full dealer oil change

[Muffin-Man]

I have a question. I have 73,500 miles on my 04 4runner v8. I am going to get my oil changed at 75,000. I want the dealer to change ALL fluids in the vehicle that is transfer case, diff, trans, oil, ect. I want it to be all sythetic. What type of synthetic does the dealer use?

 

[Muffin-Man]

jeeze no one knows what type of synthetic oil the dealers use? is it like mobil 1 or like toyota oem synthetic?

 

[oua]

For your routine fluid change. It is okay to take it to the dealer. However for such custom fluid change you are requesting. dealers typically sucks and don't follow through.

Make friend with one of the mechanic at your toyota dealer and have him do the change say at his house or your house on his day off while you are around so you know it is done right. 1500 miles is plenty of time to make a new friend.

Pay him a little extra - it will still be cheaper then having the dealer do it. Dealer charges you extra then turn around and pays him pennies to do the fluid change.

Put yourself in his shoes. What kind of job would you do if you only got paid pennies???

Talents need to be rewarded accordingly.

 

[KnightFire]

My Wife just took her T4R in for the 3k mile oil change...even though I told her I would do it (I service all our vehicles), but couldn't do it until next week, she didn't want to wait that long and took it in to the dealer *sigh*.

I was less than pleased with the $90.00 bill for a simple oil change/tire rotation/fluid check.

They put 6 miles on it and the mpg dropped by .5 miles...hrmmm whatcha think they were doing with it (she said they remarked at the exhaust note when she dropped it off)?!
To top it all off, she had to wait 2hrs for this simple task to be completed. My wife isn't very confrontational, so I called the service manager...he stated that we couldn't prove misconduct and should have brought it up at the time of pick-up.

Moral of the story...DO IT YOURSELF! NO mechanic will put as much (if any) TLC into the job. If you do it yourself you will KNOW it was done properly. IMO dealers are worthless, unless their doing warranty work...

 

[Louie]

If you care about your vehicle you should do many of the maintenance jobs yourself. Figure out some way to lean and buy the few tools you'll need, suff like ramps and some sockets and combination wrenches. A friend that had his oil changed at a Toyota dealer found that they put 12 miles on his vehicle, absolutely unaccetable. If they have so little concern for you vehilce that they drive it around for no reason, imagine what else might happen. Go to Bobistheoilguy.com and learn something about lubricants and fluids. And if you pick a synthetic oil, learn something about what you are buying. This kind of knowledge will help you for the rest of your vehicle buying life. Cars and trucks are expensive and if you don't watch out you get taken advantage of. Come back to this forum and ask specific questions, someone will answer.

 

[Muffin-Man]

well it sounds like you guys dont trust the dealers very much to do your maintenance. For me I have neither the time or the knowhow to do that kind of stuff. In my opinion nobody knows the vehicle better than the dealer as that is all they do. Some of you mentioned excessive mileage after you got it back. Consider this, what is the best way to find if something is wrong with your vehicle other than plugging it into a computer? The service department probably took your vehicle down the highway to listen for any squeeks, rattles, clicking, ect. to see if there was any problems. After reading your responses, ill probably just tell the dealer that I tow, and drive in the desert, which I do, and they will service accordingly. Ill probably just tell them to put sythetic engine oil in just to keep it simple. probably give them 5w30 mobil 1 truck and suv. How many quarts of this will the dealer need?

 

[oua]

In my opinion nobody knows the vehicle better than the dealer as that is all they do.

That is exactly what they want you to believe - then charge you EXTRA.

I use work for a very very reputable Toyota dealership in the Midwest that had the #1 automotive service department in that state with many toyota master technicians and the other 1/2 of monkeys in this service department was just total idiots. I could just imagine how bad other normal service department are elsewhere.

If you drop your vehicle at the service counter. Who knows if you got a master technicians working on your vehicle or if you got one of these monkeys. I can guarantee you a mster technician isn't doing an oil change.

Imagine if service had one of those police mirror window where waiting customer can peek into the work area but mechanic can't see who watching. Imagine all the havok you (the customer) will see.

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Seem like you got more $$$ than time. If one of the monkeys happens to break your truck - you can just go and buy another. No big deal.