Service Center Shady Practices

I purchased a 2011, Toyota Certified Tacoma from a local Toyota dealer in the last month or so. The truck looks very clean with under 28,000 miles, clean car fax, just off lease. After a couple of weeks, I noticed an increasing shudder when braking at highway speeds ( I didnt test drive it at 70MPH, my mistake). On further inspection, I notice one of the wheels has 3 heavy wheel weights on it, and so assume that it is bent, and the dealer just patched it up with a crappy wheel balance. However, on taking it to the dealer, they learned the rotors were warped and swapped them out under warranty. I would have thought this would have been caught by the toyota certified inspection, but as the repair was free, I didn't complain. I have put about 1,000 miles on the truck,whose next oil inspection is due at 32K miles, but decided to check the oil anyway. The dipstick looked pretty dark, and the oil smelled like it had some fuel in it, so I decided to order an oil test kit from blackstone labs and change the oil myself. I havent seen oil this dark after a 5000 mile change, let alone just after service. I work in the chemicals industry and know that color isnt everything, but I dont think there is any conceivable way this oil is 1000 miles old, and suspect the dealership has been swapping filters and not changing the oil. The oil was also half quart low. I installed a Napa Platinum filter and filled mobil one and plan to swap the oil in another 1000 miles ( no filter change) to compare to this change. I plan to save 1 pint of oil after each change for the next few changes and see what the oil analysis says. Anyone else have a similar experience with their dealership?

No twinkle of light shines through this mess.

 

i bought my truck Certified Used from a dealership 4 years ago. it had 55k miles on it. the 4wd DID NOT WORK. they fixed it for free (obviously)... but that experience, along with others like yours, has led me to understand that the whole "certified" thing is absolute bullshit.

 

That is some dark oil

 

Holy hell!

 

Did the dip stick have clean oil on it when you purchased the truck?

 

Shipped the oil off to blackstone labs yesterday. I can't recall if I checked the oil when buying the truck (headslap). I am normally more diligent than that. I crawled underneath and checked for any replaced bolts, hidden body repair, all round the engine compartment for replaced , oddly new parts...but probably didnt pull the dipstick: making me the dipstick.
I was just so blinded by the siren song of driving the damn off the lot.

 

Received the report back from Blackstone Labs. Very pleased with their quick response and summary. "You didn't sound like you believed that the oil was changed about 1,120 miles ago, but we can buy it. Wear metals are quite low in this sample compared to averages, and averages are based on ~5,500 miles on the oil. Iron tends to track with time on the oil, so this lower iron reading would either mean that the oil run was shorter than average or that steel parts are wearing exceptionally well (maybe it's a mix of both
scenarios too). No contamination was found and the TBN was plenty strong at 6.5. Check back at the 32,000-mile service. So far, so good!" That is good to know. My faith is restored back to normal reasonably pessimistic levels.

 

I couldn't agree more.

I've purchased a few of these so called certified cars over the years. Fortunately things worked out as they were all Asian makes. None of the replacement items on the list(s) were actually replaced.

Look at all of the items that the dealer claims to have checked/changed on the certification checklist; then try to imagine what it would cost to have all of that done - out of your pocket. Now imagine all of the cars they supposedly put through this certification process. Multiple the two.

There is no way it's happening. The dealer spends whatever time/$$$ he cares to on visuals - wash car - clean interior and engine bay.

What sells?.....aesthetics.

 

Thanks for coming back with a follow up. Glad to hear all is well...Good money spend for peace of mind!