That was fascinating and I learned a lot about the Japanese approaches to problem solving which I wish I had known earlier. Thanks for that!
I've only ever owned one single Toyota, but it became the very best car deal of my lifetime. in 1974 I was stationed in Hawaii, working for a fiery Major who had little patience with failure. One day he came in livid and barking complaints about his 1973 Corolla he had just paid off, which had quit in traffic the night before and left him stranded on the wrong side of the island. He had the car towed to the parking lot outside our company headquarters, where it sat when I came in. I was the first to arrive and he arrived in a taxi just minutes later, so I had the good fortune of being the first person to hear his complaint.
He swore he would never buy another Toyota and ranted that he would sell it for whatever he could get for it. We arrived at $100 ($530 today) for the 10 month old car with fewer than 5,000 miles on it. I gave him the $45 I had on me as downpayment and he actually signed the title over to me before anyone else even reported for duty.
At the end of the day I went out to the Toyota and it fired right up! It drove well for about 5 miles while the temperature rose, then sputtered to a stop outside my condo. A quick compression check showed two low cylinders and I correctly diagnosed a blown head gasket.
The next day I bought a gasket kit and changed the head gasket by myself that Saturday. The engine was so clean I hardly got my hands dirty. I drove it directly to a used car dealer who handed me $1,000 for the car ($5300 today).
I took my girlfriend to dinner at the best local restaurant to celebrate, where I spied my major sitting with friends at another table! I sent them a bottle of good wine and told him the whole story on Monday.
.
