Spark plug rant and oil change question

Or a timing belt that requires more expertise to replace, seriously though why all the fuss

 

The fuss is that this doesn’t fit what Toyota is all about. What if you don’t change plugs at 40K miles and your engine grenades at 50K? You think that powertrain warranty is in effect? I’d say no if you read the fine print. Cost may be $100 for plugs, 95% of people will be paying a dealer $500 or more to do this required maintenance while the competition doesn’t have to and keeps their warranty. On top of all the QC issues with the new gen, not the fuel mileage promised and resale in the tank, what’s the benefit to buying a Tundra now? This spark plug thing is another cost and pain in the butt you have to deal with on top of all the other issues. Time will tell but I feel duped by Toyota with this all new gen that’s worse than the old one in my mind in many ways.

 

Drama llama…

Ford Ecoboost F150s recommended interval is 100k, but it sounds like misfires are not uncommon at 50k.

 

Consumers want options. Lots of them.

I read an article recently that said the cost of vehicle hasn’t really increased much, if at all when you compare apples to apples. What has made prices increase so much are all of the options people want.

Hard to have cheap and reliable when you add so much tech into things.

 

Doesn’t fit what Toyota is all about? What exactly does that mean? You act as if this is the end of the world

 

Toyota is all about low cost of ownership. Just watch some videos of Mike Sweers talk about it. This extra maintenance expense goes against that, as does the mileage issue, resale being hit and won’t ever be what it once was, just look at consumer reports not recommending it. I could list many others. No not end of the world at all, just a come to realization that this truck was hyped to no end by Toyota when it’s just plain not good. I, like many others are stuck with it, that’s fine, I’ll get many miles out of it I’m sure (drive 40K per year). So when I have to budget an extra $500/year for plugs out of my pocket, surprise!! That’s just a gut punch. Sorry just venting like the OP. I’m sure I’ll figure out how to do myself to limit costs and a trip/time at the dealer.

 

I agree, I've owned like 10+ Toyotas since 1987, and this 56k truck by far is the worst fit and finish out of all of them, I'm talking I had a $10k Tercel from 1987 that is better built then this. I don't recall the locks on any of my Toyotas to be so cheaply made like this new tundra. I don't recall trim pieces not lining up etc.

I am extremely dissatisfied trading in my ecoD ram for the tundra, it's surprising what Toyota has shown me for past 25 years of ownership compared to this tundra, it's definitely a step backwards.

I also lol when ppl compare a limited to other brands, for instance my Laramie ram was better equipped then toyota Platinum, ppl getting all excited and disappointed about yotas driver profiles remembering each key fob/profile, lol fca been doing that for loooong time

 

I work for an Indy shop and I just looked up parts and labor, it’s really not that bad, book time is 1.4 hours (ProDemand) and plugs at 17.99 a piece (list price), yes it’s a more frequent service, but cost wise it’s not horrible

 

Well, 40k miles is better than the 30k interval I am used to with my 2009 Tacoma. But there have to be some pretty hellish combustion chamber conditions to finish off iridium plugs that fast. Curious to see reports here of the actual plug condition once more of us accumulate miles.

 

Yikes that’s a steep 1.4 hrs

 

Terms:
strictly cash? unless arrangements made

never seen that before, kinda weird, or is this just really old crap, i mean we havent had scions in like 7+ years, and the paperwork still has scions clauses on it

 

No kidding. And it’s hard to believe it would take someone more than 1.4 hours to do this.

 

The thing is that prepaid maintenance contract clearly states that normal items in the Maintenance schedule are covered. And spark plugs are a normal item in the Maintenance schedule. There are no exclusions in the contract regarding any items except "any additional repairs" which spark plugs are not.

So legally, the prepaid maintenance should cover the spark plugs.

I'm going to call Toyota to inquire about this and if my dealer is obligated to honor terms of the Toyota prepaid maintenance agreement.

 

i was told by Jerry that the prepaid maintenance covers (oil, filters , labor etc…) all out of pocket maintenance items on the maintenance schedule list , obviously that would include the spark change listed at 40,000 miles. this is frustrating if Toyota dealers are not honoring the program.
Has anyone reached out to Jerry?

 

Not yet. Jerry would probably have limited say here unless you want to drive to his dealership lol. We may need to call Toyota corporate to ask them

But I can see how dealers don't want to accept the prepaid maintenance plan, they probably get paid low rate from Toyota to do this work...

My 75k miles prepaid maintenance was $1330 which includes oil changes every 10k miles (5 total after the free ones) , 5k miles checkups with tire rotations, air and cabin filters, and the biggest item is the spark plugs $700 job.

So dealer would probably only get paid $300 or so by Toyota to do this job, instead of $700 that they would normally charge, so they'll loose money.

But that's their problem. Legally, Toyota and I have a contract which incudes all regular maintenance, including spark plugs change and I'm determined to make them do it.

 

You get to tell previous gen owners to, "GET YE BEHIND ME, POOR PERSON!!"

 

$700 to replace spark plugs? I may have to come out of retirement and open a business that does nothing but replace Tundra spark plugs. Won't have a lot of work, but some quick profit when you do.

 

$700 for spark plugs on the Tundra? That dealer ripped off that guy. It looks like they were just charging a flat rate price for all 6 cylinder engine instead of charging the actual book rate for a Tundra specifically. Note in the repair order it says, Perform tune up for 6 cylinder engine. The Toyota 2GR V6 engine in Camry/highlander/sienna required pulling intake manifold to get access to the rear plugs, so I can see that being a $700 job. An experience tech can do a Tundra spark plug in an hr. Maybe 1.5hr if they have to look up a procedure and torque specs.

The plugs part cost was $107. Labor was almost $600. Even if dealer was charging $200/hr labor rate, it doesn't take 3 hrs to change plugs in these Tundra.