TACOMA PSA

****ATTENTION ****
***TACOMA PSA***

So I’m sure everybody that has a 16, 17 or older got the notice months ago before Covid about the Dealerships were giving protection for your frame from corrosion to prevent rust in certain states.

I go into the dealership over the weekend for an oil change and recommended service of having my throttlebody housing cleaned something and so forth. I know it’s BS but I have the bumper to bumper warranty for 125,000 miles so I have to go with what they recommend. While I was turning my keys over I also it said I wanted my U joints greased they said no problem. After about an hour a service tech comes back after the oil change is done and said my truck does not require the U joints to be greased, and there is nowhere for them to be greased anyway. I looked at him like he was crazy and started to laughwhen he told me that. Then my next question was is a certified Toyota mechanic working on my vehicle? I was told yes he was he’s been to school to learn how to work on Toyotas and he is a certified Toyota mechanic. I then said your mechanic does not know what he’s talking about. The service guy said come with me and show me what you’re talking about because there’s nowhere to grease your U joints with a sarcastic attitude. I got underneath my truck while on the lift and pointing out the two nipples at the top of my driveshaft and said that’s where they are. The certified Toyota mechanic stuck his fingers up there in there then his mouth hit the floor. He then said oh I guess you were right. Then as I was walking out of the garage I hear the mechanic say to his other two mechanics in the shop oh that guy was right these do require greasing. Then the service manager tells me the guy that was working on my truck is coming from the aftermarket world and only been working at the dealership for five years! The moral to this part of the story is to make sure your U joints are being grease because the dealerships aren’t doing them as they have the lack of skills to know what they’re doing!!

While I was dealing with a different service guy and service manager about why I had to show the $130 an hour certified Toyota mechanic what to do to my truck I overheard a guy arguing with one of the other service manager. He was upset about the crappy job they did on his truck. He was saying it looks like crap the stuff is still pouring and dripping off my truck on the ground and this is not acceptable. He was told that that’s how they do it and that’s the way they do it to protect the frames. The only hit certain parts that are known to rust not the entire thing. And that all technicians went to a class to learn how to do it. Which I’m calling BS on the skills of Toyotas $130 hour technicians. So after the technicians and the service managers walked away from the guy I walked over to talk to him and see if I could go out and take a look at his truck and see what he was talking about. And boy let me tell you it looks like a two-year-old kid with crazy with the foam gun! I also found out that the mechanics get paid by piecework not by the hour. Or at least at the dealer I used to go to here in Maryland. Here are some beautiful pictures of Toyotas finest work to protect our frames from rust and corrosion. This Tacoma was a 2014 off-road With only 31,000 miles on it. And let me tell you this thing was in mint condition and well well taken care of!!

 

U-joints.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2020-tacoma-prop-drive-shaft-lube.674252/#post-23698258
sone discussion here...

 

koons? they are supposed to do mine in august...

 

Looks like someone smeared vanilla frosting on the frame thinking it was a cake.

 

Dealerships......don't even get me started

 

As far as I could tell, my dealer didn't touch the u-joints during the ToyotaCare period. I simply greased them at home. It wasn't worth the fight for me. They were generally good on the rest of the maint though. Now, it's all me.

 

That looks awful, poor job by the dealership. You shouldn't see any over spray running down like that.

 

That's how almost all automotive techs get paid. They have a rate they receive, and each job has a set amount of hours. So if a dash removal says it should take 4 hours, and it takes you 7, you still only get paid for 4 hours. One of my best friends was a MB master tech, now a BMW tech, and it's not a glamorous job.

 

That's why I work on my own cars and truck, that reason right there. Bought a lift and away I go

 

That looks like someone jizzed all over the under of your car. yuck

 

and that's is why it's so hard to find a reliable mechanic. used to work in a bicycle shop with a bunch of old, ex-auto mechanics, and they always said they never wanted to work on another car again after leaving their shop. lol.

 

This is the main reason I do my own work. Free 2yr Toyota care....such a joke!
No way I'd let a "Certified Toyota Mechanic" who couldn't even grease a U-joint, anywhere near my truck.

 

You are correct on how the pay works are most dealerships as well as a good number of repair shops. My wife has been in dealership back offices for years. Youngest daughter was at Toyota, then moved to Harley who also used book rates. I worked for a trucking company for many years and can report most of the diesel lines and shops work the same way.

The one thing that you left unsaid is it also works the other way around. IF the book says an oil change for instance takes say 1 hour and the tech completes the job in 1/2 he (or she) gets the full hour. IF they botch the job they were paid to do they fix it without the book pay. That is part of the reason many mechanics on this type of pay scale do not want to deal with any failed jobs from another.

Some shops do process chargebacks. Meaning mechanic B gets paid for fixing mechanic A's mistake and mechanic A gets docked for the time B spent resolving it.

 

Every time I read about a dealer service experience I become emboldened to never let them touch my truck again.

 

I had my first 5000 mile oil change and had the dealer do it since the first two are free. About a week later I happened to notice my tires were reading 54 psi on my dashboard. I thought the TPMS wasn't working and manually confirmed they were indeed 54 psi. What would possess a Toyota mechanic to grossly overinflate all 4 tires like that?!

 

I've done flat rate dealer work before.

The tech does not make 130 an hour, probably more like 16 to 17 if that.

If the frame coat says it pays .5 hour then that's all the tech gets.

Is that fair for the customer the get crappy service? No.

The techs know what they signed up for.

They get just as many gravy jobs as warranty jobs. I had plenty of weeks where i made 70 plus hours but only physically worked 40.

Then I've had weeks where i made 25 hours but worked 40 hours.

The quality of work comes down to the individual. There are great mechanics who are honest and do their job with pride and there are lousy mechanics who lie and cheat their way through.

 

Then don't charge me 130 bucks an hour.