Why I work on my own Toyota

[tiorio]

So this Sunday I'm out in Kansas City in a line to see the faboo KC Cheifs stomp them Bills. It's early afternoon and I'm with family in their 97 Lexus Land Cruiser about 15 cars back from the gate. Our buddy arrived a couple hours earlier to secure a position at the front of the line to grab prime tailgate location (it's CRAZY there). You have to have a rig as it's a mad dash across medians and grassy areas at full speed once you make the gate. Well the buddy has a 4-runner. Not a bad truck except since he arrived it's leaked maybe 3 quarts of oil on the ground. THREE QUARTS. So I have a look-see with some tools and after removal of the skid plates find...

An oil filter wrench. ???

Further investigation reveals the oil filter to be spinning freely on the shaft. Wow. The money at the lube-it place couldn't even remember to get his wrench after forgetting to tighten down the oil filter. My guess is that the filter got loosened but never replaced.

So I tighten, add oil and begin to walk back when a lady grabs me by the shoulder and looks me straight in the eyes and says,

"My family is in the car right behind that 4-runner and we thought we wouldn't be able to tailgate, you saved our LIVES today."

Weird. But I suppose there really ain't that much else goin' on in Kansas City!

 

[Riley]

Couple of comments:

1) I don't get the ladies comment (perhaps I'm dense). Why wouldn't they be able to tailgate??

2) See my August post in Chit Chat (worst Sunday ever). I left my filter wrench in my 60 engine compartment and then went on summer vacation.
No biggy except I could find it a month later and blamed the kids.

3) Gotta love KC. Go KC go.

R

 

[scottm]

When my truck was new the dealer double-gasketed the oil filter (the old gasket stayed stuck on the engine). The gaskets shifted, oil spewed, engine eventually died. After that, the PO got everything done by that dealer including regular detailing and new mats. Free I'm sure.

 

[GXO]

I had my rotors turned and the front axle service done (got a good deal) and they put the DS knuckle together incorrectly...which resulted in the knuckle almost falling off of the axle....when I found it the caliper was the only thing holding it on (wife drove it for a while this way....with our baby in tow).

NOT a good day for that mechanic....all new parts now though...and I do everything now.

Oh, and it is my truck now...wife won't drive it now that I got her the 2003 GMC.

 

[IdahoDoug]

Had a new clutch installed in my wife's Supra at the Toyota dealership once. On the way home, it felt odd, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Parked it across a curb at home and crawled under to find all the bellhousing bolts had merely been put on the bolt tips and never tightened. Pissed me off to no end thinking what an exploding clutch could have done to her the next morning. Was the last time I paid anyone to work on any vehicle I owned. These guys were great, but it shows that something can happen to anyone no matter how good they are that distracts at the wrong time.

Perhaps he got a phone call at the end of clutch job, then a request to help someone with something before he got back to the Supra. Then it's the end of the day and he's out of there and after he leaves the service writer comes back and finds it sitting on the rack with the tranny in place and the old clutch laying on the floor. I get the call that the car's done and the rest is history. Happens in every profession, every day.

Doug

 

[thorvald]

i had a coupon for a free oil change 4 years ago at the local toyota dealership.
three days later the oil light comes on when im turning into my driveway.
someone put a oil filter that had a dent on the gasket part on my truck
so when i stepped on the gas it was shooting oil out. they fixed it, wanted to make sure they knew what happened in case of any engine problems. I would have never used a filter like that. thinking maybe some pimply kid dropped it and was afraid of being yelled at or losing his job or something.

dont let anyone else change your oil

 

[tenncrusher]

I let a guy down the street, who runs a goodyear store and has 62s and a 45, change my oil, etc. Despite trusting him, I do not totally trust his assistants and I ALWAYS check out the oil filter a couple of times immediately after the change.

 

[MoJ]

GO CHIEFS!!!!! Ahhh, tailgating at ARROWHEAD

 

[Gumby]

It's why I tell my students that if they never do anything else to their car, they should do the oil changes. Not only are the Jiffy Goob "techs" not certified, they are trained to be fast not thourogh, and they only look for the things they can sell you like air filters. Those crooks will try to sell you an air filter every other oil change. You need to do your own oil changes so you can look over your car every few thousand miles.

 

[AZcruiser]

I had a similar experience but with so-called "5 star" certified service for my Heep Cherokee! Thank God I leased the beast. I had maintance done through the dealer. One time I was out trail riding early evening. Bouncing around on the service trail I noticed sparks coming from the hood. I stopped got out and looked around everything seemd to be fine, got back in drove some more, more sparks. Using the flashlight this time I noticed some garage monkey left the oil filter wrench in the engine compartment along with a screw driver up on the radiator shelf(..near the fan blade), it somehow wedged itself on the battery terminal and the engine side wall. It burned a hole through the metal - luckily it wasent part of the exterior panel.
All cruiser work is done through me an if not a independent shop I gained to trust.
Chris

 

[syrinxstar]

I've had a T-handle socket wrench left in my engine bay when taken to a Toyota dealership for 60k service work. Even with the free tools, it's just not worth taking it in for stuff done easily enough in your own garage.

M

 

[tiorio]

[quote author=Riley link=board=2;threadid=6943;start=msg57222#msg57222 date=1067572345]
1) I don't get the ladies comment (perhaps I'm dense). Why wouldn't they be able to tailgate??
[/quote]

See, they were packed in right behind the 4-runner so they would have had to wait for the people behind them to back up and try to change lanes before they could back up and try to change lanes and in that 90 seconds they would have been WAY back from the 2nd place they WERE in and would have lost prime tailgating turf to others...

They are SERIOUS about this stuff!

 

[tltaylor22]

I was over to a friends when his wifes friend shows up in her Corolla having just picked it up from the mechanics. She complained about some wierd noise that wasn't there when she took it in. We found a 3' long Snap-On pry bar bouncing around in the engine compartment. Merry Christmas to us.