Oil change at the dealer today....

With 4 pages of Carfax it sounds like all oil changes was done at the dealer. With the truck in such good shape they must have done a good job - you might as well let them continue to do the services.

Just kidding. Nothing wrong with wanting to do it yourself. I just don't think dealers are as sketchy as they are made out to be.

 

I hardly think all dealers are a problem for service but the deal is that it is not that simple to tell and it can turn out badly of you get a bad one.

It is naive to assume they are all ready to do the job correctly just because they are a Factory Dealer although this is the way it was a long time ago more than now it seems to me too.

But it really sucks to have to even wonder when paying dealer prices for service when many these days really do not seem to care about the quality of the work anymore.

 

I've never had an oil change go bad by a dealer or lube joint. I prefer to do it myself. I can get it done faster than the time it would take for me to drive down, wait to get it done and then drive home. Plus I know I'll do a better job since, as mentioned before, I try to suction all the oil out of the pan. Plus I'll wipe down any oil that spills on the various chassis parts when I remove the oil filter. I'll then wipe off any dust and dirt that accumulated between oil changes and inspect everything all around the engine and underneath it.

 

I've had the dealer not put the oil cap back on and I didn't find out until I could smell something burning. Popped the hood to check and oil was everywhere and soaked the foam padding on the underside of the hood. This was on my 04 corolla.

 

We have had a few on here do that or maybe that was on Tacomas. I chalked it up to people not use to seeing a drain plug on a tranny pan.

 

I can relate to this. Went to change my oil before a long road trip and needed an impact driver to break the plug free on the oil filter canister. The driver ended up unscrewing the whole housing. After I took that off, I had to put the housing in a vise and use a breaker bar to remove the plug. Glad I had switched to the aluminum housing or it probably would've broken at some point in this process. I will 100% change mine every time from now own.

Edit: Im convinced the tech used the plug to tighten down the housing instead of the oil filter wrench.

 

I've bought four (4) new-from-the-dealer Toyotas since 2016. And though they damn near begged me over the years to come in for "free" oil changes I've been just happy happy happy happy to do them in my garage or driveway.

 

Funny as today the dealer called me saying I still have 3 free inspections/oil changes. The 1st and last time I took it to them they forgot the bolts on the skid plate (which sounds common after reading). Took it back to them. Never got a sorry, have a free coffee mug, kiss my a$$, kiss his a$$.

 

Very few.....

 

They are serious about those surveys, let me tell you the story of the salesperson who sold me my first Tundra, this guy was a good salesman and loved Toyota, his wife drove a Toyota 4Runner that she took to the dealership he worked at for service. Well, turns out they had to order parts and it was going to be one of those, it might take a while to get the parts in and fix your vehicle jobs. Well, apparently a week goes by without word, she has to call them to check on the vehicle. They tell her, its still getting worked on, we will let you know when its done. A few days later still no word so she calls them again and wouldn't you know it, they are done and had forgotten to call her. When she received her survey she gave an honest review and rated it low. The service manager put two and two together and figured out that was his wife, needless to say he was fired that day.

 

Many dealerships almost certainly have incentive programs centered around the surveys because of the huge impact they can have on the dealerships relationship with the Toyota corporation. They affect the dealership's ability to get inventory, marketing dollars that Toyota may allocate to the dealership, all kinds of things. Imaging being a Toyota dealer in bad standing and they won't send you any 4Runner or Tundra TRD Pros - some of the only mass produced vehicles in the country that regularly fetch well over sticker price. Maybe there are 2 or 3 Toyota dealerships in a large market and Toyota's website and marketing efforts are constantly steering customers to a different dealership. That's just the tip of the iceberg. Consistent bad surveys can have a serious negative impact on the entire dealership.

Incidentally, the same is true for Apple. Leave a bad survey and you WILL get a call from the management team at that store looking to make it right.

 

I do that on all my vehicles where the filters aren't horizontal. Even on the ones that aren't vertical I'll fill them partially and plug the hole with my thumb until I get it to the filter mount.

 

I’m calling it Toyotascare from now on. If I #’d, that would be my patent. Toyotascare. You read it here first.

 

Keep doin’ what your doin’ to keep the beast alive! Few things compare to the feeling that comes from completing a job that’s worth doin’ and doin’ right!

 

Here's the result of my last "free" oil change at the dealer. I have the TRD skid plate with the access panel for the filter, but they still managed to spill oil all over the skid plate. I noticed the oil stain on the driveway the next morning. I took it back and they removed the skid plate to clean up the mess. Unfortunately, I had to correct the errors made when they re-installed the skid plate incorrectly. That's the last time they'll change my oil.

 

Wow all these horror stories are making me want to skip the 'free' oil changes included with my truck. I've always been DIY but figured I'd take advantage of the included service.

What mods should be done? I previously had the Venza aluminum oil housing, is that still the way to go? And a fumoto oil valve. I had ditched the skid plate entirely but is there now a better one?

 

Common? No, but shit happens.

I was also at my dealer for an oil change Thursday morning, and I had them rotate the tires while they had it. The oil change went well, and I had them use a Bosch filter that I supplied. The tire rotation revealed a previously undetected problem, I didn't even make it off their lot before returning so they could find the source of the knocking sound. The wheel weights on one wheel would not clear the rear caliper, they pulled it back in, moved the weights... all is well.

 

Are the best filters out there still Mobil 1 and Bosch? I haven’t read reviews in a long time, but I remember a guy doing a full comparison, flow testing, dismantling, etc.

 

I’ve had enough “stealership” issues of my own to know I needed to invest in my own lift. Best money I’ve spent in my home shop.

 

Carfax is the biggest thing I worry about with doing my own maintenance. If you have pages of carfax reports showing all maintenance done at the dealer it increases your resale value pretty significantly, even if the dealer doesn't always do a great job.

 

I let the dealership do my "freebies" since those ran out I've done all of my own. Grab one of these (along with the fumoto), makes the filter change quite a bit cleaner.

$40 PBT PBT71114 Oil Filter Drain Hose

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005R3SSUY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Apparently you can self-report to carfax when you do your own maintenance or you go to a mechanic or shop who don't report and you feel you want to have the record. Not sure how it works though.

I know at Toyota's service records I can also log into their website and update my service record when I do something or at a non-Toyota shop.

 

Nice. Not too many people have the luxury of a 2 story garage.

 

How significantly? More that the cost savings of doing your own maintenance vs paying the shop to do it?

Oil changes at the dealer cost about double what doing in the driveway costs, plus they don't offer a rapid service so I have to drop off the truck an figure out how to get to work and back.

~$40 driveway oil change
~$80 at the dealer (this may not be accurate anymore, but it was the cost they quoted me 5yrs ago when I asked before opting to do them myself)
I change my oil every 5k, I have 125k miles on my truck, so it looks like I've saved almost a thousand dollars so far.

(not trolling, just doing some math)

 

I agree. My wife takes her new Acura RDX to the dealer for routine changes and maintenance and we never had a problem. I enjoy doing it myself these days. For issues I don't want to mess with, I take it to a local neighborhood mechanic, 3rd generation, who completely has my trust. My Dad always said you need to get to know your mechanic like he's family. After his retirement he'd go down to the shop and hang out, bring them coffee and donuts and shoot the breeze.

 

I would bet he used an impact

 

My dealer is scum. Just recently tried to schedule 1st free oil change and they refused saying to early. Then I argued and said "you did my new 4Runner early" they said "no we just rotated the tires and told you the 1st service was done" they never billed parts for oil or filter. I always change at 500-1000 break in period. Or so I thought! No more dealer bs for me. Probably no more Toyota because of their crap like cheating us on trans coolers. Should have kept my old Ford and completely rebuilt it. Much cheaper than a 43k Tundra too! Lessons learned!

 

My dealer has always worked well with me. The first sign of an issue with the service department came when I did my first oil change after ToyotaCare ran out. All of the front bolts on the skid plate were missing. Should I have been looking at things like that? Yes, but I didn't. Went in and said you owe me the bolts on the front. They gave them to me and I haven't been back. The second sign was having to have my wife hold my feet down as I used a breaker bar to get the over torqued oil filter housing off. I replaced with the metal one and have since rocked on.

I will say, I am not very mechanically inclined. So, when I change both diffs and the transfer case fluids, I am going to let them do it with the fluids I provide and watch like a hawk.

 

I'm still pissed at the Toyota dealer (Whittier Toyota) that took advantage of my elderly widowed mother. She went in for transmission service on her Corolla and was told she needed a new transmission. Of course without consulting me, she shelled out over $7K for it. The car drove fine. I drove it a few months before and all that happened was a check engine light went on because I drove it over 60 mph on the freeway. I looked up the code and it was a torque converter lock up code. Apparently the cause of that code is a just faulty harness connection. The CEL goes out after a while of slower driving. I can't prove it now since she no longer complains of any CEL's. She never drives the car that fast. I haven't been over to visit her lately to drive the car since she lives in So Cal. I really want to have a serious talk with their service manager but I'm not sure if they'll talk to me.