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2008 Toyota HIGHLANDER Engine And Engine Cooling Problems, Complaints and Defects

Issue ID	1014923
Internal NHTSA #	10546616
Manufacurer	TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION
Brand	TOYOTA
Model	HIGHLANDER
Model Year	2008
File date	29/09/13
Component	ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Product type code	VEHICLE
Description of the problem	While sitting in a line of traffic on our way home from a 2 mile trip to the store, we noticed a hot oil smell. I said to my wife that someone needs to get their car in for service work, not knowing that we were this someone! This smell had not been present at home, on our trip to the store or when parked there. When i pulled into my garage, steam/smoke appeared to be coming from the hood. The dipstick showed very low oil. There had been no signs of an oil leak in the garage before, but, after arriving home i saw a big oil leak. I called the toyota dealership (1/2 mile from home) who told me to bring it up to see what was going on. By the time that i got there my car was making a sound making it obvious something very wrong. I pulled directly into the service bay. The mechanic checked the dipstick which showed absolutely no oil in my engine. He put it on the hoist, added oil, and restarted the engine. The oil poured out as fast as he had put it in. Upon further inspection, he saw that the lower oil cooler lines had ruptured. My engine had been close to seizing. Replacing these parts was very expensive, $437, but replacing my engine would have been much more expensive. More importantly was that the danger of a fire from the oil that was pouring out on the hot engine was not out of the question. While at the dealership, the mechanic pointed at a lexus and stated, "this is very interesting. That lexus suv is in here for the same problem, the oil cooler lines ruptured." he said that he would not be surprised to see this be a recall issue, as the new lines are designed differently without rubber fittings, and will not rupture. This would indicate to me that toyota has noticed a design flaw in the oil cooler lines that were in my highlander. I feel this oil cooler lines problem is an issue that needs to be researched as a possible toyota recall.
Vehicle Mileage at Failure	108989
Number of Occurences	1
Source of the issue	NHTSA WEB SITE
City and State	CEDAR FALLS, IA
VIN pattern	JTEES42A582XXXXXX
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	07/08/26
Was original owner?	N
Anti-lock brakes	N
Cruise control	N
Number of cylinders	6
Drive train type
Transmission type
Vehicle speed	45
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:

MAJBXMRKBFC862006 4X4TWBG20JU015911 KL1TD5DE1BB208648 4JGFB4KB4LA139553 2FMDK3GC7DBC18398 2HGFC2F56LH009626 KL1FC5CU8JB009474 LGJE5EE00RM221078 WBA21EE06P5W21927 WDANHCAA69L443937 3C6SRBDT0FG555329 SHHFN23607U001516

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2008 Toyota HIGHLANDER Engine And Engine Cooling Problems, Complaints and Defects, Recalls and Failures

2008 Toyota HIGHLANDER Engine And Engine Cooling Problems, Complaints and Defects

What is Recall?

What is Failure?

What is Defect?