This morning I took the one remaining bottle of fluid I had back to the Toyota dealership I had purchased it from and explained the situation to the parts and service managers. They were both floored, very apologetic and said they had never heard of such a thing. They refunded me the full amount I paid for all the bottles and asked that I send them each the pictures I took. They said they would send those pictures along with their remaining stock of AHC fluid back to Gulf States Toyota (distribution center?) and it would be handled from there. They both seemed sincere so hopefully that issue will get resolved on their end.
I still needed more fluid though so I went to another Toyota dealership and gave the parts manager there the short version. He told me that he had heard of old fluid gelling up like that... not sure if it's true but he said their fluid had only been on the shelf for 2 weeks so it was pretty new. I bought 5 bottles and told him I would crack one and if I found any gel in it I'd be returning them all and of course he understood completely.
So now I'm starting all over again!
I want to sincerely thank EVERYONE who has responded to this thread. I honestly would've been totally lost with y'alls advise. If we meet, beers are on me
I'd like to thank you also for keeping a level head, working through this, and allowing us to collaborate and share in the findings! I know you just got your 200-series and it probably wasn't what you imagined.
Welcome to the community! I hope you'll have much more positive and satisfying experiences with your LX in the near future. If your built out GX is any indication, I think there's a good chance of that. Cheers.
