Dealer Disappointment (mini-rant on maintenance)

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So I even hate to go here...... But -

So out of 3 of my choices, one dealer is 45 min away and no rides back to town, the other a bona fide crook so I settled on the 3rd. About a week ago went in for my 10k and bc I had 1 or 2 technical things for them to look at, and they had to order the part for my air bag recall I had told them about previously(but said they still did not have the part and were uncertain as how to handle a 5 tire rotation or if its even covered by toyotacare, I had to reschedule for 10 days down the road. Got the call the other day, "Car's ready".

Items to be checked / done - 10K service
5 tire rotation
album cover logos on sat radio not displaying or displaying incorrect channel info (offered pics showing . issues - refused).
center display flashing between day/night mode at dusk
install part ordered for air bag / seat belt recall - major reason the appt. was rescheduled.

outcome


They say they did the 5 tire rotation but I have no way to tell as they removed the tape markers I had on 2 of the tires. I know they did remove the spare and put it on the drivers front side, but I could not tell what they did with the rest and the only way I could tell this one was bc I had just washed the car the day before and they did not wash the car before I picked it up - the drivers front tire was the only dirty one - so maybe they just put the spare on the drivers font ???

They said they fixed the flashing of the center console by reducing towards darkness, 2 settings of the custom settings on the computer for the screen. We'll see - not sure how that is suppose to stop the flashing though.

I was happy though when they said they were able to get my "icons" to show. But I had to ask them to show me that when I picked up the vehicle as i did not understand their explanation of "we reduced by 2 settings to get them to show".

Welllll, what I was shown when they were explaining the above was the nav map and not the radio..... We go out to the car, start it up and the writer goes straight to the map and says, there ya go, now you can see everything. Im like, what?!? They say, we adjusted it by 2 settings, see. And then she hits the button on the map to zoom out - "ya see, now you can see more of the icons".


REALLY??!!??!!


Oh, and the recall part they ordered, they could not do the work. WHY? Because while they got the replacement part, they said Toyota does not yet have the part they need to remove the replacement part. I guess its like getting a call from the hospital saying we got the heart you need tocome on in, only to be told after getting prepped and rolled in to the operating room, sorry we dont have any knives. What a joke.


And I was worried about getting a 5 tire rotation. I give up. Heck, anytime I ask anyone at a dealer about these cars, they seem clueless - but im not starting to mix 2 different issues. Rant over, almost - its pitiful - im going to just count on an oil change and thats it. Its as bad as being told by the service manager at the Land Rover dealer when I had my Range Rover , the atmosphere is different down here, thats what's causing the TPMS to act up - and no, thats no joke - he really told me that and with a straight face.
 
ToyotaTrk said:
So I even hate to go here...... But -

So out of 3 of my choices, one dealer is 45 min away and no rides back to town, the other a bona fide crook so I settled on the 3rd. About a week ago went in for my 10k and bc I had 1 or 2 technical things for them to look at, and they had to order the part for my air bag recall I had told them about previously(but said they still did not have the part and were uncertain as how to handle a 5 tire rotation or if its even covered by toyotacare, I had to reschedule for 10 days down the road. Got the call the other day, "Car's ready".

Items to be checked / done - 10K service
5 tire rotation
album cover logos on sat radio not displaying or displaying incorrect channel info (offered pics showing . issues - refused).
center display flashing between day/night mode at dusk
install part ordered for air bag / seat belt recall - major reason the appt. was rescheduled.

outcome


They say they did the 5 tire rotation but I have no way to tell as they removed the tape markers I had on 2 of the tires. I know they did remove the spare and put it on the drivers front side, but I could not tell what they did with the rest and the only way I could tell this one was bc I had just washed the car the day before and they did not wash the car before I picked it up - the drivers front tire was the only dirty one - so maybe they just put the spare on the drivers font ???

They said they fixed the flashing of the center console by reducing towards darkness, 2 settings of the custom settings on the computer for the screen. We'll see - not sure how that is suppose to stop the flashing though.

I was happy though when they said they were able to get my "icons" to show. But I had to ask them to show me that when I picked up the vehicle as i did not understand their explanation of "we reduced by 2 settings to get them to show".

Welllll, what I was shown when they were explaining the above was the nav map and not the radio..... We go out to the car, start it up and the writer goes straight to the map and says, there ya go, now you can see everything. Im like, what?!? They say, we adjusted it by 2 settings, see. And then she hits the button on the map to zoom out - "ya see, now you can see more of the icons".


REALLY??!!??!!


Oh, and the recall part they ordered, they could not do the work. WHY? Because while they got the replacement part, they said Toyota does not yet have the part they need to remove the replacement part. I guess its like getting a call from the hospital saying we got the heart you need tocome on in, only to be told after getting prepped and rolled in to the operating room, sorry we dont have any knives. What a joke.


And I was worried about getting a 5 tire rotation. I give up. Heck, anytime I ask anyone at a dealer about these cars, they seem clueless - but im not starting to mix 2 different issues. Rant over, almost - its pitiful - im going to just count on an oil change and thats it. Its as bad as being told by the service manager at the Land Rover dealer when I had my Range Rover , the atmosphere is different down here, thats what's causing the TPMS to act up - and no, thats no joke - he really told me that and with a straight face.
Click to expand...


If you haven't already, double check that your recirc door works. No joke, probably half of us have broken doors and it's mostly dealers doing it.
 
bloc said:
If you haven't already, double check that your recirc door works. No joke, probably half of us have broken doors and it's mostly dealers doing it.
Click to expand...
I’ll check but they shouldn’t have touched it - not until the 15k or 18 month, right?
 
ToyotaTrk said:
I’ll check but they shouldn’t have touched it - not until the 15k or 18 month, right?
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. My dealer loves to give me a "Free 15-Point Safety Check," which includes inspecting the cabin air filter, whenever I'm there for anything - of course, now they say they couldn't do it completely because my glove box was locked :flipoff2: after I told them I didn't want it anyway :bang:

Sorry to say it, but dealers generally suck when it comes to any kind of routine maintenance - that's why I do it myself.
 
ToyotaTrk said:
I’ll check but they shouldn’t have touched it - not until the 15k or 18 month, right?
Click to expand...

Never underestimate a dealer's desire to upsell you on s*** you don't need.

I'd be shocked if they didn't at least look at the filter to see whether it's dirty.

"I know it isn't scheduled for another five thousand miles but we looked and your cabin filter is quite dirty. We have a special model with unicorn hair in the element that provides a force-field for Nuclear Biological or Chemical weapons events."

If you don't know how already.. remove the black access door in the back of the glove box. If you can't clearly see the filter element, switch on ignition and hit the recirculate button, the white flapper door will swing forward uncovering the filter element. When it's back, in fresh air mode, push up lightly on the door. It shouldn't easily move.

You'd be well-served to remind your service advisor every visit that you are aware of the recirculate door issue and they better do it right, because you'll be checking. It is thousands of dollars to repair. The dash has to come out. Some guys even print stickers for the access door. @gaijin idea of locking the glove box is probably the best idea I've heard yet. Now I just need to remember to do it on the rare occasion mine goes to the dealer for service I can't do myself. (alignment, recalls. that's about it)
 
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bloc said:
Never underestimate a dealer's desire to upsell you on s*** you don't need.

I'd be shocked if they didn't at least look at the filter to see whether it's dirty.

@gaijin idea of locking the glove box is probably the best idea I've heard yet. Now I just need to remember to do it on the rare occasion mine goes to the dealer for service I can't do myself. (alignment, recalls. that's about it)
Click to expand...

It's easy for me to remember since I started using my new key fob from @suprarx7nut . If I have to give up access to the vehicle, dealer gets the fob and I keep the removeable key and all my other keys:

YotaMD_19APR19_zpss3sp6ahw.jpg


HTH
 
Ok, got me paranoid. So I check last night. Alls well. But, while the door seemed to open and close ok, I did not check the resistance as suggested above. Will do today. Tks again.
 
Unless it's for warranty work I'll never take the LC to the dealer. Even just in time alone, going there, getting a ride back or loaner, calls with the service advisor, anxiety about what the are or are not doing to the car, etc. makes DIY a better choice for me. It's easier to do stuff on my own time, by myself, than deal with all of that. And really the warranty work would have to be major– like engine or transmission replacement– to get me there.
 
lol since we are back on this... I noticed that my belt was starting to squeal randomly. I thought, it's too early for the belt to go bad I have 40,000 miles.... maybe it's a tensioner, not sure but I'm going to see if this is under warranty.

So I got to the stealership and after standing there for almost 15 minutes waiting for someone to help me, a service manager walks out, we start the truck and he hears the squeal. He said, oh yea, hmmmm well, it's not covered under warranty. I said really? I thought it was part of the power train since it's a component of the motor. He said, he doesn't think so but they would need to schedule an appointment and take it back to figure out what's going on. He said it would cost me some money to figure it out and when do I want to schedule the appointment. I said, I don't want to schedule the appointment until you tell me if a tensioner is under warranty. He said he couldn't answer that question.

I left, called the next nearest Toyota dealership and asked them if a tensioner is under warranty? She said I would have to call some third party company to ask about the warranty because Toyota doesn't actually offer the warranty its through a third party..... I started to scratch my head and wonder what is happening with Toyota....
 
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concretejungle said:
lol since we are back on this... I noticed that my belt was starting to squeal randomly. I thought, it's too early for the belt to go bad I have 40,000 miles.... maybe it's a tensioner, not sure but I'm going to see if this is under warranty.

So I got to the stealership and after standing there for almost 15 minutes waiting for someone to help me, a service manager walks out, we start the truck and he hears the squeal. He said, oh yea, hmmmm well, it's not covered under warranty. I said really? I thought it was part of the power train since it's a component of the motor. He said, he doesn't think so but they would need to schedule an appointment and take it back to figure out what's going on. He said it would cost me some money to figure it out and when do I want to schedule the appointment. I said, I don't want to schedule the appointment until you tell me if a tensioner is under warranty. He said he couldn't answer that question.

I left, called the next nearest Toyota dealership and asked them if a tensioner is under warranty? She said I would have to call some third party company to ask about the warranty because Toyota doesn't actually offer the warranty its through a third party..... I started to scratch my head and wonder what is happening with Toyota....
Click to expand...

I'd be very surprised if Toyota only offered their warranty coverage through a 3rd party. Seems they'd make more $$$ to keep it in house. Some Toyota dealers offer warranties through third parties, but I am pretty sure Toyota provides the actual factory coverage.

And the TFS extended warranties cover tensioners (TFS extended coverage applies only after factory warranty is up), so you could argue that the factory warranty should also cover the tensioner:

However, my factory warranty manual states that the following is covered under the powertrain warranty:
Engine Cylinder block and head and all internal parts, timing gears and gaskets, timing chain/belt and cover, flywheel, valve covers, oil pan, oil pump, engine mounts, turbocharger housing and all internal parts, supercharger housing and all internal parts, engine control computer, water pump, fuel pump, seals and gaskets.

Based on that, it likely isn't covered (I personally consider belts and tensioners to be wear items). Still at 40k miles, Toyota might cover it under goodwill. It should not be worn out at this point... Good luck.
 
Based on what I had to go through to get a 5 tire rotation, you’ll be on the phone a bunch trying to figure this one out.

Figured out today the rotated my spare to the drivers front (had psi higher in spare and this shows on tpms) as for the rest who knows.
 
ok, here we go again. Looking for tips - its insane that I even have to do this..... So 2 days ago I had my 15k check up. I had to pay for the oil change, 87 dollars for non-synthetic 0W-20. No biggie as they told me the included oil changes are only at the 10k and 20k.

They once again told me that they do not do 5 tire rotations regardless of whats in the manual. Tired of always arguing about it, I said what ever. So they basically did an oil change and 4 tire rotation and check fluids and check some bolt - transfer case or something - I cant remember.

so heres the question - how do you tell that they actually rotated the tires? They say they did same side, front to back. But on the passenger front I had a mud stain from where I had recently driven off a parking pad into a muddy spot and it had stained the tire. That front left tire still seems to be there as its stained and not on the rear, which is clean. I had last time marked the inside of the rim to keep track, but they removed the tape from the inside of the 2 rims I had marked.

Oh yeah - they also filled the tires to 35psi and when asked about that(when I had to bring it back yesterday bc It was leaking oil under the car), they told me that they go by whats on the door jamb. REALLY?!?, well it reads 33psi.....

They said the leak was caused by a crumpled o ring on the filter and replaced it - or so they say....
 
Easiest way I’ve found to tell if a shop is thorough is to break out my torque wrench and check the wheel lugs after a tire rotation. Set to 97# and see if it clicks or tightens. If it tightens never go back as the lugs aren’t tight enough. If it’s clicks, set it to 110# and try again. If it still clicks they used an air gun, overtightened, and didn’t check torque and never go back. So far this method has proven pretty accurate for Chicago mechanics
 
If a toyota dealer put 0w-20 in your 200 it was almost certainly TGMO (toyota genuine motor oil) which is a synthetic 0-20 made for toyota by Mobil.

Do they even make straight conventional 0-20? Pretty sure I’ve seen blends but don’t recall a pure Dino.
 
I hate to say it, but try a Lexus dealer. There are so many more LX's on the road, they know their way around the vehicles.
 
bloc said:
If a toyota dealer put 0w-20 in your 200 it was almost certainly TGMO (toyota genuine motor oil) which is a synthetic 0-20 made for toyota by Mobil.
Click to expand...

They should, but don't always. At the Lexus dealer I used to work at, they used cheaper Pennzoil bulk synthetic 0W-20. When I had a covered oil change there, I had them get the TGMO from parts.
 
ToyotaTrk said:
ok, here we go again. Looking for tips - its insane that I even have to do this..... So 2 days ago I had my 15k check up. I had to pay for the oil change, 87 dollars for non-synthetic 0W-20. No biggie as they told me the included oil changes are only at the 10k and 20k.

They once again told me that they do not do 5 tire rotations regardless of whats in the manual. Tired of always arguing about it, I said what ever. So they basically did an oil change and 4 tire rotation and check fluids and check some bolt - transfer case or something - I cant remember.

so heres the question - how do you tell that they actually rotated the tires? They say they did same side, front to back. But on the passenger front I had a mud stain from where I had recently driven off a parking pad into a muddy spot and it had stained the tire. That front left tire still seems to be there as its stained and not on the rear, which is clean. I had last time marked the inside of the rim to keep track, but they removed the tape from the inside of the 2 rims I had marked.

Oh yeah - they also filled the tires to 35psi and when asked about that(when I had to bring it back yesterday bc It was leaking oil under the car), they told me that they go by whats on the door jamb. REALLY?!?, well it reads 33psi.....

They said the leak was caused by a crumpled o ring on the filter and replaced it - or so they say....
Click to expand...
The oil on my garage floor after a dealer oil change was from the new oil change tech, who had never seen a canister filter, removed it before draining it. Made an awful mess of the engine under cover and they just wiped the edges and didn’t remove and clean it.
 
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