Shop and cooling system rant. (1 Viewer)

[DFWTX80BJ44]

Fair enough, rants are always fully supported. My 2 cents? He shouldn't share in the cost as the failure rate was probably outside the warranty window. There is shared responsibility on the choice of parts, it would be nice if he offered options / costs, but it is what it is. If he's a good guy and has done his best with the tools at hand then I would say lessoned learned and proceed with caution but don't ruin a relationship / resource over it. Mistakes are made, ask for a discount next time you bring some work his way.

 

[planomateo]

Like I said, I should've ordered all the parts from Toyota and take it to him. I know better. He uses local parts store out of convenience I guess and keep cost down. If it were me, with less than 20,000 miles on that part, I would make it right. He admits their parts have issues.

Good business model for him. Who's cost is he keeping down? (Rhetorical question)

 

[retiredguest]

Fair enough, rants are always fully supported. My 2 cents? He shouldn't share in the cost as the failure rate was probably outside the warranty window. There is shared responsibility on the choice of parts, it would be nice if he offered options / costs, but it is what it is. If he's a good guy and has done his best with the tools at hand then I would say lessoned learned and proceed with caution but don't ruin a relationship / resource over it. Mistakes are made, ask for a discount next time you bring some work his way.

I agree.

 

[shane431]

I'd see if he'd cut you a deal if you buy the parts (OEM) and bring it to him. Maybe he'll cut you a deal on the labor this time to make it right from the other troubles you've had. The worst that can happen is he say no.

 

[Patassa]

In HS and college before I learned my lesson, I used to buy auto store parts. After going through 3 Grand Cherokee steering pumps in a year, I slowly figured out that having a "warranty" isn't giving me any time back on the weekends fixing the same PITA problem over and over, even if the parts kept being free after the first one. I'm surprised a reputable mechanical uses parts like that.

 

[GTV]

When you factor in longevity OEM parts are cheap.

 

[arkmm]

I'm dealing with some similar issues with a shop here that owns a built 80 and 100. Yet I keep having to go behind him and fix or tell him what they screwed up. Most recently they charged me for a Toyota upper radiator hose and they put a generic on there. I thought it was leaking a little but I was chasing a coolant leak for weeks and even thought I had a Transmission leak. He even told me my water pump that had 18k miles on it was leaking. All of it was from the one crap hose and worm clamps he used instead of the parts I PAID FOR. He put the Toyota hose and clamps on it and its been dry ever since. I'm still pissed he wanted to charge me $1300 for a TB/WP job when it was his fault all along.

ONLY OEM PARTS and do the work yourself IF you can. No one cares about your truck like you do.

 

[Texsun84]

It’s easy for a shop to say they’ll stand by their work. It’s even easier for them to blow you off when it becomes a pain in their ass.

 

[nissanh]

I've never done a T-belt job on a V8 before, so I took the challenge and did it with AISIN parts by my self. Used a Chinesium Fan bracket, Idler and Tensionrs. All those Chinese garbage failed less than 20K miles. The idler was faulty OUT of the BOX! Got all OEM and I am so bappy. I also threw in a Brand New throttle Body for the money I saved doing the job by my self.

If you are near... I'd love to help.

 

[peacesells63]

Any good mechanic will not install garbage parts. That guy is either not experienced enough or is not a good enough business man to know that warranty work costs him time and failing parts he installed cost him customers. Some mechanics think installing crap parts is “job security“ but they will never go beyond being a shady mechanic in their career.

There are cheaper high quality exceptions to oem, but they are few and far between on Toyotas and 95% of those exceptions are purchasing parts from the company that makes them from toyota.

Just be glad those crap parts did not ruin any of your trips and don’t be afraid to tear a 2uz apart if you have the time. If you don’t, look for recommendations here and get it done right.

 

[peacesells63]

Side note, a lot of Aisin and denso parts are not the same thing as the Toyota part. Some are, but for example I have seen several aisin water pumps that use non Japanese bearings. Most of their timing kits use nsk or Koyo idlers and tensioners, but I have seen a few that don’t. I buy a lot of parts from rock auto based on the brands I can see in the pictures, and if what arrives does not match the picture they have given me a refund. I have had about 20 of those so far, mostly on bearings and 555 ball joints/tre’s

 

[suprarx7nut]

I guess my whole question was, am I being unreasonable thinking this guy who did the work in the first place should at least share some of the cost of the repair knowing the failure rate of the parts he used? I've sent a lot of business his way with multiple vehicles, and the quality of his work has never been a problem in the past. I have also owned several Toyota trucks in the past including an FJ60 which I did all of the repairs myself and I know that Toyota products chew up aftermarket parts. I enjoy wrenching on classic vehicles, so I know my way around a shop, but the 2UZFE is a little more complex than I'm used to working on, so I figured I would take it to someone who works on modern cars for a living, and I didn't want to risk goofing something up and have to tow it to him anyway half torn apart. I live in Lassen County, so the nearest dedicated Toyota shop is 80 miles away and the guy I used, I know personally, he'll even let me watch him do the job, and I questioned the integrity of the parts he used when he installed them. He assured me that they were top shelf for the supplier he was using. This was just as I said. A Rant.

No, I don't think the shop owes you rework on the house. It's not his labor that failed and he's not a manufacturing engineer (nor is he being paid like one) so I don't think we can expect him to detect failure rates in the future of any given part. Most customers don't want OEM parts - they want the cheapest repair bill that gets them a functional vehicle for the month (maybe the next year).

OEM parts save money with Toyota/Lexus. They are the literal gold standard for manufacturing tolerances and reliability. This is taken to an extreme with the Land Cruiser family where an already high quality and high reliability company gives it their all to make something that lasts longer than their already longevity-winning lineup.

Most mechanics are not going to know or care about OEM parts being "more important" on a Land Cruiser. It's not an exotic. It's not an S-class. It's a Toyota SUV. I think it's on you to make them aware of its needs/your desire to keep it at a reliability level well above the average car.


To add another layer of discussion here, there's a bit of a crisis in the automotive mechanic world. Customers insist on absurdly low prices. Customers refuse to pay what it takes to maintain complex vehicles which translates into a race to the bottom and a dramatic increase in the disposable mentality of vehicles. Tech advances don't help in this regard because vehicles can increase in safety and convenience very quickly making newer models much more enticing. My moral of the story: Swim upstream and seek out quality vehicles and spend money on them. Insist on OEM parts and insist on the best quality labor you can find and pay them as much as you can. You should be paying a good mechanic $150-$200 per hour. If they charge less and do great work with good parts, consider a hefty tip. Their value far outweighs the margin difference in labor. The cheapness of the average consumer is the root cause of the race to the bottom. Be the one pulling that race back up to the top.

Side note, a lot of Aisin and denso parts are not the same thing as the Toyota part. Some are, but for example I have seen several aisin water pumps that use non Japanese bearings. Most of their timing kits use nsk or Koyo idlers and tensioners, but I have seen a few that don’t. I buy a lot of parts from rock auto based on the brands I can see in the pictures, and if what arrives does not match the picture they have given me a refund. I have had about 20 of those so far, mostly on bearings and 555 ball joints/tre’s

I used to be on the Aisin/Denso bandwagon, but I've had a few parts let me down. Genuine OEM or bust for me from here out. Time's worth too much to save a few bucks on the "almost OEM" stuff.

 

[shtbrwn86]

You should be paying a good mechanic $150-$200 per hour. If they charge less and do great work with good parts, consider a hefty tip. Their value far outweighs the margin difference in labor. The cheapness of the average consumer is the root cause of the race to the bottom. Be the one pulling that race back up to the top.

100% this!!! People want the cheapest bill possible and most mechanics cater to that. Not out of a desire to be cheap, but because they know customers are going to bitch and moan about the cost of a repair using OEM parts. So where do you cut the cost? Do you cut the cost of labor or parts? Parts obviously. The only thing I would say here is maybe a really good mechanic would explain all that to you.

 

[nissanh]

100% this!!! People want the cheapest bill possible and most mechanics cater to that. Not out of a desire to be cheap, but because they know customers are going to bitch and moan about the cost of a repair using OEM parts. So where do you cut the cost? Do you cut the cost of labor or parts? Parts obviously. The only thing I would say here is maybe a really good mechanic would explain all that to you.

Aisin water pumps with non Japanese bearings? I never seen one. Do you have a picture of one of those failed pumps? I bought door locks (aisin) and one was made in Japan and the other was made in Mexico (Even Taco's are made Mexico).

 

[rampantwolf]

OEM parts hack

Call Advance Autoparts and ask the attendant for WORLDPAC parts. They sell wholesale OEM parts for imports at half the price.

Back in the day Carquest owned WORLDPAC and the only way to buy parts from them was to have a commercial account. Then Advance Autoparts bought CarQuest and WORLDPAC was included in the deal and is now available to retail customers.

Again, you must request WorldPac parts specifically or they won’t mention to you that they are available. They are not available online either.

Hope that helps.

 

[suprarx7nut]

OEM parts hack

Call Advance Autoparts and ask the attendant for WORLDPAC parts. They sell wholesale OEM parts for imports at half the price.

Back in the day Carquest owned WORLDPAC and the only way to buy parts from them was to have a commercial account. Then Advance Autoparts bought CarQuest and WORLDPAC was included in the deal and is now available to retail customers.

Again, you must request WorldPac parts specifically or they won’t mention to you that they are available. They are not available online either.

Hope that helps.

Interesting. I wonder if that beats the McGeorge or Partsouq prices.

 

[04UZJ100]

Do not bolt anything other than an OEM part on a Cruiser engine. Period.

 

[gnob]

Letting him use non oe water pump is on you. UZ TB is a long job and do overs are super suck.

Most shops are making a significant profit from parts markup. A place i worked was like 250% retail for parts house and marked up dealer sourced parts 15% over msrp.
Alot of jobs are way more parts profitable than labor.. Fft

 

[2001LC]

Bottom line. Labor is never warranty, only parts are.

Taking a 100 series, to a general mechanic shop. One that works on all makes and models. You can expect reliability will be compromised. 70% to 80% of service work I do, is correcting what someone else has worked on and messed up.

Finding a shop that at least specialize in Toyota/Lexus, is a better bet.

Finding a shop that specialize in a 100 series, is best bet.

 

[UZJ100LC]

100% this!!! People want the cheapest bill possible and most mechanics cater to that. Not out of a desire to be cheap, but because they know customers are going to bitch and moan about the cost of a repair using OEM parts. So where do you cut the cost? Do you cut the cost of labor or parts? Parts obviously. The only thing I would say here is maybe a really good mechanic would explain all that to you.

seems like toyota dealerships for servicing is actually the best route then? oem parts and toyota technicians. and you definitely pay a premium for it