2002 Toyota 4Runner Limited review from North America

Bought this 4Runner barely used from Ford dealership, still under factory warranty & have had no problems except the power antenna & a BLOWN ENGINE at 60800 miles! Normal driving conditions, actually on my birthday, on the interstate with my wife, in FL, clear day, everything normal - loud "clunking" noise, check engine & oil lights on at the same time, engine almost stopped turning over, like a rough idle & I somehow managed to slam it into nuetral & coast over to the shoulder.

Towed back to my house (I am a fanatic about service & have always kept my trucks & equipment over & above what is required) so I could start figuring out what to do. The block actually had a hole low on the passenger side where a rod was thrown through the casing. My local Toyota dealership would not even talk to me over the phone about it & bent over backwards to not help me, even wanted to charge me to tow it the 4 miles in. I have always used an independent service shop who I know & trust so it wound up there.

$6000 later I have a Jasper re-manufactured engine with a 3 year, 100K mile warranty (better than Toyota). Corporate in CA will not do anything because I do not have an extended warranty & I was 800 miles over their 60000 mile power-train warranty - seriously?!?!

I have a ticket in with them, but I am not expecting anything from them. I have done as much research as I can on the Internet, but I am hoping that someone out there may have some ideas, I just want some help from Toyota with the $6000. I am a construction project manager & I know that anything we build we stand behind 100%, I guess I just want Toyota to do more than say sorry...

Any ideas would be much appreciated, thanks in advance.

LBS4@bellsouth.net.

Unfortunately the blown engine has soured me on Toyota, this is without a doubt the best truck I have ever owned. Everything works properly, extremely comfortable, very efficient, and looks great!