Celica Forums General Discussion Exterior toyota mechanics suck

well i've had my car at toyota for over three days now each time i get my car back they say they have fixed the fuse/short/ground prob.
first they said it was an exposed wire and they taped it with electrical tape, then they say it was just a bad fuse lol, and lastly they said it was a faulty bulb...each day they give me my car back and say its fixed and i drive it home then boom...fuse pops those stupid mechanics cant find the prob, and the service manager asked if it would be ok to keep my car for an extended period of time to find the prob (like a week or more).. does anyone know what i should do?? i called toyota corp. and they suppose to call me back tommorrow with recommendations (like maybe another dealer to repair it.. if not who knows maybe lemon law it ) ... this is all under warranty and they cant fix it.

well any help would be appreciated
thx all

yes if this problem is consistently occuring then and they haven;t fixed the problem after numerous attempts then you should most likely be able to lemon law the car. Although if they want to keep your car for an extended period of time make sure you get a loaner car at their expense. If they don't fix it after that attempt I would try to lemon law it.

You should have the maintance paperwork they filled out every time you picked the car up, right? they made you sign the mechanics papar saying they fixed the problem.

yup i have every "receipt" from when they said it was fixed...i have three receipts showing it was fixed under warranty when it wasnt . before i try to lemon it, i'm gonna see if they can find the prob by tommorrow before i leave it with them for a week or longer, or i might take it to one more toyota dealership in the area and give them a try. if they cant fix it then i guess i'll go for lemon law

i've searched different forums and havent found anyone with this prob , hopefully its fixed soon, i was about to order headers

thx for the help, and if anyone else has advice i'd really appreciate it (they cant even diagnos the prob for some reason)

electrical problems are extremely hard to find if it is like a crimped wire, a loose wire or a broken wire. remember having them just fix the problem while the car is sitting still in one of their bays doesn't take in to account the vibration of driving the vehicle.

Hope everything works out.

thx for the help and advice

the only reason i'm ticked at toyota is that they keep saying they've fixed the problem when all they have to do to check is drive it with the lights on for like a few minuts and it usually pops... first time they said they fixed it i drove at night and got a freakin ticket , and they continue to say they've fixed the prob each day (with a new solution), but its never is fixed and it doesnt seem like they are driving it after their fix to check it i end up driving home with my lights on to check them now to see if the fuse blows by the time i get home. i wonder what fix they are gonna come up with next(they have come up with three fixes ; one for each day- none which have worked).
how would they detect a crimped or grounded wire?? by sight or voltmeter?

thx for all the help and advice again i really appreciate it

a grounded wire would be extremely easy to find as long as they knew which wire to test. All that is, is that a positive (+ voltage) wire has touched the body with no load (lights, etc ...) on it causing a dead short. usually creates a small burn mark. same thing can happen with a loose negative wire bouncing on and off a ground. causing a electrical imbalence blowing a fuse. this usually has to happen quite quickly though.

as for crimped wire that is connected but only shorts-out when stress is applied to it, is much harder to find. usually detected by check the resistance in ohms using a voltmeter. this sometimes doesn't work becuase the wire has a very low resistence to begin with. when this happens you have to start using a occsiliscope <-- cant spell it -- and checking the sine waves and all that.

when it comes to electrical they might be right in fixing the problem at the time...but in fixing one problem that might create / bring-forth others. as in says two things are wrong but you have to fix one before you can find the other.

ok im tried of writing

i'm having different problems with my used (but recently bought) 2000 gts 6-speed but the issue with the dealer is almost the same. the car was supposedly certified under a 128 point checklist but over a dozen little problems were overlooked. the stock stereo (after 2 attempts at fixing it) still lets cd's skip, and a slight issue with the transmission (i'm reading it's a synchro problem) was deemed "normal" and when they performed an alignment they neglected to straighten the steering wheel. i'm going on my 5th visit in a month but they at least fixed the belt tensioner issue that's a known celica problem. all i can say is to speak to they're management. try the service manager, the sales manager and general manager. if they still can't accommodate your needs go corporate (which is what i've done) and maybe that will help.

What the hell does this have to do with this thread striker ...

ya i've had the belt tensioner prob fixed already before, but twice

as for my fuse/short/ground prob, this is the fifth day they've worked on my car (starting last Fri) and still no fix. the mechanics at this toyota say they've never had anything like this and that they cant find the prob... i'm supposed to call em at four my time (central) to see if they've found anything new, if not i'm going to complain to corporate. i've already talked to service manager and the general manager, and they just feed me bs

thx for the input and advice all i really appreciate it

Ahh get your stuff out of the car. Everything you put in it, then lemon law it & get a new one.

Dealer mechanics can be as shady as the salesmen themselves. I wouldn't trust my car with a dealer's mechanic except if I knew for sure that it was a reliable place.

Go with your own mechanic or find a top notch mechanic that specializes in imports.

yup i might have to lemon the car, and i will pull my stuff off before i lemon it

i only took it to toyota because its under warranty (fix for free )...but they dont know what they're doin for some reason ...about time to call em, i'll post what they say

thx for the help

how long does everyone think is "reasonable" time to repair my fuse/shor/ground prob??? so far they've had my car for four of their business days.

thx for the help all

well, no luck, they say they cant find whats causing the problem, and are keeping my car yet another night so they can work on it all day thur ... i was so frustrated that i called toyota and they are now getting involved, but they said that the dealership i took it to has the presidents signature award and that they know what they are doing they said the regional manager is gonna get actively involved, and that if its not fixed by next early week then they would discuss other "options" with me.

this is hopeless i just want my car back and fixed(they've had it since last friday)...maybe my luck will change soon

You're getting people higher in the ranks. That's a good thing. So just keep on pulling those strings and maybe, who knows, maybe you'll have a brand-new Celi soon. That is, if they're still stumped with yours by the end of the week.

And if I were you, I'd milk that for all it's worth. Complain about how you've been severely inconveniced and maybe they'll throw in all the extra options with your new Celi. If you had the GT before, maybe you'll get the GTS.

See what you can get out of this!