Prognosis: Engine sludge. :(
by Gangis » Tue Mar 27, 2007 4:54 pm
Hey,
I bought my first Solara three months ago, a 2002 SLE V6 convertible (white/tan.) I love everything about her, but after a while I started to notice something odd. The car would lose two quarts of oil every 3000 miles so yesterday I went to the service department at my local dealership, Toyota of Melbourne in Melbourne, FL. I had originally gone there to get the ECU replaced (since I only had a valet key) so while I was at it, I decided to pay the money to have the car diagnosed. Something like $80. They called me up to the service booth after 3 hours of waiting and the guy asked me: "Do you have a service history for the car? I know you bought it three months ago." I didn't have anything like that and I immediately knew that I had sludge since I was reading up on it the night before.
I asked "I have sludge, don't I?" and he said "I'm afraid you do." so I asked to see it for myself. I followed him into the garage where they had exposed the crankshaft. Unfortunately, sludge was VERY visible all over the place.
Right now I'm waiting to hear from Paul (the service writer), who is, in turn, waiting to hear from the district manager to get back to him about approving an engine replacement or rebuild. One thing I am very nervous about is the fact that I have no documentation, and I'm hoping that the car having only been in my possession for only three months will help my case. Paul promised that he would stress that fact for me.
Here are pictures of my car, including the sludged engine.
What do you think my chances are of having Toyota foot the bill? I spent $15k on this car and I definitely cannot afford the $3-6k necessary to get this fixed. Thank you!
I bought my first Solara three months ago, a 2002 SLE V6 convertible (white/tan.) I love everything about her, but after a while I started to notice something odd. The car would lose two quarts of oil every 3000 miles so yesterday I went to the service department at my local dealership, Toyota of Melbourne in Melbourne, FL. I had originally gone there to get the ECU replaced (since I only had a valet key) so while I was at it, I decided to pay the money to have the car diagnosed. Something like $80. They called me up to the service booth after 3 hours of waiting and the guy asked me: "Do you have a service history for the car? I know you bought it three months ago." I didn't have anything like that and I immediately knew that I had sludge since I was reading up on it the night before.
I asked "I have sludge, don't I?" and he said "I'm afraid you do." so I asked to see it for myself. I followed him into the garage where they had exposed the crankshaft. Unfortunately, sludge was VERY visible all over the place.
Right now I'm waiting to hear from Paul (the service writer), who is, in turn, waiting to hear from the district manager to get back to him about approving an engine replacement or rebuild. One thing I am very nervous about is the fact that I have no documentation, and I'm hoping that the car having only been in my possession for only three months will help my case. Paul promised that he would stress that fact for me.
Here are pictures of my car, including the sludged engine.
What do you think my chances are of having Toyota foot the bill? I spent $15k on this car and I definitely cannot afford the $3-6k necessary to get this fixed. Thank you!
2002 Solara SLE V6 convertible - GONE as of 3/2010
2010 Nissan Versa 1.8 S Hatchback
2010 Nissan Versa 1.8 S Hatchback
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Gangis - SolaraGuy Driver
- Posts: 526
- Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2007 2:20 pm
- Location: Palm Bay, Florida
