New guy o4 Solara problems

[Tony J]

My names is Tony and I found this site after I bought my artic white 04 SE Solara and discovered a problem with the left drift problem. This site gave me much information about this problem. I found out about the TSB before my service manager did. My car has 15,000 miles on it and from day one I had the left drift problem. My dealer told me to rotate the tire, let the side walls break in, it was the wind,the road, the tire pressure, or me driving with no passenger in the car. It still drifted to the left.

The car has been in his shop six times and I think the car still is not right. I have call Toyoto and was assigned a number. I have not tried Marylands lemon law about this car. I like this car, but I think it will give me problems with the pull, or tire were problem down the road.

Has anyone had problems with their car after the TSB has been preformed?

Thanks
Tony

[LunarMistGray]

I think you are going to get a variety of responses. As for me, my dealer fixed the problem w/o the TSB. Some people have had success and others have not. From the response your dealer gave you about rotating the tires, I strongly suggest you go to another dealer. My dealer knew about the problem in Nov '03.

[michaels artic frost]

I'm not real certain if I have this problem. Here's my scenerio. Flat straight road, well...as flat as roads nowadays. The car stays straight as long as I have my hand on the steering wheel. As soon as I remove it, it has a slight and I do mean slight pull to the left. I've brought it in for service and they said my tire pressure were low (Bullcrap!) I'm scheduling another appointment this Friday 3-19-04. The service manager wants me to drive it with a tech to show them the problem. If I have this left drift problem. I need to get the freakin thing fixed, or else I'm gonna tell them to keep the car until they fix it. I'm so tired hearing excuses. I hope to have a good post in regards to issue after Friday.

[Blazed04]

I need to get the freakin thing fixed, or else I'm gonna tell them to keep the car until they fix it. I'm so tired hearing excuses.

HAA, i would NEVER let my toyota keep/drive my car again unless im in it with them!! Before we all knew for sure what the fix was, they had my car in and out of the shop trying to fix it, and in the process they put 500miles on my car, and left me with an empty tank of gas twice!!! They are never test driving my car again without me in it! I better stop before i get too heated...

[slingshot]

I'm not real certain if I have this problem. Here's my scenerio. Flat straight road, well...as flat as roads nowadays. The car stays straight as long as I have my hand on the steering wheel. As soon as I remove it, it has a slight and I do mean slight pull to the left. I've brought it in for service and they said my tire pressure were low (Bullcrap!) I'm scheduling another appointment this Friday 3-19-04. The service manager wants me to drive it with a tech to show them the problem. If I have this left drift problem. I need to get the freakin thing fixed, or else I'm gonna tell them to keep the car until they fix it. I'm so tired hearing excuses. I hope to have a good post in regards to issue after Friday.

I have pretty much the same amount of left drift- almost none. Haven't brought my car in yet thinking that it's so small maybe it'll be worse after they're done with it. On another question, what make MP3 CD changer did you get and was the install difficult at all?

[Tony J]

I call my service manager today and told him I think the car still drifts to the left after it has been in the shop 6 times for the same problem. He told me he will go on a test drive with me to see if the cars pulls. He said if it still pulls, that there is nothing else he can do to repair the car, because he has aligned the car to specifications.

At this point he said the problem is between Toyota and myself and I will have to start arbitration to solve this problem.

I think this is going to get ugly

Tony J

[Fatal-NJ]

Yes, I've felt the left drift since day one and ignored it due to ignorance...now that my '04 has over 20,000 I've noticed it's getting a bit worse...so bad that when it's raining hard out I can barely stay in lanes going 30-35...I'm getting this checked out ASAP cuz I can't take this bull!!!

[NOBOOST]

At this point he said the problem is between Toyota and myself and I will have to start arbitration to solve this problem.

I think this is going to get ugly

Tony J

Well that may be the dumbest servive manager in toyota history... There is a tsb out on the car and ALL toyota dealers know this...Since I told my buddy he has performed a check and fixed the remaining 6 solara's he had in stock with the problem...they know the problem is there...

Call TCS and tell them the problem...If it does not get resolved than call back and talk to a supervisor and tell them you are tired of the runaround and that if the problem is not fixed ASAP than your next call is to your states attorney. They will then HAVE to forward the info to the regional director at which time I guarantee heads will roll and your problem will be solved one way or the other...the above is TMC's policy...you did not here any of this from me though.

I am going to post info about the lemon law (magnussen/moss act) when I find it. It basically says

3 tries to fix the same problem and you have a case OR
30+ total buisness days in the shop

both in the first 12 months of ownership.

[michaels artic frost]

I'm not real certain if I have this problem. Here's my scenerio. Flat straight road, well...as flat as roads nowadays. The car stays straight as long as I have my hand on the steering wheel. As soon as I remove it, it has a slight and I do mean slight pull to the left. I've brought it in for service and they said my tire pressure were low (Bullcrap!) I'm scheduling another appointment this Friday 3-19-04. The service manager wants me to drive it with a tech to show them the problem. If I have this left drift problem. I need to get the freakin thing fixed, or else I'm gonna tell them to keep the car until they fix it. I'm so tired hearing excuses. I hope to have a good post in regards to issue after Friday.

I have pretty much the same amount of left drift- almost none. Haven't brought my car in yet thinking that it's so small maybe it'll be worse after they're done with it. On another question, what make MP3 CD changer did you get and was the install difficult at all?

What's going on? Looks like I've got to reschedule my appointment to about the left drift. I've got some plans on Friday and the left drift is very minuet and is very inconsistent. So I'm going to monitor the problem and see if there are any changes, if not. I'll just have the tires balanced and rotated when I get my first oil change, getting close 2800 miles.
The answer to your question about the MP3 changer. It is a Durabrand 10-Disc CD/MP3 Changer WMS7100MP3. It was fairly easy to install. Keep in mind, I've installed other stereo decks, amps, speakers, etc. in the past. I've installed it in my 03 Altima and 04 Solara. Check out my website at cardomain.com and there are some pictures of the installation. Hope this helps.

[jmack]

I had my car in 4 times for the drift problem. Dealership did not take me seriously until I showed them the TSB. Funny that I had to bring it to their attention. The first time they performed the TSB, the car was as bad, or worse. The second time, they actually admitted to me that they didn't do the fix right the first time!!! the car is better now. It drifts very slightly to the left, but the strong pull is gone. However, now it seems very sensitive to any crowning on the road. If the road angles off to the right, the car will pull right. If left, off to the left I go. I am just not really happy with the steering of the car. Next step is to take it to an alignment shop and get the 4 wheel alignment. Dealership refused to do that under warantee because they "only do that with cars that have been in an accident" It is a shame because this is the one thing that is hurting my enjoyment of the car. Sad to say, my 94 Corolla had better steering than the Solara.

[Sloopy98]

You don't have to put up with this problem. I had an '02 Focus SVT with an idle problem. Ford did not know what to do about it. I brought it to the dealer 5x then I contacted a lemon law attorney in NY (http://www.sglawyers.com). It took around 9 months but Ford settled with me for $4000. I sold the car and bought mine Solara ('04 SLE V6 5spd sequential). I am so happy now...

Incidentally, Ford found the problem and fixed it (replaced intake manifold), gave me the money and the warrantee was still good.