Frustrated trying to get some info on my '08 Highlander.

[John Schmidt]

A little over a year ago I had a major leak around the tail light housings on both sides. Since we tend to have copious amounts of rain down here in Summer, it was imperative I have it fixed. It was a labor intensive job, requiring removal of all the seats(3 rows) and all the carpets in order to dry it all out(had over 2" of water on the floor). I did get the majority of the expense back from insurance but it left me with a problem I didn't discover for quite a few months, too many months for the dealer to honor any warranty on their work....big surprise there. It's an SUV and has rear seat releases just inside the back flip up door, the seats also have individual releases mounted on them. I discovered the release for the left rear seat didn't work, this was about eight months after the work was done. All I'm trying to find out is how to access that cable to see if they failed to reconnect it(my suspicion) or they broke it and didn't bother to tell me about it. Does anybody have a source in mind on the net that I could study, I found all kinds of advisers that will charge for their advice, with no guarantee it will work. I've been looking for the small manual you can usually find at an automotive parts store, find everything but what I need. One place even had 3 copies for a Pacer, another shop had one for a Yugo which he said had been there for over ten years. But no current issue for a Toyota Highlander. Good to see they keep up to date on their inventory. 

[Gavin_Sons]

I tried searching my sources with no luck. I have an 02 highlander, 2017 tundra and 2015 sienna. Parents have a 2018 highlander and brothers wife has a 2018 rav4. Yeah we like toyotas. I search the toyota nation forum quite a bit for different thing and usually find an answer. This time I had no luck. Sorry John

[John Schmidt]

Thanks for the effort Gavin. Guess I could just tear into it like we used to do waaaay back when, but these days I like to have some direction.

[Earl43P]

Toyotanation.COM is the best forum I know of, John.
I wanted to search for you, but can't login any more.
Join and use their search. They have a section for your generation Highlander.

Searching without being a member may work if you add "/toyotanation.COM"  to the Google/bing search line.

[LandElephant]

Have you searched You Tube. I found a 4 minute video by the seat shopon howtotake apart the seat and looks like how to fix the latch.  You might narrow your seach toyour specific problem but, in les that 5 minutes I found something close to whatyou are looking for.

I used You Tube to find out how to replace the head light on my daughter's Caddy. Never thought of the way they showed how to do it. Took about 15 minutes their way.

Charlie Morse
Land Elephant

[cookiedough]

google and internet is your friend, use it.

Or, why not visit your local Toyota dealer parts dept. and ask for a schematics printout of the area in question?   I have had to do that a few times and both times they gladly printed them out for me 1-2 pages is all. 

[¿spoom]

Compared to the cost/worth of the vehicle, I don't see how you could do better than simply buying the same shop manual as the dealership uses. I've always bought them here https://www.helminc.com/helm/homepage.asp?r=https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0ahUKEwjQxN7yvoDYAhWySN8KHZjdDvAQFggqMAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.helminc.com%2F&usg=

[John Schmidt]

Compared to the cost/worth of the vehicle, I don't see how you could do better than simply buying the same shop manual as the dealership uses. I've always bought them here https://www.helminc.com/helm/homepage.asp?r=https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0ahUKEwjQxN7yvoDYAhWySN8KHZjdDvAQFggqMAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.helminc.com%2F&usg=

No luck there. To get the shop manual I have to be a dealership, tried to work around it but no dice. Locally, I've used the same service tech/writer at the nearby Toyota dealer since day one so maybe I could get it sent to him at the shop. He's treated me good a number of times in the past so maybe......

[¿spoom]

Did you click the right side (dealer) or the left;http://www.helminc.com/helm/welcome_select_oem.asp?Style=helm
I've purchased them from Helm before, retail and not even a tax # needed.

[John Schmidt]

Tried both sides. The right side is for dealers and I couldn't navigate around that, the left side didn't appear to have what I wanted and one item that came close was out of stock.

[Robert]

Most dealer work warranty is one year.

Below is a couple of links that may be something that can help. Scroll down there are videos.

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/152-venza-forum/1445642-rear-seat-release-issue-how-do-i-reattach-cable.html

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/275-sienna-3rd-generation-2011/415838-3rd-row-seat-stuck-stowed-position-how-fix.html

A parts fische that also may help if not for the correct seat then there are other diagrams in there. If you scroll up and click on more pictures there is a complete seat break down. It may not be the correct application but you may be able to get an idea of the problem.

https://parts.toyota.com/a/Toyota__Highlander/62952668__6728843/REAR-SEAT--SEAT-TRACK/522420-7102.html#71845A

[¿spoom]

Tried both sides. The right side is for dealers and I couldn't navigate around that, the left side didn't appear to have what I wanted and one item that came close was out of stock.

Sorry to have sent you on a wild goose chase, hadn't occurred to me they'd be out of them. The body manual is the one you'd want, it covers most everything but the actual engine. I'm surprised they don't even have an electronic version available. 

[Gavin_Sons]

My parents just found out that their new 2017 with 6000 miles highlander needs a new transmission. Dealer isn't sure if they are going to replace the transmission or if corporate will want the whole vehicle back. I told him to demand that they buy it back and highly discount another new one.