dallison

took my 99 es300 to the local toyota dealer to replace the timing belt and water pump. it took them 2 days to complete the job since they had to wait for parts. no problem.

i pick up the car and it was clean and ran fine.

i am a few miles from home and i smell something burning, like something electrical. i figure it was antifreeze or some grease burning off, something.

looked under the hood and did not see and liquid or grease.

everything was clean,



so i drive to work this morning and a few miles from work the battery light comes on and then stays on for a while and then flickers a bit.

that told that something was loose.

i pull into work and open the hood, i check the battery terminals and they are fine.
then i move to the alternator and find the cap that covers the live wire was burnt.

so pull off the cap and find that the nut holding the live wire to the alternator was loose.

it had burned some of the protective covering off of the live wire also, so there is about 1/2 of bare wire.

i tighten the crisp nut and as i am turning , the nut i can feel the crunching of the ceramic peice inside the alternator.

i call the dealer to take care of the problem, and i will be dropping it off tomorrow morning.

we'll see

KaMLuNg

iTrader: (5)

that sucks... good luck with that... let's hope they don't give u the shaft!!!

bigman

next time call them up and have them tow the car. Also since they fucked up so damn bad, make them give you a lender or rental for their screwup and your inconvenience.

dallison

they are going to give me a loaner, hopefully it is not a pos

S A CHO

You should also mention to one of the tech's/ supervisor that they are lucky the burning did not spread and start a fire under the hood...

dallison

i most def will do that

dallison

dropped off the car today for them to look at it, and they also gave me a new camry le for a loaner. not bad for a 4 banger.

so they call me a few hours later and said that the nut holding the live wire was overtightened, therefore causing the short.

i told the guy that i could hand tighten the nut(after disconnecting the battery) and then i had to tighten it.

when i did tighten it, i then helped crack the ceramic peice even further.


he denied that it was thei fault and that they do not take off the alternator when doing a timing belt.

i told him that the alternator was 6 months old and did not give me any problems previously but did so w/in 10 minutes of picking it up.

i told him that i was not trying to fleese them and if i was negligent in installing the alternator i would not be arguing.


the alternator is a lifetime one from autozone so i can exchange it.

i did offer to do that but the wire that was fried needed to be replaced.


i def covered my bases but i feel like i was talking to a wall with the 1st guy today. we will see on monday

S A CHO

Typical... Never accept any responsibility for shotty work...

Also, I don't think I would have mentioned you tightening it, only because of what they tried to do, turn the whole thing around on you...

dallison

well telling them that i was able to hand tighten it shows that it would have been disconnected.

dallison

still waiting to hear from them

Zippee

Just because they changed the belt does not mean they caused the alternator problem. Unless disconnecting the alternator is part of the belt change I think you are out of luck.

dallison

having to hand tighten the nut constitutes them disconnecting the juice.

RaviNJCLs

iTrader: (4)

I think they may have to.

dallison

the guy said that they do not have to remove it, that's what in their manual.

for more room, you would, but to save labor hours you wouldnt

dallison

yeah ravi, don't go to the toyota dealer in york, trust me

Zippee

Not necessarily. If the ceramic piece inside broke then the screw could wiggle around and the nut would be loose and allow you to hand tighten. This is highly possible if the nut was overtightened when the alternator was istalled.