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Posted on 11/01/2011 5:31:05 PM PDT by WPaCon
Toyota chases Tundra camshaft failures
Automotive News - May 28, 2007 - LOS ANGELES — A batch of camshaft failures in 5.7-liter V-8 engines has dinged the launch of the Toyota Tundra pickup.
Camshafts in 20 engines have snapped, says Toyota spokesman Mike Michels. The outside camshaft supplier, which Toyota declined to identify, has traced the problem to “a metallurgical defect in the casting, a flaw in the metal which they have corrected,” he says.
To date, Toyota has built 30,000 of the engines, and the company is determining how many might be affected. Michels says that it was “an early batch,” and that “Toyota is confident in the production from that point on.”
A camshaft is a spinning rod that opens the engine’s intake and exhaust valves in sequence. Toyota’s camshafts are designed to avoid collateral damage if they snap.
Toyota rushed the 5.7-liter engine into production in time for the Tundra’s February launch. The 5.7-liter initially was scheduled to arrive this summer. But Toyota dealers and product planners told the manufacturing arm that the Tundra needed the big V-8 at launch because the 4.7-liter V-8 would not make a strong enough statement.
The 5.7-liter represents more than 70 percent of the engine mix.
Toyota’s top executives repeatedly have stated their concern that Toyota is growing too quickly to keep quality at past high levels.
Toyota likely will not test each camshaft to see if it is prone to failure. Rather, customers whose camshafts fail will have their entire engines replaced.
One Toyota dealer service technician who declined to be identified says Toyota asked him to ship overnight a defective engine to its V-8 engine plant in Alabama.
“The guy was towing a small trailer, not under full load,” the technician says. “Other folks have been towing 10,000 pounds with no problem.”
Dude, after reading your posts, I know a xenophobe when I see one.
Criticizing unions is un-American?
Thanks for the tip, Mr. Biden.
You have two choices: Ford or GM, and then only certain models which are assembled in the U.S. Many models are assembled in Canada or Mexico.
Chrysler is not an American company; it is a subisidary of an Italian company, Fiat.
FYI, the Ford Foundation has no more than a historical connection with Ford Motor Company.
Do your homework, they took that one on the chin and stopped advertising in certain magazines. to much heat from a family group, and no the Company or the Family have no connection to the "Ford Foundation".
If you knew how conservative the Ford Employees I know are you would be shocked...
Are you another clueless libertarian who buys foreign rather than anything made by Americans who are in unions? Fords are union made so you would not buy Ford because of that?
So Ford doesn’t actually donate to those causes?
Never owned a Tundra as it is a fairly recent model (they’ll get the bugs out soon enough). Have a Tacoma now (best in class - as always) and still have my 87 with a 3VZ engine. Alas, the frame is rusted through in a spot under the passenger seat but my plan is to drive a pipe down the frame with a sledge hammer and cheek weld a plate on it. Can’t kill these buggers with anything short of a stinger missile - hyped gub’mint hit jobs nothwithstanding. Too bad I can’t say the same for the US made junk.
Buy a car from GM, you support Obama..
Oh my God, I’m devastated.
You sound just like the union dicks that said the same thing about jap cars in the 70’s
I would buy a vintage car from a great restorer.
My US made junk would be my post-apoccalypse vehicle of choice. Ever pierce your Toyota’s oil pan while off-roading and not know it? I drove my Dodge Power Wagon about 150 miles without oil. Just kept on running. Drove it for years after that without tearing down the engine.
I also drove it in an AZ desert without coolant for about 5 miles after piercing the radiator. That was even earlier than the oil incident, and again, for years and years it just kept on chugging along.
It’s even been a victim of shoddy maintenance on my part. Instead of replacing the electric choke when it wouldn’t open all the way, I simply disconnected the linkage on one end. It ended up inside four of the cylinders common to one of the sides of the dual plane intake as a shot peen ball, crushing the spark plug gaps. Drove home at night on 7, no 6, no wait 5, damn down to 4 cylinders and sounded like a VW bug. In the morning, noticed the missing linkage, pulled the plugs, extracted the old choke rod—or should I say a choke ball—with a telescoping magnet, and then regapped the plugs. Again, the damn thing ran for years and years after that.
Point? People that drive pickup trucks for more than just getting from point A to point B probably think their truck is the greatest thing ever made. I know mine is!
I want an all stainless remake of a Hummer H2, and until Mr. Fusion can be installed I will settle for the best high performance diesel on the market, preferably a Mercedes though I hear Volvo makes one with the best fuel mileage.
It might have been the one in a Top Gear BBC episode where Jeremy drives a Jaguar I think with a diesel.
No way I would use any American engine, too hobbled by EPA standards.
Why did Toyota build the Tundra plant in Texas?
Because that is where the market is! If you can't sell trucks in Texas, you can't sell trucks.
Granted, at some point, the USA may no longer have a market for automobiles, and the companies may move out after that. For now, companies are locating plants close to market to eliminate shipping costs.
Sounds mighty impressive and I’m glad you like it. My brother’s family drives only Chrysler products (his wife’s first husband was a salesman for them) and with four vehicles they have nothing but troubles and little stuff going wrong all the time. She even wants the diesel dual axle pick-up now (good thing he’s rich). For me, I like having no problems and just doing routine maintenance on time proven machines. Now, if it came down to it in a crisis situation, I’d drive anything including a skateboard and keep a can of oil handy. However, with choices, I bought the best in class and sleep soundly. There’s good reason Toyota trucks are popular in rural MN, WI and MI. My one big complaint? They’re light skinned and won’t turn a .22.
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