Dealers not doing grease jobs

[KMGHMG]

Beware of the dealers when they do your oil changes. Today, for the third time in a row (two different dealers in two different states), a dealer failed to do a grease job when changing the oil - after specifically being asked to do it. This time, I caught it before I left the dealership. They had a tech bring a grease gun, he crawled under the truck - and he crawled back out staying that he couldn't find the zerks. So I had to crawl under there to show him where to grease. At a Toyota dealer!

 

[bctlex]

Beware of the dealers when they do your oil changes. Today, for the third time in a row (two different dealers in two different states), a dealer failed to do a grease job when changing the oil - after specifically being asked to do it. This time, I caught it before I left the dealership. They had a tech bring a grease gun, he crawled under the truck - and he crawled back out staying that he couldn't find the zerks. So I had to crawl under there to show him where to grease. At a Toyota dealer!

Not making an excuse for the dealers, but they do not sell many LC/LX, so they probably do not work on LC/LX often. Having said that, they should just come up and tell you, hey, we are very sorry, but we cant find the zerks, so we did not put any grease.

This is one reason I do my own maintenance work as much as I can. I enjoy it, and I like to make sure they are done right.

 

[slimbuddha]

Not making an excuse for the dealers, but they do not sell many LC/LX, so they probably do not work on LC/LX often. Having said that, they should just come up and tell you, hey, we are very sorry, but we cant find the zerks, so we did not put any grease.

This is one reason I do my own maintenance work as much as I can. I enjoy it, and I like to make sure they are done right.

Even that is ridiculous, I'm sure they have the service manuals available to look up.

 

[jamesg]

I don't blame the tech, That lays squarely on the lap of the people in charge; no excuse! They're not giving that tech the time to ask a question, or to look in the FSM.

 

[KMGHMG]

Makes me wonder how Toyota dealers compensate their techs. Are they on a straight hourly wage, or do they get some sort of bonus for volume, so to speak. I just can't imagine why this has happened to me three times in a row at two different dealers, unless the techs are intentionally skipping the grease job to move to the next vehicle. Of course, it could be time pressure, the incentive system, incompetence, laziness... Who knows? But I very specifically told the guy at the counter this morning I wanted a grease job this time, and he wrote it up as a separate line item on the work order - still didn't get done. Of course, they told me it was done, but I crawled under to check before leaving the dealer.

I shudder to think how my dealer-serviced 100 was actually serviced in the 115k miles before I bought it last year!

 

[TeCKis300]

Not making an excuse for the dealers, but they do not sell many LC/LX, so they probably do not work on LC/LX often.

Correct that they don't see LC/LX's very often. But they surely get 4x4 4Runners, FJ Cruisers, Sequoia's, and Tundras... all which have zerks and the same grease requirements.

Reminds me of the time I tried to buy AHC fluid at the parts counter. Guy could not understand that there could possibly be such a thing. He dragged me out to the bay to talk to the lead tech. That guy said they've never ever had to replace shock fluid, and they don't service it. Nevermind I had the part number and made the parts guy order for me anyways. He didn't say a thing when they came in.

Frankly I'm not surprised that most dealers don't regularly grease the zerks.

 

[aging fleet]

Makes me wonder how Toyota dealers compensate their techs. Are they on a straight hourly wage, or do they get some sort of bonus for volume, so to speak.

I wrote service at a dealership many years ago, our techs got paid off the book rate per the manufacturer. So, if a lube, oil and filter should take 1.5 hours, the techs get paid off that estimate. Doesn't matter if it takes them 3 hours or 30 minutes to complete the job. Good techs work efficiently and can bill more hours than they actually work. The problem has always been that this compensation structure encourages people to work fast which isn't necessarily in our best interest.

 

[KMGHMG]

So there's the most likely answer in my opinion - they may very well be incintivized to half-do the job. And how many owners are gonna make a spectacle of themselves by crawling under a vehicle in front of the service rep to check their work?

 

[bctlex]

Makes me wonder how Toyota dealers compensate their techs. Are they on a straight hourly wage, or do they get some sort of bonus for volume, so to speak. I just can't imagine why this has happened to me three times in a row at two different dealers, unless the techs are intentionally skipping the grease job to move to the next vehicle. Of course, it could be time pressure, the incentive system, incompetence, laziness... Who knows? But I very specifically told the guy at the counter this morning I wanted a grease job this time, and he wrote it up as a separate line item on the work order - still didn't get done. Of course, they told me it was done, but I crawled under to check before leaving the dealer.

I shudder to think how my dealer-serviced 100 was actually serviced in the 115k miles before I bought it last year!

I can not see how dealer make any profit from doing oil change. I know local dealer used to send me mails about their $xx oil change and done within xx min otherwise it is free. Oil change is a tool to get customers to visit the dealership. Maybe you will do other service than oil change while you are there, maybe you see the 200 series while waiting, and end up trading-up, maybe they spot a hole in your muffler, so now you need to replace the muffler, etc. Bottom line is they want to get oil change done with as little cost, time, and effort to them as possible. No way the tech is going to check FSM to find the zerks, when he probably has 20 cars lined up for oil change before his lunch.

What really bad to me is to say it is done, but it is NOT done. I would not be too upset if I am getting oil change and they tell me, we cant have it done because we cant find the zerks. I will not be happy about it, but the tech can not know it all - trying to give benefit of the doubt here.

In the past ~14 months since I owned my LC, I have pumped about half tube of MI grease. Not sure how much grease that tech pumped, but you may need more than just a few pumps.

 

[KLF]

Something my son taught me after he worked at a local dealer and a Sears Auto Center...

If you absolutely must pay a shop to do work for you, stand by the car and wait for the tech that gets assigned to come for it. Hand them a $10 bill and ask them to take their time. This will make the difference between having it done "close enough", and done right. I always do this when I get new tires (and alignments) and it's worth it.

 

[yotasavg]

Something my son taught me after he worked at a local dealer and a Sears Auto Center...

If you absolutely must pay a shop to do work for you, stand by the car and wait for the tech that gets assigned to come for it. Hand them a $10 bill and ask them to take their time. This will make the difference between having it done "close enough", and done right. I always do this when I get new tires (and alignments) and it's worth it.

I'm glad that works, but I still think it's wrong that I should have to bribe someone to do THEIR JOB. Where the hell has a sense of pride gone?

 

[TeCKis300]

In the past ~14 months since I owned my LC, I have pumped about half tube of MI grease. Not sure how much grease that tech pumped, but you may need more than just a few pumps.

Unrelated, but don't overdo the greasing. Less is more here. 2-4 pumps on the zerks is all that's needed. Specifically for greasing the telescoping driveshaft, the goal is not to "fill" it. If you do that, the telescoping shaft will not slide freely, and more importantly won't compress - translating a huge thrust load into the transfer case potentially causing it to fail.

 

[planomateo]

Oil change is a tool to get customers to visit the dealership. Maybe you will do other service than oil change while you are there, maybe you see the 200 series while waiting, and end up trading-up, maybe they spot a hole in your muffler, so now you need to replace the muffler, etc.

Yup.

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

Lube tech at dealership is an entry level position, lower on the scale than a tire guy but higher than a lot attendant. In there defense most of what they see dont have zerks.

 

[Porter]

25 years ago, had a quicky oil change in my new Honda that forever stuck with me. 24 hours after the oil change, (synthetic that I brought to shop) I heard a pop while cruising at 75 mph on the interstate. 45 mins later, a horrible shudder, and the engine locked up.

The pop I heard was the drain plug bouncing off the chassis, from the limp wristed torque applied by the shop tech no doubt.

If I live to 90 and can still drive, I'll be the geezer still changing his own oil! And greasing the zerks in my hundy.

 

[reznunt]

Lube tech at dealership is an entry level position, lower on the scale than a tire guy but higher than a lot attendant. In there defense most of what they see dont have zerks.

Beat me to it.

 

[KLF]

I'm glad that works, but I still think it's wrong that I should have to bribe someone to do THEIR JOB. Where the hell has a sense of pride gone?

I'm not disagreeing, but remember there is "within spec" and there is perfect. Especially for something like alignments and wheel balancing. They are only expected to get things within spec. Then they are paid to move on to the next customer, the incentive is to get as many done as possible in a day.

If you're not willing to pay for craftsmanship, then you get what you pay for.

I get it... I tell my students all the time as they are turning in any assignment, ask themselves "am I proud to put my name on this?" Some get it, some turn in crap. I grade and reward accordingly. And sometimes I hand it back and tell them to do it over.

 

[Spike555]

25 years ago, had a quicky oil change in my new Honda that forever stuck with me. 24 hours after the oil change, (synthetic that I brought to shop) I heard a pop while cruising at 75 mph on the interstate. 45 mins later, a horrible shudder, and the engine locked up.

The pop I heard was the drain plug bouncing off the chassis, from the limp wristed torque applied by the shop tech no doubt.

If I live to 90 and can still drive, I'll be the geezer still changing his own oil! And greasing the zerks in my hundy.

This is why they now apply thread lock to the drain plug AND mark the plug and pan.
Thread lock so drain plug won't fall out. Marked to make sure it wasn't messed with.
They've bought to many engines in the past.

 

[bctlex]

Then they are paid to move on to the next customer, the incentive is to get as many done as possible in a day.
yn

Totally agree. In this particular case, the best tech is not the person who take his time, and did 10 cars/day perfectly (including greasing 6 zerks on LC), but the tech who manage to do 30 cars/day while skipping the greasing part (or maybe 1 or 2 zerks).

I used to take take my car to Valvoline oil change many years ago - I had no choice since I lived in apartment, and cant do maintenance work in parking lot. The speed of these tech trying to complete their checklist was just crazy. And more than one occasion, they over filled the fluid/oil, even after I told them how many quarts they need to fill in. I would pull out from their facility, park the car, open the hood, check dipstick and double check their work before leaving.

Sadly most of the time, it is all about quantity and speed, not quality of work.

 

[chuckscap]

I have my done at the Lexus dealer and they informed me they always grease on every oil change. I checked and it's been true every time. Kuni Lexus in Colorado Springs has been very good to me so far, but they're not cheap! I do get free lattes though lol