stealership - what REALLY needs work?

[bowyer2002]

I do ALL of my own maintenance and want to help my cousin out - I think I can help him with some of his repairs, tie rods & spark plug wires and even replacing the fluids and injector cleaner which comes in a bottle!

I just got off the phone with the Dealership that my Cousins 2000 4x4 Tacoma extd cab 3.4L w/ 115K is.
They want to do the following work:

Replace tie-rods - stating that, "they are 'broken' at the ball joint, as they usually do, both R & L" for $314+$100 alignment
Spark plug wires - $200
Injection Cleaning - $165
Powersteering flush - $110

The snake oil repairs I suspect are the Injection cleaning, power steering flush and the outrageous $$ for the tie rods!

Please help me guide him to spend his $ wisely.

 

[FlatlandTRD]

Kirk, few things. Why would you replace plug wires at only 115k when they are listed as a non serviceable item (see FSM). Mine have 150k on them and are perfectly fine. Just check the plugs.

Just remove some PS fluid and replace with new, few bucks. Granted you're supposed to use ATF, but I've always ran synthetic PS fluid without problems.

You can get inner and outer TRs and replace them yourself, get some new boots while you're at it. Count the threads/measure prior to removing the old so you can get the new ones close. I still went ahead and got an alignment though.

Injection cleaning? Do they actually remove the injectors, test the flow, clean, re-test, and install. I don't think so. Just get a can of cleaner to run thru the tank. Maybe replace the filter.

 

[bowyer2002]

Jason -
That is what I suspected!
STEALERship at it's finest! Thanks for the confirmation.
My wires too have 150K on them and they're fine.
Side note....Will you be at GATOR this yr?

 

[Duane]

pretty much ditto for what Flatland said regarding tie rod ends and the plug wire set unless the wires are damaged.

The power steering fluid... I tend to agree with drain and replace some as to flushing it unless it's really dirty or you wanna spend the extra cash... if dropping cash I would first flush the coolant out or the transmission fluid before dropping cash on the steering fluid

The injector cleaner..my local dealership has a pair of bottles with some chemicals in them that they run on until gone. 1 into the fuel and 1 into the air intake I think...I'm still in the assessing mode if it really helped my 2.7 litre...I think it has helped as far as mileage goes... 190,000 miles on mine
Maybe a consideration if other options have failed and it is running rough or mileage has dropped off..other than that keep the money or drop the $ on the coolant or tranny flush in my opinion

Hey a side note for you 2... I found an 03 taco dbl cab... what is the current status of Toyota buying back rusted framed vehicles if they are bad enough? Does this still happen and is it a US and Canada thing? thanks

 

[FlatlandTRD]

Hey a side note for you 2... I found an 03 taco dbl cab... what is the current status of Toyota buying back rusted framed vehicles if they are bad enough? Does this still happen and is it a US and Canada thing? thanks

It's still occuring, however, they tend to replace the frames on the later ones. A few have received the buy backs on '01s and I think an '02 (kinda depends on the milelage). If the frames pass, they'll schedule a frame coating. Check the thread sticky on ttora, but it's looong.

 

[Nickkw]

Hey a side note for you 2... I found an 03 taco dbl cab... what is the current status of Toyota buying back rusted framed vehicles if they are bad enough? Does this still happen and is it a US and Canada thing? thanks

I'm not 100% on this, but I think you have to have owned the truck for a certain amount of its life. Had my frame replaced on an 02, glad I got a new frame, but other things were not the same anymore.

 

[KayakPanic]

buy the wires for $50-$75 at Napa or AutoZone, and spend 15 minutes changing them= $125-150 savings
do it either way, it will help with power/performance/MPG and is a cheap no-brainer.

buy a turkey baster and some ATF and spend about 45 minutes to do a ghetto flush (what I did on mine) on your PS Pump by removing old and replacing for $10-15= $100 savings

with all your savings you will have enough money to buy a repair manual (or download FSM for free off of MUD!) replace all differential/trans/transfer gear oils as well, which help out alot for smoother cruising.

x2 on antifreeze fluid change, I did mine for about $20-30, and an hour.

I have never done tie-rods, but know they are fairly easy (a few hours) to do and would suspect a lie on this one unless your 'cuz has been doing ALOT of hardcore rock crawling and wheeling.

 

[bowyer2002]

KayakPanic -
That is entirely our position; to do the work ourselves and save the $$ for whatever else.
FWIW - tie rods aren't (usually) very hard to replace.

 

[KayakPanic]

I have an FJ60 as well, and there are alot of posts like this over in 60-Land, where a dealership is trying to charge 3x what they should, or charging customers for doubletime (like when redoing the axels, they will also charge for removing the old axle stuff which should be included with the replacement, etc).

Someone over there once said something like that learning to do the simple stuff is a great way to learn, save money, and BUY TOOL$ with the saved money. and you will still save over what a dealer will try to charge.

I got my 1400 page FSM for the 95 Tacoma for FREE on MUD!!!!!

 

[bowyer2002]

Good call on buying tools - someone smart said, "you only pay for good tools once!"
Which is my recommendation for my cousin, get tools and get dirty!

 

[cruiser88]

stay clear of the stealership

 

[skeezix]

with all your savings you will have enough money to buy a repair manual (or download FSM for free off of MUD!)

Where can I find a link to Tacoma FSMs?

 

[raydouble]

Where can I find a link to Tacoma FSMs?

Here....https://forum.ih8mud.com/95-gen-toyota-trucks/341631-3rd-gen-4runner-faqs.html

I know what it says......they are all in there.