Mechanical Problems with Recently Purchased 100

[EntropyFletch]

Some of you may have seen my recent introductory post. I just purchased a 2000 LC with only 50k miles from a Toyota dealer up near Oakland and drove it home to San Diego on December 7th. I bought the truck the day it was listed on Auto Trader as there was a lot of local competition. I was first in line though and ended up pulling the trigger after seeing a handful of cell phone photos and a service report from the dealership. After doing a diagnostic on the truck they determined that the timing belt, water pump, spark plugs and battery needed to be replaced and they did an oil change. They did that work and I assumed as a certified Toyota mechanic at the dealership had looked it over that would be all the work that was needed to get a good solid baseline going for my ownership of the truck.

Just to be sure I took it in to my local Toyota dealership yesterday and had them do a baseline on it for my piece of mind. Glad I did, as they found numerous issues with the truck. Some small and easily fixed, others a little more pricey and potentially larger issues. I recently installed a new stereo and have changed my oil and brake pads in the past but that's about the extent of my mechanical abilities (although I'd like to expand these abilities with my ownership of this truck). Here is a list of what the local dealer found needed repair:

-The engine oil was overfilled by almost a quart and a half. Local dealership siphoned out the extra at no charge. How does a dealerships mechanic overfill the oil by that much?

-The power steering fluid was dirty and needed to be replaced. Shouldn't this have been picked up by the original Toyota dealerships diagnostic review of the truck before sale? I paid my local dealer to have this replaced.

-The engine coolant was low. Local dealership topped off at no charge.

-The brake rotors need to be re-surfaced and the bearings repacked. Dealer recommended changing out brake pads while they were in there. Estimate for repair $775. I noticed the pulsing brakes shortly after my drive from up north after purchasing the car. Shouldn't this have been picked up in the original diagnostic?

-Both inner axle boots are leaking grease. Estimate for repair of both $1090. Shouldn't this have been picked up in the original diagnostic?

I do understand I purchased a 15 year old car, and that these sorts of things do happen. My concern is that I purchased the truck from a Toyota Dealership that had certified mechanics do a full diagnostic on the truck before they sold it. I feel like these issues are pretty obvious when this type of review is done and that they should have been disclosed to me before the sale of the truck. I did talk them into giving me a 3,000 mile power train warranty of the truck and I am still well inside that mileage.

My question for you guys after that long explanation...should I be upset about any of these issues and pursue some sort of economic recovery for the costs of some or all of these repairs from the dealership? Or should I just chalk it up to buying an old car long distance without the time to have an independent mechanic review it and deal with it?

Are those prices for repairs appropriate? I was thinking of taking the truck to a private mechanic recommended by friends and hope I could get the work done cheaper.

 

[Slickspawn]

Sounds fine to me. Don't sweat it... Every Tech is different and what one feels is okay may not be for another.

 

[iwashmycar]

same here. the things that are still not perfect are not abnormal for a old used car...they do want to put as little into it as possible when reselling. The overfilled oil is not cool....real rook mistake there IMO. The other fluids being dirty or off is pretty typical...I think they just care that there are some in it usually. Brakes they may never know since they may not ever drive it over parking lot speeds.

You could try explaining it to them and see if they would be kind enough to offer some recourse for what was 'missed' but just go into it with "they dont owe you anything" in mind. Maybe just a courtesy call to mention how they screwed up the oil level and missed the leaking axles.

 

[tplane2]

Hope yall realize the kids that do standard maintenance (oil changes/tire rotations) at dealerships are usually kids that got fired from the local jiffy lube. They're very incompetent.

 

[Trunk Monkey]

You can reboot the CVs for waaay less than a grand.

 

[re_guderian]

You need to understand what the word "need" means, and how two people on opposite sides of a transaction can interpret it differently. CV's are probably your biggest concern, and they can be rebooted if caught in time. Not unusual to missed warped and pulsing rotors if they didn't drive it. I call BS on the oil. Did you check the level yourself before you took it in? This thing takes almost 2 gallons of oil. Most dealers won't let a car go out without "recommending" several thousand dollars of work. It's how they pay the bills... Technically, anything that isn't in "like new" condition is fair game for them to recommend that your car "needs".

 

[nodaksn3]

With the exception of the oil overfill, it sounds pretty normal to me. Do the brake rotors yourself, it's relatively easy and will save $. It can be the first step of your learning curve. I did them on my 80 and was pleased with myself afterwards. You might consider base-lining all of your fluids, ESPECIALLY if the brake fluid hasn't been flushed lately. If you want some sticker shock look at the price of a new MC. My 99 has been nickel and diming me to death but I still love it. Ned

 

[dnp]

It really depends on what you asked the dealership to do to prior to your purchase. Also, unfortunately, if you asked the same selling dealership to do an inspection, you may have gotten the "Fox's impression of the hen house" See below:

Some of you may have seen my recent introductory post. I just purchased a 2000 LC with only 50k miles from a Toyota dealer up near Oakland and drove it home to San Diego on December 7th. I bought the truck the day it was listed on Auto Trader as there was a lot of local competition. I was first in line though and ended up pulling the trigger after seeing a handful of cell phone photos and a service report from the dealership. After doing a diagnostic on the truck depends on what you asked them to do here they determined that the timing belt, water pump, spark plugs and battery needed to be replaced and they did an oil change. They did that work and I assumed as a certified Toyota mechanic at the dealership had looked it over did they do this on their own or did you request the inspection? that would be all the work that was needed to get a good solid baseline going for my ownership of the truck.

Just to be sure I took it in to my local Toyota dealership yesterday and had them do a baseline on it for my piece of mind. Glad I did, as they found numerous issues with the truck. Some small and easily fixed, others a little more pricey and potentially larger issues. I recently installed a new stereo and have changed my oil and brake pads in the past but that's about the extent of my mechanical abilities (although I'd like to expand these abilities with my ownership of this truck). Here is a list of what the local dealer found needed repair:

-The engine oil was overfilled by almost a quart and a half. Local dealership siphoned out the extra at no charge. How does a dealerships mechanic overfill the oil by that much? Like someone said above, that's uncool.

-The power steering fluid was dirty and needed to be replaced. Shouldn't this have been picked up by the original Toyota dealerships diagnostic review of the truck before sale? I paid my local dealer to have this replaced. Even a PPI probably wouldn't have picked up on this.....unless the dealership was looking for "low-hanging fruit" to suggest you pay them to flush the system

-The engine coolant was low. Local dealership topped off at no charge. Depends on what you asked them to do. This is a simple fix, and would have been nice if they caught it / corrected it

-The brake rotors need to be re-surfaced and the bearings repacked. Dealer recommended changing out brake pads while they were in there. Estimate for repair $775. I noticed the pulsing brakes shortly after my drive from up north after purchasing the car. Shouldn't this have been picked up in the original diagnostic? Again, depends on what you asked them to do. Either way, you ought to be able to find a competent shop (preferably a Land Cruiser specialty shop - should be several in San Diego) to do a good job for way less than $775, as this is not a difficult fix.

-Both inner axle boots are leaking grease. Estimate for repair of both $1090. Shouldn't this have been picked up in the original diagnostic? As someone said before, you / a shop can fix this situation for WAY, WAY less than a thousand bucks. The original dealer should have caught this, but if not asked to inspect it, they prolly wouldn't have looked.

I do understand I purchased a 15 year old car, and that these sorts of things do happen. My concern is that I purchased the truck from a Toyota Dealership that had certified mechanics do a full diagnostic on the truck before they sold it. If, in fact, they were instructed to perform a full diagnostic (pre-purchase inspection), I would certainly call them to complain. Additionally, I found that Toyota takes these complaints pretty seriously, and they will get involved if they feel you've been wronged. Now, be advised that, if the dealership was just supposed to "look over" the truck before you bought it, you may be out of luck (unless they're just feeling generous) However, if you specifically instructed them (and it may have even required payment) to inspect the truck, you may have some grounds. In my situation, I sent a 3rd party truck to a Toyota Dealership ("TD") for a pre-purchase inspection (can't identify the model or dealership, due to a settlement agreement). I knew some of the issues with the truck already, but I paid for the TD to perform an inspection. When I got the report, I was satisfied with the results, and I flew into that city to purchase the truck. When I got there, I found that the TD, while they had made a long list of recommendations for repairs (many of which proved to be flat-out guesses without basis), had missed glaring, obvious problems.....problems that, had I known of them in advance, I would have not purchased the truck. Unfortunately, I was sort of stuck on a one-way ticket on a timeline and was, basically, forced to buy the car to get home......... In any event, 6 months later, I reached a financial settlement with the TD (largely due to Toyota corporate's involvement), but it didn't cover all of my costs, and it was an overall unpleasant experience. I feel like these issues are pretty obvious when this type of review is done and that they should have been disclosed to me before the sale of the truck. I did talk them into giving me a 3,000 mile power train warranty of the truck and I am still well inside that mileage.

My question for you guys after that long explanation...should I be upset about any of these issues and pursue some sort of economic recovery for the costs of some or all of these repairs from the dealership? Or should I just chalk it up to buying an old car long distance without the time to have an independent mechanic review it and deal with it? Bottom line is: your situation really depends on what agreement you had with the selling dealership to inspect your truck before you purchased it.

Are those prices for repairs appropriate? No I was thinking of taking the truck to a private mechanic recommended by friends and hope I could get the work done cheaper. More often than not, the dealership is the worst / most expensive place to get your car fixed. It would reason that it should actually be the best place, but it's generally not

 

[EntropyFletch]

Hmmm, thanks for all the replies guys. The dealer did the pre-sale inspection of their own volition, I did not instruct them to do anything more so that's my bad I guess. You live and you learn.

I sent an email to the dealership last night and have not heard back. Not sure if I really expect to or not. I just wanted to see what their response would be, didn't ask for money or anything but gave them a list of what was wrong and asked for their comments on it. If I can do some of this myself (will search both repairs on here and see if I think I can handle them) OR if I can find a good shop locally to do it for less (like $1k for both CV and brakes...) I may just bite the bullet and get it done.

 

[Wasatch Jay]

I tend to think a dealership (as opposed to a used car lot) should be held to a higher standard. I've been told on many occasions that when a dealership takes a vehicle in on trade they then evaluate its cosmetic and mechanical condition. If it meets their standards they will likely resell it themselves; if not they take it to a wholesale auction.

Whether its servicing a used vehicle for resale, or performing service for a customer they should do it right. The hourly rate for dealership service is typically higher than independent shops. Dealerships frequently talk about the special training their mechanics have, as well as special tools, etc. Overfilling the engine oil is not acceptable from anyone.

The selling dealership knew that the OP was not from the local area and would be driving the vehicle several hundred miles, yet the coolant was low? And this is acceptable?

Whenever one is considering the purchase of a used vehicle it's common for folks to recommend a pre-purchase inspection from a dealership. The reasoning is you want to find out if there are any issues, and if there are, you can walk away or use those issues as negotiating capital. You depend on a competent mechanic to do this evaluation. This was a dealership. I would have expected them to at least disclose those items as "needing attention soon".

If the OP doesn't get satisfaction from the selling dealer I don't think he'd be out of line if he escalated his complaints to the Toyota regional representative.

 

[nahtnoj]

LCs are not what guys at the dealer are used to seeing. Probably one LC for every 200 RAV4. I'd chalk this up to them putting a younger guy on it who really didn't understand the vehicle and missed things. Did the SoCal dealer offer an opinion on the quality of the timing belt job?

 

[TXLX100]

I think you get what you bargain for and also the selling dealer has an independence issue in offering any level of inspection or report on a used vehicle. Also, what checklist or benchmark was the dealer using when inspecting it? Maybe their inspection is very brief and that is customary. Of course, the common expectation is that the dealer will tell you everything that is wrong mechanically and everything maintenance wise that may or definitely needs to be addressed. Just my opinion, but to expect that level of care from the average Toyota dealership is unreasonable.

But the good news is that a lot of the stuff you mentioned is easily fixed and the 100 is such a great vehicle that you can likely move on with good feelings about the purchase. Order up a detailed inspection from a shop independent of the seller next time and caveat emptor.

 

[CruiserPaul]

"Did you say you lived 500 miles away?"........."Yes the truck is in perfect condition"

Not all dealerships are created equal as you unfortunately discovered.

 

[EJ Kestler]

How much did you pay for the LC?

 

[EntropyFletch]

How much did you pay for the LC?

$19,900. 2000 with 49,500 miles at the time of purchase.

 

[Bismarck]

That's kind of a lot of dough for a 15 year old truck you didn't see and drive before buying. I'd chalk it up as a learning experience. The dealer will not do anything.

 

[EntropyFletch]

That's kind of a lot of dough for a 15 year old truck you didn't see and drive before buying. I'd chalk it up as a learning experience. The dealer will not do anything.

Well, it is certainly a learning experience for me...but I tend to disagree with both your statements. I looked for 3 months for a low mileage 100. I'm not mechanically inclined as of yet so a high mileage truck (over 100k) was not something I was comfortable with purchasing. I saw TONS of 1999-2004 LC100's with 80k-120k miles listed for $18k-$25k (depending on year). When this 2000 with less than 50k miles popped up I jumped on it. Due to my location and the demand for the truck I didn't have the time to fly up and look it over before making the purchase or getting an independent inspection, although I would have liked to do both. While $20k was right at the top of my budget and I agree thats a lot of $$ for a 15 year old truck, the fact that the thing looks brand-freakin new, at least cosmetically, pushed me into the purchase. Also, being located in California there seems to be a $2k-$4k premium on these trucks. Other locations around the country the prices tended to be lower and more realistic but it was just too far for me to fly/drive home. As for the dealer and what they will do, they may do nothing but there is no way to be as certain as you state. We shall see.

I'm more inclined to follow the thinking of Wasatch Jay in that a Toyota franchise dealer should be held to a higher standard. In my view one of two things happened here; either the dealership found these problems and didn't tell me about them (which is illegal) or they have s***ty mechanics. Neither one of those things is good for business and Toyota Corp will hear about it from me if the dealer doesn't at least try and work something out with me.

 

[Slickspawn]

Don't let anyone crap on your purchase. You have a truck you are happy with and is in great condition. Be happy you found the one you waited for!

 

[larryt]

Compared to some of the outrageously priced 200k mile trucks in SoCal, you got a gem. The stuff that needs to be done on yours is pretty routine and presents a great opportunity to learn to work on it. Keep an eye out for another SD meet up, there are some great folks here in town that can help you out if you get stuck on a repair or need a specialized tool.

 

[drwapenshaw]

You did fine on your purchase. That is some seriously low mileage. I would have picked that up and you have to expect the dealership to miss things on used cars they are selling. Enjoy it.