venting my frustrations with my dealership. POWER TOYOTA OF CERRITOS...

[*wishlist*]

cliff notes included at the bottom of this post for those that would rather not read my novel. =)

just so my situation is on record... the date was august 27, 2004. i had to bring the tsb to my local dealership because they previously tried to refuse the work, and they still tried to convince me that my 4runner didn't fall under the right vin#. after the techies at the dealership finally put their heads on straight (or so i thought) they ordered the parts (or so i thought, again!). so i get the special order slip and look it over and i notice that one of the parts that were ordered were wrong. they ordered a stock part that is on the 4runner -- a piece that, according to the tsb, should already be on it. so i go and tell the service guy that they probably ordered a wrong part and he tries to convince me that it's all taken care of. in the back of my head i'm thinking it's wrong, but i come to my senses and say to myself, "we'll see." so i wait for a while for someone to pull out the truck so i can go home. i wait, and i wait, and i wait. after a while someone goes up to me and asks me what car it is i'm waiting for. i say white 4runner. so he asks me to go with him to the back and point out my car. we get to the 4runner (it's unlocked) and the guy says he can't find the key and goes all over the place looking for the key. i just sat in the truck and waited, and waited, and waited some more. eventually, they had to give me a shuttle home to pick up my spare. so i finally get out of the dealership and as i leave, the "vsc off" and "trac vsc" light in the dash turn on. i didn't feel like going back so i just give the service guy a call. he says it probably has something to do with the sulfur tsb and that they'll take care of it when they fix the truck. fast forward to today, october 17, 2004. the parts are finally in. i bring in the truck to get fixed. a few hours later i get a call from the service guy saying they have to order another part and that they didn't order it the first time because it was so expensive. just what i thought all along. so now the wait continues. will i be waiting another two months? and both of the vsc lights are still on. i tested it tonight, the lights are on and my vsc/traction control are inactive. should it take 2+ months to complete a sulfur dioxide tsb? on a lighter note i got a tank of gas, my key was found and returned to me today, and got a car wash (even though it's now raining as i type this), courtesy of the dealership. i was going to tell them that my moonroof rattles like castanets are in it when it's open but i afraid they'll say, "we have to special order the fix from the planet jupiter and it has to come by way of uranus. call us next millenium and it should be somewhere between mars and the moon. we'll fix it in no time." i don't think i'm ever returning there. for that i'll do the quick fix in the sticky at the top. =P


CLIFF NOTES: at first the dealership wouldn't do the sulfur dioxide tsb. finally, they ok it. ordered wrong part, lost my master key, wasted time, i finally leave but 2 warning lights are on. 2 months later, sulfur smell still not fixed and wasted more time.


am i wrong in being mad at this dealership or am i overreacting to the situation???


EDIT: this would fit better in the dealer experiences forum but more about me wanting to fix the sulfur smell. mods, move this if you must.

 

[sharp4runr]

I had a similar problem, though it didn't take two months to correct. I took mine in to get the sulfur tsb, they said they could do it today since I brought in so early. Well I dropped it off since I was getting the 10K service done as well. Later on they call me because they've ordered the V8 CAT instead of the V6 one for my truck so I could take my truck and reschedule when the parts come in. Less than a week later, parts come in and I take my truck back in. They have it all day and I picked it up around 630pm that evening. A mile away from my dealership, I noticed that the VSC TRAC and VSC OFF lights are on. Truck seems to be functioning properly though. It'll go in and out of 4WD and center differentail feels like it's locking.

I take it back in on Monday since the dealership was closing by the time I take back. The fixed it on monday. On the repair sheet it says: Repaired shorted Terminals of DLC Sensor. It is fixable so don't sweat it.

Hope it works out for you.

July

 

[slowginjoe]

i believe the vsc lights are on because after doing the sulfur tsb the ecu gets reprogrammed which also means that the yaw sensors of the vsc system needs to be calibrated. same thing happened to my truck when i went to get the sulfur tsb. my dealership would not let me leave the lot before they fixed it beacuse they are legally liable if you drove it with the vsc not working and get into an accident. i'm very suprised that your dealerships let you drive away with those lights on, they must not have a very sharp legal department!

tell those guys to look at their instructions for performing the tsb and follow it to the T. there's instructions in there on how to recalibrate the yaw sensors which will turn those vsc lights off!

 

[tkr128]

You have absolutely every right to be mad at the dealership, that kind of service really isn't what you should be receiving at all. I'm sorry to hear you're having such a bad time.

I've been holding off on getting the sulfur problem fixed, it seems like most people have problems after they get it fixed. The smell was particularily bad the other day when I left my truck on and walked around back to get something, so I want to get it fixed. Has anybody had theirs fixed from Longo yet? They haven't let me down thus far, so when I do get it fixed, I plan on letting them doing it.

 

[CopperX]

For those of you in So. Cal area, Claremont Toyota has a pretty good Service Department. I had all my services and the sulpher TSB done without any problem.

 

[*wishlist*]

i'll let them know about calibrating the yaw sensors. i only went to cerritos because they are the closest dealership to me but there are many dealerships around here. i seem to always have a bad experience with the cerritos dealership, yet i was stupid enough to always give them a chance. i just thought they might've improved because they changed their name to Power Toyota i guess. o well.. i won't be going there anymore.

 

[Good Times]

Longo Toyota in El Monte, CA

605/10 Junction

has been known to have superior service. they were able to do some repairs on my 4runner with no problems

 

[truckhigh]

sulfer tsb

imma newb here and have thet rotten egg smelll. and want to go to the dealer to get ti fixed.what does T.S.B STAND FOR. What am I suppossed to say to gareente they fix it. I have a 2004 sport v8.

 

[*wishlist*]

tsb = technical service bulletin

in my first visit. i told them what my problem was (sulfur odor) and told them there was a tsb for it but i got it back without any work done to it. they said they couldn't reproduce the smell. *rolls eyes* their technician must've been sick and had a no sense of smell during the test drive.

second visit, i brought the tsb to them and the service guy told me he was going to "take care of it, no problem." when i come back to pick up the car....(rest of the story continues at the beginning of my original post.)

 

[*wishlist*]

just to update. the 4runner is finally done, but the smell is still there. maybe not as strong, but it's still there.

 

[scott78945]

I had the same problem after they did my TSB. My VSC Trac and VCS Off lights are also on my dash. I drove my Runner to Mass and back which put on about 400 miles. The dealership told me not to worry about it. Just not to depend on it and drive more careful. They are now ordering a new ECU for me. Not sure what that is but hopefully this will fix the problem.

 

[slowginjoe]

I had the same problem after they did my TSB. My VSC Trac and VCS Off lights are also on my dash. I drove my Runner to Mass and back which put on about 400 miles. The dealership told me not to worry about it. Just not to depend on it and drive more careful. They are now ordering a new ECU for me. Not sure what that is but hopefully this will fix the problem.

that is so weird, seems like alot of dealers say that. but mine wouldn't let me drive off with my truck until they fixed it. they said they would be liable if an accident happened and the vsc was disabled because of them. they shouldn't need to replace the ecu, just recalibrate the yaw sensors which are a part of the vsc system. it says to do that right towards the end of their tsb service procedure document. it took my dealer a couple hours to figure that out, after rereading the procedure more carefully. good luck!

 

[scott78945]

Do you think I should call the dealership that I took my truck to and ask them if they recalibrated the "yaw" sensors? I assume they will know what I am talking about.

 

[slowginjoe]

Do you think I should call the dealership that I took my truck to and ask them if they recalibrated the "yaw" sensors? I assume they will know what I am talking about.

i think you should call them and mention it. my dealership is really good usually and they even missed it. i wouldn't assume that they know about it, especially if they haven't done alot of these sulfur tsb. just explain to them that you know someone who had this tsb done at stevens creek toyota in san jose and that i had the exact same thing happen, the two vsc lights being on. and that they tried reprogramming it multiple times and it didn't take each time, until they noticed a little section in their tsb procedure which called for calibration of the yaw sensors to get those lights to turn off. that's exactly how it happened when i took my truck in...

at any rate, if they don't believe you it's their loss as they are giving you another ecu, but i think they will need to calibrate the yaw sensors anyways even with a new ecu. this is all for their benefit. good luck and let us know how it turns out!

 

[scott78945]

Ok, i will try it. They weren't the friendliest of people the first time around. But what do I have to lose. Thanks for the info. I don't even know what a "yaw" sensor is. LOL.

 

[Hank]

wishlist, what year & month did you buy your 4R & was it from that particular stealership? I bought my '04 in May from the very same place. I know your frustration (I've got issues w/them also). The only reason I bought from them was that they had the exact color/trim/engine/tranny configuration I was looking for. My 4R had paint scratches throughout the body and I had to take it in a few days after my purchase to have them do a complete wax job. When I brought it in the service tech took a large yellow color stick (kinda like a crayon) to circle/mark all the major areas on the body panels to indicate the deeper scratches, although I didn't see the point since they (3rd party detail shop) was going to wax the whole car. When I picked up my 4R later that afternoon, I noticed that areas where the service tech marked w/the yellow crayon was somewhat raised (you can see the uneven light reflection off of the Black paint). One part of the car still had the yellow marking so he took it to the back of the dealership to have it buffed out. Even so, I can still see the uneven surface areas where it was marked w/the yellow "crayon". I bought my 4R in Black for the mirror-like gloss, but now I'll have to live w/the imperfections in the paint. I have yet to mail in the Purchase Satisfaction Survey that Toyota mailed to me a few weeks after my purchase. They will hear it from me.

BTW, Longo Toyota is closer to where I live, has anyone had any problems w/them? (in case my 4R needs warranty work). Otherwise my friend's dad, who's a mechanic, will do all the work on mine, except for oil changes.

 

[slowginjoe]

Ok, i will try it. They weren't the friendliest of people the first time around. But what do I have to lose. Thanks for the info. I don't even know what a "yaw" sensor is. LOL.

just tell them the truth, that it makes no difference to you whether they replace it or not, and that you're just trying to save them some time and money. but either way, they need to calibrate the sensors.

a yaw sensor is an angular velocity sensor. this, together with the lateral velocity sensor or accelerometer, makes up the detection sensors for the vsc system. the yaw sensors will tell the vsc system if your car is turning or in a spin, the accelerometer tells it how fast you are accelerating or stopping. these same sensors help map your position on the navigation system when the satelites are not in view, as in when you're in a parking garage. airbags also work with these accelerometers.

so when the yaw sensors are not calibrated, the vsc system has no idea whether you are driving straight on the highway or doing donuts in the parking lot!

 

[scott78945]

That would explain the fact that today we had our first snow and I almost did a donut going into work this afternoon. Wasn' t a pretty sight. They told me today that the part should be in tomorrow or Wednesday. He wasn't to keen on talking today and sort of cut me short. So screw them. Let them put a new computer in. I don't care. I just wish they could get the constant knocking out when I accelerate. But as you know this is "normal". Although, I am not sure on whose standards... Thanks for the help. I will let you know what happens.

 

[slowginjoe]

do you have an update on what happened with your situation?

 

[scott78945]

Well, they did put the new ECU computer in. Truck runs fine now. HOWEVER, their stupid ass techs cut the wires to my remote starter and disconnected it. So I had to spend another 1 1/2 hours yesterday at the place that I got it installed at. I got a call from the dealership customer relations and I let her know how crappy their service was. I will be sending them the bill for fixing the remote starter. It was just one HUGE mess.

As for the constant ticking, I had them just tighten everything underneath related to the exhaust as they told me that it was something in the exhaust rattling. Well, so far the noise is almost completely gone and I notice that the truck actually runs much better. I know that sounds weird but if I would hit the gas hard to pass someone on the highway the car felt as if it was lagging. Now it just goes zooming by. If the noise comes back I will have the dealership where I bought it look at it. I spoke to a Toyota Tech online and he thinks it might be a leak in the exahust manifold.