I have 5 other vehicles in the family. One being a 1999 Nissan Sentra 248000 miles and the muffler still looks good. It just blows my mind that a Stainless steel muffler would need to be replaced. Come on Toyota
Went to the Dealer for oil change last week. They did the multi point inspection and told me the muffler had was rusted and had holes in it. They quoted a price of $1350 to replace it. Of course I declined the repair until I could further research the problem. The muffler of course is connected to the Cat pipe and everything has to be replaced which is why the cost was so high. I see people with same problem had it fixed under the 80k emission warranty. Called the dealer back and he was going to contact Toyota for a solution. That was yesterday so waiting today for a response. Does anyone have written proof that the problem was fixed under Warranty just in case they refuse to replace the system under warranty ?
Update from Sep 2, 2015: Took a Couple days for the Dealer to contact Honda in California but thay replaced the muffler/cat system under the 80K Warranty.
My muffler had a whole in the seam which caused it not to pass inspection. I researched this issue and found that many 2008 Rav 4 had the same issue. I called the cooperate office at Toyota and they settled paying 75% of the bill. I still had to pay almost $600.00 dollars out out my own pocket.
Toyota make muffler and catalytic converter into one piece, so when muffler is rusted, you need to spend $1100 for this part. And most dealers will tell you it is not on the emission warranty of 8 years/130k. But in order to replace the muffler, you need to replace the good catalytic converter. This is not right.
However, you found in the forum that toyota canada will say it is under warranty if you complain, why don't they send the memo to the dealer?
After doing a little more research about this manufacturing design flaw I would hope Toyota finds time correct this problem. I am not a mechanic but I am not stupid either. After dealing with a "stainless steel" muffler that several places I considered to replace the muffler, mentioned that the muffler was to new to fail, and they could not get a replacement muffler. Someone advised that I take back to a dealership to have checked out. I chose to investigate online an found that the part which includes the catalytic converter cost over $800. And to have it replaced at a dealership prices ranged from $1200 - $1600. I just could not afford that amount of money. I continued to ask around locally to see if any one could replace just the muffler. I found a local guy to replace the muffler which he looked up and said that he could do two things, one order a muffler designed for the Rav4 or take a stock muffler that he had in stock. the price was 70 bucks more for the one designed to fit, so i decided to go the more expensive route and spend$200 bucks which i felt was an acceptable repair cost. Now, that I have had the repair the new muffler is way more noisy than the defective one removed.
So my beef is if this is a stainless steel muffler shouldn't it last more than 4.5 years my car only has 45000 miles. And if the catalytic is one piece with the muffler shouldn't that be part of the emissions system on a car. And if that is the case shouldn't that fall under the emissions warranty that is for 8 years. Well look out Toyota there could be another recall looming. Along with the three recall notices I received this week.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
I have 5 other vehicles in the family. One being a 1999 Nissan Sentra 248000 miles and the muffler still looks good. It just blows my mind that a Stainless steel muffler would need to be replaced. Come on Toyota
- dietz5000, Evansville, IN, US