Toyota Avensis (2003 - 2008) - Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket

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Thu 18 Jun 2009 13:39
Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket - Gesi
My 2008 Toyota Avensis has developed a Cylinder Head gasket problem - unfortunately it is out of warranty as it has done 67,000miles and the warranty runs out at 60,000miles.

Estimated cost of repair £3,000 including a new cylinder head.

Dealer has managed to get some concession on parts from Toyota and has knocked 10% off their normal labour rate but it still comes in at over £2,000.

Any suggestions?

Gesi
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Thu 18 Jun 2009 14:31
Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket - Happy Blue!
This means your car has done a minimum average of 46,000 miles pa. I think I would have bought a car with a better warranty if I knew I would be doing such a high mileage. If you have had a goodwill payment from Toyota, then your only route now is to sue the supplying dealer for not supplying goods suitable for their purpose.

You should know that the Hyundai and Kia warranties of five and seven years are restricted in terms of time and mileage for minicab drivers to I think three years and 100,000 miles.
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Thu 18 Jun 2009 14:39
Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket - SpamCan61 {P}
Seems like a very low milage to need a head gasket change ( not a rover K series after all), are they sure it's gone? Is this normal for Avensis?
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Thu 18 Jun 2009 22:19
Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket - bbroomlea{P}
>>( not a rover K series after all),

At least you will get change out of £600 on a k series and not have a bill for 3K :-)

I would want a full breakdown of costs before any work happens though - there is no way they can quote for a new head without taking the current one off and inspecting it. If it has got hot and its warped, so long as it is within tollerance it can be skimmed for a tiny fraction of the cost of replacement.
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Thu 18 Jun 2009 17:09
Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket - niceguyeddy
Has the car got full service history with Toyota or anyone ?

Im very suprised at their harsh decision on this.

Ask dealer to do labour rate at warranty rate which is about £55 an hour (they may have done this already via the 10%.
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Thu 18 Jun 2009 17:17
Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket - Number_Cruncher
>>Estimated cost of repair £3,000 including a new cylinder head.

How can they possibly know it needs a new head before tey've taken the old one off and inspected it?

Unless, of course, it's a known fault or problem, which strengthens your case in requesting discount.
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Fri 3 Jul 2009 00:50
Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket - betterjon
My 57 plate Avensis Diesel has just gone into the garage with the head gasket gone.
They are stripping it down at the moment and reading here and talking to another garage have been informed it is a common fault and the head will undoubtedly be cracked Deep Joy!
It has just hit 76,000 miles However it has used coolant for quite a few months
It has always been serviced on time at a Toyota garage and looking back over their invoices I noticed that coolant was added and charged for at the 60,000 and 70,000 service where they also stated that maybe it had a head problem because of this but they did not have time to check it during the service!
I obviously have a fight on my hands and would appreciate anyone who can let me know their experiences with this and Toyotas reaction to them.
Like one of the posters on here if I am forced to pay £3,000 on a 17 month old car it will be my first and last Toyota.
I previously have had down time with the engine management shutting down several times losing the car for a few days each time until they fitted a new turbo.
I bought it and paid far more than a Skoda or Ford in order to experience reliability I have an old diesel Octavia with 250,000 miles with original engine gearbox etc With nothing other than service bills in last 8 years!
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Thu 18 Jun 2009 17:20
Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket - bonzodog
I'd go with Eddy - the make / model is as reliable as can be & Toyota tend to be supportive of customers with faults just outside of warranty to protect this reputation, ASSUMING the service history is complete & has been done at one of their dealers; is it?
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Thu 18 Jun 2009 17:39
Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket - niceguyeddy
Is this a diesel ?

Which number cylinder did it fail on ? (I ask for a good reason)
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Thu 18 Jun 2009 19:54
Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket - barney100
Wow, thought toyotas were bulletproof. I think £2000 even with goodwill would mean my last Toyota!
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Thu 18 Jun 2009 21:54
Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket - gordonbennet
I'd like a fuller report if poss OP.

If you've had correct and full on time servicing at a Toyota dealer, i would have expected them to sort this for you, and i will be very disappointed if that's the case.

Is your service history outside the dealer network, or patchy?
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Sat 20 Jun 2009 16:26
Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket - gordonbennet
Is Gesi in the room?

It's seldom Toyota get a slagging here apart from accusations of blandness, an update would be interesting.
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Fri 3 Jul 2009 01:22
Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket - Avant
Whe you hear about bulletproof reliability of Japanese cars, it seems to be about petrol engines.

I'm starting to wonder whether their diesel technology is all that it should be.
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Fri 3 Jul 2009 12:07
Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket - SpamCan61 {P}
Whe you hear about bulletproof reliability of Japanese cars it seems to be about petrol
engines.


Apart from the early 2000s Avensis ( 1.8 petrol?) with dodgy piston rings / bores that start consuming oil like it's going out of fashion once they've got 50K or so on them -/
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Fri 3 Jul 2009 12:42
Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket - NARU
I'm starting to wonder whether their diesel technology is all that it should be.

There are plenty of diesel landcruisers around with 200k+ miles on them, though the heads do go on those as well. I just hope that my common rail one lasts as long!
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Fri 3 Jul 2009 18:47
Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket - Galad
>>I'm starting to wonder whether their diesel technology is all that it should be>>

When I bought my Avensis petrol last year the dealer tried to persuade me that the diesel was a superior choice. I expressed my concerns about the relibility of any common rail diesel engine, incluidng Japanese makes, and he insisted that in 15 years as a Toyota main dealer he has never had an Avensis diesel come back on a low loader. I haven't looked back.
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Mon 27 Jul 2009 08:50
Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket - 49948A
My Toyato (D-4DT Spirit diesel)is a 07 plate and it has done 50k miles. The head gasket has gone. The main dealer is now fixing it. They have had it for 3 weeks.
Allegedly, from the mechanic, there is this problem with them across the country. That is why they are having problems getting the parts. The manufacturers have, allegedly, extended the warranty. You should not pay anything.
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Mon 27 Jul 2009 10:04
Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket - cuthbert
I think in cases like this Toyota insist on a full Toyota service history
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Fri 23 Oct 2009 18:32
Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket - Plaister
My 2.2 D-4D (Jan 06, 55 plate) has done 69k miles. It has always been serviced by Toyota and, at the latest service, they told me the engine is overheating and that there's a problem with the head gasket. All in all, they were pretty offhand and just suggested I fetch it in for investigation. Who in Toyota should I contact to progress out of warranty repairs?
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Fri 30 Oct 2009 11:15
Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket - Plaister
sq
Just had a call from the garage - after looking at the vehicle they tell me that the head gasket does need replacing, that it's a known fault with this model of diesel engine but all costs will be covered by an extended warranty. Apparently it'll take 3 or 4 days and they'll provide a courtesay vehicle but can't book me in for a couple of weeks because they're so busy replacing other people's head gaskets!

Edited by Pugugly on 11/12/2009 at 22:49

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Fri 11 Dec 2009 22:48
Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket - Plaister
SQ
Job done. Took 8 days but they couldn't have been nicer, all covered by the extended warranty.

Edited by Pugugly on 11/12/2009 at 22:50

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Sat 12 Dec 2009 16:20
Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket - SpamCan61 {P}
Thanks for the follow-up, nice to hear a happy ending now and again!
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Tue 9 Jun 2015 17:01
Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket - Johnro

Hi

I believe I'm in the same situation.

Do you remember how and what they said about the extended warranty?

Did you bring it up with them or they just told you?

Cheers

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Fri 4 Sep 2009 11:24
Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket - cwks
Toyota hav e now extended the warranty to 100k miles on this as they are getting a load of the 2.2 d4d engines with this problem around the 80k mark. Mine has just gone and is being done by them with a replacemnt care as it is given 26 hours labour!
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Fri 4 Sep 2009 21:30
Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket - cuthbert
One thing about Toyota if there is a problem they will extend the warranty to cover the fault
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Tue 26 Oct 2010 21:21
Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket - Korthal

Can you confirm the source of this increased warranty on the diesel engine as my head gasket is going 75,000 on clock. Not impressed as they have not mentioned this extension to warranty

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Thu 8 Oct 2009 15:55
Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket - CCBob
Does anyone have any experience of dealing with this problem with Toyota outside of the 100k extended warranty? Ours is at 107k and Toyota are refusing to accept any responsibility for it as it's over 100k. My reasoning is that if it's a known problem (which they have extended the warranty to cover) then we should be covered under the Sale of Goods Act for up to 6 years.

Any thoughts?
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Thu 8 Oct 2009 16:24
Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket - Altea Ego
(which they have extended the warranty to cover)


Indeed - they extended it to 100k miles.

then we should be covered under the
Sale of Goods Act for up to 6 years.


The sale of goods act does not say your car will never need repairs. Its halfway through its useful life, you can expect stuff like that to happen once in a cars life time.
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Thu 18 Mar 2010 11:59
Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket - Servocom

My 57 reg Avensis 2.0 diesel has done over 80000 miles and also developed a cylinder head gasket leak but fortunately I caught it before it needed a new cylinder head. The dealer charged me £2300 including 15 hours labour at £90/hour (they told me they always remove the engine to do this job), then there were additional charges for parts and the VAT). It was also smoking heavily and difficult to start when cold and required a new set of injectors - another £1800! My previous Avensis was an 04 reg diesel with 5 speed manual transmission which kept jumping out of fifth (a known fault). It first failed at 59000 miles (just within the 60000 mile warranty), and during the following 18 months and another 60000 miles the gearbox was removed and repaired no less than 7 (seven) times under warranty. I thought this was just bad luck and decided to replace it with the 57 reg! Needless to say this is the last Toyota I will ever have. It's the end of the road for Toyota's as far as I'm concerned.

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Wed 2 May 2012 19:05
Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket - adicky

My Toyota Avensis 57 has 8400 miles and the cylinder head gasket went. I only had the car 2 weeks then it was of the road for 12 weeks. I was lucky I got mine fixed sort of, by the garage I bought it from. Need to ask is this a problem with 2003- 2008 Avensis?

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Thu 17 Sep 2015 15:36
Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket - JohnnyC

Our 07 Avensis Diesel developed this well-known head gasket problem this summer. The Jemca Toyota service centre has told us that we might have done further damage and recommend that we get a reconditioned engine at a cost of around £4,500 incl. work.

We bought the car from a Toyota dealer - Jemca in Croydon - in December 2012, well after Toyota had acknowledged that these models were susceptible to blown head gaskets and had extended the warranty. As ours is over 7 years old, despite having only done 82k and having a full Toyota service history, Toyota are refusing to contribute to fixing it.

I am pursuing the dealer under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 - Misleading Omissions. The dealer was aware of the problem with this model when it was sold to us, yet failed to mention it. In fact, he specifically told us that the engine was good for 150-200k miles! Had he warned us that there was a potential problem, we could have taken out an extended warranty for less than £500 p.a.

We paid £6,800 for the car and spent over £1,000 on its last service and I'm not prepared - and can't afford - to pay for the repair or simply scrap it.

Edited by JohnnyC on 17/09/2015 at 15:50

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Thu 17 Sep 2015 17:00
Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket - Mike-eg

JohnnyC - This I am afraid is typical of the kind of dodgy sales practices that you get from Jemca. I bought a second hand car from them some time ago and some faults appeared that I really should have been warned about, but the salesman was obviously under pressure to make a quota. They didnt want to know......

I would certainly take it forward through the courts or better still go to https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome to register a claim. I am really fed up with the customer being treated like a commodity especially when you look at their website which claims putting the customer first.

Why not post an entry on Twitter - @jemca and see if they respond.

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Thu 17 Sep 2015 18:31
Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket - JohnnyC

Thanks Mike-eg. Ironically, I had been impressed with Jemca and Toyota up until this happened. And I really liked the car and was hoping to keep it for years many to come. Anyway, I'm sending them a formal letter to give them another chance to fulfil their moral and legal obligations, but I'll also start the social media campaign now. I'll post any updates - good or bad - back here.

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Fri 18 Sep 2015 11:56
Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket - sarahb324

I am so grateful I have found this thread, we are in the same situation with our 2007 Corolla Verso with a D4D engine. We purchased in October 2013 what we were led to believe was a highly reliable low mileage vehicle.

Now two years on at just under 58000 miles the head gasket has gone and they want over £3500 to repair it.

Toyota head office will do nothing so I'm now contacting inchcape the dealer under the consumer protection act.

I find it appalling that toyota can take £6000 off me for a supposedly reliable used car two years ago and then do this.

I am currently very emotional as we are supposed to be driving our children to disneyland in 5 weeks and are looking like we will have to cancel that as well if this isn't resolved.

Let me know how you get on as if there are more people pursuing this I'm hoping toyota will change their stance.

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Fri 18 Sep 2015 12:16
Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket - skidpan

You bought a 6 year old car 2 years ago. At the time of purchase it was way out of Toyotas warranty so why should they do anything now 2 years later. The mileage is irrelevant so forget that.

2 years after purchasing a 6 year old car you can forget any coemback on the selling dealer. To have any chance you would ahve to prove that there was an issue at the time of purchase, since the head gasket has only just failed that is not the case.

So I am sorry to tell you that you are on your own. It all part of car ownership, if you wnat everthing to be covered FOC the only way is to buy new and sell when the warranty ends. Even then certain parts are not covered.

Get it fixed and get on with life, Toyota and Inchcape have no liability either under consmer protection or any other act.

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Fri 18 Sep 2015 12:39
Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket - Palcouk

I agree with Skidpan's comments.

Doesnt matter what dealer you purchased from, under circumstances given, the dealer/car maker has no liability

I have allways had good service from Jemca, even when I purchased a used car, a minor problem was repaired under the warranty

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Fri 18 Sep 2015 14:47
Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket - JohnnyC

Thanks for your post, sarahb324. I'm pursuing the dealer since I disagree with the other replies: I think the dealer has a case to answer by selling a car which has a known problem.

I'm no legal expert but I understand that you can bring a case against a trader up to six years after a purchase. Since the trader knew they were selling us cars which were susceptible to this issue - Toyota issued their bulletin about it and extended the warranty in 2010 - then this was a "misleading omission".

I'll "get over it" once I've explored every possibility of getting a satisfactory outcome. I've had a response from the dealer since I started tweeting about it last night, and I'll keep you posted on here.

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Fri 18 Sep 2015 16:29
Out of Warranty Repairs - Cylinder Head Gasket - Avant

I'll close this thread as Sarah B has started a new one in Motoring.

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