I bought a lemon. Need advice

tsabelo94 said:
Hello everyone,

I've been a long time lurker and finally decided to register an account.

I bought a car about 7 months ago. It was mostly fine until about 4 months ago when it started going into limp mode. A dashboard message saying "loss of power, please visit your dealer." The error disappears as soon as the car stops completely, and then it drives normally again.

The issue is very unpredictable. happening sometimes 3 times in a day or only once every 2 to 3 weeks. The dealer can't pull any error messages and thus can't diagnose the problem. I've taken it to three different dealers, but none of them can help.

The dealership I bought the car from isn't an official dealer of the brand. I've asked them to replace the car or refund my money since it seems to be a lemon that no one can fix. They eventually said they couldn't help and that I'm on my own.

I paid 550k for the car. The cars warranty/plan expired 6 months before I took ownership.
I took the matter to MIOSA. I've been waiting for almost 3 months now for a verdict. Nothing.

I need some advice on what to do next. MIOSA seems to be dragging their feet, and I'm not hopeful. Is it worth pursuing this legally with a lawyer?
Click to expand...

I would first try and charge your battery, with a proper car charger for 1-2 days left on.
Second all the errors will be stored, you'll just need a decent scanner to pick them up. I've attached a link from Temu with a decent modern one. The smaller OBD2 scanners won't work on a Fortuner (I have both <-- car and old little scanner) Also look on gumtree or facebook, there are guys that will just scan your car for like R50 or free and give you a print out. (doesn't have to be a mechanic) Having said that I am very very very surprised the Toyota dealer can't scan it (that's odd) I would go back and watch them do it to show me, right from when they plug it in so they can't BS you, it's really a 1 minute job.

I would first do those two and see what they say before you start changing fuel pumps, thermostats, rails, injectors etc. This is most likely a simple software fart and the car is now protecting itself because it thinks it's damaged.

 
I find it really suspect that nothing shows on the ECU and metrics if the vehicle actually states limp mode. There must be a log/reason for it.

Or faulty ECU?
 
It is well known and documented that V6 Toyota Fortuner/Hilux with an aftermarket long range fuel tank will suffer from fuel pump problems due to debris being sucked up into the pump. This leads to poor fuel pressure and the car goes into limp mode.

Do yourself a favour, get the fuel pressure measured and replace the fuel pump if below spec. Don't waste your time and money chasing other ghost problems.
 
Blue Shirt said:
It is well known and documented that V6 Toyota Fortuner/Hilux with an aftermarket long range fuel tank will suffer from fuel pump problems due to debris being sucked up into the pump. This leads to poor fuel pressure and the car goes into limp mode.

Do yourself a favour, get the fuel pressure measured and replace the fuel pump if below spec. Don't waste your time and money chasing other ghost problems.
Click to expand...
Why is debris being sucked in? Bad design of the aftermarket fuel tank?
 
I got one of those Temu OBD scanners and it works as well as anything from Temu... i.e. not at all.

Get one, but not from Temu.
 
Koos Custodiet said:
I got one of those Temu OBD scanners and it works as well as anything from Temu... i.e. not at all.

Get one, but not from Temu.
Click to expand...
Sorry for you. Pretty much everything I've bought from Temu has been at least as good as expected
 
Sounds like either dirt or debris in the fuel tank due to aftermarket parts / fuel pump failing / ECU storing an error / mass airflow sensor.

Could be either or a combination. Check them out 1 by 1 yourself or a good mechanic.
 
tsabelo94 said:
My issue is that the limp mode fault existed before I bought the vehicle. The salesman mentioned they took the car in for the same problem after it happend to me. However, the dealers have no record of the limp mode fault or any repairs in their system.
Click to expand...
Well then…why on earth would you still buy it knowing there was a fault nobody is able to diagnose?
 
SauRoNZA said:
Well then…why on earth would you still buy it knowing there was a fault nobody is able to diagnose?
Click to expand...

Sounds like the salesman mentioned it to him only once it happened to him as well.
 
Friend got a rav, it also gave a error, toyota could not read the error when it was gone. they reset his software. Toyotas don't break, so no need to record errors.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter