Purchased the vehicle used at about 42,000 miles. It burned oil (1 quart per 1,000 miles) from the first day I had it. The toyota dealership has been monitoring the oil every 1,000 miles for about 6 months and agreed it has a problem but it will cost me $2,600 for them to tear down the engine to see if they can find out what's wrong. They report there is "sludge" in the engine and I should have changed the oil more often. They won't determine a problem or do anything else for free even though they say I do have a problem and they know the warranty is up in about 2,500 more miles which should cover the engine and drivetrain. Please help.
2001 Toyota Highlander engine complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 19 of 19, newest first, as owners wrote them.
While driving at 60 MPH. Suddenly the vehicle slowed down the speed, at the same consumer heard a noise coming from the engine. As a result, engine caught on fire. Vehicle was towed to the dealership, and mechanic determined the need to install a new engine. However, warranty expired.
Check engine and ABS brake light come on at the same time; after a while upon restarting the ABS brake goes off and the check engine stays on for a few hours then goes off upon restarting.
Engine oil sludge. The estimated cost of our engine problem was $7,200 (canadian) and it started at 38,000 km (24,000 miles). The matter was resolved when we dug up an old oil change slip that my wife and I had forgotten about altogether. Before the discovery we were unable to provide a receipt for each year that we have owned the car so toyota insisted that it was customer negligence that resulted in the oil sludge. Top engine block was replaced and we got off scott free. When an oil leak was detected after a week of getting the car back from the shop, we brought it back in and they fixed it again - no charge. I feel that this was a bit like david knocking out goliath.
Oil sludge issue. The toyota was in the shop for 1.5 weeks. The final bill did not include any totals, but the service manager indicated parts alone were close to $1600. We were very disturbed with toyota's position that this problem was a maintenance issue and that they would only repair this issue once within the first eight years. They indicated that we followed the wrong maintenance schedule of normal rather than severe conditions for florida. Considering the owners manual does not specify this, and that I own a lexus that has no signs of problem after following the same schedule, we were disappointed with their response. Since the service manager at the dealership could give us no guarantee that this would happen again in the near future, even if they changed the oil every 5000 miles as he directed, we turned around and traded the vehicle in on a honda the same day. I did contact sw toyota customer service and they accused us of the same faulty maintenance as the service manager. It was obvious after several conversations that toyota no longer stands for quality and customer service. As I indicated to them in a recent email and a letter that I am currently drafting, they have lost a toyota owner forever. Now that we have divested ourselves of the highlander, I plan to sell the lexus as well. I know you didn't need to hear all this, but to answer your questions. Toyota honored its csp (once in eight years), but I unsure how much the repair cost were.
My highlander had sludge in the engine. The engine was cleaned out. I was told that if I change my oil every 3,000 miles instead of 7,500.00 that would not happen. The toyota manuel states every 7,500. Remember my car only has 18,202 miles on it. It's not even 2 yr old yet. The service advisor assured me that if I change my oil every 3,000 and not every 7,500 like the manual says that if this happen again they would cover the problem.
Engine light started flashing right at 25,000. Car gave no sign of failure or anytime of problem. Oil changes was performed every 5000/mi and car was running fine until the light started to flash and we took car to concord toyota to check on the engine liht problem. Concord toyota said the engine was burned in and out due to lack of oil and blamed tha customer for poor maintenance to the car and refuse to fix the car under the warranty. It's been 3months that concord toyota still has possession of the car with the engine opened apart and still refused to cover under the warranty.
My 2001 toyota highlander is burning approximately 1.5 quarts of oil every 3,000 miles. Toyota USA says that the allowable limit is 1 quart every 1,000 miles and will not look at my vehicle even though it is still under warranty.
Oil sledging problem in my 2001 toyota highlander. I am concerned that toyota's csp policy will not go far enough to rectify this problem. The dealership and toyota's customer service line both blame faulty maintenance for this issue, but the oil was changed every 7500 miles as indicated in the owner's manual. Toyota's csp will only repair the issue once in 8 years, and neither will address what will happen should this arise again. The dealer maintained this was our fault until we presented receipts to show the vehicle had been maintained appropriately. It was at this time that the dealer suggested that it was possible the mechanics that changed our oil never actually changed it. Based on the numerous complaints and forums I monitored online, I feel this is toyota's attempt to avoid taking responsibility for a larger problem. I also own a lexus gs300, and the oil was changed at the same time as the highlander and I do not have any issues with it.
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used 2001 Toyota Highlander?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history