Well, I had my first 'free maintenance' for my wife's V6 Rav4 that we bought back in March. I ask how much extra for synthetic since thats all I ever used in her little 2004 Corolla S that we still have which I have always changed myself for her, and also my 2004 Mazda6 which I am ready to get rid of. Neither of the vehicles have ever had any problems ever requiring to go in for warranty, although the Mazda has wheelwell rust which started forming right after 100000 miles on its own. The price was about $30 for 6.4 quarts (otherwise the difference for syn over dino), which I knew was a pretty fair price for Mobil1 so I have them put that request in for the tech. Knowing that its the Toyota dealer service department having expertise in Toyotas, I make no other requests assuming they know the car pretty well. So an hour and fifteen minutes later (after a test drive in an SR5
), I get the car back. I inspect the wheels to make sure there are no scratches or scuffs from the wheel rotation and then leave. At this point I'm assuming everything is great, pretty happy with the test drive and I don't have to worry about the free maintenance becoming voided because I exceeded 5000 miles without an oil change.
I get home and check the service receipt, and it states that Mobil1 5w20 was poured into the engine. Since I don't really 'know' the Rav4's v6 yet, I check the manual to confirm the oil viscosity requirement for the motor. The manual clearly states that 5w30 is to be used, and can occasionally be substituted with 10w30 only then to be changed with 5w30 thereafter. I immediately call them up, explain what they did wrong, complain and argue a bit after they tell me its not a big deal and make them understand how inconvenienced I am that I have to bring the car in again to have the oil changed again on my Saturday. The service clerk on the phone understands and says that they will pick up the cost of the upgraded synthetic...so fine. I go back at the end of their Sat workday and get oil changed (just a drain/refill which I was fine with) in about 15 minutes, also get refunded the cost of the Mobil1.
Initially I thought it was a classic scenario where the dealer service dept knowingly performs the wrong type of work to waste excessive time of the customer and intentionally screw up a new vehicle, but in the end after talking with a couple of the auto techs in the lobby, it was a mistake. I'm still having a hard time understanding how a Certified Toyota auto technician can put the wrong oil into an engine which has '5w30' spelled on the oil cap, but I guess everyone has bad days occasionally. They were just so relaxed about the whole mistake their team made. Is it just me or the fact that I haven't had to deal with having a car serviced by someone else in about 6-7 years now?? In the end, I know the engine probably would have been fine with 5w20 oil in our Fall temperatures, but if it were to have critically failed, an oil trace analysis would reveal the wrong spec oil, which the manufacturer would have blamed on me for having in engine. BTW, the 'free maintenance' is normally an $80 service which is nothing more than a glorified dino oil change w/ tire rotation and multiple visual inspections...only reason I'm using it is because its documentation for the warranty if it ever needs to be utilized.
