Help Noise after Dealer Transmission Fluid exchange

[kenwilliams0803]

Finally got my 4runner back and it appears to be a Happy Ending to the story. When I dropped the 4runner off I told them about what I found with the TRD skid etc. They told me so sorry that was our express service techs that did the trans service. They assured me that their best master tech would be working on my vehicle. When I picked it up we took it around for a test drive and the noise is gone. So Happy. They replaced the entire rear diff assy. Everything underneath looks like a Pro did the work. All bolts paint marked. Everything clean and tiddy. I have driven the truck now for about 100 miles and it is purring like a kitten again. Some of the comments made during the pick up make me almost 100% convinced that they drained the rear diff and forgot to fill it. Any how the 4runner is fixed and the Tech did great work!

I'm really glad they made it right. However, you shouldn't have had to go through that to begin with. I know mistakes get made, but there are small mistakes and then there are large mistakes.

 

[1jzgte]

That reminds me of the airbag recall my local dealer had to perform in the past.
They had to remove my alpine radio as part of the repair and somehow the screen was cracked during the process.

They admitted fault and corrected it. Went on a road trip without a radio but was fortunate enough to borrow someone's JBL bluetooth speaker.

 

[T4R_Canuck]

Finally got my 4runner back and it appears to be a Happy Ending to the story. When I dropped the 4runner off I told them about what I found with the TRD skid etc. They told me so sorry that was our express service techs that did the trans service. They assured me that their best master tech would be working on my vehicle. When I picked it up we took it around for a test drive and the noise is gone. So Happy. They replaced the entire rear diff assy. Everything underneath looks like a Pro did the work. All bolts paint marked. Everything clean and tiddy. I have driven the truck now for about 100 miles and it is purring like a kitten again. Some of the comments made during the pick up make me almost 100% convinced that they drained the rear diff and forgot to fill it. Any how the 4runner is fixed and the Tech did great work!

Just saw this thread for the first time and happy to see you got a proper resolution. I would also suspect the express lane tech drained your rear diff during your first service and either forgot to refill or didn't fill it properly, causing the metal shavings and diff failure.

This really goes to show the difference between having a new tech or an experienced tech work on your vehicle. Most dealers have someone or multiple master techs who could do this high quality work all day long, but those guys get the more complicated jobs, for obvious reasons. This leaves the express techs (fresh and green) to do the basic maintenance, which can lead to this kind of experience and mistakes. Luckily, the dealer called in someone experienced to clean up the mess your initial tech made and to try and save the relationship.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

Finally got my 4runner back and it appears to be a Happy Ending to the story. When I dropped the 4runner off I told them about what I found with the TRD skid etc. They told me so sorry that was our express service techs that did the trans service. They assured me that their best master tech would be working on my vehicle. When I picked it up we took it around for a test drive and the noise is gone. So Happy. They replaced the entire rear diff assy. Everything underneath looks like a Pro did the work. All bolts paint marked. Everything clean and tiddy. I have driven the truck now for about 100 miles and it is purring like a kitten again. Some of the comments made during the pick up make me almost 100% convinced that they drained the rear diff and forgot to fill it. Any how the 4runner is fixed and the Tech did great work!

I'm glad to hear that everything worked out! Yeah... I kind of figured someone ****ed up on not filling up the rear diff, just sounded too much like what I've seen before. Glad it's all fixed though!

That reminds me of the airbag recall my local dealer had to perform in the past.
They had to remove my alpine radio as part of the repair and somehow the screen was cracked during the process.

They admitted fault and corrected it. Went on a road trip without a radio but was fortunate enough to borrow someone's JBL bluetooth speaker.

Oof, how the hell did they crack the screen? Even if they hadn't figured out how to pop those suckers out without pulling the dashpad off, did they just chuck the radio? :wow:

Just saw this thread for the first time and happy to see you got a proper resolution. I would also suspect the express lane tech drained your rear diff during your first service and either forgot to refill or didn't fill it properly, causing the metal shavings and diff failure.

This really goes to show the difference between having a new tech or an experienced tech work on your vehicle. Most dealers have someone or multiple master techs who could do this high quality work all day long, but those guys get the more complicated jobs, for obvious reasons. This leaves the express techs (fresh and green) to do the basic maintenance, which can lead to this kind of experience and mistakes. Luckily, the dealer called in someone experienced to clean up the mess your initial tech made and to try and save the relationship.

I will tell you right now, that it could have entirely been an experienced technician who did the original ****-up. I've unfortunately had that happen once or twice in the past (though I thankfully haven't blown up an engine or a diff); hell we were so overbooked and slammed last week that I was doing a large service and forgot to fill the oil before starting the fuel injection service (just was so busy/task focused that when a writer asked me something it interrupted my flow and brain skipped the "add oil before firing it up" step); cranked the engine and like three seconds later was like, "NOPE, that's got no oil dipshit!" Thankfully that's not something that will hurt the engine, but say I had not caught it and parked the car to give it to the customer that could have been very bad. Point is that sometimes even experienced technicians can be stretched a bit too thin or be put in a situation where the likelihood of things going wrong gets higher than they would like for the sake of "making the customer happy." But I am glad that the dealership stepped up and took care of the customer, granted it was a bit of a journey and probably should have been done far more smoothly than the OP ended up going through, but for me customer service matters and I will work with a company who is willing to take care of their customers any time over one who may have a nicer product but will leave you out to dry if something goes wrong.

 

[T4R_Canuck]

I'm glad to hear that everything worked out! Yeah... I kind of figured someone ****ed up on not filling up the rear diff, just sounded too much like what I've seen before. Glad it's all fixed though!



Oof, how the hell did they crack the screen? Even if they hadn't figured out how to pop those suckers out without pulling the dashpad off, did they just chuck the radio? :wow:



I will tell you right now, that it could have entirely been an experienced technician who did the original ****-up. I've unfortunately had that happen once or twice in the past (though I thankfully haven't blown up an engine or a diff); hell we were so overbooked and slammed last week that I was doing a large service and forgot to fill the oil before starting the fuel injection service (just was so busy/task focused that when a writer asked me something it interrupted my flow and brain skipped the "add oil before firing it up" step); cranked the engine and like three seconds later was like, "NOPE, that's got no oil dipshit!" Thankfully that's not something that will hurt the engine, but say I had not caught it and parked the car to give it to the customer that could have been very bad. Point is that sometimes even experienced technicians can be stretched a bit too thin or be put in a situation where the likelihood of things going wrong gets higher than they would like for the sake of "making the customer happy." But I am glad that the dealership stepped up and took care of the customer, granted it was a bit of a journey and probably should have been done far more smoothly than the OP ended up going through, but for me customer service matters and I will work with a company who is willing to take care of their customers any time over one who may have a nicer product but will leave you out to dry if something goes wrong.

Well said! thanks for the insider input. Makes a lot of sense for sure.

 

[EddieV4runnin]

crazy! but not surprised. My question would be "Shouldnt a 'toyota service specialist' be doing the work in the first place?"

they always seem to have the lackeys doing the "service" work.

I would be seriously pissed and demand that they take you back into the shop and check the trans level in front of you as an assurance that everything is right.

We had a service writer at our dealer give some new front and rear brakes to a new lube kid. He trashed a caliper and they ended up eating it. The customer wasn’t too happy. So yes there’s a lot of truth to your statement. All the experiences techs are dealing with diag work.

 

[EddieV4runnin]

I wonder if the fluid level is low? They might be one of those dealers that has a contract with someone like BG/Valvoline and do machine flushes? I remember the BG guys were trying to sell us that their machine doesn't require you to have to set the level. Me and a couple guys never bought that BS and found the fluid levels to always be off and needed to be adjusted after the service.

Another possibility is the technician forgot to install the fill plug. We've had a that happen once or twice with... persons who are no longer employed at my shop... we'll just leave it at that...

But if they're warranting the rear diff, that doesn't seem like a "oops we didn't do it right" issue.

Same at our dealership, we deal with MOC. The rep kept raving about how great their machine was and how it was going to make everyone money blah blah. You don’t to set the level et cetera. Used it once and checked the level. It was off by 2 quarts. I told my service manager that I wouldn’t be using it and that they were asking for trouble. But I’m sure you know how they think. Next guy next to me used it on a car next and gave it back to the owner. Customer comes back 3 days later saying “this things isn’t shifting properly.” Sure enough it needed a transmission. Now also MOC advertised that their transmission would be covered by them in the event the machine damaged the transmission. Guess what?? The MOC rep said we did it wrong and refused to pay for the transmission. Every time I see “transmission flush” advertised as a service I just laugh.

 

[Something_Awesome]

Tranny fluid change every 30K for me. Never a flush. Ever.