brought it back a week and some days later on a Monday.
We get a call a few hours later saying that there is oil sludge in the oil cap and my engine probably needs to be replaced. Oh and what do you know... Its not covered by my extended warranty. Oh and this Toyota oil sludge thing program is a load of crap because they are only covering certain models and years and of course because I have a 2.4 liter mine is not one of those covered. Obviously Toyota is having this problem with more than just the cars they listed.
I finally went and took my car out of the dealership because they are refusing to admit they did anything wrong. Not only have I only put on 18,000 miles since I bought the car... I have brought the car in multiple times over the past 2 years... One of which was for an oil change at 45,000 miles! I have had 5 oil changes in 18,000 miles, however, only one was from the dealership just mainly because I have always thought their service department is incompetent. I also brought my car in 08 to have my air conditioner replaced, which by the way is the only thing my warranty company has any record of because its the only thing the dealership reported. You mean to tell me that in 12,000 miles the sludge in my engine has built up so much that I need to replace my engine? I don't think so! Either the dealership ignored it or just didn't inspect my car properly.
Oh and did I mention that my car is supposed to be "certified"... Which would then mean they didn't do their job before I bought the car. What im saying is that they sold me a bad car and knew it! Thats why the dropped the price of the car so much... They wanted it off the lot. I took the car to another mechanic... A friend of the family... And he says its so bad that there is NO WAY my car wasn't like this when I bought it... Especially with 5 oil changes.
I even asked our service adviser Anthony how long sludge takes to build up to the point of needing a new engine and he told me it usually takes a long time. I then asked if it took long enough that I bought the car like that from them and it was either over looked or just plainly ignored and his direct wording was "yes it is quite possible." Not to mention that Bill Dwight the service manager told us to take the car to another place and have them "flush out the engine" and then bring it back to them so they can have the warranty inspector come out, see that the engine is clean and then they can replace my engine. He told us, "after all, we get paid from the warranty company when we replace your engine."
Im doing this report on the dealership and not Toyota Motor Company because I feel that the dealership was fraudulent in the representation of the car. The sludge in the engine makes the "certified" part of the car voided, which then means if they sold it to me this way they LIED about it being certified. This dealership is nothing but liars. They give the true meaning of "BUYER BEWARE!" They may have "done up" the place with a nice little face lift but they are still deceitful and they steal the money of innocent people just looking for a nice reliable car. Now im out a car until I can manage to scramble up $5000 to replace my engine and all Clearwater Toyota can say is "sorry."
I want this dealership help responsible for their action! I have taken all the necessary steps to ensure the performance of my car... Who gets 5 oil changes in 22 months and 18,000 miles?! Even the owners manual says 7500 miles for oil changes... Well recommended.
Lindsay
Largo, Florida
U.S.A.
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