On Wednesday February 14th I brought my 2013 4Runner Trail in for service at XXXXXX Toyota (XXX XXXX Parkway, XXXXXXX GA XXXXXX). My service advisor was JXXXXXXX XXXXXX.
With 35,992 miles on the odometer, I turned over my keys to my service advisor and waited in the lobby for my requested oil change to be completed. The wait was a bit longer than my experiences at other dealerships, but I was just grateful they could fit me into their schedule. Upon completion, I received my paperwork , my keys, and walked out to begin my inspection of the work. Though I didn’t ask for it, the technician had notated on the attached multi-point inspection: “38psi” (all around) for all tires.
Easy enough to confirm.
Note: Before departing that morning for the dealership I measured 32psi (all around - cold).
The tire pressure I measured upon being returned the vehicle the first time showed 34psi (all around-warm). Somehow I had lost 4psi on all tires in the 100 feet in the mechanics bay to the parking spot or someone had lied on that part of the inspection. No big deal, but why falsify that? Red flag one.
Next, I popped the hood and looked inside the engine bay. I found spilled pink coolant, just about everywhere on hoses but inside the coolant tank. In fact it was still on “L” for low. I couldn’t wrap my head around why someone would be going over the effort to try to fill coolant and get more where it doesn’t belong than it does. Red flag two.
Finally, I crawled under the vehicle, still parked in XXXXXX Toyota’s parking lot and visually inspected the skid plate and physically wiped my hand over its exposed side in an attempt to preemptively identify any errant oil which may have spilled in the process. Oil changes are messy, some messier than others. No spillage oil was found.
My service advisor having just left at this point, I returned to the bay where another stepped forward to assist me. After describing the descrepencies, he offered to bring the vehicle back into the bay to address them. I expressed to him my concern that if these small really miniscule items weren’t done correctly, how could I assume the other items were?
I handed him the keys, in the hope that possibly there was a miscommunication amongst the technicians, and that my vehicle had simply been the victim of a small mistake. After a short amount of time, my vehicle was brought back out, parked, I was apologized to and handed the keys. Once again, I measured the tires, popped the hood, and crawled under the vehicle. The tires now measured 41.5, 42, 40, 41psi. The coolant had been filled to the highest level, however spillage over the hoses remained. Again, under the vehicle, I wiped down the skid plate with a bare hands and found nothing. Nothing.
At this point, I was just willing to leave sadly concluding that service here was at worst messy and imprecise.
I drove home, parked the vehicle taking it out only once yesterday for a home depot run before my 2,500 mile cross country expedition to California.
This evening, when I began packing it for tomorrow’s scheduled departure, I noticed a huge oil spill underneath it. The skidplate, which the oil filter (not pan) sits below was soaking in oil. The same skid I had wiped barehanded at the dealership and found nothing. I popped the hood, pulled the dipstick and checked the level and found some oil on it, but was still concerned.
I had my girlfriend run me to HomeDepot in her car and grabbed a metric socket set (all my tools are at my destination). When we got back I crawled underneath my 4runner and attempted to remove the small oil drain cover which the technicians would had to have removed in order to reach the oil drain plug (two 12mm bolts). While one came off easily, the other spun freely without progress. Stripped. Red flag one.
So my next step was to remove the front plastic cover and skid plates (10mm and 12mm bolts) to try and see if maybe there was something else going on underneath the vehicle, which could’ve been the cause of such a leak.
Once removed it was easy to see that there was oil everywhere. In my opinion there shouldn’t be any overspray anywhere around here. By the time the oil filter cap comes off, most of the oil should have already drained from the engine and only a small amount remains to drain. There is oil everywhere in this area, not to mention all over the front skid plate (top and bottom). Red flag two.
After checking the surrounding area, I focused my attention directly on the oil filter housing. It looked as though dirty oil was at the very least dripping off the housing’s teeth from possibly being dropped in oil during it’s service. It wasn’t until I started wiping off the oil that I had realized what I was looking at. Teeth of the oil filter housing had been broken off. We’re past red flags at this point.
See it?
Of course not. How about from this angle?
My oil filter housing is leaking and it is fracturing along the side. Until it is removed, it must be assumed that it is cracked and is the source of the leak. This leak would have continued unnoticed until it eventually emptied itself and destroying the engine in the process.
This leak would have likely been unnoticed by me when I’m covering hundreds of miles per day and only stopping long enough to sleep at night. Let me also say that none of this would be noticeable by a customer at the dealership unless they had broken out their own tools to remove panels to inspect the work.
In summation, here is what I think happened:
Given that oil drain cover was unable to be removed by me tonight as a result of a stripped screw,
Given the excess amount of oil around the filter housing (all over the skid plate, frame, KDSS front sway bar,
Given the broken teeth on the filter housing and the fracture along its body,
Given the oil all over the ground,
I believe the technician tried to drain the oil from the oil filter housing, cracking it in the process of either removal or assembly.
Does anyone want to come to the defense of the dealer and find a flaw in my thoughts?
Thoughts on next steps? My cross country trip is obviously delayed until this is rectified.
Oil on KDSS Sway Bar
Oil on skid plate
Oil on cross member
With 35,992 miles on the odometer, I turned over my keys to my service advisor and waited in the lobby for my requested oil change to be completed. The wait was a bit longer than my experiences at other dealerships, but I was just grateful they could fit me into their schedule. Upon completion, I received my paperwork , my keys, and walked out to begin my inspection of the work. Though I didn’t ask for it, the technician had notated on the attached multi-point inspection: “38psi” (all around) for all tires.
Easy enough to confirm.
Note: Before departing that morning for the dealership I measured 32psi (all around - cold).
The tire pressure I measured upon being returned the vehicle the first time showed 34psi (all around-warm). Somehow I had lost 4psi on all tires in the 100 feet in the mechanics bay to the parking spot or someone had lied on that part of the inspection. No big deal, but why falsify that? Red flag one.
Next, I popped the hood and looked inside the engine bay. I found spilled pink coolant, just about everywhere on hoses but inside the coolant tank. In fact it was still on “L” for low. I couldn’t wrap my head around why someone would be going over the effort to try to fill coolant and get more where it doesn’t belong than it does. Red flag two.
Finally, I crawled under the vehicle, still parked in XXXXXX Toyota’s parking lot and visually inspected the skid plate and physically wiped my hand over its exposed side in an attempt to preemptively identify any errant oil which may have spilled in the process. Oil changes are messy, some messier than others. No spillage oil was found.
My service advisor having just left at this point, I returned to the bay where another stepped forward to assist me. After describing the descrepencies, he offered to bring the vehicle back into the bay to address them. I expressed to him my concern that if these small really miniscule items weren’t done correctly, how could I assume the other items were?
I handed him the keys, in the hope that possibly there was a miscommunication amongst the technicians, and that my vehicle had simply been the victim of a small mistake. After a short amount of time, my vehicle was brought back out, parked, I was apologized to and handed the keys. Once again, I measured the tires, popped the hood, and crawled under the vehicle. The tires now measured 41.5, 42, 40, 41psi. The coolant had been filled to the highest level, however spillage over the hoses remained. Again, under the vehicle, I wiped down the skid plate with a bare hands and found nothing. Nothing.
At this point, I was just willing to leave sadly concluding that service here was at worst messy and imprecise.
I drove home, parked the vehicle taking it out only once yesterday for a home depot run before my 2,500 mile cross country expedition to California.
This evening, when I began packing it for tomorrow’s scheduled departure, I noticed a huge oil spill underneath it. The skidplate, which the oil filter (not pan) sits below was soaking in oil. The same skid I had wiped barehanded at the dealership and found nothing. I popped the hood, pulled the dipstick and checked the level and found some oil on it, but was still concerned.
I had my girlfriend run me to HomeDepot in her car and grabbed a metric socket set (all my tools are at my destination). When we got back I crawled underneath my 4runner and attempted to remove the small oil drain cover which the technicians would had to have removed in order to reach the oil drain plug (two 12mm bolts). While one came off easily, the other spun freely without progress. Stripped. Red flag one.
So my next step was to remove the front plastic cover and skid plates (10mm and 12mm bolts) to try and see if maybe there was something else going on underneath the vehicle, which could’ve been the cause of such a leak.
Once removed it was easy to see that there was oil everywhere. In my opinion there shouldn’t be any overspray anywhere around here. By the time the oil filter cap comes off, most of the oil should have already drained from the engine and only a small amount remains to drain. There is oil everywhere in this area, not to mention all over the front skid plate (top and bottom). Red flag two.
After checking the surrounding area, I focused my attention directly on the oil filter housing. It looked as though dirty oil was at the very least dripping off the housing’s teeth from possibly being dropped in oil during it’s service. It wasn’t until I started wiping off the oil that I had realized what I was looking at. Teeth of the oil filter housing had been broken off. We’re past red flags at this point.
See it?
Of course not. How about from this angle?
My oil filter housing is leaking and it is fracturing along the side. Until it is removed, it must be assumed that it is cracked and is the source of the leak. This leak would have continued unnoticed until it eventually emptied itself and destroying the engine in the process.
This leak would have likely been unnoticed by me when I’m covering hundreds of miles per day and only stopping long enough to sleep at night. Let me also say that none of this would be noticeable by a customer at the dealership unless they had broken out their own tools to remove panels to inspect the work.
In summation, here is what I think happened:
Given that oil drain cover was unable to be removed by me tonight as a result of a stripped screw,
Given the excess amount of oil around the filter housing (all over the skid plate, frame, KDSS front sway bar,
Given the broken teeth on the filter housing and the fracture along its body,
Given the oil all over the ground,
I believe the technician tried to drain the oil from the oil filter housing, cracking it in the process of either removal or assembly.
Does anyone want to come to the defense of the dealer and find a flaw in my thoughts?
Thoughts on next steps? My cross country trip is obviously delayed until this is rectified.
Oil on KDSS Sway Bar
Oil on skid plate
Oil on cross member
