Toyota expands Oil Leak Fix to new models

Toyota Avalon

Last year, Toyota released a “Limited Service Campaign” (LSC) for some of its V6-equipped vehicles.  An LSC shouldn’t be confused with a recall, because recalls are for safety issues and the LSCs are for “customer satisfaction,” according to Toyota.  This campaign is for a defective oil line for the affected engines.  Over time, a rubber portion of the line may degrade, causing oil to leak out, the engine to make odd noises, and the oil pressure light to illuminate on the vehicle’s dashboard.

Toyota RAV4

Sounds like a quality control issue to me, possibly caused by not testing the drivetrain enough, or for long enough.  Furthermore, the losing of oil is never good for an engine – its analogous to a human losing blood.  Lose enough blood or oil, and the body or engine starts to malfunction.  In short, losing oil is a good way to kill a car’s engine.

The original LSC, according to Toyota, covered:

“approximately 342,200 Toyota Avalon (model year 2005 – 2006), Camry (2007 – early 2010) and RAV4 V6 (2006 model year), and 374,000 Lexus ES 350 (model year 2007-2008) and RX 350 (model year 2007-2009) vehicles.”

Phase 3, which begins now and runs until March 31, 2013, includes:

“approximately 128,800 Avalon (2007 – 2009 model year) and 89,000 RAV4 V6 (2007 – 2009 model year) vehicles involved in the United States.”

The fix is supposed to take about an hour, and includes replacing the faulty oil line.  There is no charge to vehicle owners for this replacement, and owners will be notified via mail starting soon.

by John Suit

Source: Toyota

5 Comments

  1. We received the service bulletin for our 2007 Rav4 about two weeks back and three days ago I noticed a lot of fresh oil where the vehicle is parked. The line was replaced today with a rubber material. My concern is about the longevity of the rubber material in a line that could pump out the oil of the engine if it failed. It just seems to me that it should be a steel line.

  2. Thanks for the update – I would appreciate you sending me an update if anything changes, and how was your dealership experience getting the recall done?

    Thanks,

    -John Suit (john.suit@road-reality.com)

  3. My car blew out the oil yesterday and I was stuck in Vermont. Had to have the RAV towed back to NH. I was never notified of this problem. The car is now at my mechanic. Will Toyota reimburse me? Wish I had known about this problem ahead of time. I have a 2006 RAV4.

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