Another "the dealer is stupid" thread

i guess the thread title should be changed to

"All dealers are stupid thread"

 

Once I sat and watched from a distance my Tacoma being serviced. They did rotate the tires but did not remove the rear brake drums. The paper work listed the remaining amount of brake lining. Its amazing how the dealer can see through the drums to check the lining. Being sarcastic.

 

The dealer is there to fuck you over 99.9% of the time and that's all, everything from selling you a vehicle-to a small part and everything else in between.

 

Yeah, I'm done with Ira Toyota of Milford. I went back a 3rd time to try to get them to actually fix the problem, now my brakes are worse than they started as. I think the tech must have loosened the shoes to get the drums off and never tightened them back up after the drums were replaced. When I apply my parking brake on a hill if I put the truck in neutral it rolls! I'm pretty sure a PARKING BRAKE is supposed to keep your car from rolling when applied. So now I basically have front brakes only, I can really feel a difference when coming to a stop.

I called and asked for the manager but he hasn't gotten back to me yet, I'll have to fix it myself and I'm out a couple hundred dollars. Never again, I'm done going to the dealer.

As far as fixing the rears, I just need to tighten the star wheels, right? Does the truck need to be jacked or can I do it with the wheels on the ground?

 

Wow.. That's surprising. I've been going to Ira for 8 years! That's where I bought my truck new. I always double check what they've done. I make sure the oil filter and oil are fresh. No issues. I'm still on my original rear brakes.
The truck has been there every 5k for 135k, so that's 27 times!!

My new Volvo came with 5/50K service and B to B coverage including wear and tear items down to the wiper blades. I bring that to Tasca Volvo in Cranston RI. It's only been there once so far for scheduled maintenance. It's night and day between Volvo and Toyota service. You could eat off the floor in the Volvo shop. They are way more professional than Ira.

 

I've always kinda suspected that for my truck too.

 

Dealer service departments are not here to help you or to diagnose problems. It's just another sales department at the dealership. They are there to sell overpriced oil changes, tires and do "checklists" from which they randomly pick shit to charge you for. Very few employ good mechanics, hiring 15-year old "certified technicians" instead, to save money. My cars never see inside dealer service, so it's very disappointing that I have to keep going back now to deal with a vibration issue on a brand new 2015 Toyota. So far the dealer approach has been "lets replace a bunch of parts and see if he comes back". Dropping off the truck for the last time on Friday, after which I'm just going to lemon law the whole thing as I do not believe dealer service can provide support for new vehicle buyers.

 

At about 80k, mine were making the same noise. Pulled the drums, tons of meat on the shoes. Cleaned everything and they shut up for a little while. The noise came back eventually, though, so I swapped the drums and shoes. Virtually no wear noticeable on the old shoes in comparison.

I think there is a TSB somewhere where they acknowledge the squeal and swap the drums and shoes with revised parts.

 

I believe MA inspection checks to make sure the vehicle doesn't move in drive at 1200 RPM with the parking brake applied. It should hold better than that, but that's all they look for.

 

I was happy with them for a little while, I feel like in the past few months they've really gone down hill.

My parking brake used to hold the truck at idle in drive, now it doesn't hold it on the slight hill in my driveway when in neutral. The tech definitely screwed up adjusting them when he put them back together.

 

I need probably 1/3 throttle to get mine to move with the parking brake on.

 

Take it somewhere more honest to do the job...at a lower cost than the dealer.

I was looking at my 10k service receipt. Dino oil, tire rotation, and "multi-point" inspection (which is required by law on any service)...if it wasn't free it would have been $100. Amazing ripoff.

 

At Ira they I think it's around $90 for Mobil 1 oil/filter change, rotation, multi-point.

Yes, e-brake is tested MA inspections, which reminds me that my sticker expired yesterday! Opps!

 

Meh, there are good ones. They are few and far between thought.

Same can be said for most auto shops thought...

 

My front brakes are going to need to be done soon. I'll get a quote from Ira, but I'm not sure I'll get it done there.
A friend of mine told me about a local shop that's pretty good. My daughter took her Mazda there. I asked him to go through it, tune it up, ect.. He charged like $175 for plugs, oil/filter, throttle body cleaning (which is why it was running rough) tire rotation. The $175 also included a $35 MA inspection sticker.
I asked him to check the coolant. He did and said it was good. Right there I had a good idea he was honest. Most other places would have jumped all over an $80 coolant flush whether it needed it or not.

 

There are inspection plugs in the rear plate just for checking the rear brakes... without removing the drum.

 

Jack it up where you can spin the wheel.
Tighten the adjuster ( star wheel ) until the wheel locks.
Back the star wheel off 15 clicks.
Done.

 

^whut he sez

 

I called IRA and asked to talk to the service manager, they haven't called me back and its been 2 days now. Called corporate and opened a complaint and then tried to tighten my brakes. I don't have a rubber plug in the inspection port of my passenger side, I wonder if it fell out or if Ira took it out and never put it back. When I jacked the truck the rear wheels spun freely, zero drag at all. Even with the parking brake set I could turn the wheels by hand. Tried tightening them but it's raining and dark and I couldn't really tell what I was doing, but I must have gotten it a bit tighter because now it'll hold on my driveway.

I will never go to Ira again, my brakes weren't just bad, they were totally unsafe and a little scary to drive. Since I didn't get any response from toyota I called my credit card and disputed the charge for the f&^ked up brake work, so I'll at least get my money back.

 

Adjusting the rear brakes is a pain in the rear anyway, even more so in the rain and dark...

Use the method I described above and barring any other problems that should take care of your problem. You can pick up those rubber plugs at almost any automotive parts store.

If you use the parking brake and pump the brakes when backing up you should never have to adjust them manually again until the shoes get replaced.

Best of luck!