Dealership Oil Change Experience

My two free oil changes at 10 and 20K were so overfilled that I had to immediately go home and change oil myself. My thought process was whatever moron filled my oil I couldn't trust if he did the filter or put in proper oil.

 

I bought my '06 last summer. Since I didn't know the maintenance history, I took it to a Toyota dealership for an inspection. They assured me they would inspect everything from bumper to bumper. When I picked it up and looked at the paperwork, they simply recommended things based on mileage. They inspected nothing other than the brakes. I had bought new wiper blades two weeks before this, and they recommended new wiper blades. Where I usually park, pine needles and small twigs fall and gather on my wiper blades. When I picked up my truck, the pine needles were still on the wiper blades. They recommended new wipers without even turning them on.

 

They have some good techs and a lot of stupid monkeys. I just got my truck in December and I had them replace the valve cover gasket under warranty. Normally I'd have done it myself but figured screw it, it's under warranty. They replaced it no problem but they forgot to slide the clamps back over two of the coolant lines that run along the valve cover that I know they would have had to replace the gasket.

I went to the store one night when it was like - 20F out and smoke was billowing out of the engine. Popped the hood and noticed that the line blew off and saw the clamp slid way up on the line. So they attached the line but never put the clamp back.

Luckily it was a short trip and I know a thing or two about vehicles and was able to put the line back on and slide the clamp into position. I sent the dealer an email with detailed description and pictures and never heard back. So I called and they were just like "oh yeah, I think that must be what happened." They didn't apologize or offer to give me anything. It could have been disastrous if I had hopped on the interstate for a longer drive. I wouldn't have noticed until the coolant light came on or it overheated and it could have cooked the head gasket.

I have a free oil change but I don't even think I'm going to bother having them do that. All service was done at the dealer for the previous owner and when I took my skid plate off, half of the bolts snapped because they were on too tight.

Hilarious how they said "this is why we don't like our customers to do maintenence themselves." lol

 

https://www.autozone.com/shop-and-g...VkSCtBh2fzQOaEAQYASABEgIRtPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

I have heard horror story after horror story about the plastic oil filter housings, but have luckily never had a problem across 4 Toyotas and 100k miles worth of changes. This wrench works great because it interfaces with both the flutes and the tabs, and it’s dirt cheap.

 

Sorry this happened, that is why I have never used the "free" oil changes that have come with my Toyotas.

 

I always drain the pan first as well. I guess it wouldn't hurt to loosen up the filter housing first to make sure all should be good, then drain the pan and go back to the filter.

 

Based on previous experiences, I have chosen to skip the dealership oil changes as well. I am the only person who has been under the hood of my truck. Once it is open, my order of operations is

1. Remove fill cap
2. Drain oil (doing #1 first makes this step much faster)
3. Remove skid plate door.
4. Get disposable filter drain tool out of filter cartridge packaging.
5. When oil is done draining, close and lock Fumoto valve, and slide catch pan under the filter.
6. Remove filter cartridge. Throw old cartridge, disposable drain tool, and both O-rings in the trash.
7. Wipe up inevitable few drops from skid plate & install new cartridge with new, freshly oiled O-rings. DO NOT OVERTIGHTEN.
8. Pour new oil. While it's draining, reinstall skid plate filter door, and spread a bit of kitty litter if any drops made it onto the driveway.
9. Pour old oil in empty jugs.
10. Take to O'Reilly's for recycling.

 

The only oil I have to pour in jugs is from the filter. I drain the pan straight in to a jug from the Fumoto. Of course that requires monitoring with an 8 quart capacity.

 

This^^^^^. I had a very pleasant oil change at my dealership yesterday. Not all dealerships suck.

Wait......you worked at a Yota dealership? What other secrets haven't you told me? Yeah, need to know basis. Ha!

 

This was posted on a Facebook page....just another reason to NOT utilize dealership(s)....and a damn good reason at that!!

 

@Tbrandt - that Autozone wrench is POS. Get the Motiv wrench

 

Since September of 2016 I have bought four (4) new-from-the-dealer Toyotas. Not once did I use their so called "free" oil changes.

If you take your Tundra to the dealership for engine oil service you would be wise to check everything, including oil in the engine, right there in front of the service area. Now, of course, after you do all that you're not too far away from having just done the engine oil service yourself. Potato....tomato.

 

How you gonna check the torque on ya drain plug, oil filter and don't forget when you are under the truck to check that all the bolts and clips are put back on ya skid plate...if you have one.....Nope 8ll just do my own oil changes!

 

Yup. I'm getting close to 300 engine oil changes that I've done myself since August of 1985.

 

I have a 2019 tundra and brought it in to the dealership for the tire rotations as scheduled. The dealership didn't do the first oil change until the truck had 20k miles. I assumed that was normal. At 30k miles I go to do the oil change myself and the oil filter canister is cranked on there, liked they used an impact. The oil looks and smells like burnt dino oil, reddish brown. I looked at the manual and the first change was supposed to be at 10k miles. Shame on me for drinking the Toyota Care Kool-aid, but I trusted the dealership to do what's right. They can keep their free lifetime oil changes. I'm doing it every 5000 miles and using mobile1 0w-30. I hope I don't have excessive engine wear because of the BS 20k initial oil change.

 

So I just removed the filter housing prior to the drain plug and it wasn't messy. Undoing the metal plug, there was maybe a half ounce of oil. When I put the clear plastic spigot thing in there, there was maybe 8-16 ounces of oil. I have my truck up on rhino ramps and I used a 5 gallon bucket to catch everything. Zero mess. I had to put the truck in 4hi to get the thing up on the ramps, 2hi and it was shoving the ramps around on my smooth concrete floor.

 

Ouch!! I'd definitely be speaking to them about a really good extended warranty, and pushing the issue with toyota corporate as well. 20k miles is a long time for an OCI on the factory oil fill.