excessive sulfur odor on 2007 model year Yaris

[squibby]

hey i've been reading a lot on these forums and do also get the sulfur smell in my car. I took it in today and complained about it, but the dealership said that Toyota dosen't honor the tsb in California anymore because of something in the gas. Is this true? Has anyone recently gotten theirs changed in CA?

[jlift]

Originally Posted by squibby

hey i've been reading a lot on these forums and do also get the sulfur smell in my car. I took it in today and complained about it, but the dealership said that Toyota dosen't honor the tsb in California anymore because of something in the gas. Is this true? Has anyone recently gotten theirs changed in CA?

Have not heard this yet. Sounds pretty suspicious. Which dealer? Where/how did he get this info? Ask to see it in writing. Calll Toyota Corporate. At this point I would not believe him. Possibly Toyota is losing $$ on this big time and now doing an about face and "blaming" it on the gas addititives?

[squibby]

It was at Elk Grove Toyota up near Sac. He said they got an email from Toyota saying not to change anymore cats for the sulfur smell. I thought it was strange too, but the service manager wasn't in yet so I just got his number and left. I've already emailed Toyota, but I'll call Toyota Corp after work if I don't get a response by then.

[jlift]

Originally Posted by squibby

It was at Elk Grove Toyota up near Sac. He said they got an email from Toyota saying not to change anymore cats for the sulfur smell. I thought it was strange too, but the service manager wasn't in yet so I just got his number and left. I've already emailed Toyota, but I'll call Toyota Corp after work if I don't get a response by then.

I was very interested in this and had a few minutes so I called Toyota Corporate. They researched it for me and assured me that they are still replacing catalytic converters as stated in TSB EG035-06 (Revised). Your dealer who told you that he received an email from Toyota stating not to change it is probably making that up. I would go with what Toyota says. You can call for yourself. If in fact the dealer is being less than honest with you, I would raise some hell and let his "bosses" know about it. Good luck!

[squibby]

Originally Posted by jlift

I was very interested in this and had a few minutes so I called Toyota Corporate. They researched it for me and assured me that they are still replacing catalytic converters as stated in TSB EG035-06 (Revised). Your dealer who told you that he received an email from Toyota stating not to change it is probably making that up. I would go with what Toyota says. You can call for yourself. If in fact the dealer is being less than honest with you, I would raise some hell and let his "bosses" know about it. Good luck!

Thanks jlift. I'm going back there tomorrow to let them know I've talked to Toyota Corporate and got confirmation that the TSB is still in effect. If they still won't change it, then I'll be raising hell with the managers.

[mushrmboy]

does this apply to recently purchased yarii too? i just got mine 2 weeks ago and i'm wondering if they would have replaced the part on their own by now. and how bad is the smell? so far i haven't been able to smell anything, but i haven't been in any real stop and go traffic yet.

[squibby]

Originally Posted by mushrmboy

does this apply to recently purchased yarii too? i just got mine 2 weeks ago and i'm wondering if they would have replaced the part on their own by now. and how bad is the smell? so far i haven't been able to smell anything, but i haven't been in any real stop and go traffic yet.

I'm pretty sure it applies to new ones because I just got my yaris about a month or so ago and it's got the problem.

It smells really bad like rotten eggs. I don't even think you need to be in real bad stop and go traffic for it to happen. The first time I noticed the smell was after driving back to Sac from SF with pretty light traffic. I started my car after dropping off my brother and it was rotten egg smell all over.

[jlift]

Originally Posted by mushrmboy

does this apply to recently purchased yarii too? i just got mine 2 weeks ago and i'm wondering if they would have replaced the part on their own by now. and how bad is the smell? so far i haven't been able to smell anything, but i haven't been in any real stop and go traffic yet.

Yes. They are actually NOT putting the replacement Cat. on newly manufactured Yarii as they roll out of the factory. But, if you are aware of the TSB and print it out and take it in to them (you'll find it in a .pdf at the beginning of this thread), then they must honor it. Only if you are aware of it and ask for it, then they will replace it. I think that Toyota is trying to be "cost effective" here. i.e., what you don't know won't hurt you. (believe me, a majority of car owners do not know about these technical service bulletins!) It's best to have a copy of the TSB so that they can't say, "well, maybe you got some bad gas or are smelling something else" or something else like that. When I got my work done, I went in with a stack of 4 TSB's! The service rep. told me that I was not his "average" customer.

[hans_fh]

Okay. The sedan doesn't have this problem, right?

[jlift]

Originally Posted by hans_fh

Okay. The sedan doesn't have this problem, right?

No. The TSB states:

"TSB REVISION NOTICE: August 4, 2006. This TSB applies ONLY to Yaris liftback models."


So we are talking about the liftback here. Sorry for any confusion. The TSB's state exactly which models are affected on any specific upgrade. Which begs the question, "why are the sedans unaffected? Perhaps they have the newer part on them?" hmmmmm....

[hans_fh]

Originally Posted by jlift

No. The TSB states:

"TSB REVISION NOTICE: August 4, 2006. This TSB applies ONLY to Yaris liftback models."


So we are talking about the liftback here. Sorry for any confusion. The TSB's state exactly which models are affected on any specific upgrade. Which begs the question, "why are the sedans unaffected? Perhaps they have the newer part on them?" hmmmmm....

Thanks a lot! It seems there is no any TSB talks about Yaris Sedan except the Rattle in Reverse. Am I right?

[jlift]

Originally Posted by hans_fh

Thanks a lot! It seems there is no any TSB talks about Yaris Sedan except the Rattle in Reverse. Am I right?

Well, there is TSB NV009-06 which deals with Upper/lower windshield tick noise which I posted on this forum.
But this applies to 2003-2007 model year Toyota vehicles and 2004-2007 Scion so I think that the 07 sedan would be included.

That's about the only other one I am aware of that would be for the Sedan. Search on "TSB" on this forum and you will find it. The dealer will let you know what specific TSB's are out there for your car if you ask him. It might be worthwhile thing to do next time you are there. You could also search on a website that has them for a fee and you can get the TSB numbers as a reference. I think that tundrasolutions.com/forums will let you see all the way up to the title of the TSB, in their knowledge base in the yaris forum.