No idea if this is legit as I c/p from another site

Edit: found the article > http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll...=2007705310379

Toyota Tundra May Be Recalled
The Detroit News

By Christine Tierney

May 31, 2007

Toyota Motor Corp. faces a costly setback in the biggest U.S. vehicle launch in its history after owners of its new Tundra pickup reported engine failures.

The Japanese automaker may recall Tundras equipped with 5.7-liter V-8s to replace the engines, a company spokesman said Wednesday.

The trouble with the Tundra's 5.7-liter engines, the most powerful engine available on the new pickup, is the latest in a series of recalls and problems that have dented Toyota's reputation.

The automaker set the industry standards for vehicle quality, but now seems to be straining to maintain top quality as it expands overseas, builds factories and hires thousands of new workers.

"It's really tough," said Karl Brauer, editor of Edmunds.com, an automotive research Web site. "Engine failure kills a car's ability to run and it's not a simple thing to fix."

Such a problem is also likely to affect residual values, he said.

Industry experts say Toyota is extremely vulnerable to negative publicity because of its prominence in the industry.

In the first quarter of 2007, Toyota overtook General Motors Corp. to become the world's leading automaker in terms of sales.

With the launch of the Tundra earlier this year, Toyota aims to double its share of the lucrative full-size pickup market, one of the few segments still dominated by the U.S. automakers.

Toyota officials characterize the Tundra launch as the most important introduction in the company's history in the United States.

The rollout has suffered delays and disappointments. For instance, the Tundra earned lower frontal crash scores than domestic rivals such as the Ford F-150 and Dodge Ram.

But the engine problem is more damaging and could slow the vehicle's brisk sales momentum.

Company spokesman Bill Kwong said Toyota realized in February that there was a problem with the camshafts delivered by a supplier for the 5.7-liter engine, and the automaker ordered the necessary changes to production.

Still, Toyota has seen 20 cases of engine failure in trucks equipped with 5.7-liter engines, although no injuries have been reported.

Toyota is now studying how many of the 30,000 5.7-liter engines it built are affected.

Toyota builds the Tundra pickup at assembly plants in Princeton, Ind., and San Antonio, Texas, and makes the engines in Alabama.

The automaker hopes to sell 200,000 new Tundras this year, compared with 124,508 previous-generation Tundras in 2006.

But U.S. automakers are holding their own in the pickup market, and GM has been successful with its new Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra trucks.

In contrast to their performance in the car market, where they have been pushed back by Japanese nameplates, American manufacturers account for more than 90 percent of full-size pickup sales, which totaled 2.2 million units in 2006.

 

hahahaha

I love my 5.4 Triton!

 

I read in another article that because they use just-in-time manufacturing they were able to catch the problem early and this only affected .06% of the engines manufactured. Pretty minor problem for a new product.

 

They just wipped up a new motor and truck and put it out in the dealers. It seemed that they had it out within weeks of announceing the new truck. without really enough time to test. Now they have problems. Happy with my Ford

 

I read that too. At least Ford did Toyota one better and built some motors that come equiped with self extracting spark plugs.........

 

Good stuff! I hardly think they would announce a recall if only .06% of the production engines were the ones affected. As the article and about everythying else i've read states, toyota will go to about any leangth to keep its reputation held high with the American car/truck buyers. I wouldnt doubt they would even lie about the % of engines affected in order to help maintain superiority in buyers eyes

 

Yeah wonder what one of those problems is worse. The camshaft seperating or a spark plug stripping some threads.

 

What was the number of reported engine failures......20? If they want to cover their *** they had better have a recall regardless of the percent. It doesn't take long for word to get out that engines are failing.

 

20 in the first couple months the truck was released. My point wasnt that a recall is not needed, its that the problem is probably much worse than they are saying it is. I bet most of these tundras havent even hit the first oil change, much less been broken in and already 20 failures

 

Both, but at least Toyota is covering "their" camshaft failures....

 

Although not very well a truck will still run on 6 or 7 cylinders, with no cam and you are SOL on the side of the road after your deadstick stop with no power assist brakes or steering. At least with a dead miss you can retain more control over it as you limp to safety.

I wonder how much damage they do when the cams go out, are they a interference engine or something? What exactly goes wrong with the cam?

 

imo camshaft failure is going to let shavings go thru the engine, eat your bearings. yeah sounds fun!
id rather have a plug get blown out, you can use a helicoil / timesert to fix that on all 8 cyls and still cost less than rebuilding your motor.

 

i need to go find one race one lol and race him till his cam shafts seperate.. lol while mines still going strong with 152,000 miles on it

 

yeah as you coast to the side of the road in "safety" you will have a lot of time think about how Ford is going to deny your warranty and how much its gonna cost for head replacement waiting for the tow truck. When the .06 percent or so Tundra owners will have their ENTIRE ENGINE REPLACED no questions asked on Toyota's tab.

Toyota is great at catching problems early and fixing their mistakes. Its an entirely new engine design from the the ground up, there are gonna be some hitches on the way.

Its a casting flaw, just like the casting flaw that lead to Control Arms cracking on the $150K+ 200mph capable FORD GT. Yeah thats real safe FORD, having your control arm shatter as you're going around a bend at 100+ mph. Even for $150K+ plus you pay for a Ford you would expect an important life/death part like a control arm to keep intact.

 

This thread should be called "For the Repost Lovers. "

https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=288124

and dont be shocked if this thread gets moved to GD also