Friend of mine has an 06 Explorer. His radiator turned into a shower head just after his fine Ford warranty expired. He went to the "selling" dealer where a service droid told him $1200.00 to replace it. I told him to try a shop I knew was good. FIRST the shop owner gave him a price which was about HALF, then called him back and said there was an extended warranty on the radiator and the part would be FREE, thus lowering his cost to 300 bucks. The dealer should have done the job at no cost. I wonder why the FORD dealer didn't tell him that? Looks like a little case of double billing. I think Toyota does a pretty good job on warranty stuff, look at all the engines they replaced for the "oil gell" problem. Some of those motors had the FACTORY installed break in oil filter still on them and Toyota STILL replaced them. I don't think your wife is to blame for this, BTW, though the TEMP gauge might been a tip off. Cars are run for months with the check engine on. (often 'till just before emissions testing)

 

buddy blew headgasket on mazda 626 on way home from dealer. less than 100 miles. stuck thermostat. replaced headgasket and put 60k miles on car and traded it in. will a stuck thermostat always produce a high temp reading on coolant temp gauge? does your wife monitor her dash gauges?

 

Can only go off our own experience when it comes to maufactuer quality , and ours is vast and our own experience...not hear say. These temp gauages on modern cars are just dummy gauges and not actual temp gauges , and what do you not understand about the gauge reading hot , the check engine light coming on , and in less than one minute , the motor blowing in rush hour traffic on a dangerous freeway interchange? My problem with the Toyota warranty is that American manufactuers all have a higher milage warranty.....and how in the world does that even suggest quality from Toyota? When it comes to manufactuer reliability , speak from your own experience....or not at all. Camrys gas pedal problem , the hybrids major brake problems , and now the Corrolas major steering problems....do not say quality , and I firmly beleive any quality advantage that Toyota may have had over American manufactuers is long gone.

 

You are required under warranty to do certain services at stated intervals. If you do not have the dealer do it, just keep the receipts for the oil/filter and other parts if any.

There are items in the owners manual to check also at certain intervals.

I do my own. I take a photo of the speedo then the car on my hoist with the oil, filter and tools in one pic. I do a check on all the required things to check with my comments on a written log. Then I file it.

If you don't have the records and just say you did it and they refuse the repair no court would rule in your favor without proof.

It seems they found the problem and fixed so what is your beef. You were somewhat at risk because the car was continued to be driven after the light came on. And are you sure that it was noticed right away. It sounds like that sucker was run until it fried.

Stop whining and start shining.