Toyota estimate questions

I took my truck to a Toyota dealership and they said that my oil pan needed to be resealed "$573" and my valve cover gaskets "$460" and my rear main seal"$635." Are these accurate quotes or are they trying to screw me over?

 

They're screwing you over. And why do they say they need to do this work, is your truck leaking oil?

 

X2, did they give you any reasons? Can you verify that all three are leaking?

I've had my 3.4L for almost 8 years and 139k miles with no issue on any of these seals...

 

Well there is clumped up kinda dry oil around the valve covers but I park it every night in the garage and have not found oil.

 

OK, let me be up front, I am in the business just not at a dealership. This is a V6 4x4 you own?

If so, just using normal labor guides the oil pan show a little over five hours to R&R the oil pan. Many dealers around the country are in the three digit per hour labor rate. Figure five hours plus parts and the "shop supply" charge then add tax. Looks close on item one.

Valve cover gaskets are listed as a three hour job plus parts and includes new plug tube seals. Do the math, that one sounds a little high.

A rear main seal is six to seven hours plus parts so that one sounds about right.

What my questions would be are simple. Are these items required or recommended? Is there a priority to these items or are they trying to cover everything just to make sure they stop a leak? Why did you have the truck in the shop? Routine service or an oil leak concern?

The reason I ask is because poor communication can lead to unhappy people.........on both sides of the counter. If you have someone looking for an oil leak and a tech sees trails down from the valve covers, wet around the oil pan and dripping from the bell housing, they may list all the items you were given just to CYA. This happens because many customers do not like to pay for an accurate checkout. That would require cleaning the engine (time) and maybe installing an ultraviolet trace dye (money). Then a good test drive because many leaks do not show up well until the vehicle is driven (more time). Now an hour later the customer wants a "free estimate". The mistake the shop makes is to "give away" the technicians time to avoid conflict with a customer. The tech is usually only paid on billed hours so they would make NOTHING for this effort. Guess what? They will not put in the effort and you get what you pay for. A laundry list of what might fix the truck.

These are the reasons I hate the low cost oil change and free inspection. The tech may get little or no pay for this service, so it is in their interest to find items to sell. It is an adversarial relationship and does no good for a relationship.

The last point is the definition of a leak. Slight dampness at a seam is not a leak. Words mean things and that is "seeping" that should be noted for future monitoring.

I hope this helps your discussion and if you have any details to add, it would likely help a good discussion.

By your above post, they are selling service on light staining or seeping. I would ask to see what they are telling you. Sometimes a tech will shoot for the moon and hope you buy something. Sad but true, remembering how they are paid in most cases........You posted the above while I was typing. Thanks for the extra information.

 

Sorry for lack of info. I was in the shop getting my t case and transmission drained and filled with new oil. These were a few of their recommendations. From my little bit of mechanical knowledge it is not a waterfall leak like the technician told me it looks like it is weeping and has been weeping for a while. My transmission looks wet about where it hooks up to the motor. I will try and take a picture of the worst looking leakage in the front of the engine.

 

This is a view from under my truck looking directly at the belts

 

Take the time and clean it really good yourself. Find out where the leak(s) is / are. The valve cover is an easy enough job, just time consuming. If it is the rear main seal, break out the wallet. They'll have to replace the pan gasket for that anyway.