Dealer Maintenance scheduled items.

Ok so i got my truck in october of last year , i got 20,000 miles on it already lol i know alot but however there all highway miles. My question is how do you guys do about scheduled maintenance items that the owners mannual tells you to do at certain milieage. And what are your experiences with the dealers? Have they done these scheduled maintenance ? Or only oil changes ?
For example at 20,000 toyota suggest to check n change cabin air filter but dealer tells me its not required and if anything i would have to pay for the filter ! sounds like dealers afterall lol !

 

I've done all my own maintenance and kept the dealership out of it.

Things like cabin air filters and your truck's air filter will vary on the interval depending on the driving conditions. If you spend all your time on the highway, in low pollen areas, chances are both filters will be fine. If you spend a lot of time on dusty roads, you'll probably be changing your filters every 5 -10k miles.

Other than that, I'm not 100% sure what you're asking. I follow the manual and do the required maintenace. If you can't do it yourself, then have the dealership or a reputable shop perform the work.

 

Thanks , sounds like a great idea !

 

I believe the OP is asking "Of the items listed in the owners manual to be preformed at certain intervals, which of those will actually be preformed by the dealership if you take it in for the 'included scheduled maintenance'?"

In other words, if the owners manual suggests something be changed at 20,000 miles, why would the dealership not include that as item in the service; and furthermore what other items are recommended but not included?

I actually don't know the answer to these questions, but am curious myself, since I do plan on taking my truck to the dealership during the "free" maintenance period...at least until they piss me off to the point that I feel it's just a waste of my time.

 

If that's the case, call the dealership and find out what they're including in their packaged maintenance as some might be a little different.

My point about the air filter interval will apply to a lot of items such as transfer case, transmission fluid and differential fluid. If you do a lot of hard stop and go driving, or spend a lot of time in 4wd, towing, heavy hauling, etc, you'll want to change out those fluids more frequently.

I've been doing oil changes and grease everything every 5k miles. I also check my air filter to see if it needs changing.

Differential oils and transfer case oil I changed at 30k miles.

I changed my plugs at 40k miles but should have done this at 30k miles.

Transmission fluid at 50k miles.

This is just what I've been following, you might find that you want tighter intervals on certain components due to your type of driving.

 

I had a similar question/problem with my dealer (lorenson Toyota, CT). The vehicle came with the 5 free scheduled maintenance visits. 15k miles in the maintenance book shows grease propeller shaft, torque bolts among the other listed requirements. Service writer said it wasn't a requirement, only the tire rotation and oil change. I called Toyota Corporate in california, talked to a service rep, he said the items were required, and issued a call refrence #. When I went for the service, I showed the service writer the maintenance schedule, explained my call to california, gave him the call refrence #, and asked if the service manager might want to call them. No problems after that. The cabin air filter ts REALLY easy to access. You can probably blow it out with an air hose. to clean it. There's a DYI for it on this site.

 

Perfect example , just got out d dealer for oil change n look what happends ! I need a lawyer !!!

 

holy shit are you serious?!?! why would they even be touching your wheels during an oil change??

 

x2... When was the last time the wheels were off? I'd be knocking on their door about now.

 

YEs , Serious ! I posted this as i was waiting for an oil change and scheduled 20,000 mile maintenance , which was oil change , fluids , and rotate tires ! (no cabin air filter) lol / they called me in to pick up the truck , i signed the paperwork got in my truck and off i went. for some reason i decided to go into a best buy instead of getting on the highway and next thing is i feel the steering wheel very shaky so i immediately slow down to about 20 mph , as i attemp to go into a parking lot on my right the left front wheel just comes off completely and swaddles down the street for about a half block . the truck at this point is just grinding the plate all the way to the parking lot ! i called the dealer and they wouldn't want to put the mananger on the phone. The cops came and one of em actually went to the dealer and brought the mananger down , he told me how sorry he was this happened blah blah blah , cops gave me a police report of the inciddent and dealer towed the truck to their shop and they are soppose to fix all this for free !!! they gave me a free car rental untill this damage is fixed . Ironic some of you guys told me right before dont trust the dealers ! man ,.... what bothers me the most is that now my truck is messed up and needs to be fixed , even though they are repairing this , still my truck got damaged ! because of their negligence.

i guess the moral to this story goes " dont trust the dealers at all" and if you do check and recheck !!!

 

Whoa... I hope you called the dealership and made them pay for the tow! That's horrible man and exactly why I hate air guns as a replacement for good ole fashioned torque wrenches. I hope they do the right thing and take care of you!

 

Not sure if I want to get my oil changed by the dealership tomorrow after reading this..

 

yeah everything is on them ! tow , damages , and rental / actually the wheel had no nuts on them which is the most disturbing ! didnt find them anywhere on the street or parking lot where i pulled up on !

 

Glad you're ok! At least you got to a parking lot. If that had happened on the highway, or if you were the type of person to ignore weird sounds, who knows how that could have ended! Scarey stuff and exactly why the dealership will never touch my truck now that it's out of warranty.

 

Man that really sucks. Glad your ok.

 

The last day my truck was at a dealership was the day I got it. I wouldnt go near one again, even before I read this.

 

Considering how many vehicles are serviced by dealers everyday this bound to happen every now and then. This is not a cause to label all dealers as bad. All of my dealer experiences have been in the vast majority good ones. Only once have I had a problem when they over filled my oil by a quart in my Matrix... They drained and refilled to the correct level. Of course I Always check all service before I move the vehicle. I also double check when I do my own service.

 

I have found that service departments vary greatly between dealers. Since I have found a good service department and some reliable service reps, I feel more confident about letting them work on my truck.

It needs to be a two way street- I respect their opinion and interject what I have learned from sites like TW. Once they realize you know the difference between good service and being jacked around they seem to take the effort to get it right. They don't want to annoy somebody who they know will be online to forums and Toyota Corporate as soon as they are dissatisfied.

The last work I had performed was repairing a leaky seal on my timing chain cover. The mechanic performed 9 hours of work on my truck and replaced my synthetic oil- no charge. The service rep told me he had gone out to inspect the work as it was being done and told me that my engine is spotless inside. He is thinking of switching to synthetic in his own vehicles. I carefully inspected the engine compartment and could only find one scuffed bolt head and a shifted radiator hose clamp to indicate that major work had been done. The timing chain cover is tight as a drum now.

I was happy enough to send a thanks email to Toyota about the service I received. They responded by adding me to a mailing list of people they poll when asking about changes to their new vehicles.

I do most of the scheduled maintenance items myself- it is not difficult to do fluids, plugs, filters and drive shaft lubes and saves a lot of money over the dealers charges. TW has great information on doing these items yourself.

 

don't sign anything...especially if it looks shady (i.e. waiver that releases them of all future issues)

 

Thanks everyone i appreciate all the opinions on this.
Yes im ok n yes this doesnt mean all dealers are bad.
Actually , i believe this happend because of human error.
However , the dealer should have some sort of program where at least 2 people make sure all maintenance is done properly on the vehicle prior to delivery to the customer.
This particular dealer might of have this but they didnt follow it through.

My biggest concern now is even if they fix my truck and put all new parts , i believe my trucks value has gone down because of the damage and repair. Hmmm!