Of Mice and Toyotas

The car saga continues, and has completely usurped my inspirational piece on the Pennwriters conference, which I still intend to post eventually.

So...After walking home from the repair shop a second time, I realized I’d left my cell phone in my car, which was last seen being towed to the repair shop, and since the repair shop usually calls me on my cell phone to let me know the car is ready…

I thought I should go and retrieve my phone. As it turned out, that is exactly what happened—the repair shop had called the cell phone in my car to let me know I could come and get the car—and I didn’t get the message.

So when I stopped by the following day to pick up my cell phone, the mechanic said, “I’m sorry, but we’ve taken it as far as we can, and we can’t find the problem. It appears to be in your computer, and we aren’t equipped to do computer work here.”

He said he’d spent six hours the day before trying to trace the problem and was unable to do so. He told me he would refund my $263 since the problem had not been corrected, and recommended that I take the car to the Toyota dealership, as it appeared the car’s own computer was sending the car signals to misfire and stop without warning.

I called the dealership for an appointment and was able to get in right away. My ex then kindly followed me across town, as I stalled out three times and nearly a fourth, but the good news was now the computer had new information to provide to the dealership, since I had inadvertently wiped out the malfunction information by replacing the battery.

The car was doing the exact same thing it had the week before. It also cooperated by doing it for the people at the dealership when they moved the car into the service bay.

The dealership called four hours later to say that the computer had to be replaced, but it was covered under an extended warranty. A search on the internet comes up with the information that Toyota knows these ECM’s (computers) are defective, but refuses to recall them, instead accepting them on this “extended warranty” basis when they come in for repair. Technical Service Bulletin in reference to 2005-2007 Toyota Corolla & Matrix ECMs, TSB EG042-07, was issued September 20th 2007. They say not enough people have reported problems to warrant a recall.

Could it be possible those people aren’t around any more to report the problem? Think about it—what might have happened had I been moving down the highway at 60 mph (as has happened to many people already) and my car shut off without warning? I was fortunate enough to be in a residential neighborhood and the worst thing that happened to me was I was in my PJs at the time.

So that was the good news, sort of. But then came the bad news. The dealership lady tells me the car has “other issues.” She said it appears that “rodents may have chewed on your engine wire harness assembly and caused the short which shorted out the computer.”** And while she has been gracious enough to “squeak me in” under this extended warranty, if I do not get the wire harness assembly repaired, and the computer goes bad again, it won’t be covered under warranty and I will have to pay for a new computer, which runs at least $1000. (her price quote, not mine)

However, for only $355, I can forestall this potential problem.

I said, “Thank you, but I don’t want you to do any more work right now. I will take your information back to my mechanics and if they agree with you I will be back.” Because I know my mechanics looked that car over and over trying to find the problem, and it was deemed mechanically sound.

“Please, ma’am,” the woman says, “You don’t want anybody but certified Toyota technicians working on your car. If anyone else works on that harness, the warranty will be invalidated.”

“I understand that,” I said. “But I have been going to my guys for twenty years. I just want to consult with them first. I have my annual inspection scheduled for Wednesday. I’ll ask them to look at it and I’ll get back to you if they agree with your assessment.”

“I’m just trying to save you some money down the road,” she insisted, then invoked the fear factor. Something along the lines of God forbid it should happen again and you didn’t get it taken care of here and now.

To which I said, “I appreciate that, but I don’t think the car is going to give out in another week (at least I would hope it wouldn’t, considering they just put a new computer in it), and I need to check with my guys. They’re the ones who sent me to you in the first place, so if they think I should come back, they will have no trouble telling me so.”

“Well.” A disgruntled pause. “Then you’ll have to pay the diagnostic fee of $69.90.”

“I understand that.” Unlike my regular guy, who spent six hours looking for the problem the day before, and didn’t charge me a penny for it, from the dealership I expected no less. “I’ll be by to pick up the car on Monday.”

I then hopped on the internet to see what an engine wire harness assembly is, because it sounded kind of scary the way she was talking. Turns out it’s the hose and cable system that connects everything in the engine. See picture above.

To replace it, one place listed a price of 558.35. Another listed a price of 645.00. Or, the genuine Toyota model for $1156,58.

Since it’s all connected, I’m not sure how one would “repair” it, short of duct tape. Something I will definitely have to ask my mechanics.

When I find out, I will let you know. In the meantime, if you know anybody who owns a 2005-2007 Toyota Corolla, please let them know of this potential ECM computer problem in their cars, and that their car could suddenly shut off without warning.

Thank you and God Bless.

**I do live in the country, but I have three cats. I seriously doubt they are going to let any rodents close enough to my car to feast on the wiring, and I doubt my mechanic would have let that pass unremarked upon, but we will see...

Update, February 2014 (almost five years later)....My car runs just fine, with no problems at all.