Witness marks on bolts, taking it in for first oil change

I’d agree, thanks for the free material.

 

Some methods of verification:

• White out mark
• Sharpie
• Dead rat
• Hang upside down under car wearing full camo (so as not to be seen)
• Sneak into service center and hide in rafters with binoculars
• Swap in decoy engine right before to ensure they do the oil change. Then after verifying, swap original engine back in and do oil change yourself
• Buy/rent another Tacoma and bring it in for oil change to see if they’ll do it right and if so, bring in your Tacoma with a dead rat, sharpie marker, mounted GoPro, and private investigator
• Get a job at dealership and slowly become friends with the employees there. Work your way up to technician and observe the other technicians working. Verify they do oil changes correctly. Then bring in your own Tacoma and change oil yourself. (My favorite method)

 

Weld the drain plug shut and then see if they call and ask about it

 

‘Or REMOVE the drain plug before you go there and see if they notice.

 

if you care about your tires getting rotated then absolutely mark the front 2 and see if they gett rotated to the rear. I've got $20 on they won't.

 

Look dealer service has long been a problem. My old dealer changed the oil but didn’t fill it to the line. I’d say 6qt. While wanting 6.2. I called and they said bring it back, I said no thanks topped it off and marked it up as lessons learned. Went to local station after, cost $85. Dealer free. But nah spend the $

 

Why don't you just drain it and weight next time to make sure.

 

Honda Civic - quickie-lube place over-filled by a couple quarts! Extra oil sucked through the intake and killed the O2 sensor within a few hundred miles.

Toyota XtraCab - took it to the dealer (for an oil change) the day before leaving for a new job. Oops - Garry Gorilla-Arms broke an A/C line. They said they would fix it, the next time I’m in town.

Subaru Outback - took it to the dealer for airbag warranty… and oil change. Now the dash squeaks, and they broke the mounting tabs for the plastic engine cover. Didn’t discover that one till months later.

The only thing I would mark is your doors, to make sure no one else is driving your Taco.

 

No, but they will try and tell you that you should be on the hard duty maintenance schedule once you're paying for the maintenance.

 

I have a shop I trust do oil changes when I don't have the time to do my car..
I take the oil and the filter b/c I want a specific kind of oil and an OEM filter
They are always cool about it and do a good job - no leaks, no BS, no nonsense
Good shops are hard to find

I do the Tacoma myself - mostly b/c I don't have to jack it up and by the time I took it to the shop, etc. I could have done it myself and eaten lunch.

Most stealerships are at best - I ONLY go there if it is some warranty nonsense and I tend to watch it like a hawk cause..


Thanks everyone for the entertainment

 

Dealer I had toyota care at had a large monitor in the waiting room where you could watch the techs rotated your trucks tire's, and change the oil.

 

Last Toyota maintenance my dealership did I know they changed the oil filter, because they put the filter access panel on my TRD skid plate back on upside down.

 

Wait near your ride till the tech shows up. Toss him a fin for coffee. Then linger around the service bay if its accessible .

 

Crank the canister on hella tight, when you get the truck back check if it's same. You may screw yourself, but you'll know.

 

Trust or find someone else you trust. Has our society gotten to the point of that level of paranoia?

In my world we paint a stripe across critical adjustment studs, not because of trust but because a wrong adjustment can kill someone.

 

https://www.grainger.com/product/4T...aVH-fJNbp7668wQXIasaAmjREALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

They actually changed mine with just 1200 miles because at 10 months of ownership it was closer to the 12 month reccomended service. I was surprised and I actually looked underneath at the pan drain and plug to confirm they did after. There were some hand marks and I could see where they wiped some oil drips with a shop rag near the plug.

 

that might just piss the tech off enough to not change the oil.

https://www.google.com/search?q=fin&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

Even if they remove the filter housing, there is no way to know if there is a filter element in the housing.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/no-oil-filter.748693/

In the future, I think I will let Toyota do the free 10K and 20K oil change just to document it. Then, immediately change the oil myself for piece of mind.

 

So maybe they DID change the oil and cross-threaded your skid bolts.. or over-cranked the plastic filter housing. Why let them touch it? It sounds like you're a capable person and you're asking this question on an enthusiast forum. None of us are surprised, right?