Accidents will happen, but I’m trying really hard not to be completely livid tonight…

Just hit 5000 miles this week on the new rig and have a work road trip Monday. Snowstorm yesterday meant taking her in for her first oil change on a Saturday was the best option. Appt was for an Oil change ONLY & included explicit instructions to NOT rotate the tires (new wheels and tires went on at ~3500 mi AND their techs have previously bashed two sets of TRD wheels so they are no longer allowed to touch my wheels…)

At pickup the service advisor (not my normal guy since it was the Saturday shift) tells me that the tech had an accident with the oil filling and got some oil around the fill port. They’d cleaned everything and any drips I may see in the garage when I get home are leftover cleaner.

Awesome. But, accidents happen and they cleaned it up. Or did they…

Get the keys and pop the hood. Not terrible but definitely shiny/wet everywhere & the plastic engine cover is on crooked (and still super oily). Ask them to have someone grab a clean rag & degreaser to wipe it down again and reinstall the engine cover properly.

Tech comes out and tells me the new tech he was training had messed up and spilled the oil. He apologizes and I tell him accidents will happen & not the end of the world, but it needs more than just a once over to clean up. He reattaches the engine cover and tells me they’d washed everything down with degreaser & light power wash so everything wet was just water (haha).

At this point it’s after 4 and I need to get somewhere before they close at 5 so I tell him it’s as good as it’s gonna get today (it’s not) and I need to get going so I’ll contact them about further cleaning Monday.

Hop in and now see that there’s oil smeared all over the windshield. There’s a thin layer of motor oil at the bottom corner of the windshield as well. Won’t be able to see anything after dark. F’ing Awesome. This was more than just a little oil spill (and/or they power washed the oil from the engine onto the windshield?). Either way I head back inside to talk to the service manager.

She sends another tech out to clean the windshield & offers me a free handwash when I have time to return. Ok, as good as it’s gonna get tonight (and if I stick around any longer I’m gonna start losing my patience and lay into someone at this point).

Now too late to run my errand & they’re closing (and it’s getting cold), so head straight to the nearest carwash. Brakes are working fine so thankfully it doesn’t seem like the calipers/rotors/pads got hit with any oil. Give the outside and the engine a quick bath (low spray power on the engine of course). Getting dark and can’t really see much with the water anyway but it’ll do for now.

I then notice the location of the locking lug on my front wheel - not where I installed it & the other wheels are the same! Those F’ing A$$holes rotated my tires (and also checked the alignment apparently) after I explicitly said all I wanted done was the oil change and definitely DO NOT rotate the tires! Arrgh!!! No obvious damage but too dark & wet to really see anything until I get home.

Grab dinner on the way home - over an hour after my wife was expecting me to be home with food (tho she’s aware of the situation and just happy nothing major happened that can’t be fixed).

Drop the food in the kitchen and head back to the garage to do a more thorough inspection in good light…

Still small pools of oil in the nooks around the engine. Windshield smeared again since there was oil on the wiper blades (expected this was gonna be the case). Gonna need a full engine cleaning to make this right…

Now to inspect the now dry wheels…

Yep, all 4 are scuffed pretty good in several spots. Front driver side got a good 1/2 scrape, probably from the alignment that I didn’t ask for. Awesome, just F’ing awesome.

This is why we can’t have nice things kids…

Oil everywhere was an accident. Those happen. 3rd set of wheels these clowns have bashed since 2012? That’s a result of playing NASCAR pit crew AGAIN!!! (and these wheels really tie the rig together… man! This aggression will not stand!!!)

I’d post pics to this thread but apparently I’m still not smart enough to figure out what the problem is (probably my iphone) and can’t do that right now…

Headed back in Monday to talk to my normal Service Guy & the Service Manger. New TRD Pro wheels & engine/exterior detail at a minimum if they ever want my service business again…

Gonna pull all the skids tomorrow & see how much oil is left on them. Was already going to be installing the new Rocky Road Outfitters Supersliders tomorrow (12 week lead time & finally done last week). What’s a little more time in the garage pulling parts in the low ~30 deg Utah temps gonna hurt ;)

Needless to say, I’m never going to let the Saturday D Team touch any vehicle of mine ever again!

Again, not the end of the world & she was gonna get dirty eventually, but F¥€K me, she just hit her first oil change! Arrgh!

I feel your pain. Dealer f-ed up my first four services each time, though not as bad as yours.
This is one more example of how dealers operate. Your brand new vehicle is a training platform for new guys. It’s just the reality of the business model.
The lesson I learned is do not take your vehicle to dealers for routine service. Except for warranty work or major recalls etc. For routine maintenance (fluids, tire rotations, brakes, plugs, filters, etc.) do it yourself. If you cannot DIY find a good independent highly reviewed mechanic. Preferably one who specializes in Japanese cars.

Unbelievable. You can't count on anyone to do anything right anymore.

As a former master tech at Toyota and independent shops, my 4Runner hasn't and never will go back to the dealer for anything.

The "free oil changes" are not worth the damage they will do.

Lube techs training on your $50k 4Runner, and a general lack of care and competence that is far too prevalent, means I'll never give them the chance to screw up a carefully built vehicle. I didn't even want them to wash my 4Runner when it was new, as they often do more damage than good. I had them pull off the protective shipping plastic, fill the gas tank, AND LEAVE IT ALONE.

If you pull your skidplates, let us know if they stripped any fasteners.

I'd tell them they need to replace the damaged wheels, and don't let the highschool kid in training do the job.

Good luck.

Sorry to hear this. I would show them the damage and ask them to replace or at the very least repair the wheels. Simply not acceptable. I might even consider small claims court so document everything and also be prepared to write Toyota corporate for intervention. They don’t like this stuff as it ruins what the consultants call “customer experience.”

Not to add to it, but unfortunately this has been my experience as well. Stripped skid plate bolts, not removing hub caps so damaging the finish of the wheel when they remove wheels, constant upselling, etc.

I have a good shop do the work on both my trucks now. One question since you are a tech and my truck (2016 SR5 premium, 64k on the odometer), would you let a good but non specialist garage change the transmission fluid, or find a specialist Toyota shop to do that? Thanks in advance.

woofda. that gave me anxiety. good luck to you sir.

Wow, what a saga. Sorry to hear that.

It is not your iPhone that is the problem. This forum severely limits the size of the photos you can post. You have to go through gymnastics to crop and reduce the resolution of your pictures in order to meet their requirements.

To be clear, I haven't worked in consumer car repair in a long time. I still have my tools, and have kept up with any advancements in the industry. I also still know people in the industry. But thankfully no longer do that as a career.

As for who you should have work on your 4Runner, that depends entirely on if they are competent, and conscientious. Not necessarily where they work.

As @02SE said, you need a competent and conscientious mechanic. And one who follows Toyota procedures such as the transmission fluid service where you have to ensure the proper level at the proper temperature. Not just a drain a fill by volume.

Why I NEVER let anyone do my oil changes/tire rotations, always do them myself.

That way I can make sure it is done correctly...plus I can thoroughly inspect the rig to make sure there are no other problems pending.

Yup... no chance my 4R is seeing the dealer for anything other than major warranty replacement. Not all dealer service centers are bad, but there is no real way to know the skill level/competency of the tech actually working on your truck.

Maintenance I'm doing completely on my own. If I wasn't doing maintenance on my own, I would find a good independent shop and just pay out of pocket for proper trustworthy maintenance. Of course that changes if it is just a truck you're going to trade in eventually.

In any case, it isn't just Toyota, its all dealers. They're all hiring from same pool of auto technicians where if they're actually good and competent, they go on to work elsewhere than a dealer.

Regarding where to have transmission fluid changed, I've been thinking about this myself. I'm decently equipped for regular maintenance but not auto transmission service.

When the time comes, my plan is to find several highly-rated transmission shops, call them all and get a feel for who is doing the work and if they have experience with the 5th gen 4R. Nothing really particularly special or fancy about these transmissions though, if anything it is how "basic" they are and should be straight forward to service. Just a matter of finding someone who you completely trust to do the work, regardless of where they work. That may be the shop you already found but also worth calling around to compare too.

I stopped letting Toyota touch anything. The 4 runner is one of the easiest oil changes that you can do. What’s great is you don’t even need to Jack it up!!! If you get a cartrim trd pro skid plate, it gets even more easy because of the removable oil filter door….

Why do you even wasted your time taking it to a dealer for an oil change. I can do that job in less than 20 minutes, which is less than the round trip drive to a dealer. Then you are letting apprentice morons work on your truck. Just because it’s a dealer, does not mean it’s better.

They’re next door to another errand I needed to run Sat so figured two birds, one trip (and it was one of the included ToyoCare changes…). Not good reasons tho - it’ll be the last time they touch it for routine maintenance…