Water Pump problems of the 2006 Toyota Highlander

Two problems related to water pump have been reported for the 2006 Toyota Highlander. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2006 Toyota Highlander based on all problems reported for the 2006 Highlander.

1 Water Pump problem

Failure Date: 05/31/2011

My wife was driving our 2006 Toyota Highlander. She drove approx 1/2 mile from our house at an average speed of 35 mph when the temperature gauge suddenly went past the red line. We had our car towed to crown Toyota where they tore down the engine and found water pump leaking and head gasket leaking oil . They removed engine head and found warped block and but head was okay. We then towed the Highlander to a private mechanic to have block replaced and we were informed the block was not warped but instead the bolts on the engine are stripped/defected. Toyota wants $5,400 to repair vehicle by installing a used engine. Toyota refuses to help with the cost even though it appears to be a manufacture defect and has already charged us $654 to diagnosis the problem and did not even reassemble our engine. The car was no longer under warranty at 68970 miles. We have not yet repaired the problem.

2 Water Pump problem

Failure Date: 03/25/2011

My son was driving our 2006 Toyota Highlander. He drove approx 2 miles from our house at an average speed of 35 mph when the temperature gauge suddenly went past the red line. He drove our car approx 2 miles back to our house. We then had it towed to savannah Toyota where they checked the engine and found the head warped and the bolts stripped . I went to savannah Toyota and told them that I had just had the car there for an oil change a month prior. At the time of oil change, service writer noted under the hood that he thought that maybe the water pump may be leaking as there was fluid on the upper part of hood. There was no notification of any problem with the water pump. A month later, the above overheat condition occurred. When we were informed that the engine was burned up and the engine needed to be replaced at a cost of 5000. 00. We had the vehicle towed to our regular mechanic and was told that there was nothing wrong with the engine block, just the head needs to be replaced at a cost of approx. 2200. 00. Savannah Toyota did charge us $600 to check what caused the problem and if the engine could be saved. We were told that the engine block bolts were stripped and could not be re-installed. After dis-assembling the engineto evaluate the problem they did not even reassemble our engine. The car was no longer under warranty at 70,000 miles. We have not yet repaired the problem carhas been parked since 3-20-11 to date 11-22-2011 .




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