2003 Toyota Highlander: fire, smoke or burning smell

Filed Aug 20, 2014 · Engine, Transmission · 78,000 miles · FL

Noticed white smoke coming out of the tailpipe in june. Then I noticed reddish/pink fluid accumulating on garage floor in july. Took it in assuming either a coolant or transmission fluid leak. Toyota told me I needed a new engine because the back headbolts were stripped and the head gasket was blown. All this was determined without removing valve cover and cams, but instead because it's a known issue. Many owners report the same thing on message boards.

Filed May 30, 2014 · Electrical · 100,000 miles · FL · fire

My daughter had parked her car at the school parking lot on 5/27/2014 at 7:02 am , she went to school stayed the whole day at school , she went to dance practice after she got out at about 3:30 pm she headed to the parking lot to go home, she said as she was approaching the vehicle she hit the alarm to open the door but the alarm did not go off, so she contined to get closer to the car and she could smell something burning when she opened the door to the vehicle a cloud of smoke came out , she started coughing and could not believe what happened , she called me right away hysterically crying couldnt even talk and she was telling me that her car had blown up , I said what your car blow up how could that be ,I could not understand what she was telling me how can your car blow up? I was like what the heck !! I told to her hang on and if she was ok I was on my way to her, I called my husband and told him and he had the same reaction as me like what?? . When I arrived to the school I could not believe what I saw the whole dashboard of the vehicle had caught on fire cracked the front window glass, melted the sun visors and the whole middle dashboard was melted completely. I had to call the police and fire I had no clue if this was going to blow up , when the firemen came they watered it down and looked at it and said that there was no foul play it had looked like an electrical fire . What coud have caused this and imagine if my daughter would have been driving the car when the fire occured.

Filed Mar 9, 2013 · Engine · 91,000 miles · CA

Original owner of a 2003 toyota highlander 2.4l 4-cylinder engine, serviced by toyota dealer and local repair shop. 4 months ago it was making a fluttering noise and I had it serviced, it needed an oil pan gasket, got a full oil change, too. But apparently it also had a bad water pump, and had developed a coolant leak, and was burning oil. -- we never noticed any white smoke coming out the back, and no coolant temperature variance, always in the middle after warming up. We never got a low oil light warning, no check engine light while driving. --- the SUV shut down on it's own just coming off a highway exit ramp. I started it up again to pull over a block away and then shut it off. It steamed up, overheated. The tow service guy couldn't restart it. --- my repair shop serviceman told me the radiator was almost empty, and it likely had a blown head gasket - a $2500 repair by my local repair shop. But when he went to take off the head, the bolt cylinders came out too, almost all were loose and apparently caused the leakage over time. He didn't have the tooling to fix the bolt sleeve issue, and I'd need a water pump, too. So for less than the cost of all the repairs, known and possible future problems, like rust or other worn internal parts, he recommended a rebuilt engine, with higher quality steel bolt sleeves, (the way the original engine should have been made). He investigated and alerted me to the complaints online, and reminded me to keep the repair receipts. --- I am devastated, and had to borrow money from retirement to pay for this, since the kelly blue book value was still a few thousand higher than the repair cost. I bought this car new and serviced it with the anticipation of driving it for at least another 50k miles. It never had a single overheat problem, ran like a top, driving me back and forth to work 45 min away.

Filed Jun 29, 2010 · Brakes · FL

2003 toyota highlander. Consumer states problem with brakes *tgw the consumer stated after he picked his vehicle up from the dealer after having the 60,000 mile service done, he heard a clicking noise coming from the front wheels when driving over uneven pavement or speed bumps at low speeds. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer within days. The vehicle was returned to the dealer and the clicking noise from the brakes had been remedied. In march 2010, while driving on the highway, the consumer detected a shimmy coming from the front end and transmitting through the steering wheel when the brake was applied. The shimmy continued with increased intensity over time during his trip and there was an odor of smoke coming from the passenger side of the vehicle. A closer inspection revealed, the right front wheel had excessive brake dust and it seemed to be hotter than the other side along with a burning smell coming from the same location. The consumer returned to the dealer. The consumer was informed the rotors needed to be replaced and the right front caliper had seized and needed to be replaced as well. The consumer stated according to the invoice, the rotors were replaced due to excessive heat, along with the brake pads and caliper.

Filed May 5, 2003 · Electrical · CO

Electrical short in headliner between sun roof and sun visor. Burn mark 5-6 inches long through headliner. No fire or flames but could smell strong odor of smoke.