dealer ripping me off???

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rolx470

Joined
Jan 14, 2007
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I just took my 2000 LX470 (143K miles) to the dealer and he told me the inner CV boot is cracked on both sides in front and leaking some grease. He wants $810 for the repair, but will give me a discount and will do it for $600, which includes replacing both the inner and outer cv boot and repacking with grease.

Does this sound reasonable?

I would appreciate any advice. I have to give him an answer tomorrow at 8 am.
 
Sorry....

Would like to help, but am a novice myself.

Try searching for cv cost or cv price or something like that. Maybe you will find something.

Good luck.
 
You would probably scratch your rolex doing it yourself. So I'd say $660 doesn't sound too bad. :D

Try a more descriptive Title next time and you are more likely to get the real experts to read your thread.

Try the FAQ. (Hint - Look for threads that have both "CV" and "leak" in the title.)

Have you gotten under the truck and inspected the CV boots? How do they look?

Did you take it to the dealer for this problem or did it just come up as they "inspected" the vehicle for additional profit?
 
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I think that is reasonable - with the amount of work involved. I am not sure how much your dealer charges an hour but here its $120 per hour. I called for this same job for a friend and they want several hundred dollars to repack the front bearings - then the CV rebuild was another several hundred dollars. If you can do the work its a gret learning experience seeing how the stuff goes together.

Anyway, good luck! If you need more information I can give you more info, I have done this 3x on my own truck and helped a friend with his too. You will need a special tool to install the CV boot/band and ball joint remover.

:cheers:
 
If you get the work done definately get the front wheel bearings repacked as well.
 
try getting remans and not having them rebuilt. Most times it's cheaper and its a new part.

Yes it's true
 
rolx470 said:
I just took my 2000 LX470 (143K miles) to the dealer and he told me the inner CV boot is cracked on both sides in front and leaking some grease. I have to give him an answer tomorrow at 8 am.
Click to expand...

I'd say there is a high probability you are being "ripped off". Not by the price to replace them but by the fact that they both "need to be replaced". In other words, I suspect someone at the dealership tore the rubber boots. Unless you off-road your LX or turned a teenage kid loose in it, the CV boots don't fail at 143K miles, especially both of them at the same time. The added pressure of "need at answer by 8:00 AM" even makes the dealer more suspect. I'd drive it out of there and take it somewhere else for the replacement job.
 
I spoke with the dealer again and he told me both cv boots are leaking, he is not sure if they are torn. My wife told me she did see grease under the car so they probably are leaking, I just don't know how bad or how long it has been leaking. To clarify, I told the dealer I would let him know by 8am, not the other way around. I told the rep to save all the boots so I can see if they are cracked or torn, unless they purposely tear them when removing them.

From reading on the site, the 100 series CV joint itself is very tough, so I doubt that will fail for a long time if it gets repacked with grease. I'll update when I pick up the car on Monday.

Anyone know of a good 100 series repair shop in Ventura County, CA?

Thanks.
 
At 143,000 miles, the rubber gets brittle so it doesn't sound too insane that the CV boots could be leaking.
 
I tore an outer CV boot on my 4x4 4Runner 3 mo ago. Toyota dealer charged me $350 for the outer boot repair. The kit comes w/ both inner & outer boots, so the tech did the inner one for free. Kit is like $30, so DIY would be cheap.
 
While we are in the topic of dealer ripoffs, I went to the (unfortunately only) Toyo dealership here in Fargo to get three gaskets for my diff oil changes.

I went to see the service manager afterwards. She told me that it was going to be about 60 bucks for the timing belt, 50 each for "three other belts" and 130 for the water pump. Additionally, she told me that they look at the idlers, tensioners and pulleys and only replace them if it seems like it needs service.

The total cost for these:
timing belt
"three other belts"
water pump
was going to be around 400 dollars and it was going to be a 5 - 6 hour job for them. At 75 bucks an hour, she wanted to charge me 950 for changing my timing belt and water pump.

Crazy....

And just a few days ago, I received this quote from CDan about parts needed for the 90k service:
Timing belt, $42.42
Idlers, $59.63 and $59.35
Water pump, $98.26
Stat and gasket, $15.39
Serp belt, $35.60
Cam seals, $11.12 x2
Crank seal, $6.86
Spark plugs, $7.78 x8
PCV valve and grommet, $6.94

I wonder what other belts she is talking about. What other belts are there to change other than the timing and the serpentine belt for 90K service?

BTW, this is the same "informed" person that was telling me a couple months ago that for any Toyota V8, the timing belt has to be changed only after 105k miles.

They are ripoffs, but in a weird way.
 
To my knowledge, there are only 2 belts on the 2UZ, the serp belt and t-belt. Maybe she's thinking about the V6 5VZ?

I think my dealer charges $900 for t-belt only, no water pump! They also charge $2.4K for the 60K service, which consists of all the fluids, bolt retorquing and inspections, cabin air filter, AHC/brake fluids, t-belt/water pump *inspection*, *regapping the valves*. The latter two are pure profit padding. There's no way a 2UZ is going to need a t-belt inspection at 60K mi or valves regapped at 60K. Toyota recommends 90K, and that's likely very conservative based on some people pushing theirs much further. Also, the regapping the valves on the 2UZ, 1FZ, or 1HZ/1HD engines is a big job, as you have to shim the gap and order the correct thickness of shims. It's not like on a 22re, where you just use a screwdriver and open end w/ feeler gauge and have it done in 30 min.

Their other big ripoff (so ludicrous it made me laugh!) was their 15K/45K/75K service. They claimed (when I bought the rig) that the LX needs "major service" every 15K miles. Their "major service" consists of a oil/oil filter change, engine air filter, cabin air filters, drain & fill ATF pan (3 qts ATF, no dropping the pan), replace diff & t-case fluids, rotate tires. Can you guess how much? .......$750!!! No wonder why the previous owners are dumping their rigs before they have to pay for the 60K service!

FWIW, I got the lexus visa card (no fee), where you get 1.5% of all expenditures like food, gas, parts from CDan (5% for anything bought at a lexus dealer) go towards any purchase at the lexus dealer, such as service. Kind of like frequent flyer points only you can use them when you want. I'm not sure if Toyota has a similar card, but by the time I hit 90K mi, my t-belt service should be free. :)
 
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you might want to try Longo toyota El Monte, Ca. ask for George V. he quoted me about 800 bucks but included rotors and repack along with two new cv's and boots! I think they were re-manufactured. he is a pretty honest guy. sometimes it's just a question of who answers the phone...
 
update

So, here's the update, apparently there was grease leaking out of the cv boots on each side, the boot inself was not cracked. I bought the car used at 54k miles, so I have no idea how long the grease was leaking out. Spoke to a different reputable mechanic, and he didn't seem to think it was too far fetched so I bit the bullet and paid to have them replaced. Checked prices at 2 other shops and the dealer price was actually about the same so I just had it done at the dealer. Made the most out of the dealer loaner-put 500 miles on it over 3 1/2 days, so at least I got to play around with a Lexus IS for a few days.
 
Sorry, I am quoting myself, but I talked to another service rep from the same dealership last week. This person was very knowledgable. I am getting all of these replaced tomorrow at the dealersip for $725 in labor:

Timing belt, $42.42
Idlers, $59.63 and $59.35
Water pump, $98.26
Stat and gasket, $15.39
Serp belt, $35.60
Cam seals, $11.12 x2
Crank seal, $6.86
PCV valve and grommet, $6.94

The total for parts from CDan was around $350. So the total cost will come to around $1075 total.

Once this is done, I have to replace the spark plugs, change the coolant and do the F/R diff fluid change, most of which I will do myself.

The labor of $725 for all of this at the dealership is not unreasonable, is it?



KathmanduCruiser said:
While we are in the topic of dealer ripoffs, I went to the (unfortunately only) Toyo dealership here in Fargo to get three gaskets for my diff oil changes.

I went to see the service manager afterwards. She told me that it was going to be about 60 bucks for the timing belt, 50 each for "three other belts" and 130 for the water pump. Additionally, she told me that they look at the idlers, tensioners and pulleys and only replace them if it seems like it needs service.

The total cost for these:
timing belt
"three other belts"
water pump
was going to be around 400 dollars and it was going to be a 5 - 6 hour job for them. At 75 bucks an hour, she wanted to charge me 950 for changing my timing belt and water pump.

Crazy....

And just a few days ago, I received this quote from CDan about parts needed for the 90k service:
Timing belt, $42.42
Idlers, $59.63 and $59.35
Water pump, $98.26
Stat and gasket, $15.39
Serp belt, $35.60
Cam seals, $11.12 x2
Crank seal, $6.86
Spark plugs, $7.78 x8
PCV valve and grommet, $6.94

I wonder what other belts she is talking about. What other belts are there to change other than the timing and the serpentine belt for 90K service?

BTW, this is the same "informed" person that was telling me a couple months ago that for any Toyota V8, the timing belt has to be changed only after 105k miles.

They are ripoffs, but in a weird way.
Click to expand...
 
Not a bad deal if the guy know what he is doing. I don't care what price you pay if he can't get it done right the first time. To many guys say O' it just like the .. and they have never done a belt on an LC and screw it up. Just Double check. YOu don't want him learning on your vehicle at any price. Remember, anyone can download the specs of Toyota's service site. So no he doesn't have to buy the book. But he should have the Factory Service Manual Guide and be able to show you. If an Idiot like me can learn to do this a trained Mechanic should.
 
Own parts and service from dealer?

Kathmandu,

Do you mean that you could bring in YOUR parts and the DEALER will do the job?

Sounds great, but strange. Or, is this fairly common among the dealerships (better to get service work and no parts than no service work at all)?

Just wondering...
 
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