Morons that work at the dealership !!

That actually depends on the dealership. The first dealer I worked at we did have a lube tech that did nothing but air filters and oil changes. The rest of the services and repairs were done by the line techs. I actually loved doing small services because it gave me the opportunity to inspect the vehicle for problems. I learned a log time ago a valuable lesson when it comes to working on a customer's car: Treat every car as if it belonged to your mother. Would you sell that service to your mom? Would you treat your mom's car like that? I have used that lesson for every vehicle I have ever worked on. If I wouldn't do a repair that way on my mother's car, then I wouldn't repair my customer's car that way.

 

Our dealership is kind of a mixed bag, we have a lube shop run by the dealer and that's where I work, we do flushes, oil changes, injector servicing, just about anything that doesn't require a major tear down, but at the same time if a vehicle goes into the main shop and it needs a oil change along with the work that was going to be done originally the line techs will change the oil when they get the OK.

That's the best way to do it IMO, my Boss tries to teach all of his workers "Sell what we can, but don't sell them what they don't need".

One thing that we need to sell more of IMO is brake flushes, just today I came across two trucks that had over 150K miles and what appeared to be original brake fluid, it was this nasty moss green.

 

Brake fluid is one of those fluids that gets neglected a lot. People don't realize that brake fluid absorbs heat, which breaks it down over time, as well as absorbs any moisture that develops, which also degrades it. I change mine out at least once every two years. More often if I do a lot of towing during the summer.

See you all tomorrow. Gotta take a shower and get some sleep. Long day tomorrow with building 20 bearings, as well as replacing a fuel pump, tearing out a suspension system in prep for a lift kit, and beginning to go back together with my brothers truck (Head gaskets and timing chain kit)

 

can't they just spray some PB blaster or something on there? it should make it come loose easier.

 

This is good advice. I detail at a body shop and I treat every car like it is my own. If I see something I wouldn't like on my vehicle I make a point to fix it. If there is anything wrong with the paint I'm the one doing 99% of it when I'm there so I treat it like my own.

The problem is when someone doesn't give a fuck and then it makes every one look bad. We had one fuckstick crash a car into a customers car lie about it to the manager and to the customer and they had to look at the surveillance tapes to see he did it. They still haven't fired him though...

 

this is why you just dont take it to the dealership. If you cant work on your own vehicle for some reason. Take it to a professional shop that knows what they are doing.

 

lol I would so be livid by this too. I'm amaze by the way some people treat other peoples property. When I was wrenching back in the Corps, as a diesel technician I treated every vehicle that came into my bay as my own vehicle. When I became the Shop Chief I bestowed that attitude into everyone of my diesel technicians. Take pride in your work and if you f*ck up let me know better it goes up the chain of command because we all know how shit rolls downhill in the military

 

What is a PLBR?

Looked at your avatar. Guess Plumber?

 

Yeah, but even PB Blaster has it's limits. Not to mention many times having to deal with someone ELSE screwing up the drain or fill plugs and having to deal with stripped out fittings.

See, you can't just blanket in all dealerships in this. I can show you just as many "professional shops" that hack their way into repairs. It's not the SHOPS, it's the people there. Also a lot is dependent on experience. I would be more apt to let a 40 year old tech work on my stuff than a 20 year old tech, simply because the older tech typically will have more experience and training time.

The facts remain that OVERALL, a tech in a dealership is better trained on that specific manufacturer than your average independent shop. That being said though, even a well trained tech can be an idiot. It is all about the individual.nd4spdbh, I bet you can point out some real idiots that work where you do. Does that mean that your entire company, and all OTHER companies like it are full of idiots that don't know what they are doing?

 

it's sad but it's hard to find a good mechanic anywhere these days. all of the older people that know alot and have experience are retiring and there aren't that many people qualified to take their place.

all the new guys know is what they are taught at some school or something. they don't know hands on real world experience which is often a bit different than what you read in a book.

that being said i don't know of a single professional shop where i live. they all just seem like hacks and i would never take my truck there to get worked on.

i take mine to the toyota dealer because i would figure they would know how to work on toyotas more than anyone else. at least you would think so.

 

I feel for you, and get your point. However I still see a lot of old-school guys still hanging in there while the younger ones grind their skill. The key is to work together as a team. The young bucks need to accept that the older guys have some good real-world experience, and go to them for help when you need it. Even the best techs out there can benefit from another person's experience. When I first started off in the dealerships and independent shops I learned as much as I could from the old school guys. If I was sitting around doing nothing I would go over to one of the other guys with years on me and offer my physical labor to learn things. They rarely turned down someone ELSE pulling the wrenches while they talked you through it!

 

I'd be surprised if you got exactly what you requested and paid for, considering the hack job they did for you.

I't all about laziness with some of the line boys nowadays.

 

Correct it is mostly speculation based on experience.

Thanks for the public safety announcement also.

 

I keep misreading the title as "Mormons who work at the dealership" and each time I misread it, I think "hey man, to each his own..."

 

unfortunatly stereotypes are based on truth.... the fact that most of the dealerships i and many others have dealt with dont know the differernce between a wrench and and oil filter makes me want to never give them any of my trust and let them work on something i bought with my hard earned money.

 

The bad thing is morons at several of dealerships I went to couldn't balance my stock tires when the truck was new. I had to pay out of my own pocket to a small shop to do it after I no longer wanted to waste anymore time.

 

You should be able to find an independent Toyota shop around Delaware. I found one in Las Vegas: Precision Performance. 14 years and 2 Toyota Tacoma's with them and not one screw up...not one. Jeff Korhonen has always been the model of impeccable service and honesty. Certified Toyota/Lexus.

Jeff has a 2 tier shop at times when he is busy..."monkeys" change fluids under supervision and run errands and only himself and his partner do the technical work. But the treats his employees fairly. If you ask one he will tell you he's thankful to work there cause of what he can learn and for privileges to work on his own rig after hours.

I see hack work in all mechanical fields. When I first came to Vegas (commercial finish carpenter/ cabinetmaker) I had to learn how to do hack work; the quick and dirty. The philosophy of do the minimum and lie about your mistakes or get the blame placed on someone else is prevalent here.

It could be worse...It's known some local shops will deliberately break something on your ride thinking you'll bring it back in. Some shops will tell you something's wrong and perform unnecessary work. Other shops find themselves lacking knowledge and in over their heads but they will still charge and tell you it's fixed.

Bottom line, if you can identify the drain plug on your differential or transmission you should likely be doing some of the basic stuff (oil & filter changes/air filter changes) yourself.

One identifier of a good independent is he will interview you and once he knows what you can do will suggest you what you can do on your own. He will help you solve easy problems so the Tacoma doesn't have to visit the shop for every little thing.

 

Real "eye opening" stuff in this thread .....keep it coming