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2003 Toyota HIGHLANDER Engine Problems, Complaints and Defects

Issue ID	968822
Internal NHTSA #	10502202
Manufacurer	TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION
Brand	TOYOTA
Model	HIGHLANDER
Model Year	2003
File date	24/02/13
Component	ENGINE
Product type code	VEHICLE
Description of the problem	Original owner of a 2003 toyota highlander 2. 4l 4-cylinder engine, serviced by toyota dealer and local repair shop. 4 months ago it was making a fluttering noise and i had it serviced, it needed an oil pan gasket, got a full oil change, too. But apparently it also had a bad water pump, and had developed a coolant leak, and was burning oil. -- we never noticed any white smoke coming out the back, and no coolant temperature variance, always in the middle after warming up. We never got a low oil light warning, no check engine light while driving. --- the suv shut down on it's own just coming off a highway exit ramp. I started it up again to pull over a block away and then shut it off. It steamed up, overheated. The tow service guy couldn't restart it. --- my repair shop serviceman told me the radiator was almost empty, and it likely had a blown head gasket - a $2500 repair by my local repair shop. But when he went to take off the head, the bolt cylinders came out too, almost all were loose and apparently caused the leakage over time. He didn't have the tooling to fix the bolt sleeve issue, and i'd need a water pump, too. So for less than the cost of all the repairs, known and possible future problems, like rust or other worn internal parts, he recommended a rebuilt engine, with higher quality steel bolt sleeves, (the way the original engine should have been made). He investigated and alerted me to the complaints online, and reminded me to keep the repair receipts. --- i am devastated, and had to borrow money from retirement to pay for this, since the kelly blue book value was still a few thousand higher than the repair cost. I bought this car new and serviced it with the anticipation of driving it for at least another 50k miles. It never had a single overheat problem, ran like a top, driving me back and forth to work 45 min away.
Vehicle Mileage at Failure	91000
Number of Occurences	1
Source of the issue	NHTSA WEB SITE
City and State	ALAMEDA, CA
VIN pattern	XXXXXX
Was vehicle invloved in a crash?	N
Was vehicle involved in a fire?	N
Was incedent reported to police?	N
Was medical attention required?
Was part original equipment?
No. of injured persons	0
No. of fatalities	0
Date of purchase	08/08/26
Was original owner?	N
Anti-lock brakes	N
Cruise control	N
Number of cylinders
Drive train type
Transmission type
Vehicle speed	30
DoT tire identifier
Tire size
Location of tire code
Type of tire failure code
Was defective tire repaired?
Date of manufacture
Type of child seat code
Type of restraint
Dealer's name
Dealer's telephone number
Dealer's city
Dealer's state code
Dealer's ZIP code

What is Recall?
A recall is when a product is removed from the market or a correction is made to the product because it is either defective or potentially harmful.
What is Failure?
Failure is the state or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective, and may be viewed as the opposite of success. Product failure ranges from failure to sell the product to fracture of the product, in the worst cases leading to personal injury, the province of forensic engineering.
What is Defect?
Non-conformance of a car component with the specified requirements, or non-fulfillment of user expectations, including the safety aspects.

Last decoded VIN:

PP32M41GRF1002321 WDB2112871X183596 KNALB4125J5124653 MHYZE8159HJ305148 6FPAAAJLCMSD22558 1HGCS22709A600524 KNAHU815GG7146228 WVGZZZCT7SW438064 WVGZZZ5NZNW054684 WVGZZZA16SV149541 WVWZZZ6RZGY257879 WVWZZZAUZGW298868

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2003 Toyota HIGHLANDER Engine Problems, Complaints and Defects, Recalls and Failures

2003 Toyota HIGHLANDER Engine Problems, Complaints and Defects

What is Recall?

What is Failure?

What is Defect?