Take the truck in for two recalls. They call and claim the check engine light is unrelated (funny, exact same symptoms) but they’ll need $100 to run the diagnostic. How do they know the code is unrelated if they haven’t run the diagnostic? Oh and they try to hit me with the cabin air filter BS too. There’s a reason I don’t use their service department. Hopefully they don’t let the same pigpen in the truck as the last time I had the truck there. It took days and lots of febreeze to get the BO/toxic waste funk out.

That’s why I traded a nearly new RAV4 (pretty good car other than my warranty issue) for a Subaru. Toyota dealers have lost my business for a while. Call it a timeout. Maybe forever.

Mine once took care of a recall and as a “favor” gave my truck a “free” look-over where they found almost $2k worth of work they suggested I have them do, such as the brakes with just 20k miles service life left.

I thanked them and pointed out that 20k meant years to go for me. When it was 10 yrs old I sold it with 70k and those original brakes were still good then.

My FIL got similar taking their Flex in for a recall.
Turned into a $2k day.

Repairs for the backup camera & a few other things I can't recall.
Hoping they didn't charge him labor for the system update, which can be end-user done.

Then it needed tires, too.

Oh how I love messing with them (learned it from my mom)

What is the code, I'll look it up.
Send me a cell phone pic of the cabin filter, I just changed it and there might be a deeper issue.

My favorite though was when mom (oh, she used to manage a Saturn dealership and ended many scrupulous interactions by summarily firing mechanics) took my suburban in for an oil change and they wanted to charge her $50 to change our the air filter.

The K&N air filter mind you.

She strung them along until they got to the point of saying "that air filter requires special disposal fees. The new filter is $20 and test pays for disposing of the hazmat"

When I go get the code read for FREE if it comes back as the recall you guys may be reading about me in the freakin news.

I bought a pretty good code reader not to long ago. At least I think it’s pretty good, $250+ or so as I recall.

I hardly ever go to the dealership, if I do take something it, it’s the no-namer shop with a good reputation.

I realize recalls are different, have to go to the dealership.

This just got interesting. Phone call from asshole at the service desk was at 2pm. I had a text at 1:30pm from the mechanic that I hadn’t seen until just now. He linked a walkthrough video of the inspection, gave the error codes and what they mean. Two of three codes are the recall, third goes away when the recall is fixed and the codes cleared. They’re not going to like me when I’m done.

Ha! Got one better than that.

Before I retired I was a dealership parts counter man, parts manager and a couple of times acted as the service manager in my 47 years in the business.

I changed jobs nine years previous to my retirement. About three or four months into the new job my truck started throwing a code and a pronounced surging at highway speeds. While it was out of the base warranty it was under a GM extended warranty, at that point about 25k left on it.

Had it wrote up for SES light on and surging 4th gear and converter clutch locked up. First thing out of the gate the lead service advisor tells me “we need to flush your injection system before we start due to the mileage.” I knew better than that so I said “since when does GMPP pay for that under my hundred dollar deductible?” His reply was “they don’t, that is owner responsibility.”

So I said “show me in the policies and procedures manual that I am required to pay for a third
party flush service? I’m authorizing the hundred dollar deductible only and nothing else.” Final diagnosis, failed camshaft and distributor, 4.3 V6 engine, nothing injector related.

He and I definitely got off on the wrong foot and pretty much stayed that way until he left that store.

That's why I love my last service person. I brought in my car for an intermittent problem. They kept it for a week while giving me a loaner car. They finally called me and said they couldn't replicate the problem and they tried it every day.

When I came back to pick it up, I asked how much and he said no charge since they couldn't find the problem. It didn't reappear either.

He was the reason that when it came time to buy a second car, I stuck with the same brand - Lexus.

If you had valid recalls on the vehicle, they will HAVE to scan to determine if something is out of compliance. Not doing the scan first really raises levels of concern. How would they even know it isn't related if they didn't scan?

Never pay the diagnostic charge if there’s a recall. I had some issues I delayed fixing and they diagnosed without me saying a word when I was in for recalls. But as you said they are all thieves. They gave me an estimate for $2000 worth of work, none of which was needed. Seriously blatant lies. Even said gas tank straps were rusted and my tank could fall off any second. At home I climbed under and all was shiny stainless steel. Not a spot of rust. They wanted $90 for 4 plastic clips for the underside shroud. I looked and none were missing. I think they wanted $300 to “clean up” the rusty drums on rear brakes. I put new drums on for less than $100. This was when I had my Matrix. Sickening really.

is there a code reader for Toyotas for owner use that the forum recommends?

quote:

Originally posted by ChuckFinley:
is there a code reader for Toyotas for owner use that the forum recommends?

Any OBD II scanner should work.

I have a FIXD plug in that works with an app on my phone, used it a while back to scan my neighbor's Camry. It also works on everything domestic.

I think it cost like $60 then around $50 for the app service.

quote:

OBD II scanner

Thanks!

They’re not clearing the third code (small leak evap system). It’s a better than average chance it’s the gas cap. I’ve already bought a new aftermarket cap. When I get the truck tomorrow I’ll switch caps and have the code cleared at the autozone less than a mile down the road. If that’s not the problem it sure won’t be fixed by those assholes. I’ll wrap the whole fucking system in duct tape before I let them overcharge and up sell me a tons of bullshit.

I had a dealer suggest new wipers and air filters once when I had replaced all of those maintenance items within the last month. Not to mention about $500 in other "maintenance" work. I had even bought the wiper inserts from their parts department. I got the service manager over to the counter and read him the riot act, but he wasn't too ashamed.

I never use dealer service, but in that case, I had a recall item. They only confirmed my suspicions about their ethics and practices.

I'm lucky I'm friendly with my service writer. He puts things through as warranty that shouldn't be for me and has never once suggested any add ons.

In my mind, the word "Stealership" brings up the name of our local Harley Davidson Motorcycle dealer.

Why do you guys even bother? They’re all in the business of fleecing customers that don’t know any better. Just find a local independent mechanic you can trust not to be constantly trying to find things that don’t need fixing.

My favorite thing about dealerships, and we went through this when purchasing my wife’s Honda Odyssey, is how the salespeople extol the virtues of said vehicle ad nauseam until you agree to purchase and the issue of warranties come up and suddenly the greatest vehicle ever built becomes the biggest piece of shit in the world that will fall apart the second you drive off the lot unless you have all their extended warranties!